58 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 20, 1876. 



of the same cultivator cannot help it. Splendid plants of 

 Goodyera will go back in the same way after being grown np 

 to a high standard, and drag out a miserable existence for a 

 few years. This does not happen to Roses and Pinks, and the 

 observance of certain rules will not prevent it. 



The chapter on Orchid culture in the United States is in- 

 teresting, as showing the increasing attention paid by cul- 

 tivators in America to this fine class of plants. There is a 

 long descriptive list, which occupies 272 pages. Part of it is 

 the author's own, but he has also made free use of the " Orchid 

 Manual" and other works, which he likewise freely acknow- 

 ledges. His popular descriptive list might be greatly increased 

 in value if cultural directions had been given with those species 

 of any genus requiring special treatment. Take for instance 

 Cattleya snperba. It is one of the most beautiful of the whole 

 genuB, and all we are told about it is " that it is a slow-growing 

 species, that requires more heat than the other Cattleyas," and 

 " it should never suffer for want of water." Not a word is 

 said about any special treatment ; but pot it, and treat exactly 

 like C. Mossia?, C. Warnerii, C. crispa, &c, and the plants 

 would all be dead in six months. Fasten it to a block like 

 some otber Cattleyas, and it will not succeed for any length of 

 time. The best way to grow it is on the stem of a Tree Fern. 

 On this the plants will grow and flower freely for many years. 

 It requires the heat of an East India house. Information of 

 this sort is not only valuable for beginners, but those who have 

 grown Orchids for many years are sometimes at a loss to find 

 out the right treatment for a special plant. Still this descrip- 

 tive list contains a mass of very useful information, and the 

 book as a work of reference will be very useful. 



PORTRAITS of PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



Cosmibuena obtusifolia var. latifolia. Nat. ord., Rubi- 

 aceas. Linn., Pentandria Monogynia. — " This handsome plant 

 seems to be widely spread in the hot valleys of the Andes of 

 Cauca in New Grenada to Tarapoto in Peru, forming a beau- 

 tiful small tree 20 to 30 feet high, with white fragrant flowers 

 and a slightly bitter bark. C. obtusifolia was sent to Kew by 

 M. Linden of Brussels under the name of Cascarilla grandifolia, 

 which I do not find in any publication ; it grew to a consider- 

 able size in the Palm house, but never flowered. A cutting, 

 however, given to Mr. Howard and placed in a stove speedily 

 flowered, and from it the accompanying drawing was made. 

 The Peruvians, according to Mr. Spruce, call this plant ' Aza- 

 har-sisa,' because the flowers smell like ' Agua de Azahar ' 

 (orange-water)."— (Bot. Mag., t. 6239.) 



Pesoatoeia laitellosa. Nat. ord., Orchidacea?. Linn., Gyn- 

 andria Monandria. Flowers yellow, orange, and brown. — 

 " P. lamellosa is not nearly so handsome a species as P. Day- 

 ana, though sufficiently attractive. It flowered at Veitch's 

 establishment in August of last year, to which the plants were 

 sent by its discoverer Mr. Wallis from New Grenada." — (Ibid., 

 t. 6240.) 



Cobeopsis (Tuckerhannia) jiakitma. Nat. ord., Composita?. 

 Linn., Syngenesia Frustranea. Flowers yellow. — " A native 

 of maritime rocks in California, where it was discovered by 

 Nuttall in 1834-5, and introduced by him into American 

 gardens, and from whom we have dried specimens collected at 

 St. Barbara and at Utah. There are also specimens in the 

 Hookerian Herbarium, collected earlier still by Coulter, but 

 from what precise locality is not indicated. The specimens 

 here figured were received from Mr. Thompson of Ipswich, and 

 flowered both at Eew and at Ipswich in September, 1873-4. 

 It is described as a perennial in America, but is of annual 

 duration in this country." — (Ibid., t. 6241.) 



Tulipa Hagebi. Nat. ord., Liliaces. Linn., Hexandria 

 Monogynia. Flowers scarlet, yellow, and green. — " It was 

 discovered by Dr. Von Heldreich in 1862 on the hills of the 

 Parnes range in Attica, growing with T. Orphanidea at an 

 elevation of 1600 feet above sea level. The drawing was made 

 from a specimen presented by Mr. Elwes to the Kew collection, 

 which was in full flower on the 24th of April of the present 

 year, and we have also received it from the Rev. H. N. Ella- 

 combe and Rev. H. Harpur-Crewe." — (Ibid., t. 6242.) 



Mobicandia sonchifolia. Nat. ord., Crucifera:. Linn., Te- 

 tradynamia. — "This very showy Crucifer, though described as 

 long ago as 1832, has hitherto been known only from dried 

 specimens collected by its discoverer, the veteran traveller 

 and botanist, Professor Bunge of Dorpat, who accompanied a 

 Russian mission to Pekin from Siberia in 1831. It is a hardy 

 annual, remarkable for the bright colour and delicaoy of its 



purple corolla, and being easy of cultivation is likely to become 

 as great an acquisition as its near ally, the old garden favour- 

 ite, the European M. arveneis, which has been in cultivation 

 since 1739. Another species is the beautiful M. Ramburii, a 

 native of Spain. The Royal Gardens are indebted to Dr. 

 Playfair, late medical officer attached to the Embassy at PeMn, 

 for seeds of this plant, which flowered in March of the present 

 year."— (Ibid., t. 6243.) 



Apple — Worcester Pearmain. — "None of the Apples to be 

 found in our gardens and orchards excel the Worcester Pear- 

 main in brilliancy of colour. The symmetrical form and good 

 quality of the fruit, combined with its charming and attractive 

 colour, must give it one of the most prominent places among 

 dessert Apples ; while from its free growth and great pro- 

 ductiveness, it cannot fail to claim the attention of all who 

 grow fruit for profit. It bears as freely as the well-known 

 Apple Lord Suffield, and must soon become one of the leading 

 sorts for market, as well as for exhibition ; indeed, no col- 

 lection should be without it. We have to thank Mr. R. Smith 

 of Worcester, who holds the stock of this Apple, for the speci- 

 mens figured, and which are very faithfully portrayed by Mr. 

 Macfarlane. It is a beautiful Apple, as the illustration shows, 

 and that it is as good as it looks is the general verdict which 

 has been given wherever exhibited. It was much admired by 

 the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society when 

 shown at South Kensington on October 6th, 1875, and was 

 awarded a first-class certificate. The tree is said to be a seed- 

 ling from the Devonshire Quarrenden. The fruit is medium- 

 sized, 2J inches wide and the same in height, conical, very 

 symmetrical, and pearmain-shaped, with a smooth glosBy skin, 

 which is completely covered with a brilliant crimson-red, 

 dotted with minute fawn-coloured spots. The eye is small 

 and prominent, surrounded by a few plaits. The stalk is 

 three-quarters of an inch long, deeply inserted in a russety 

 cavity. The flesh is white, tender, crisp, sweet, and very 

 pleasantly flavoured. It ripens in August and September, 

 and will keep until Christmas. This exceedingly handsome 

 Apple is sure to become a general favourite." — (Flor. and Pom., 

 3 s. ix., 121.) 



GLASS HOUSES versus BRICK WALLS FOR 

 FRUIT CULTURE. 



Pebhaps there is ' not another country in the world where 

 there is such an amount of money invested in, and so much 

 skill and persevering energy applied to fruit culture, with such 

 a small return in the way of fruit crops of a certain class, as 

 in Great Britain. If, for example, it be considered how much 

 money it takes to erect good garden walls, and the labour 

 expended in the making of suitable wall-fruit borders, the 

 concreting, the draining, and the bringing-in of good soil in 

 the majority of localities — for these preliminaries the outlay is 

 immense. Then there is the purchase of expensively trained 

 trees ; the annual and constant care required in pruning, 

 pinching, and training, besides the almost continuous battle 

 with a numerous train of destructive insects of one sort and 

 another, and the abortive expedients put in operation annually 

 with the object of saving the blossom from frost and blasting 

 east winds. The sum total of capital invested and labour 

 annually expended is, we might almost say, appalling in com- 

 parison with the return in crops of good fruit in the case of 

 such as Peaches, Apricots, Plums, Pears, &c. This, it must 

 be admitted, is of wide application. The wonder is that this 

 losing game has been so long and perseveringly persisted in. 

 We are confident that, in the case of any other department, 

 so fruitless an expenditure would soon be abandoned in despair. 

 No doubt the necessity for walls as a fence and for shelter 

 accounts for this state of things to a great extent. 



In a great many localities a good crop of fruit about once in 

 five years is about as much as can be counted on; and perhaps, 

 taking one year with another, the returns in some localities 

 would not pay for the shreds and nails necessary for training 

 the trees. This rule does not, of course, apply to those parts 

 of the kingdom that are more favoured in the way of climate 

 and soil ; and in their case walls do good Bervice in producing 

 fine dessert Pears and stone fruits. It is not to these districts 

 that we wish these remarks to apply. Yet, even the most 

 favoured BpotB in England are not always free from such 

 weather as destroys even wall-fruit crops. But in such un- 

 fortunate districts as those to which we are directing our re- 

 marks, an amount of disheartening mishaps to wall fruits has 

 to be faced annually, which, it is not too much to say, would 



