622 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 24, 1890. 



attain a height of several metres, and to bear as many as 300 

 flowers, which, are white, with a purple disc to the sepals and 

 petals, and a violet-purple lip. It is dedicated to His Majesty, 

 Leopold II., King- of the Belgians. — Gardeners' 1 Chronicle, 

 November 15th, p. 556. 



Cattleva O'Brieniana. — A plant of this was exhibited at a 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on November nth 

 last by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans. It is said to 

 have light purple sepals and petals and a lip with crimson 

 splashings. From a flower which I have seen I suspect it to 

 be a pale form of C. Harrisonice. — Gardeners' Chronicle, 

 November 15th, p. 556. 



Odontoglossum Davivierianum, Rchb. f. — A supposed 

 natural hybrid between O. maailatum and O. nebulosum. It 

 was exhibited by Messrs. Linden, L'Horticulture Internationale, 

 Brussels, at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on 

 November nth last, when it received an award of merit. — 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, November 15th, p. 570, and 22d, p. 602. 



Odontoglossum Noezlianum. — " A dwarf, delicate-growing 

 novelty, with small, circular, bright scarlet flowers." It was 

 exhibited by Messrs. Linden, L'Horticulture Internationale, 

 Brussels, at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on 

 November nth last, when it was awarded a botanical certifi- 

 cate. I have not seen it. — Gardeners' Chronicle, November 

 15th, p. 570, and 22d, p. 602. 



Sophro-Cattleya x Calypso, Rolfe, is a beautiful hybrid 

 raised by Mr. Seden for Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, of Chel- 

 sea, from Sophronitis grandiflora, fertilized with the pollen of 

 Cattleya Loddigcsii, var. Harrisonice. The sepals and petals 

 are of a brilliant rose-purple, much like those of the Sophro- 

 nitis in shape, while the lip, which much resembles the pollen 

 parent in shape, is light yellow, passing into pink on the mar- 

 gin of the side lobes, and into deep yellow on the base of the 

 front lobe, the apical half of which is crimson-purple. — Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle, November 22d, p. 588. 



Kew. . R. A. Rolfe. 



Cultural Department. 

 A Winter Lettuce Crop. 



THE accompanying illustration, taken from a photograph, 

 shows a section of a crop of Lettuce which is now (De- 

 cember 8th) maturing in the forcing-houses of the Cornell 

 Experiment Station. It was grown primarily to be used for 

 one of a series of experiments to determine the influ- 

 ence of the electric light upon various plants. Owing to a de- 

 lay in establishing the light, no study of this kind will be made 

 until the succeeding crop, but it still serves admirably to illus- 

 trate a successful method of culture. 



The crop is a remarkably even one, not a single plant being 

 missing from the bed, which is sixty feet long. There are two 

 varieties shown in the picture, the plants upon the right half 

 being the Tennis Ball or Boston Market, and those upon the 

 left Landreth's Forcing Lettuce. In this crop the latter variety 

 has surpassed even the old and popular Tennis Ball, while 

 growing side by side with it and under precisely the same con- 

 ditions, the heads being somewhat darker in color, and uni- 

 formly larger and heavier. 



The seed was sown about the 1st of October in shallow 

 seed-boxes or "flats," and transplanted two weeks later ten by 

 twelve inches apart into the soil upon the benches. As with 

 other forcing crops, the arrangement of the beds is a matter 

 of considerable importance. In this house, constructed for 

 various experiment purposes, the steam pipes are beneath the 

 benches, an arrangement which is not essential for a Lettuce- 

 crop, and in order to moderate the bottom heat the benches 

 were double-boarded. To provide for drainage a layer of 

 clinkers from the ash-pit was first placed over the boarding 

 about an inch in depth. This was succeeded by three inches 

 of roughly broken compost, consisting of two-thirds partially 

 decayed sods and one-third stable manure, the whole being 

 then covered by three inches of mellow garden soil, thus 

 making a total depth of seven or eight inches upon the 

 benches. With such a body of soil the conditions as regards 

 moisture may be made approximately the same as those of 

 out-door culture. If the soil is much shallower than this, it is 

 constantly liable to become dried out as well as too warm, 

 with a consequent check to the growth of the plants. 



In forcing Lettuce it must be borne in mind that it is a com- 

 paratively hardy plant, which thrives best in a temperature 

 which would be far too low for most of our forcing crops. In 

 this case the effort has been to maintain a temperature at night 

 of fifty degrees, and by day of ten to fifteen degrees higher. Of 

 the two chief hindrances in the forcing of Lettuce, mildew and 

 the aphis, the former has not made its appearance, and the 



latter has been held in check by frequently burning tobacco- 

 stems, lately as often as two or three times a week. 



About two weeks before the maturing of the crop provision 

 was made for a succeeding crop by again sowing seed in the 

 flats, and as soon as the beds are cleared the space will be at 

 once filled by the seedlings now growing for that purpose. 

 When every day's growth of a crop is made at the expense of 

 burning many pounds of coal, it is manifestly of the highest 

 importance that the crop should be pushed to maturity as rap- 

 idly as possible and the strictest economy of time and space 

 be studied in providing for their succession. 



Cornell University. C. IV. MatheWS. 



Begonias. 



THE cultivation of Begonias would seem to be a trite subject, 

 *■ but one finds among friends but limited collections of these 

 desirable plants, and perhaps a few notes of interesting varie- 

 ties may prove helpful to novices. There are said to be over 

 300 species of Begonias, and, of course, hybrids innumerable. 

 With their widely divergent forms and habits, they are of great 

 interest, and one could busy himself at all seasons collecting 

 and cultivating this genus alone. Few plants of such easy cul- 

 ture are so satisfactory in bloom and so readily grown into 

 specimens, and there is a constant change of interest as the 

 various sections come into season. During the winter the 

 greenhouse may be kept gay with handsome foliage and grace- 

 ful flowers of many herbaceous kinds, of B. Socotrana and of 

 hybrids of the tuberous section. In early spring the various 

 tuberous species and hybrids will commence to move and 

 make ready to replace the winter bloomers, which may be 

 plunged in the borders to regain vigorous health. One pleas- 

 ing point about most herbaceous kinds, which small growers 

 will appreciate, is that such plants as one may have no room 

 to cultivate may be kept nearly dormant at any time by cutting 

 them down and keeping them nearly dry and pot-bound. For 

 the greenhouse and conservatory decoration, fancy-leaved 

 kinds will be found desirable, a few of the Rex varieties possi- 

 bly, and those of distinct and striking form and leaf structure. 

 Perhaps the most useful of fancy-leaved Begonias is the well 

 known B. metallica, as this not only forms a handsome plant, 

 but furnishes a larger supply of foliage suitable for cutting 

 than perhaps any other variety. Clementina, a hybrid be- 

 tween a form of B. Rex and Diadema, is an excellent new 

 variety, with characteristics of both parents, a handsome and 

 vigorous grower. Diadema and Sceptra are two attractive 

 varieties, with rather palmate-like, deeply cut leaves and silver 

 markings. 



B. Verschaffeltii, B. ricinifolia maculata and B. Sunder- 

 brnchii are three forms with large, deeply cut leaves on long 

 foot-stalks, which are distinct and effective for decoration. 

 They bloom in summer. B. rubella is also a distinct and desir- 

 able kind of similar habits. Its large, bronzy red leaves are 

 thickly dotted with black spots. 



B. Scharffiana, a new species, is a beautiful plant with large 

 massive leaves on thick, fleshy red stems. The leaves are 

 bright emerald green on the upper and deep red on the under 

 side. The whole plant is covered profusely with short hairs. 

 One feature of this plant is the refined beauty of the young 

 leaves as they push out from the delicate greenish white 

 scapes in which they are first enveloped. My plants, though 

 large and nearly two feet high, have not yet bloomed. They 

 are said to have good-sized white flowers, but these can 

 scarcely add to the ornamental character of this species. Of 

 varieties with fine flowers and handsome foliage Gloire de 

 Sceaux may have first mention — a vigorous variety with 

 leaves.of polished bronze and large racemes of rose colored 

 flowers. Gloire de Jony and Madame Hardy are two fine 

 hybrids of B. subpeltata, with large pink flowers and beautiful 

 foliage, the former light olive green and with a metallic sheen 

 dotted with silver, the latter dark wine colored, checkered and 

 covered with a crimson pile. B. Olbia is a species which is 

 indispensable, though the beautiful crystalline flowers are 

 axillary and not prominent. Its delicate, finely veined leaves 

 are deeply cut, a dull red beneath, and of an indescribable 

 combination of metallic bronzy green and red above. The 

 entire effect of this plant with its beautiful foliage and its white, 

 thick, tapering stems is very distinct and pleasing. 



Of the varieties chiefly valuable for their flowers, though 

 more or less ornamental, perhaps the first place should be 

 given to B. Socotrana, which is proving such a valuable plant 

 to the hybridizer. This variety starts into growth in September 

 from bulblets formed at the base of the old plant. Its leaves 

 are deep green, round, depressed in the centre and recurved 

 at the margin ; the flowers are bright rose, one and a half to two 

 inches across, and last for a long time. From this species we 



