May 8, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



227 



was the earliest and warmest for the 

 D. D. Sladc. 



The spring of i8i 

 twenty-seven years. 



Chestnut Hill, Mass. 



An Orchid Nursery. 

 To tiie Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir. — A few weeks ago your London correspondent wrote 

 that the position held by the Orchid family would be the most 

 remarkable feature in the history of English horticultiue in the 

 nineteenth century. It cannot be said that in this country 

 " the cultivation of Orchids has developed into almost a pas- 

 sion," or that millions of pounds are invested in them here. 

 It is true, however, that there are a few collections in the 

 United States vvhicli take rank among the foremost in the 

 world for size and completeness, and several more which, 

 although not so large, would be noteworthy in any country for 

 careful selection and skillful cultivation. That there is a 

 growing interest in these plants is proved by the fact that the 

 number of buyers has doubled in the past three years. This 

 does not mean that the sales have been doubled in amount, 

 for the new purchasers take plants in moderate quantities. 

 ]5ut, after all, it means that more new collections are started 

 every year, and there is good reason to believe that the de- 

 mand for these plants is steadily increasing. 



That this is the faith of enterprising dealers is proved by the 

 fact that F. Sander & Co., whose great nurseries at St. Albans, 

 England, are devoted to Orchids alone, have established a 

 branch nursery at Summit, New Jersey, to meet the present 

 and prospective requirements of their business in this country. 

 Agents of this firm have been sent here for several years in 

 the season of auction sales, and three years ago Mr. I. Forster- 

 mann came here as a resident representative of the liouse, 

 and it is under his direction that the branch nurseries are now 

 being built. These nurseries, as I learned on a visit to Sum- 

 mit last week, are finely located, and are planned to consist 

 ultimately of eight growing-houses, each 150 feet long by 

 twenty-one wide, with lean-tos attached, and all connected 

 with a central show-house. One of these houses is already 

 built in the most substantial manner, witli heavy concrete 

 wails and the best selected yellow pine throughout. The house 

 stands on sloping ground, and the earth has been excavated 

 from the alleys only and left three feet deep under the side 

 and central stages. This earth under the staging is covered 

 with forest-leaves, and it is expected that the evaporation of 

 moisture from the damp earth and leaves will furnish an 

 atmosphere which will approach in quality the air in the nat- 

 ural habitat of the plants. The water-pipes, are not placed 

 below the staging, but under the walks which are made of 

 yellow pine strips. One small pipe runs along the back of 

 each side-table and above it, and behind this is a line of 

 ventilators set so closely as to be almost continuous for the 

 purpose of cooling the house in summer. There are many 

 features in the construction and arrangement of this house 

 which I have not observed before, and which seem to add 

 much to its beauty, convenience and practical effectiveness, 

 but the space you grant will not admit of further detail in this 

 matter. 



The principal purpose of this establishment will be to fur- 

 nish a place for the reception of plants as they are imported, 

 where they may be grown on until they become established 

 and in tiowering condition. When a buyer has a skillful gar- 

 dener he will not hesitate to take Orchids from the case and 

 to care for them from the time of their arrival. But a long 

 sea-voyage is a strain upon the vitality of the plants, and 

 some species always suffer seriously. Comparatively few 

 gardeners in the United States have sufficient experience to 

 warrant success in taking charge of Orchids when in an en- 

 feebled condition; and when plants are lost dissatisfaction 

 must follow. If, however, the plants are taken directly from 

 the ship and placed imder the expert treatment Avhich they 

 will receive at these nurseries, a large proportion of them can 

 be safely carried over this period of danger, while under less 

 favorable conditiois they might perish. Beginners should 

 never attempt to grow freshly-imported Orchids, and it will be 

 found in every way more satisfactory for them to see the 

 plants they buy in flower, or at least giving promise of flower. 

 Another purpose of these nurseries will be to furnish some- 

 thing like a training-school where young men who wish to 

 learn the niceties of Orchid culture can receive practical in- 

 struction, and the young gardeners who come here to assist 

 will l)e prejiared to supply the skilled labor which is now 

 difficult to obtain in this country. Of course rare plants will 

 be propagated here, and in time efforts will be niade to 

 produce new varieties by hybridizing. 



Nearly all the Orchids in the nurseries at present are recent 



importations, and are just as they came from the woods. 

 There are a few specimen plants, however, that would he 

 notable in any collection. One of these is a Cattlcya Skinncri 

 four feet across, with enormous bulbs and the promise of 500 

 flowers. Near it is one of the largest plants of Saccolabiuin 

 guttaiiiin, filling a basket three feet scjuare, and a specimen of 

 the white Lcv/ia anceps nearly as large. Passing by a re- 

 markable specimen of Cypripeditim grande atratuin and a 

 good Cattlcya citrina, one of the most interesting plants is a 

 large Ccclogyne Forsternia7ini, which was discovered in Borneo 

 by Mr. Forstermann. In its home, as many as thirty flowers 

 are sometimes borne on a single erect spike, after the style of 

 Odontoglossiim crispiim. They are of purest white, with a 

 yellow throat. The plant, however, has never yet bloomed in 

 cultivation. It does not bear transportation well, and no spec- 

 imen has yet been brought up to a strength sufficient for the 

 production of flowers, although the plant here shows promise 

 of bloom. 



Inasmuch as Messrs. Sander & Co. have as many as twenty 

 collectors in the East Indies, in Africa, in South America and 

 Mexico the nurseries can l)e filled with plants as quickly as 

 they are built, and there is little doubt that the market will 

 take them all. There is an erroneous notion that all Orchids 

 are expensive, for many of the very best of them, when esti- 

 mated for their beauty and ease of culture, are really cheap. 

 Flowering plants of such admirable species as Cattleya Triancr, 

 C. Mcssice, Dendrobium Wardiaiium, D. nobile, Cypripcdiutn 

 insigne, Oncidiiim varicosiim, and many more can be had for 

 a dollar or two each, while there are varieties of the same 

 species which would cost hundreds of dollars. This does not 

 imply that the expensive ones are necessarily the most Ijeau- 

 tiful, but it illustrates the fact that there are two classes of 

 Orchid-growers. The one class cultivates them for their 

 beauty only, and such a taste can be gratified without any ex- 

 travagant expenditure. But when one collects Orchids with a 

 similar purpose to that which controls a collector of coins, or of 

 rare books or prints, the diversion becomes a most expensive 

 one. No one will find fault with a collector of the second 

 class who has the means to indiflge his fancy in this direction. 

 But I wish there were more of the first class, who grow 

 Orchids as they grow other plants, simply for their beauty and 

 fragrance, and who do not find their highest value in the fact 

 that no one else is able to get plants like them. 



Summit, N.J. S. 



Recent Plant Portraits. 



Botanical Magazine : 



LiLiUM NEPALENSE, t. 7043; a well-marked species, discov- 

 ered more than fifty years ago in the high mountains of 

 Nepaul, but only very recently introduced into cultivation. 

 The flowers, which appear either singly or in corymbs of three 

 to five, are "four or five inches long, greenish-yellow outside, 

 yellow within, flushed, except in the upper third, with purplish- 

 black." 



Sarcochilus luniferus, t. 7044. 



Stuartia Pseudo-Camellia, /. 7045; a handsome-flowered, 

 hardy shrub, the Japanese representative of a genus quite 

 widely distributed in our south Atlantic States, where ten spe- 

 cies occur. The Japanese plant was introduced into the 

 United States many years ago by Mr. Thomas Hogg, and is 

 now not infrequently seen in American gardens. 



Opuntia polycantha, t. 7046; this, it seems, is Haworth's 

 (Suppl. PI. Succulent, p. 82) earlier name for O. Missoitriensis, 

 the dwarf and horribly armed species familiar to all travelers 

 over the northern plains towards the upper Missouri and the 

 Saskatchewan. 



Chironia peduncularis, t. 7047. 



Eremostachys laciniata, /. 7048; a noble perennial Labiate 

 from the Levant and the Caucasus, long known in gardens, 

 having been introduced into England by Philip Miller as early 

 as 1731. 



Delphinium Zalil, t. 7049 ; a plant of economic value. 

 This is one of the most interesting discoveries of the Afghan 

 Delimination Commission. The botanist of the Commission, 

 Dr. Artchison, thus refers to it: "This plant forms a great 

 portion of the herbage of the rolling downs of the Badghis ; in 

 the vicinity of Gubron it was in great abundance, and when in 

 blossom gave a wondrous golden hue to the pastures. The 

 flowers are collected largely for exportation, chiefly to Persia, 

 for dyeing silk; they are also exported from Herat, through 

 Afghanistan to northern India, to be employed as a dye as well 

 as to be used in medicine." It is a showy plant when its bright 

 vellow flowers, borne in spikes ten inches long, are expanded. 



Iris Barnum/K, /. 7050 ; a handsome, purple-flowered sjie- 

 cies, introduced into cultivation bv Professor Foster, who 



