786 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[June 4, 1887, 
which is as well filled with flowers = Фан Cattleya- 
house, a quite new hybrid with O. triumphans is in 
flower, and many other beautiful кавы not often 
seen. The rare and handsome Cologyne tomentosa, 
a dried trac of which was өре sent by Lobb to 
essrs. Veitch, is ava over, and the handsome 
C. Dayana still in flower 
ONCIDIUM UNDULATUM. 
. Виз fine Orchid show a good example 
: size and ш 
may P compared with O. macranthum ; nob 
are о Fere hue, the broad petals Mite of the 
same ‘lint Ө e halves next the be bear but the 
outer dived А pure white ba ards the 
middles with violet, which also merges nds the bronze 
colour of the inner halves of the petals. It is very 
beautiful and still very rare. 
ORNITHOCEPHALUS GRANDIFLORUS, 
A plant with the habit A? of a Burling- 
tonia, is also in flower at Mr. Bull's. It bears pendent 
racemes of curiously e white flowers with 
emerald-green fear beg and is a beautiful curiosity, 
which is the more admired the more it is examined. 
POTATO CULTURE. 
(Continued from p. 680.) 
КкЕРїх@ always in mind that we cultivate the 
really any adva 
tube ers ? rt of the ie can during its 
because there is no proof that any starch passes down 
Wh atever passes from the leaf 
t of starch 
formed depends on the ا‎ of de eren of the 
and leaves [and the ponet "ct intensity of 
the light to which they are t least such 
is the conclusion drawn та ‹ experiments t Te have 
been devised to decide that point make 
any difference from the “ practical use "pois of 
ae whether that starch is formed in a few large or 
many small tubers? Cooks may, perhaps, have 
sda to say on the subject of trouble in paring 
a quantity of small Potatos, but hes ey have also 
ness with which 
pose of looking grand at a Potato show? Unless 
size can be shown to influence the quality of the 
starch (and as this à а amen chemical compoun nd 
it does not appear t it can), or unless size has 
influence on en 
small tubers would appear to be equally useful. 
"This question leads to another closely connected 
with it—Can a greater am h be 
obtained from v Potato that has the habit of forming 
an from one with the habit of form- 
are these. s there any increase in the total 
eles did Weal rê Di plante бов уві» to yeaa 
+ increase the size of their tubers? That the 
' be induced to increase the 
' Transactions 
account of the early experiments on S. Maglia, with 
special references to the fact that the tubers were, 
from the size of marbles, increased considerably. 
record is made of the change of soil, but unfortunately 
no note is made of the development. of leaf and stem. 
Staticks (1727). Modern theory says that th 
starch depends directly on total leaf area [plus light 
and temperature], but when we want to compare 
practice with theory, and to learn how far increase in 
total tuber bulk has been accompanied by increased 
total leaf area, records seem to be wanting. It would 
be by no means a difficult, or intricate calculation 
for a Potato grower to select some of his largest and 
some of his smallest grown plants, ascertain their 
leaf area during life, and then, when the Potatos are 
lifted, ascertain the total tuber weight, and estimate 
the thickness of the tuber skins, whose weight would 
have to be deducted. We might then know whether 
we yet have the full explanation of the total amount 
of starch a plant can form in the tubers 
There is another question — M with the size 
of tubers—that condition kno “ waxiness. ” 
what “ iness " 
„or on what it depends. We are so very deficient 
in pe habes analyses of Potatos, except as “the mean 
of many analyses." Every experienced cook can tell 
a Potato that will eat “waxy” as soon as the peel- 
ing is commenced. But what is the chemical dif- 
ference between a waxy Potato and one that is not ? 
Or is it that the difference is not a chemical one at 
all, but only molecular or physical? But practical 
people, who do not attend to chemistry, ought to be 
able to say whether size of tuber has or has not any 
patas with корр {о а waxy condition. 
'Then, again, has size v" connection with keeping 
qualities? What. ar e changes that occur in а 
Potato during the ced ~ is pitted is a subject that 
does not appear to have been studied. Some deny 
that any changes take place. It is well known, 
however, that moisture is given off, and the question 
arises, whether this is in any way connected with 
chemical changes, or whether this moisture is simply 
from the skins or from the water surrounding the 
starch granules? On this point we seem as much in 
the - as pitted Potatos themselves. We can but 
guess. Guesses, however, may direct experiment. 
Twenty pounds of small Potatos would give off more 
oisture than 20 lb. of large, if it is purely a 
question of evaporation. The question has com- 
mercial bearings. But further, if there are changes, 
and chemical changes, during pitting, if size has any- 
thing to do with these changes, then, if we knew all 
about these, we might be nearer understanding the 
formation of starch in the tubers. 
INDIAN ORCHIDS. 
Tug CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY Grow.— 
hills in Burmah, India, and Ceylon are naturally the 
коше: in which Indian Orchids are found growing 
certa 
prevailing in all the higher ranges. 
hich separate Siam and Burmah the temperature 
ranges from an extreme of 80° at midsummer to 40° 
in the winter. Here some well known Orchids are 
found growing together on the rocks, 
ndrobium Jamesianum.—The variety of 
wm 
Jamesianum found on the Siam frontier is more 
this plant grows on trees, the 
florif 
growths being slender and very floriferous. If 
imported after the flowering season this plant fre- 
| uated form. 
to cultivate in England, probably i onte. of 
it being found at a higher elevation 
form, and therefore accustomed to a lower Ia beni- 
ture 
, Dendrobium Findleyanum. —This Dendrobium is 
und growing with D Siam 
бетү in great luxuriance. 
rracan 
which ripens its new growths. Of the deciduous 
Dendrobiums, it is the first to flower in the winter. 
Cymbidium tigrinum.—Associated with these two 
plants growing on the same rocky hills in the crevices 
of the rocks is found this pretty Cymbidium. It isa 
suited to large collections. 
we have a plant suitable for every collection, com- 
pact in habit, уны up very little room, and lasting 
a long time in flow 
HOKER iiin мет —For many years it was 
supposed that this plant was found only in Ceylon. 
Some years ago, in one of his botanical excursions, 
Colonel Beddome found it growing in India, and I my- 
itself well to the English Orchid-house ; in England 
it is seldom seen to каиа probably from want of 
sufficient moisture and heat; it grows at an elevation 
f about 
localities in whic 
heir excessive rainfall. Теп i 
successi i 
essive days is 
Wa 7 In Ceylon it is also found where the 
та is h an. ows e P 7 apa 
mpost o ead lea and r 
which "there is hier pi soil, the soil being иза би 
out T the prt cer fi 
Ipse ова, 7 "This tty ground Orchid is also 
found i in E Oye а and India iie with vien 
'The Ipsea, however, — its roots into oamy 
soil, ки — s of the Acanthephippium 
perm ао of fallen rh d and d 
Berkeley. 
not а уте m into the soil. Emeric S. 
APHELANDRA CHRYSOPS. 
ant, of recent introduction (see fig. 
а yet intro- 
on ves 13, 1886. 
. Bull, the introducer of the plant into com" 
poe for the opportunity of illustrating it. 
ыл TE LES eee a А 
n 
e ac ea ON THE 
URIC ULA. 
of the most — discussions amongst 
the many that have ‹ characteris ed t 
Horticultural C 
Hibberd's paper o on the origin of the Auricula. It will 
have been seen by the text of the paper (p. 678) that 
the author of the essay treated the subject in à D novel 
