182 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ March 9, 1871. 



place where I am is far from any other garden, and I have to 

 depend altogether on my own stock. I believe the stock of 

 Parple King has not been changed for many years, and the 

 same remark applies to Geaut des Batailles. Last year I 

 begged a few cuttings of the latter, and the plants from these 

 grew much better all summer than any of the others, furnish- 

 ing good cuttings in the autumn, and not one of them has 

 gone off throughout the winter, all being treated alike. The 

 other kinds which I grow have all been from fresh stock pro- 

 cured withia a tew years, and I cannot complain much of them, 

 but even with them I find those which have been here the 

 longest are the most diiilicult to obtain good cuttings from, and 

 to keep all winter. I 

 intend to obtain a 

 few fresh plants of 

 Parple King and 

 watch them, and, if 

 you think proper, I 

 ■will report the result 

 next year. 



I think that it is 

 desirable to charge 

 the stock sometimes, 

 particularly when 

 the same few beds 

 have to be planted 

 year after year, with 

 just the addition of a 

 little light manure 

 perhaps. I hope some 

 of your readers will 

 observe the results of 

 changing their stock, 

 and report their ex- 

 perience. — S. N. 



[We advised a 

 change of cuttings 

 years ago, and it 

 would be more prac- 

 tised if gardeners 

 could do EG without 

 endless explanations 

 to employers.-Ecs.] 



The thermometers have been verified at the Greenwich Obser- 



vatory. 



Day. Hai. in shade 



March. at * feet. 



2nd 58.4° 



Srd 65.4" 



4th 65.0' 



5th 57.2° 



— Francis Nunes, ChisUhurst, Kent. 



Max. in SHn 

 at 4 feet.f 

 166.8° 

 118 0° 

 112.8° 

 118.5° 



CYPRIPEDIUM 

 DOMINIANUM. 



This beautiful va- 

 riety is deservedly 

 named after Mr. 

 Dominy, so well 

 known as the suc- 

 cessful cross-breeder 

 of Orchids at Messrs. 

 Vcitoh's. Mr. Do- 

 miny obtained it by 

 crossing C. Pearcei 

 and C. caudatum. 



The chief points 

 in his own descrip- 

 tion of this offspring 

 are as follows : — 

 Peduncle many-flow- 

 ered ; spathe-like 

 bracts half the length 

 of the ovary ; ovary 

 rather pilose ; sepals 

 oblong triangular ; 

 petals caudate, cili- Cjpnpedium 



ated ; lip saccate, near the mouth retuse. It is remarkable 

 that it is in almost every feature an intermediate of its two 

 parents. Its flowers have the yellowish-green tint and purple 

 veins and blotches of caudatum, and like them open all to- 

 gether. Messrs. Veitch find that it ia a very free-growing 

 variety. 



High Maech Tempeeatcres. — So early in March the follow- 

 ing high temperatures registered here may prove of interest. 



WATER SUPPLY. 



I FEND that we have not here done half enough to insure the requisite 

 supply of moisture in summer. There have been many showers, and 



naany drizzling days, 

 but here (near Luton) 

 ■we have not kad enough, 

 of moisture to pene- 

 trate far into the sub- 

 soil. Without a much 

 greater rainfall I fear 

 that next summer we 

 must not depend on 

 the moisture beneath. 

 There are few places 

 where thousands of 

 gallons of water have 

 not ran to waste. "With 

 a continuance of such 

 summers as we have 

 lately experienced, a 

 large reservoir of water 

 will be indispensable 

 both for the farm and 

 garden, and the first 

 expense of forming one 

 will be true economy 

 in the end. From a 

 single broad piece of 

 gravel I found that the 

 water ran off it into a 

 drain daring a heavy 

 rain at the rate of a 

 gallon per minute. 

 How valuable that 

 water wonld have been 

 in July ! From all I 

 can learn, the water in 

 deep wells is getting 

 very low, and is likely 

 to be lower still. 



Those who have a 

 water supply at com- 

 mand know nothing of 

 the ceaseless anxiety 

 many of us endured 

 last summer, when the 

 great consideration was 

 with how little water 

 we could manage to 

 keep plants alive. Even 

 for damping paths, &c., 

 in houses I was glad to 

 nse dirty water, know- 

 ing that there would 

 be no sediment in the 

 vapour given off. Con- 

 trast such a state of 

 affairs with that of the 

 gardener who, by turn- 

 ing a tap and hose, can 

 water any part of his 

 ground. No doubt there 

 has been much inju- 

 dicious and over-water- 

 inp, but that is a very 

 different affair from 

 not being able to water 

 at all. Without mulch- 

 ing and shading last summer many gardeners wonld have been quite 

 unable to furnish a regular kitchen supply, and I only hope that in the 

 ensuing season we shall have more moisture in the ground to fall 

 back upon, if not larger reservoirs. 



If I were entering on a large fresh place, where many pot plants, 

 (tc, were expected to be gi*own, I would, as a matter of first import- 

 ance, make careful inquiries as to the water supply, and this is of still 

 greater interest to a young gardener entering on his first place. I 

 fear that it is something incidental to humanity to make some allow- 



1 Black bulb vacuum thermometer. 



Dominianum. 



