Decembeb 8, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



663 



back; a ride which for varied vegetation, beautiful 

 scenery, and general interest, would be hard to beat 

 in Mexico ; and though on two of the rive nights 

 spent on the road our lodgings were of a very primi- 

 tive character, yet a lady was able to enjoy it tho- 

 roughly. Some of the barrancas — five crossed on 

 this ride— are very deep and perpendicular ; two 

 livers have to be passed on rafts, the horses swim- 

 ming or wading, but the ride along the edge of the 

 Barranca de los Pescados, ascending from 2000 to 

 about 5000 feet, on the second day, has many very 

 line views indeed, and the peak of Orizaba, both on 

 this and the next day, is an object of culminating 

 importance. In the Oak forest near Las Balsas, 

 Bromeliacea*, Orchids, and other epiphytes were in 

 the greatest abundance. I gathered thirteen or 

 fourteen species of Orchids in an hour from the 

 low trees without getting off my horse. This was 

 between 3000 and 4000 feet, but a few miles further 

 on we got into a region where, though the forest was 

 much finer and denser with green undergrowth, 

 Orchids were not so numerous or varied. 



We saw a fine dark crimson Hibiscus, with a trail- 

 ing habit, in this part of Mexico only, and a splendid 

 Gesneriaceous plant of great size growing in the 

 damp, shady ravines, together with many Tree-ferns 

 and other large and handsome Ferns, which seemed 

 more abundant about San Bartolo than anywhere I 

 have yet been. In fact, we thought San Bartolo as 

 good a place for collecting as any in this part of the 

 country. It is charmingly situated in the midst of a 

 good deal of virgin forest, at about 6000 feet, and 

 within easy reach of deep, hot gorges, full of purely 

 tropical vegetation, and close under the high slopes 

 of the volcano of Orizaba. 



Beyond Huatusco, where we slept on the third 

 night from Jalapa and found very fair quarters, the 

 country becomes less broken and picturesque, though 

 still very pretty. Returning to the high plateau of 

 Mexico, we found the contrast between the dry, 

 dusty, windy climate, and the region we had just 

 left, even more striking than at first. Round Pueblo, 

 where we stayed a week, there is little or no indi- 

 genous vegetation, except here and there on dry 

 rocky hills, and in the few places where the soil is 

 too poor for cultivation. The Malinche, an extinct 

 volcano of 13,000 feet, is covered on its lower slopes 

 with stunted Pines, which are fast succumbing to 

 the attacks of the woodman and charcoal-burner ; 

 but the only spot where we have found any forest at 

 all likely to contain much of interest is at El Pinal, 

 about twenty-five miles out on the railway leading 

 to Los Llanos, and here are a good many birds and 

 insects quite different from those yet seen, and some 

 Vaccinue and other plants, which are apparently 

 quite at home on the dry sandy granite of which 

 these hills seem to be mostly composed. H. J. E/wcs, 

 Cirencester, in " Garden and Forest." 



Orchid Notes and Gleanings. 



ORCHIDS AT BURFORU LODGE, DORKING. 

 The hybrid Calanthes in Sir Trevor LawTence's 

 collection always make a bright feature at this 

 season of the year, and each year seems to add new 

 beauties. There is a brilliancy of colour in the 

 coloured varieties and a softness of tints in the 

 paler ones, which also include some sulphur-yellow 

 tinted forms, and which seem to be peculiar to the 

 Burford strain and are unapproached by any other. 

 Among many now in bloom, Calanthe burfordiensis 

 is the richest in colour, its flowers being like C. 

 Sandhurstiana, but far more brilliant — a vermilion 

 hue tinging its carmine-crimson flowers. C. Veitchii 

 splendens is almost as fine in colour, but has a light 

 eye in place of the dark crimson of C. burfordiensis ; 

 C. V. lactea is a charming milk-white flower ; C. V. 

 rosea, a delicate pink ; C. amabilis, a very distinct and 

 delicately-tinted kind, and C. nivea, a profuse flower- 

 ing white. These are all hybrids from C. Veitchii, 

 which gives a race with good constitution, profuse to 

 flower, and producing their flowers at a most desirable 



season. Sir Trevor Lawrence also has many new and 

 delicately tinted unnamed kinds of the same strain. 

 Of the C. vestita section the Burford seedling named 



C. v. aurantiaca, with very large flowers with orange 

 eye, faintly suffused with pink, excells all the rest, 

 and now that there are large specimens of it with 

 many spikes of flowers, they exceed all expectation. 

 The pretty C. bella and the curious hybrid raised 

 here between Limatodes labrosa and C. vestita are 

 also in bloom, the latter with purplish sepals and 

 petals, and yellow lip marked with purple. 



Garden hybrids have now become one of the most 

 interesting features in several Orchid collections, 

 and especially at Burford where so many fine things 

 have been raised, and a numerous progeny is coming 

 on, especially of Cypripediums, of which the Burford 

 variety of C. Leeanum named maculatum now in 

 bloom offers a good example. Turning to the Den- 

 drobiuni crosses the grand hybrids raised between D. 

 Findlayanum and D. Ainsworthii, named respectively 



D. chrysodiscus and D. melamodiscus, and the no 

 less beautiful D. chlorostele (D. Linawianum X D. 

 Wardianum), are showing well for flower, and other 

 nurslings expectantly watched : with them the 

 perpetual flowering D. rhodostoma is producing 

 its rich claret-tipped flowers, and the D. splen- 

 djdissimum grandiflorum has in the past season 

 proved again its superiority over all the Ainsworthii 

 family. 



In the numerous Orchid-houses at Burford, whose 

 occupants Mr. Bickerstaffe fails not to keep up to 

 the mark — and that is not an easy task where rare 

 things abound — plenty of oft-noted things are in 

 bloom, but among the rarer and remarkable were 

 the scarlet Epidendrum cinnabarinum Moseni, the 

 curious true E. sceptrum, with numerous spikes ; 

 the richly tinted best variety of E. phceniceum, 



E. Wallisii, and other Epidendrums. Cypripedium 

 Harrisianum superbum (Burford variety), a richly 

 coloured giant among the Harrisianuras, C. II. 

 nigrum, C. nitens, C. insigne Moorei, and many 

 other varieties of C. insigne, and others. 



At present three distinct varieties of Mormodes 

 buccinator are in flower — one with clear yellow, 

 another with white flowers spotted with pink, a 

 third with handsomely mottled cinnamon and choco- 

 late-coloured flowers, and there is yet another, which 

 has reddish-purple blooms. Well might Lindley call 

 it the most variable of the Mormodes. Cycnoches 

 chlorochilon is in bloom, the new and singular C. 

 versicolor, just over; and Catasetum Bungerotliii, 

 C. macrocarpum, and others of these curious Orchids, 

 are in flower or bud. 



Liclia anceps (white and coloured) are well 

 advanced in bud ; L. a. Sanderiana, which is one of 

 the finest, having five spikes ; the richly coloured 

 L. a. Protheroeanum, too, introduced by Mr. F. 

 llorsman, of Colchester, is a grandly formed flower ; 

 there will be a fine show of Mexican Lielias soon, 

 and already some superb L. autumnalis atro-rabens 

 are open and a large specimen of L. Gouldiana with 

 five spikes is well advanced. The Masdevallias have 

 some chimasras, M. hieroglyphica, a large pot of M. 

 racemosa Crossii, M. Chelsonii, the pretty M. Indi- 

 bunda rosea, and others in bloom, and other extra 

 fine or rare things in bloom or bud are Vanda 

 Amesiana, Spathoglotis angustorum, Dendrobium 

 strebloceras, Odontoglossum Harryanum, O.Krameri, 

 Cattleya maxima Backhousiana, with finely veined 

 lip, sepals and petals; Sophronitis grandiflora coc- 

 cinea, Esmeralda Clarkei ; Aerides Lawrenceana, 

 Angracum Chailluanura, A. pertusum, Lycastes, 

 Maxillarias, Pleiones, &c. 



Orchids at Castle Hill, Englefield Green. 



The small but increasing collection belonging to 

 G. C. Raphael, Esq., now that it is under the care 

 of such a grower as Mr. Swan has proved himself to 

 be, bids fair to rank among the more important 

 ones. Upwards of fifty distinct species and varieties 

 of Cypripedium are represented by very fine and 

 healthy specimens, among which a good display of 

 bloom is given by the varieties of C. insigne and C. 

 Spicerianum, and lesser quantity by some of the 



hybrid forms, and the Calanthes very effectively 

 arranged along with them. 



In the cool-house the pretty violet Odontoglossum 

 Edwardii has a very strong spike, and many "other 

 Odontoglossuras are in flower, as well as Masde- 

 vallia chimajra and other Masdevallias, and fine pans 

 of Pleione ; and the plants of Cattleya citrina sus- 

 pended overhead exhibit extraordinary vigour. The 

 Phalamopsis and Angnccums, too, in the house here 

 devoted to them are very promising for a good show 

 of flowers in their seasons. 



Orchids at The Grange, Hackbridge. 



The great success which has attended the experi- 

 ments of growing Orchids for the four wirm months 

 in the open air in the Fern Valley in the noted 

 garden of A. II. Smee, Esq., whose doings in that 

 direction have been repeatedly recorded, must have 

 done much good by showing that it is at least un- 

 necessary to give many Orchids the high tempera- 

 ture to which they are subjected in some garden?. 

 The whole of the Orchids at The Grange are grown 

 under very cool treatment, and it is only a repre- 

 sentative selection which is placed outdoors in 

 summer, but when this selection is returned to the 

 houses for the winter the improvement by outdoor 

 sojourn is very marked in many cases, and deteriora- 

 tions infrequent. It is also advanced that the plan's 

 grown outdoors in summer are much less liable to 

 be injured by cold in winter. If we may take a great 

 specimen of a fine variety of Odontoglossum luteo- 

 purpureum with two very large spikes now in bloom 

 as one example, the summer holiday in the open ait 

 is beneficial, and that it is so, is also borne out ly 

 some fine Lycastes and other things now in bloom, 

 and the stout growths of Dendrobium Wardianum 

 and other Dendrobes made iu the open air, but Mr. 

 Cummins (the gardener here) who takes such rn 

 interest in these experiments, remarks that they 

 require as much attention when growing out-of-doois 

 as if they were kept in the houses. 



Disas, Satyriums, and other Cape terrestrial 

 Orchids, too, are very successfully managed in 

 frames from which the frost only is excluded by 

 covering up in hard weather. Here many fine 

 Satyriums and Disas have flowered, and notably tl e 

 blue one, whicli growers now begin to understand. 

 A fine variety of D. graminifolia is now in bloom, 

 and the rare D. lacera (spe fig. 93, p. 66-1), with its 

 beautiful blue and purple flowers, remained in flower 

 over six weeks. 



The flowering Orchid-house is that whicli wi s 

 illustrated in My Garden as the fernery, but now 

 the flowering Orchids are set up iu it, and 

 are delightfully effective when so arranged. At 

 present some great masses of several varieties of 

 Oncidium pratextum— one with two spikes of over a 

 hundred flowers — are very effective ; and Oncidium 

 Forbesii, O. abortivum, O. raniferum, O. varicosum, 

 and a varied display of Odontoglossums look well 

 with their sprays hanging over the frondage of the 

 Ferns. Many varieties of the pretty Barkeria 

 elegans, Cattleya Dormaniana, Masdevallia macrura, 

 and some pretty, less known Masdevallias and Res- 

 trepias, Epidendrum xanthinum, Ornithidiutn coc- 

 cineum, Lcelia anceps Prothera'anum, the richest of 

 the coloured L. anceps; Cattleyas, large specimens of 

 Cypripediums are here in bloom in this well-arranged 

 house ; and that delicately tinted Lycaste Smeeana, 

 as well as a new and very handsome species of 

 Lycaste, with flowers of the L. macrophylla type, 

 but with sepals shining reddish brown, petals white 

 dotted with pink, lip white marked with rich crim- 

 son. It is proposed to call this L. Cumminii, after 

 the custodian of the garden. The houses contain- 

 ing the general collection are in fine order, and 

 brightened with the scarlet flowers of Sophronitis, 

 Calanthes, and other showy things. /. O'B. 



Dexdiioeium Ccelogyne. 

 Referring to the account in the Gardeners' Chro- 

 nicle on November 12, 1887, of the flowering of this 

 plant, I have one which is now flowering for the 

 second year. I should describe the sepals and petals 

 as more of a brownish-green ; the lip in my plant is 



