I02 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 210. 



memorate Mr. Bentham's labors in revising the genera of 

 Orchids for the Genera Plantarum, was discovered by Sir 

 John Kirk in the Zanzibar kingdom, and was sent by him 

 in 1S84 to Kew, where it flowered in 1890. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



THE last annual meeting of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society was remarkable for the tone of satisfaction 

 which pervaded the proceedings. The President, Sir 

 Trevor Lawrence, announced that "the affairs of the so- 

 ciety were in a thoroughly satisfactory condition," while 

 Professor Michael Foster, an e.x-member of the council, 

 congratulated the society on the greatly improved outlook 

 which was evident in the report, and upon the good work 

 done by the present council. The society has paid its 

 way, has increased its constituency by several hundreds 

 in the year, has issued a valuable series of horticultural 

 papers in its journal, and has held numerous exhibitions 

 and conferences. As Baron Schroeder expressed it, the 

 society is growing rapidly and will soon burst its skin, 

 when he anticipates it will assume that position among 

 the industrial societies of this country which it is now bet- 

 ter qualified for than it has been at any time within the last 

 .twenty-five years. This improvement is solely due to the 

 determination of the society to mind its own business, 

 which is that of promoting all matters that tend to improve 

 and develop horticultural art. There was a time in the 

 history of the society when it went far beyond this, and 

 as a result it not only found itself in financial straits, but 

 it lost the sympathy and co-operation of the great bod}'' of 

 horticulturists. The President alluded to the want of a 

 suitable exhibition-hall and offices, expressing at the same 

 time a hope that the society would be as well provided 

 for in this respect as the horticultural societies in the 

 United States are. 



An exhibition of plants and flowers was held on the same 

 day, and proved of exceptional interest and attraction. All the 

 available space was filled with groups of beautifully grown 

 Cyclamens, Primulas, New Holland plants, stove-plants, 

 Orchids and fruit. Messrs. H. Low & Co., of Clapton and 

 Enfield, are endeavoring to revive the cultivation of hard- 

 wooded greenhouse-plants, such as Boronias, Correas, 

 Acacias, Pimelias, Chorozemas and Eriostemons, which 

 were a principal feature in English gardens a generation 

 or so ago. Mr. Cannell marks the progress made, chiefly 

 by himself be it said, in the improvement of the popular 

 Chinese Primrose. The Messrs. Walker, of Hounslow, do 

 the same for C)''clamens. No greenhouse-plant is more 

 beautiful or more valuable than the Persian Cyclamen 

 .when it is well grown ; but, as a very clever London 

 grower remarked last year, although everybody knows 

 their value and attempts their cultivation, it is only very 

 few who have the luck to succeed. Orchids predominated 

 over everything else shown. Large groups from the prin- 

 cipal growers and interesting collections from various 

 amateurs were numerous and full of attraction for con- 

 noisseurs. Among the notable specimens was Phalaenop- 

 sis Brymerianumj a beautiful plant, with large healthy 

 leaves and a strong flower-spike, from IMessrs. Low & Co. 

 This is one of the rarest of the ^loth Orchids, only two or 

 three others being known in cultivation. It is like P. inter- 

 media in general characters, differing chiefly in being 

 larger and darker-flowered. The variety of P. Schilleriana, 

 recentl)' named purpurea, was also exhibited by the Clap- 

 ton firm. It differs from the type in being a shade darker 

 in color. Cymbidium Hookerianum, a beautiful species 

 rarely seen in flower, was shown, the spike having flow- 

 ers larger than those of C. giganteum, with broad fleshy 

 pea-green sepals and petals, and a large spreading three- 

 lobed lip, colored creamy white, spotted and tinged with 

 crimson. 



Cypripedium Lindleyanum is a species -with broad stout 

 leaves, glossy green, margined with brown, and an erect 



spike, a yard high, bearing large boat-shaped green bracts 

 and curious browny green flowers. It is a native of British 

 Guiana, and is synonymous with C. Kaieturum. Various 

 new hybrid Cypripediums were also shown, C. Hera, from 

 Messrs. Veitch, C. Juno and C. Ceres, from Mr. Drewett, 

 being awarded certificates. The first-named is a grand 

 plant, the flowers enormous in size, well formed and at- 

 tractive in color. It is the offspring of C. Boxalli and C. 

 Leeanum. Lycaste Youngii, as exhibited b)' the President, 

 is a beautiful Orchid. It bore fifty flowers, not unlike 

 those of L. aromatica, but brighter yellow and longer in 

 the peduncle. 



Among Cattleyas I noted some most beautiful varieties 

 of C. Percivaliana, one with white flowers, named alba, be- 

 ing the rarest, but not the prettiest. A white variety of C. 

 Trianag, some grand blooms of the rather refractory C. 

 speeiosissima, and a very dark-colored variety of Laelia 

 anceps were exceptionally good. The large-flowered dis- 

 tinct Oncidium Loxense, which is one of the finest of the 

 macranthum section, Odontoglossum ramosissimum and 

 Oncidium splendidum were represented in excellent form, 

 the Odontoglossum much better than I thought it could be. 

 Evidently this is a very variable species. A new hybrid 

 Zygopetalum named Leucochilum was shown by Messrs. 

 Veitch, the raisers, its parents being the diverse Z. Burkei 

 and Z. Mackayi, and several new hybrid Dendrobiums 

 were submitted for certificates, and in some cases obtained 

 them. The pretty little alpine, Oncidium Phaleenopsis, was 

 shown in considerable variety by Messrs. Sander & Co. In 

 my opinion this is one of the most charming of small 

 Orchids for the cool house. It often fails under cultivation 

 because it is kept warmer than is good for it. From the 

 same firm came Epidendrum Watsonianum, a species re- 

 markable for its large pear-shaped pseudo-bulbs, spikes as 

 thick as a man's thumb and of great length ; the flowers 

 are like those of E. verens in shape and size, but colored 

 apricot-yellow, mottled with green, the tip being white, 

 with rosy spots. Disa Cooperi, from Natal, was repre- 

 sented in the St. Albans group by a strong plant bearing a 

 spike eighteen inches high of yellowish green flowers, in 

 which the fat upward projecting spur is extremely odd. 

 Odontoglossum Edwardii and a variety of it named loplo- 

 con, the latter very fragrant, and with longer sepals than 

 the type, were conspicuous, the rich violet-purple of their 

 flowers being exceptional among Orchids. 



Bertolonias were exhibited by Mr. F. Bause, the M'ell- 

 known raiser of hybrid Dracaenas, Coleus, etc., in much 

 grander colors and vigorous health than I had ever seen 

 them. Mr. Bause is almost a magician in the way he man- 

 ages many plants. These Sonerilas, for instance, were in 

 four-inch pots, yet they were ten inches high, had leaves as 

 large as an ordinary sheet of note paper, and colors as rich 

 as rubies. I asked him what the manure was. "Oh, 

 common soil, just ; you merely want to keep them close to 

 the glass in a warm little house, don't coddle them, and 

 don't let them flower." He saw no reason why Bertolonias 

 should not be grown two feet high ! Kew exhibited a very 

 large head of flowers of the nevi' BrowneaCrawfordii, which 

 was declared to be the finest of all Browneas ; a spike of 

 Aloe supralsevis, mistaken by most people for a "grand 

 new Kniphofia" ; Greyia Sutherlandii, the beautiful crim- 

 son-flowered Saxifragaceous shrub from Natal and Hseman- 

 thus magnifica. Messrs. Veitch sent a basket of plants in 

 flower of the new Lachenalia Aureliana, which is simply a 

 bright-colored form of the old L. pendula. Some pretty 

 specimens of trees and shrubs in flower, said to be from 

 the open ground, were contributed by the same firm. They 

 included Amygdalus Davidiana, with its variety, alba, and 

 Lonicera Standishii. These would be worth growing 

 largely for forcing in winter. 



Intern.4.tion.^l Horticultural Exhibition. — Preparations 

 are being made for what it is hoped will prove a compre- 

 hensive exhibition of gardens, garden products, garden art 

 — of everything, in fact, appertaining to horticulture. It is 

 to be held on the grounds which were prepared some years 



