78 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 417. 



plants should be taken from the sphagnum and set in the 

 body of the house to finish their growth. After carrying 

 them over the next winter in a cold pit they could be planted 

 out the following spring and the second year they could 

 be set where they are to remain, unless they are trans- 

 planted every second year." — Ed.] 



Growing Lettuce under Glass. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The conditions under which Lettuce has been forced 

 this winter have differed materially from those of the past two 

 seasons, and a succession of almost sunless days, with damp 

 and warm weather, has made it difficult to grow Lettuce 

 heavy enough to count much when it comes to be weighed up 

 for market. Prices have been the same as in recent years. We 

 have been obliged to keep part of the steam lines on the houses 

 and the ventilators raised partially to prevent rotting off, and 

 even with this treatment the bottom leaves decay as soon as 

 the plants get large enough to touch each other, and when 

 ready for cutting the plants do not weigh more than half as 

 much as they should. 



We are using both subirrigation and surface watering in 

 growing Lettuce, and while there is some difference in favor of 

 subirrigation, it is not enough to pay for the extra cost of con- 

 structing the beds. We have one house, twenty-two by sev- 

 enty feet, with solid benches, and two and a half inch tile laid 

 eight inches apart crosswise of the benches, and soil about 

 eight inches deep. The tile gives good drainage and ventila- 

 tion through the bed, but the watering is all done from above. 

 Last year in this house we grew two crops of Lettuce and one 

 crop of Cucumbers, which sold for exactly $400. 



Adjoining this house we have another, twenty-two by sev- 

 enty feet, with solid benches and cemented bottoms. The tile 

 in this house runs lengthwise, and is connected with open 

 troughs at the ends and centre. The soil is about the same 

 depth as in the first house. The beds are watered by subirriga- 

 tion through the tiles, the water being turned into the troughs 

 at the two ends and centre of the house. We find this method 

 convenient, and in dark cloudy weather it is more effective 

 than surface watering, because the ground can be kept moist 

 without wetting the leaves. But, as already stated, it will not 

 pay for the extra labor and cost of constructing the benches 

 unless there is a more marked difference than has shown 

 thus far. 



Lettuce is selling now at fourteen cents a pound in the Cleve- 

 land market. It takes two weeks longer to grow the plants to 

 marketable size than it did last year, and then they do not 

 weigh nearly as much. If we sell half as many dollars' worth 

 out of our houses this winter as we did last we shall think we 

 have done fairly well. 



Lakewood, O. F- t- Carr. 



Cypripediums at Langwater Gardens. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir, — The collection of Cypripediums in the greenhouses be- 

 longing to Mrs. F. L. Ames, of North Easton, Massachusetts, 

 is one of the largest in the United States. Among Orchids, 

 Cypripediums have a beauty all their own ; some others are 

 more brilliantly tinted, but are only attractive when in bloom, 

 and even then the stems of some of them, as of many Cat- 

 tleyas, are awkward, to say the least. The beautifully mottled 

 foliage of the Cypripediums vies in attractiveness with the 

 curiously shaped and oddly marked flowers. 



This collection is rich with many hybrid forms which have 

 been raised here. Cypripedium Jack Ames is a cross between 

 C. Lawrenceanum and C. ciliolare. The plant is much larger 

 than either of its parents. The foliage is particularly large and 

 handsomely shaded in light and dark green. The prominent 

 violet markings on the dorsal sepal are characteristic of the 

 seed parent. The warted, or black hairy spotted, petals are 

 characteristic of both, although in the number and distribution 

 of the spots it more closely resembles C. ciliolare. The gem 

 of all is the primrose-yellow C. insigne Sanderae. Among sev- 

 eral so-called yellow varieties this is the only one worthy the 

 name. If there is anything to mar its beauty it is the merest 

 trace of brown on the lower part of the dorsal sepal and a 

 scarcely distinguishable margin of white on the upper edge. 

 The hybrid Juno (C. Faireanum x callosum) resembles in 

 many respects C. callosum. The curiously twisted petals 

 characteristic of C. Faireanum are very prominent.. C. Win- 

 nieanum (C. Druryi x villosum) is a handsome kind with a 

 dark brown line along the centre of the dorsal sepal and a wide 



margin of white. Orion (C. concolor x insigne), as might be 

 expected, is a pretty hybrid with pale yellow flowers spotted 

 with brown. Minnie Ames, a handsome dwarf hybrid be- 

 tween C. concolor and C. niveum, is white, suffused with 

 purplish pink dots. In Alectro the large dorsal sepal is nearly 

 white. The petals are recurving-, violet-spotted, on a green 

 ground. Aphrodite is between C. niveum and C. Lawrence- 

 anum. It is distinguished by a white groundwork on the dor- 

 sal sepal, with violet lines running through and violet spotting 

 on the other parts of the Mower. 



Cypripedium Niobe (C. Faireanum X Spicerianum) has 

 the good qualities of both parents. Its foliage is beautiful, and 

 it has the graceful recurving petals of C. Faireanum. C. Sal- 

 lied aurem (C. Villosum X insigne) was known as the 

 yellow Cypripedium until the appearance of C. Sanderse. It 

 is a distinct and beautiful hybrid. It loses none of its beauty 

 by comparison with C. Sanderae, and would never be discarded 

 on account of it. C. Sallieri aureum is rather orange-green 

 than yellow, with a few dark spots on the dorsal sepal, and is 

 white on the upper part. The rare C. Chamberlainianum is 

 among the most beautiful and attractive of Orchids. It alone is 

 worth going a long way to see. The type is unique. The 

 foliage is very broad, flat and attractively variegated. The 

 large sepal is green, with a lighter-colored margin and dark 

 lines. The petals are long and twisted, screw-like, and deeply 

 colored with a violet and brown metallic-like lustre. The 

 edges of the petals are hairy. The pouch is violet, dotted with 

 purple, with a band of orange about the mouth. The stami- 

 node is very large and bronzy green. C. (Selenipedium) 

 Schroderas is the finest of its type. The whole of the flower 

 is bright reddish pink, prettily spotted with lighter shading on 

 the infolding lobes of the orifice of the pouch. C. Germinya- 

 num (C. villosum X hirsutissumum) is a beautiful flow- 

 ered hybrid with the purplish pink petals characteristic of C. 

 hirsutissumum, the dorsal sepal bronzy green, with lighter 

 shadings. C. Leeanum giganteum is the best of all the varie- 

 ties of this type. The dorsal sepal is very large, and, with the 

 exception of a line along the centre, it is white. The petals 

 are orange-green, with lines and markings of reddish bronze. 

 T. D. Hay ward is a cross between C. Druryi and C. superbiens. 

 The groundwork of the large sepal is white, with bright violet 

 lines running through it, and a heavier medium line. The 

 pouch is silvery pink, and the petals pink, with a deeper line 

 along the centre. In C. Measuresianum the petals and pouch 

 are both reddish bronze. The dorsal sepal is green, with 

 deeper lines and margined with white. Creon is another 

 beautiful hybrid. The iarge sepal is almost wholly purple, 

 there being merely a narrow margin of white. C. (Selenipe- 

 dium) Brysa (reticulatum X sedeni, var. candidulum) is still 

 among the best hybrids of the New World type. The whole 

 of the flower is white, tinted with rose. The infolding lobes 

 of the pouch are spotted. C. Phcedera (Lindleyanum x 

 sedeni, var. candidulum), another of this type, is deeper in 

 tone than Brysa. It has the vigor of C. Lindleyanum, and is 

 also a very free bloomer. Like all the Selenipedium type, it is 

 seldom out of flower, and ttiere have been as many as seven 

 flowers open at one time on one flower-stem. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Meetings of Societies. 



The Western New York Horticultural Society. — IV. 

 crimson clover in horticulture. 

 Mr. George T. Powell read a paper on this subject in which 

 he said that this crop was attracting attention, largely because 

 it is an annual and grows at a season when the land is other- 

 wise unoccupied. The frequent failure of Red Clover is a 

 discouraging feature of our agriculture. Crimson Clover ger- 

 minates quickly and develops rapidly. On Mr. Powell's farm 

 leaves had been seen forty-eight hours after the seed was 

 sown. In Delaware and New Jersey hundreds of acres are 

 sowed with the seed after other crops have been harvested, 

 and in one field from which fifteen tons of tomatoes had been 

 gathered seed was sown in September, and in January plants 

 were dug with the roots three feet long. With Mr. Powell a 

 block of Pear-trees where this Clover had been sown gave a 

 much better crop than an adjoining block where there had 

 been none. Sweet Potatoes, followed by a crop of Crimson 

 Clover, and when planted in the same place next year, showed 

 an increase of yield, owing, it is thought, to the plant-food 

 gathered by this plant. As a special protection for an orchard 

 against drought, Rye four feet high was chained and plowed 

 under, and Crimson Clover sown on the field in July made a 

 great growth. It is a good winter covering and mulch ; it 



