78 



Garden and Forest. 



[February 12, 1890. 



although each 01H was as expensive as the last. And now 

 comesthe disheartening' part. These plants, obtained at such 

 an outlay, when placed in the market have not realized any- 

 thing like the sum spent in collecting- and importing them, 

 apart altogether from losses on the other attempts. Another 

 similar case is that of Mr. Wallace, of Colchester, who has 

 just returned from collecting in tropical west Africa, and has 

 succeeded in bringing to England about sixty plants of an Angra?- 

 cum new to cultivation, and a very fine thing. These sixty 

 plants are all that survived of some thousands collected. In 

 the auction rooms the prices these rare Orchids brought were 

 absurdly low ; I do not think they would more than pay the 

 cost of packing and freight. Again, it sometimes happens 

 that on the eve of a sale of an importation of Orchids informa- 

 tion of a second, or even third, importation is made public. 

 People who are astonished at the exceptional value of an 

 Orchid, do not take into consideration the difficulties and cost 

 of bringing the plants to England. Many of them are as rare 

 and as difficult to get at as diamonds. 



Angrcecum pallidum. — This is the Orchid which Mr. Wallace, 

 of Colchester, has just brought from the west coast of Africa 

 and offered for sale at the auction-rooms this week. It has 

 fleshy, strap-shaped, distichous leaves nearly two feet long, 

 two and a half inches wide in the broadest part and shining 

 green, and is in the way of, but larger than, A. pellucidum. 

 The flowers are produced on thin spikes two feet or more 

 long, some of the imported plants showing no less than thirty 

 dried spikes ; each spike bears about sixty flowers, which are 

 creamy white, almost transparent, apparently about as large 

 as those of A. Sanderianum. In bloom the plants are said to 

 present a grand appearance. Judging by the imported plants, 

 I should say that A. pallidum is a gigantic A. hyaloides, which 

 is peculiar amongst cultivated Angraecums in producing erect 

 spikes of white flowers in great profusion from the base of the 

 plant. If A. pallidum proves amenable to ordinary stove treat- 

 ment — and there is no reason to doubt that it will do so, since 

 the other tropical African Angraecums are easy to cultivate — 

 it will be a valuable addition to the already numerous species 

 of this genus now in cultivation. 



Maxillaria Sanderiana. — Hitherto this plant has been very 

 rare, only one or two growers having saved plants of an im- 

 portation of Mr. Sander's some six years ago. Probably ex- 

 cessive heat caused the death of most of the plants, the 

 general belief being that this species required tropical treat- 

 ment. It is happiest in an intermediate house, or say, along 

 with Cattleyas. Messrs. Shuttleworth, Cardes & Co., of Clap- 

 ham, have just succeeded in importing a good lot of this spe- 

 cies, so that it should henceforth be as popular as other Max- 

 illarias. It is one of the very best of the genus, having 

 flowers as large and of as much substance as those of 

 Lycaste Skinneri ; they are five inches across, pure white, the 

 lip and lower part of the segments deep crimson. The spe- 

 cies is a native of Peru. 



Cypripedium Godefroyce. — When first introduced some seven 

 years ago this pretty little species found many purchasers at 

 from five to ten guineas a plant. This week I saw it sold at 

 the auction rooms, newly imported plants in fine condition, at 

 from three pence to six pence per plant. Most growers prefer 

 the newer and handsomer C. bellatulum, a near relative if not 

 actually a variety of the former. In England it is not easy to 

 keep these and other Cypripediums of this section in good 

 health during the winter ; they are singular in the genus in 

 their love of bright sunshine, of which we have, as a rule, 

 very little in winter — at any rate, in the near neighborhood of 

 London. The natural conditions for C. Godefroyce are "on the 

 cliffs of a limestone island, where, after about ten o'clock 

 A. M., they are exposed till sunset to the full glare of a tropi- 

 cal sun." W. Watson. 



London. — — — — ^— 



Cultural Department. 



Ericas. 



THE Cape Heaths have always held a prominent position 

 among greenhouse flowering plants in England. They 

 were much more popular in the early part of this century than 

 they are now, although a select few of the easiest to manage 

 and with showy flowers are still grown in immense numbers, 

 especially in the neighborhood of London. There are also 

 still a few private gardens where a good representative collec- 

 tion of Ericas is cultivated. 



The genus is said to comprise some 400 species. Of this 

 number no less than seven-eighths are found in the south- 

 western region of the Cape. This region is an angular littoral 

 strip, extending from Port Elizabeth to Oliphants' River and 



with an average width of fifty miles. Nearly all the best of 

 garden plants from south Africa are found here. The 

 showiest of the Ericas are, according to Bolus, found on the 

 mountains ; E. cerinthoides, E. mammosa, E. coccinea, E. spu- 

 mosa and E. hirta being the most abundant ; the last named 

 making whole mountain-sides glow with its warm pink-col- 

 ored flowers. In England a similar effect is produced by the 

 rich glowing purple of our native Heather, which covers miles 

 of moor and hill-side. 



According to Aiton there were close upon 200 species of 

 Cape Ericas in cultivation here in 1810 ; about half of this num- 

 ber having been sent home by Francis Masson, who collected 

 at the Cape for Kew. Loudon, in the " Hortus Britannicus," 

 enumerates no less than 565 species, so called, as having been 

 cultivated in England, 348 of which were figured in the Botani- 

 cal Magazine, Andrews' "Heathery" and other works. The 

 position in horticulture held at that time by these plants was 

 evidently an exceptional one. 



The art of cultivating Cape Heaths appears to have been ac- 

 quired in England, almost from the date of their first introduc- 

 tion. Specimen plants six feet through and as many high, in 

 splendid health and full of bloom, were common features at 

 plant exhibitions forty or fifty years ago, and now and again 

 such specimens are to be seen in English collections to-day. 

 Whether some peculiarity of climate or 6ther,eondijJ&ons favors 

 the growth of these plants in England and Scotland, it would 

 be difficult to say, but certainly in no other country, not even 

 at the Cape itself, are such specimens of Ericas to be seen as 

 are produced by cultivation in England. The principal intro- 

 ducers and dealers in Cape Heaths in England were, after 

 Kew, Messrs. Lee & Kennedy, Low, Rollisson, and Fraser. In 

 addition to the species, a large number of hybrids and seed- 

 ling varieties were raised in England, chiefly by Rollisson, 

 Turnbull, Marnock and the McNabs. Many of these eventu- 

 ally superseded the species, and to-day one may safely say 

 that of the Ericas represented in English gardens considerably 

 more than half are hybrids of garden origin. It has been com- 

 puted that of species, hybrids and varieties something like 

 one thousand kinds of Erica have been known and grown 

 here. 



The Kew collection of these plants contains probably every 

 one of the true species in cultivation in England and a good 

 number of the hybrids and varieties. Altogether they num- 

 ber 142. J 



The beautiful colors, elegance of form and other charms of 

 many species of Cape Ericas are, to some extent, depicted iit 

 the large edition of Andrews' " Heathery." Th-efee drawings'* 

 however, beautiful though they are, fail to convey any idea of the 

 ornamental character of well grown specimens when well 

 flowered. Such kinds as those mentioned at the end of this 

 paper have very few equals among greenhouse flowering 

 plants. Ericas, when properly treated, flower very freely, and 

 their blooms remain fresh a long time, either when cut or when 

 left on the plants. Many of them flower at a time when they are 

 of exceptional value. No well furnished conservatory in win- 

 ter can fail to show plants of such kinds as E. hyemalis, E. 

 colorans, E. hybrida and E. persoluta. By selecting the plants 

 according to their flowering season, one might easily have a 

 few examples in flower at all times in the year. 



The cultivation of Cape Heaths is not nearly so difficult as is 

 popularly supposed. Where their requirements are properly 

 understood they are grown by the thousand, by men of the 

 rank of garden laborers. They are all what are here termed 

 cool greenhouse plants, requiring a minimum temperature a 

 few degrees above freezing point, and during hot weather 

 exposure to full sunshine in the open. When under glass they 

 must have an abundant and regular supply of fresh air ; the 

 atmosphere also should be kept as dry as possible. They 

 thrive only when planted in good rich peat, made very porous 

 by adding plenty of sharp silver sand. The pots should be 

 well drained, and the soil made as firm as possible with the 

 hand. Potting sticks, unless very carefully used, are often the 

 source of much injury. The time to repot is from January to 

 March. Free-growing kinds, such as E. hyemalis, may be 

 shifted annually into pots two or three sizes larger than those 

 they are in ; but the slow-growing, hard wooded kinds do not 

 require more than one size larger each year. From the mis- 

 taken belief that when a Heath dies it is the result of over- 

 watering, beginners often err by keeping their plants too dry. 

 When in good health Ericas require as much moisture at the 

 root as most plants ; but the soil must be kept sweet and never 

 allowed to become water-logged. Avoid extremes in regard 

 to watering and Ericas have what they require. During sum- 

 mer the free-growing kinds should be watered occasionally 

 with weak manure water. 



