30 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. [ February 3, 1863. 



eminently distinguished. They have besides Ajax, Alexander 

 Tait, Baroness, Leonard, Miss Hay Newton, Mrs. Wyllie, Thoma3 

 Martin, William Austin, and Carlos. 



Alice Doumie. — Light, creamy white ground, the belting 

 rich dark purple ; 'blotch dense and clear ; shape beautifully 

 round. 



Charles Watson. — A very fine dark bronzy purple self, the 

 petals very smooth and the shape good. This flower was 

 awarded a certificate by the Scottish Pansy Society in 1861 — 

 a good proof of its value, as the Society is very "chary of its 

 certificates. 



Figaro. — Yellow ground, belting a bright bronzy purple. 

 Distinct in its appearance. 



Miss Berry.— -Deep golden yellow, belted with bright bronzy 

 purple ; blotch very distinct and clear. 



Miss Williamson. — Pure white ground, belted with deep 

 purple ; blotch dense and clear. A very nice flower. 



Hev. Thomas Downie. — Deep golden yellow ground, deep 

 bronze purple belting. An excellent show flower. 



Teleyram. — Yellow ground, deep purple belting. A large- 

 sized flower af good properties. 



Vesta. — White ground, belt moderately broad; colour rich 

 purple : blotch and eye dense and good. 



Wallace. — Deep yellow ground, very rich in colour, belted 

 with broad deep purple. Of excellent quality. 



William Merricks. — A very handsome' flower. Ground 

 colour pure golden yellow, belt rich purplish-crimson ; blotch 

 very dense. 



These seemed to me the most striking of the flowers I had an 

 opportunity of seeiDg; and I think any one may fairly add 

 them to their collection with a good expectation of being pleased 

 with them.— D., Veal. 



CALANTHE YESTITA CULTUEE. 



The principal object cultivators have in view in growing 

 plantB is the production of flowers, always, of course, excepting 

 scch plants as are cultivated on account of their beautiful foliage. 

 Now if any one were to tell a lover of flowers how to grow them 

 so as to double or quadruple the number of flowers any given 

 plaut could be made to produce, such, information, no doubt, 

 would be gladly and thankfully received. I think I am in a posi- 

 tion to give such useful information to the growers of at least 

 one species of plant— the above-named lovely Orchid, Calanthe 

 vcStite. 



I had occasion lately to visit my young friend Mr. Abel North, 

 gurdener to T. Shorrock. Esq., the Lodge, Ashton Mersey, near 

 Manchester, and whilst there I, of course, had a look at his 

 Orchid-house. Though an old grower of Orchids myself, and 

 having visited at least nine-tenths of the collections of these 

 plants in Great Britain, I cannot but confess that I never saw 

 such a display of flowers on this Calanthe as I saw there. He 

 had 12-pots, and each pot had on an average twelve spikes 

 of blooms, most of them 3 feet long ; I counted the flowers on 

 one selected at random, and it had thirty-five flowers on it. 

 So eager were the pseudo-bulbs to bloom, that many of them 

 h'ad two and some three spikes each, some even flowering from 

 the side and top of the bulb. 



• They were growing in eight-inch pots of the ordinary shape. 

 There- were from six to eight bulbs in each pot. I inquired the 

 means he used to obtain such successful results ; and Mr. North, 

 being no niggard, answered my queries very fully. 



Ha pots during March, cutting-off all the roots, and uses the 

 M lowing compost : — One-third caky cowdung, two-thirds turfy 

 loam and leaf mould, adding a moderate quantity of river sand, 

 passing the whole compost through a coarse riddle; he then 

 drains the pots effectually, and places a layer of what remains 

 in the riddle over the drainage. 



In potting, the largest bulbs are chosen, and put in the pots 

 at equal distances from each other. The smaller bulbs are put 

 into large pots, and grown on till they attain the required 

 si:". No flowers are allowed oa them till they are fully grown. 

 But Ht'le water is given at first; but as roots and leaves are 

 phalleS forth more water is applied, and a liberal allowance of 

 that element is given till the plants are in bloom, then the 

 quafltity is gradually reduced, and the plants allowed to go to 

 rest for three months or thereabouts. 



By following this method any one may be equally successful 

 in blooming this winter,' or, af least, late-autumnal-flowering 



Orchid. Florists who grow flowers for sale would find it worth 

 their while to cultivate this free-flowering Orchid for the pur- 

 pose of making bouquets of its long-lasting flowers. It does not 

 require a very high temperature, nor any very nice attention. 

 Any ordinary stove would suit it well. 



Like all other terrestrial Orchids it requires a period of rest, 

 a period of growth, and a time to bloom. When at rest keep it 

 rather cool — say from 55° to 60° — and just dry, but not parched 

 so as to shrivel the bulbs. 



I noted also in bloom a fine specimen of a good variety of 

 Dendrobium nobile 3 feet high and as much through ; also 

 Cypripedium insigne, a remarkably handsome plant with ten 

 flowers all expanded at once ; Ccelogyne cristata, with many 

 spikes of beautiful pure white flowers; Bletia Tankervilieie, syn. 

 grandiflora, verv strong, with fifteen spikes ; and lastly, the old, 

 yet handsome, Zygopetalum Mackayi, well bloomed. 



The East Indian Orchids, I observed, were healthy, most of 

 them showing several spikes of bloom, particularly iErides, 

 Saccolabium, and Yanda. 



The collection is not large, but very select, and in most luxu- 

 riant health — a fact very creditable to the manager, especially 

 when it is remembered that he has only had the charge of them 

 for little more than two years, and never had the care of Orchids 

 before. Let this example be an encouragement to all good, 

 zealous, plant-loving gardeners never to fear undertaking the 

 management of Orchids, if, like Mr. North, they are determined 

 to spare neither time, labour, nor patience in the cultivation of 

 this most interesting and singularly beautiful tribe of plants. 



In the stova I observed many fine specimens of the better 

 kinds of Ferns, which at this time of the year are more re- 

 markable for their beauty than in summer, when there is more 

 floral display. 



The greenhouse contained some handsome specimens of New 

 Holland plants — 3ueh as Boronias, Pimeleas, Aphelexis, Epacris, 

 &c. 



The whole place is neatly kept, showing industry and, that 

 test of good gardening — attention to minutife. — T. AlPLEBr. 



AST AMATEUfi'S NOTES ON M. DU BBETTLL'S 

 SCIENCE OF TBAINING FRUIT TfiEES, 



Ok looking over, the other day, some Numbers of last year's 

 JorjB>'AL of HoRTicr/iTT/BE, an inquiry for a book on the 

 pruning of fruit trees caught my eye, and the answer it met 

 with, to the effect that there was no special work to be had on 

 the subject. 



This vacancy in horticultural literature has been supplied from 

 a foreign source. Our neighbours across the water, with the 

 logical severity that characterises them, take a pleasure in re- 

 ducing everything to rule — from the framing of a political system, 

 it appears, to the formation of a Plum tree. No Englishman 

 has the least wish to see our old Constitution, irregular as its 

 growth has been, submitted now to the pruning-ahears and cut 

 to the approved continental fashion, whatever finish it may be 

 promised in the process. But there are many who will welcome 

 a logical treatise on gardening. 



M. Du Breuil's book by some persons may be thought dry. 

 It contains no rambling gossip, no friendly jokes, no superfluous 

 illustration ; but it has the merit of always keepiDg to the 

 point, and the rave charm of lucidity. How is it that an 

 amateur finds it so difficult to master the various minute 

 directions with wiiich treatises on gardening, abound — a difficulty 

 so great as to deter many of us from all further researches into 

 the matter ? I believe it will be found mainly owing to the 

 want of this same logical precision in the writers. Even Mr. 

 Pavers — whose genial temper, evident freedom from professional 

 jealousy, and liberality in unlocking to us amateurs some of the 

 arcana of his art, attach to him every one interested in gardening — 

 does not, it must be confessed, write plainly. How many times 

 had we to refer to his book to ascertain the number of inches to 

 be pinched off this branch, or offthat — iu tbis month or that — on 

 this kind of tree or that — whether it were two, three, or four, we 

 never could remember until we had learnt elsewhere -jjhy they 

 were pinched at all. How much more intelligible the teaching 

 which first gives the principles and axioms- of the science, the 

 habits of the tree, and the laws that govern- them, and then on 

 this basis rears the superstructure of practical directions* There 

 was a well-known tutor in a certain university, who used to say 

 that he could never remember anything unless he had a<peg to 



