156 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 373. 



cooler. The commonly accepted view that potatoes grown in 

 comparatively cool climates are usually of better quality than 

 those grown in warmer climates is supported by these results, 

 and we would expect that mulching Potatoes during the hotter 

 part of the season in the warmer climates would tend to im- 

 prove the quality of the tubers. 



The market value of potatoes should he based on their spe- 

 cific gravity. There is no reason why potatoes containing but 

 twelve per cent, of starch should sell for as much per bushel 

 as those containing twenty percent.; yet such is the case under 

 the present methods of sale. The latter are worth nearly 

 double the former for food, besides being more desirable in 

 every way. Variations as great as this in the specific gravity 

 of potatoes are not unusual. The salt test admits of very easy 

 and economical application. All that is needed is a large 

 candy jar or other wide-mouthed, capacious glass vessel, a 

 hydrometer, a little salt and a few quarts of clean water. A 

 dozen uninjured tubers may be selected as a sample, washed 

 clean and placed in the standard salt solution, which will at 

 once answer the question as to their average specific gravity 

 and consequent food value. When potatoes are sold on their 

 merits as food, rather than on the amount of bulk that they 

 fill, farmers will have some encouragement to produce tubers 

 that contain starch, rather than those that contain water, and 

 potatoes will be more used for food, because their food value 

 and palatability will be increased. 



Notes on Orchids. 



Lycaste Skinneri.— This is one of the best-known Orchids, 

 and one of the most satisfactory to grow, being of easy man- 

 agement and semi-terrestrial in habit. There is considerable 

 variation in the flowers, which is quite noticeable when a num- 

 ber of plants are in bloom at the same time. One of the purest 

 of white Orchids is the white form of Lycaste Skinneri ; from 

 this variety the colors vary to deep crimson through all the 

 intermediate shades. A year ago we had some two dozen 

 plants, but they took up too murh room on the side benches, 

 due to the spreading habit of the foliage, and we concluded to 

 put them in baskets and suspend them in the cool green- 

 house. The experiment has been a decided success ; in fact, 

 the plants seem to do much better than when the roots were 

 confined in pots. The baskets are twelve inches in diameter, 

 and some of these have at this time over fifty open fiowers. 

 The blossoms are very durable, owing to their wax-like tex- 

 ture, and the plants are especially suitable for room decora- 

 tion at this season. To grow L. Skinneri well the cool house 

 should lie kept at about titty degrees as a minimum. It is one 

 of the easiest of Orchids to accommodate. 



We find that these semi-terrestrial Orchids, Lycastes partic- 

 ularly, will take liquid nourishment at frequent intervals if 

 applied in weak doses. Under this treatment bulbs of extra- 

 large size are produced, and these bear from ten to twelve 

 flowers each, and sometimes even more. The white form 

 seems more delicate in constitution and needs a little more 

 warmth and less moisture at the roots, or the bulbs become 

 spotted with disease and are hard to grow out of it. A shady 

 position is best during the season of growth, but in winter, 

 when maturing, we give the plants full sunshine until the 

 flowers commence to open. There is practically no resting 

 period for L. Skinneri, or, at least, no continued period for 

 drought at the roots ; they should be kept moist at all times, 

 and it is one of the reasons why the plants do not do so well 

 sometimes when grown in pot-^. 



Dendrobium nobile AUanianum. — Of the many well-marked 

 forms of the old Dendrobium nobile, a few are conspicuous, 

 especially among the dark ones. After the variety nobilius, 

 the variety AUanianum is, perhaps, the best, the fiowers be- 

 ing of large size, very dark and unique, in having a fine polish 

 over the entire surface of the flower. It is as distinct in its 

 way as C. villosum is among Cypripediums. We find it to be 

 a good grower, much better than D. nobile nobilius in this 

 respect, a great point in its favor, for it is difficult to grow some 

 of the rarest Dendrobes into specimens. We have given up 

 the use of wood baskets for Dendrobes, as this genus resents 

 disturbance at the root more than most Orchids, and it is hard 

 to separate the roots from the wood when it becomes neces- 

 sary to place the plants in larger receptacles. We use perfo- 

 rated pans and suspend them with wires; it is easy to 

 break a pan and take oul the plant. In the Orchid Review 

 some time ago one of the best English cultivators advised that 

 nothing but clean sphagnum-moss lie used for Dendrobes, 

 and asked gardeners to give this material a fair trial and re- 

 port the results. I am in favor of the plan after a year's trial. 

 These plants abhor sour, inert material about the roots, and 



this fresh living medium seems to be just what is needed. At 

 the end of a year, or after the resting period, this moss is, of 

 course, dead, and we take a Stott sprayer, removing the cap, 

 and with warm water wash every particle of moss from the 

 roots. If the roots are matted aliout the pans these are placed 

 inside of larger pans with a few pieces of drainage, and the 

 surfacing of moss added. It is surprising how soon the young 

 roots take possession of this fresh moss. We have plants of 

 D. nobile tliree years old, from an old bulb, that made growths 

 two feet long last summer, and in one instance as many as six 

 leads starting away strong for the present year. 



Young plants observed starting away from the upper part of 

 the bulbs of Dendrobiums at this season should be taken off 

 now and potted in small pots, and these placed in a basket and 

 suspended in a warm house. It is surprising how soon these 

 make good plants to take the place of older and worn-out ones. 

 At this time care must be taken that no water gets into the 

 young growths on dull days, or they will soon rot off and the 

 plant receive a check. This is especially true of D. Phalae- 

 nopsis. To avoid this trouble we have used nothing but 

 fern-root for potting material ; in this instance moss seems to 

 retain too much moisture about the few roots made, and these 

 are very susceptible to overwatering. The best time to repot 

 D. Phaltenopsis is now ; small pans should be used — the 

 smaller the better — and they should be suspended in the warm- 

 est position in the East Indian house. Plants of this species 

 imported last fall are starting away finely hung up close to the 

 light, and will flower sooner than those that were obtained 

 some time ago and are well settled down to a regular period 

 of growth. 



Horticulture is said to be full of empiricisms, and even one 

 genus of Orchids affords a study in the needs of each species. 

 We often know nothing of the conditions under which they 

 grow naturally, and when we are able to learn something of 

 these conditions it is often impossible to imitate them under 

 artificial means. So we have to grope along as best we may, 

 sometimes stumbling upon a way in which a particular plant 

 may be grown well for a long period. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. O. Orpet. 



Caladiums for Outdoor Use. 



A BOUT this lime it will be in order to look over the bulbs 

 ■^^^ of the fancy-leaved Caladiums which are meant for use 

 out-ot-doors this summer. The plan of putting them into 

 pots to start their growth is not a good one, since by this 

 method they sprout very irregularly. The best plan, I find, is 

 to chop up some sphagnum-moss pretty fine and start them 

 in that. It the collection is large a place on the bench' should 

 be given them ; if small, they can be put in boxes. Put a layer 

 of the sphagnum in the bottom about two inches thick, place 

 the bulbs on this according to their kinds, then with a mixture 

 of equal parts of sphagnum and sand cover the bulbs over 

 evenly to a depth of about two inches. Give a very slight 

 watering, keep the temperature about sixty at night, with a rise 

 of about twenty by day. They will begin to sprout in a very 

 short time. 



This is the best time for propagating the desirable kinds ; 

 there are several ways of doing this. Before putting them in 

 the sphagnum-moss some people prefer to make incisions in 

 the bulb just inside the resting growths — that is, make an 

 incision in the parent bulb between the lateral growth and the 

 central part of the bulb. Immediately after making the inci- 

 sions see that they are filled with some finely powdered char- 

 coal, as this tends to prevent decay. After sprouting it will 

 be found that numerous roots have been formed ; take care 

 that a sufficient number of these are taken with each piece of 

 the bulb, so as to enable them to take hold of the soil imme- 

 diately. Another plan, which I find to work well with the 

 stronger-growing varieties, is to allow the leaves to become 

 nearly developed, then, if there are sufficient side-growths to 

 warrant it, break off the central growth close to the bulb ; this 

 throws strength into the lateral growths and induces new ones 

 to appear. 



The fine-leaved varieties lately sent out are of little or no use 

 for bedding out, as they do not stand the sun sufficiently well, 

 and I may say that these kinds are unsatisfactory for most pur- 

 poses, as they grow too slowly to make large specimen plants, 

 and are very slow to increase when compared with some of 

 the older kinds. These drawbacks are much to be deplored, 

 as the new Caladiums are exceedingly beautiful, but the fact is 

 they are bred with an eye to producing the most gaudy colors, 

 and it has evidently been forgotten that these colors are pro- 

 duced at the expense of constitution. A few of the kinds I 

 have found best for planting out in summer in the full sun- 



