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Garden and Forest. 



[January 8, 1890. 



Orchids. — There is a constant, steady influx ot new species- 

 and varieties of Orchids, but amongst them are only very few 

 ot exceptional value in a horticultural sense. The best of the 

 lot is Vanda Kimballiana, introduced by Messrs. Low & Co., 

 and (lowered for the first time by them in September last. 

 Although allied to / '. Amesiana, it is, nevertheless, abundantly 

 distinct in foliage and in the form and tints of its flowers. (For 

 a detailed description ot this plant see Garden and FOREST, 

 vol. ii. F p. 499.) Although not yet flowered in this country, the 

 large quantities of those two reputedly very beautiful species 

 of Madagascar Phai uses — namely, P. Humblotii and P.Henryi — 

 which have been imported by Messrs. Sander & Co., must be 

 recorded here as an event of some importance to Orchid- 

 growers. They appear to thrive under cultivation, and are 

 likely to prove better garden Orchids than their delicate, 

 though exceedingly handsome, relative. P. tuberculosus. At 

 any rate the two new species are growing remarkably well in 

 a moist hot-house at Kew. P. pauciflorus, with white flowers 

 springing from the nodes of an elongated stem, is a recent 

 addition from Java, whilst in P. Mannii, which is probably a 

 very fine variety of the old P. Wallichii, we have a very orna- 

 mental, easily grown Orchid, much superior to all of that sec- 

 tion of the genus represented by P. gratidifolius. It was 

 introduced to Kew from Assam, and flowered for the first time 

 this year. Grammatophyllum Measuresianum is a provisional 

 name for a vigorous growing, large flowered species, recently 

 imported by Mr. Sander from the Philippine Islands, and de- 

 scribed at length in Garden and Forest, vol. ii., p. 524. The 

 plants of this genus are not happy, as a rule, under cultivation 

 here, but in this respect G. Measuresianum is exceptional, as it 

 grows very freely in a hot, moist house. Catasetum, a genus 

 which is now receiving much more attention than formerly, 

 has been strengthened this year by the addition of C. Dar- 

 winianum, C. Bungerothii, var. aureum, and C. galeratum, var. 

 pachyglossum. These are all sufficiently ornamental to appeal 

 to any taste that is not confined to the big and the gaudy. 

 Lalia autumnalis , var. alba, L. prastans, var. alba, and L. an- 

 ceps amabilis are all albinos of great beauty. They are the 

 only new additions .this year to the Lselias and Cattleyas, a sur- 

 prising fact, seeing how numerous the new discoveries in 

 these two genera were until a year or so ago. The only new 

 Odontoglossum is 0. Himnew ellianum, which has bulbs and 

 leaves similar to those of 0. crispum, whilst the flowers are 

 two inches across, the sepals lemon-yellow, spotted with 

 chocolate, the petals cream-white, spotted with purple and 

 brown, and the incurved fimbriated lip is primrose-yellow, 

 with a blotch of red-brown. It was introduced by Messrs. 

 Sander & Co. from Colombia. Oncidium Widgreni and O.fim- 

 briatum are botanical additions, as also is Schomburgkia lepi- 

 dissima and Eulophis bella. Cypripedium has not increased 

 in the number of species, two good varieties of C. insigne — 

 namely, Halleanum and Horsmani — being the only additions 

 recorded. Habenaria Macoivaniana, Satyrium membranaceuin 

 and S. princeps are introductions from south Africa, with con- 

 siderable claims to favor were they not so difficult to manage 

 after the first year. Disa tripetaloides is a large flowered, 

 beautiful species, introduced by Mr. O'Brien from south 

 Africa, and which promises to become as valuable in gardens 

 as D. grandiflora and the recently introduced D. racemosa. 

 Peristeria Possiana.anew Reichenbachian species, with pseudo- 

 bulbs and leaves like those of P. pendula, and flowers like the 

 last named in color and size, but differing in the form of the 

 column and lip. Zygopetalum hicidum is a new species im- 

 ported from British Guiana by Messrs. Sander & Co., and is 

 not very dissimilar from Z. meleagris. A few other new in- 

 troductions of purely botanical interest have been noted, but 

 they are not worth including here. It will be seen, therefore, 

 that on the whole we have added very few good Orchids to 

 those which we possessed last year. 



Garden Hybrids. — If we have exceptionally few additions 

 ot any value to record among species and varieties of Orchids, 

 those which have been produced by the breeder and flowered 

 this year for the first time are interesting, and a few are valu- 

 able. Probably the finest Hybrid Orchid hitherto obtained in 

 England is Lce'lia Digbyana X Mossice, raised by Messrs. Veitch 

 and exhibited in flower before the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 who awarded it a Banksian medal. It combines the most 

 striking characters of its two parents in such a manner as to 

 be very much superior to either. Other hybrids, raised from 

 Laelia and Cattleya, are : Cassiope (from C. Exoniensis and 

 L. pumila), resembling L. pimiila in size and color, but not 

 much of an advance (Veitch); Aurora (from L. pumila and 

 C. Loddigesii), a beautiful little hybrid with flowers of good 

 substance, intermediate in size and color between the two 

 parents (Veitch) ; Stella (from L. crispa and C. elegans), a 



decidedly handsome hybrid with the , habit of C. elegans and 

 the color of the flowers a modification of both parents (Veitch). 

 In Cypripedium there have been numerous hybrids and 

 crosses flowered and named during the year. Selecting only 

 the most noteworthy, we have Niobe, mentioned last week, 

 a beautiful little plant, as are all the offspring of C. Fairrea- 

 num ; C. Pitcherianum (from C. Harrisianum and C. Spiceria- 

 num), described by Reichenbach in January last as "a sur- 

 prisingly gorgeous flower, not only excellent in color, but also 

 in its uncommon size." It is dedicated to Mr. Pitcher, of New 

 Jersey, and was flowered in the Sanderian establishment. 

 T. B. Haywood is the only other new hybrid Cypripedium 

 of any importance. It was raised in Messrs. Veitchs' nursery 

 from C. superbiens and C. Druryi, and partakes largely of the 

 first named parent. Cymbidium ebemeo-Lowianum is a hybrid 

 whose parentage is denoted by its name ; it was raised by 

 Messrs. Veitch and received a first-class certificate from the 

 Royal Horticultural Society. Several Hybrid Dendrobiums 

 and Masdevallias have flowered, but they are not worth men- 

 tioning here. 

 London. W. Watson. 



Cultural Department. 



Orchard Experiences. — I. 



IT is the habit of nearly all branching species of trees, when 

 allowed to develop naturally, to branch from the ground 

 up. When man, for his own ends, counteracts this tendency 

 by the use of the knife, he does, it at the expense of growth 

 and of a greater or less detraction from the health of the trees 

 so mutilated. Of course, this truth is not conclusive against 

 pruning, for, in the forest, very straight timber requires the 

 sacrifice of lateral development in the trees, and the require- 

 ments of practical convenience in our orchards justify the re- 

 moval of obstructive growths. And yet we should never quite 

 ignore the fact that even the most scientific maiming of our 

 trees is in some sort a cruelty, which has its inevitable reaction. 



The admission by all skilled tree-growers that disbudding, 

 or penknife pruning, should be the rule, is an acknowledg- 

 ment of the truth above stated. If we must do harm to the 

 tree for our own future advantage, let us at least do it in the 

 least harmful way. Nothing so quickly destroys a plantation 

 of fruit-trees as the rude pruning with axes which is too often 

 seen in American farmers' orchards, while the scarcely better 

 pruning away of large branches with the saw is working even 

 wider destruction. 



It has been my fortune to be an orchardist below the latitude 

 of thirty-eight degrees and on that of forty-five degrees. In 

 the former the evils of rash pruning are far less conspicuous 

 than in the latter, but they are by no means inconspicuous. In 

 the cold north a roughly pruned young tree soon perishes. 

 This fact has led to the hasty advocacy of a let-alone practice ; 

 and it is admitted that by it a great deal more fruit will be ob- 

 tained while the trees are young. But as they grow and their 

 heads become a mass of tangled brush, with the lower limbs 

 and many of the inner ones dying for want of air and light, 

 Nature prunes for us, and, in spite of us, does it more roughly 

 and with more destructive consequences than we should have 

 done it ourselves, however careless or ignorant. 



Briefly, then, we are reduced to an alternative choice either 

 to train our trees or let Nature do it, and Nature is very "care- 

 less of the single life," which, in every case, it is our profit to 

 preserve. 



The absolute necessity for as nearly iron-clad fruit-trees as 

 possible in the extreme north is demonstrated in nothing more 

 impressively than in our attempt to form an evenly balanced 

 and suitably open head for our orchard-trees. These attempts 

 are sure to fail if the tree is not hardy enough against climate 

 to bear the exposure — -not so much to the cold as to the sun's 

 heat and light. A great deal of emphasis is put upon setting 

 the young trees at an angle leaning toward the prevailing 

 winds of the leafy season, and I accept this as good practice 

 everywhere. But as it is in the bare season that the sun's rays 

 work the most damage upon the trunks, the forks and the 

 limbs of our trees, it is not enough. 



The prime essential of our northern orchard-practice is to 

 get a sound, sun-resisting trunk ; and the varieties which will 

 give us that must be the foundation of our work. We find 

 these chiefly, if not exclusively, among the trees of north-east- 

 ern Europe. Upon them we may work our best native iron- 

 clads, not merely standard-high, but upon the limbs. No 

 varieties with a tendency to die in the forks are of any use if 

 we desire a permanent success. 



How many main branches shall our trees have ? More 

 than two, certainly, for that makes a fork, and experience 



