236 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[September 1, 1888. 



from the bright sun during summer. The material 

 we find to suit this plant is good fibrous peat or leaf- 

 mould, adding a small quantity of turfy loam ; the 

 whole should be well incorporated, and the pots well 

 drained before the soil is put into them. Good 

 drainage is particularly important for Cypripediums, 

 or the roots are very apt to decay, and without good 

 roots it is not possible for a plant to remain in a 

 healthy condition. This plant is easily propagated 

 by carefully taking off the young side shoots, but 

 these should be rooted before they are removed from 

 the parent plant ; this operation is best performed after 

 growth is completed, or when the plants are at rest. 

 The young shoots should be put into small pots, and 

 placed in a warm house until they are thoroughly 

 rooted and well established, after which the cool- 

 houses is best adapted to their requirements. These 

 plants must be kept free from all insects, or they 

 will become permanently disfigured. 



Masdevallia Harryana decora. — This variety 

 requires the same treatment as the species, that is 

 to say, it should be grown in a pot with ample 

 drainage, and the potting material should consist of 

 fibrous peat and living sphagnum moss. It requires 

 a liberal supply of water during active growth, after 

 which a much less quantity will suffice, though care 

 should be taken to prevent its ever becoming dry, 

 and to keep the soil moderately damp at all seasons. 

 We find it advisable during the winter months to 

 keep Masdevallias somewhat warmer than the Odon- 

 toglossums ; they are plants that enjoy plenty of 

 light, but require to be shaded from the sun. These 

 plants are easily increased by dividing the creeping 

 stem with a sharp knife, but avoid cutting the roots ; 

 these must be separated by the hand, and the opera- 

 tion is most successful when performed on vigorous 

 plants, just before starting into growth. These 

 plants are subjected to the attacks of insects, which 

 are very injurious to them if not speedily destroyed, 

 more especially during the time they are making 

 their young growth and are producing their flower- 

 spikes. 



Aphides and thrips increase very rapidly if not 

 kept under. We find fumigating with tobacco- 

 paper is not good for the plants, but we have found 

 the use of tobacco-steam, as applied in a new appa- 

 ratus, which we have introduced into this country, 

 called the " Thanatophore,"most beneficial in destroy- 

 ing these pests, moreover it does not injure the young 

 growths or flowers. These insects, if allowed to 

 remain on the plants, cripple the flower-buds and 

 young growths so much that they are prevented from 

 opening and attaining their proper size ; besides 

 which they are a great disfigurement to a collection 

 of plants. 



Cattleya Lawrenceana. — We cultivate this Cattleya 

 in the same heat as the East Indian plants, 

 suspended near the glass in a stove, where there 

 is but little shade, and where it appears to 

 thrive well. When in bloom it is removed to 

 the Cattleya-house, to be replaced in its old 

 quarters when the flowers are past. In all pro- 

 bability this Cattleya would do well at the warm end 

 of an intermediate-house, but its wild habitat sug- 

 gests the necessity of a little higher temperature, 

 and it also requires to be shaded from the hottest 

 sun in order to preserve its leaves of a good colour, 

 which is a very essential point in the cultivation of 

 Orchids. In the matter of potting, Jit requires the 

 same material as recommended for C. Mossise, viz., 

 good fibrous peat mixed with a little spagnum moss, 

 and with perfect drainage, as the plant requires a 

 fair amount of water in the growing season ; but 

 during rest very little will suffice, indeedjust enough 

 to keep the plants from shrivelling and in a healthy 

 condition being all that is necessary ; and in spring, 

 when the flowers begin to show, the plants will then 

 be much benefited by a little extra water to encourage 

 their blossoms to open. 



Batemannia Colleyi is a dwarf, compact-growing 

 plant, forming dark green bulbs about 2 inches high, 

 and bearing similarly dark green leaves about 8 inches 

 long. The flowers are of a curious form, borne 

 upon short spikes, which spring from the sides of 



the bulbs near their base, and which form a cluster 

 round them ; sepals and petals purplish-brown, and 

 the lip white, tinged with rose. Its flowering season 

 is during the months of March and April, and the 

 blossoms continue in beauty for a considerable time. 

 This species is by no means difficult to cultivate ; 

 it should be treated as a pot plant, and be well 

 drained, the best materal we can recommend to 

 plant it in being good fibrous peat and sphagnum 

 moss. It should be elevated some 2 or 3 inches 

 above the rim of the pot, and treated to the tempe- 

 rature of the intermediate or Cattleya house. During 

 the growing season a moderate amount of water is 

 essential to its well-being, but during the dull days 

 in winter a partial drying is equally necessary, while 

 its resting must never extend to the shrivelling of its 

 bulbs. If it is more convenient, this plant will grow 

 equally well in a hanging basket ; but we have 

 suggested pot culture on account of its clustered 

 flowers, which are seen to better advantage grown 

 in this manner. 



LITHOSPEEMUM GRAMINIFO- 



LIUM. 

 Only three of this section of Lithospermum — 

 that is, hardy evergreens — are well known in cultiva- 

 tion: L. prostratum,L.rosmarinifolium, and the sub- 

 ject of our present note— the first and last being by 

 far the most common.though we have several times seen 

 the Rosemary-leaved species growing vigorously, and 

 giving promise of a good alpine. L. prostratum is a 

 good plant for half-shady spots on the rockery, and 

 when seen in large patches the intense blue of its 

 charming flowers is exceedingly attractive, con- 

 tinuing more or less in beauty from spring until 

 autumn. The fault of losing the lower stem leaves 

 so quickly, leaving bare unsightly patches here and 

 there in the clumps, is a very bad one, as the task of 

 renovating without lifting the whole is very difficult. 

 L. graminifoliums (fig. 27) is entirely different in habit 

 and aspect ; it forms dense tufts of glaucous grass-like 

 leaves, making a pretty picture in the alpine garden. 

 It flowers May and June, and when well established 

 gives little trouble, and produces its drooping 

 bunches of sweet blue flowers in profusion. It is 

 far from being easy to propagate ; dividing the tufts 

 is very dangerous, and must be done carefully. A 

 native of Italy. Our illustration was taken from a 

 plant kindly forwarded by Messrs. Backhouse, of York. 



Plant Notes. 



COSTUS SPECIOSUS. 

 The genus Costus is not much known in gardens, 

 the only species to which any attention has been 

 paid being C. igneus, which was distributed by Mons. 

 Linden a few years ago. A plant of C. speciosus 

 now in flower at Kew is handsome enough to be 

 recommended as a stove flowering plant. It has 

 stems 5 feet high, 1 inch in diameter, with the 

 appearance of Bamboos, but succulent. The leaves 

 are arranged spirally upon the stems, each leaf being 

 1 foot long and 5 inches wide, smooth, green above, 

 soft downy beneath. The ^flowers are in a compact 

 terminal head, each one being 2£ inches long, 

 tubular, and 1J inch across the mouth; the large 

 lip-like petal has a crisped margin, snggestive of a 

 Sobralia. There were four flowers open on one 

 stem when we saw it, and there were a great number 

 of buds to expand. The figure of this species in 

 Boscoe's Scitaminem gives a poor idea of the size 

 and beauty of the plant. C. igneus is also in flower 

 at Kew. . W. W. [This plant and C. imperialis are 

 effective as subtropicals, if due regard be paid to 

 gradually inuring them to full exposure. Ed.] 



ElCHORNIA TRICOLOR, 



as grown at Kew, is a pretty stove aquatic, quite up 

 to the standard of Limnocharis, Sagittaria, and the 

 other Eichornias and Pontederias. It is nearly a 

 yard high, and has large cordate shining green leaves ; 



the flowers are in erect spikes, each one being an 

 inch across, and a mixture of purple, red, and yellow. 

 There is a large group of it in one of the corner beds 

 in the Water Lily-house at Kew, which is, to our 

 taste, as strikingly pretty as anything we have 

 seen for a long time. This species is no doubt an 

 annual. 



NYMPH2EA VOALEFOKA. 



This is one of M. Marliac's introductions, presum- 

 ably from Madagascar. It is evidently a white 

 flowered form of the variable N. stellata, there being 

 no difference between the two in any point except 

 colour. A plant of N. voalefoka, is now in flower in 

 the Water Lily-house at Kew. N. Sturtevantii, N. 

 tuberosa flavescens (N. Marliacea), and N. stellata 

 rubra, as well as numerous other kinds, are also now 

 flowering freely at Kew. W. W. 



Allium parciflorum. 

 I have in bloom a small bulb which is of suffi- 

 ciently rare occurrence, according to Mr. Baker, of 

 Kew — who kindly named it for me — to make it 

 worth a record in your journal. It is Allium parci- 

 florum, a native of Corsica, from whence it was sent 

 to me. Mr. Baker says, " It is endemic in Corsica, 

 and I have never seen it alive before. It has never 

 been figured, and I am not aware it has ever been 

 cultivated in England." Rev. A, Rawson, Winder- 

 mere. 



Fruit Register. 



APPLE WHITE PARADISE. 

 While welcoming new varieties of fruits, do not 

 let us, in our zeal, discard old varieties till we have 

 thoroughly proved their inferiority. This season, 

 when one looks upon trees of approved kinds with 

 hardly a bushel on them, this Apple, the White 

 Paradise, or Lady's Finger, or Egg Apple, turns out 

 to be a good one ; it always bears, and is in season 

 all through the winter. We have several trees here 

 with a fine crop, and I need not say how useful they 

 will be this year. Many people, probably, will not 

 thank me for raking up this old kind when there are 

 better to be had, but we cannot do without such as 

 this to fall back upon in adverse seasons or exposed 

 situations. Our garden here is 400 feet above sea- 

 level, on a ridge, and is very exposed, and hardy 

 kinds are very essential. I understand that White 

 Paradise grows in Scotland. We were all surprised 

 at the last Apple Congress when King of the Pippins 

 stood at the top of the class with the highest num- 

 ber of marks ; but it no doubt was its hardiness, and 

 general bearing qualities, which gained it this dis- 

 tinction. Another Apple not nearly sufficiently 

 grown is Galway Pippin. J. Rust, Eridge Castle. 



GRASS EXPERIMENTS. 



By the courtesy of Messrs. Sutton, we visited 

 in the course of the summer, their extensive seed 

 trial grounds at Reading, which comprise some 

 quarter of a million illustrations on agricultural and 

 horticultural productions. Those to which we 

 devoted especial attention on this occasion were the 

 grass experiments. 



The first series comprised 150 varieties of grasses, 

 ninety-nine of which are British species ; these were 

 grown in small plots side by side under exactly similar 

 treatment, for the purpose of testing both their 

 durability and suitability for permanent or temporary 



Several of the varieties are of German origin, and 

 promise eventually to be a great acquisition to the 

 English cattle-grazier. Perhaps one of the most 

 marked of these is Alopecurus nigricans, a later variety 

 of Eox-tail grass than Alopecurus pratensis, which 

 although extremely valuable where an early bite is 

 required, yet when left for hay is frequently past 

 its best when the other grasses are ready., A. nigri- 

 cans has a more leafy habit, is taller in foliage, and 

 better adapted for general pasturage. 



