January 3, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



The fables about these Beeches at Buch, continues Herr 

 Jaggi, "are still current, with variations, in the village and its 

 environs. We see," he then explains, "that in elder days prob- 

 ably five large Beeches of the sort existed ; in Wagner's time 

 (1680) there were still three ; later, two more perished. Kolli- 

 ker, according to his Verzeichniss der Phancrogamischen Ge- 

 wachse lies Kan tons Zurich, published in 1839, saw one ; and this 

 still exists. It is not exactly of giant dimensions, and no young 

 ones of the kind are now present." From all these facts Herr 

 Jaggi concludes that the earliest certain historical notice of the 

 existence of the Purple Beech is found in Wagner's Historia, 

 1680, and relates to the Purple Beeches at Buch, in Switzer- 

 land, its witness, however, reaching much further back, 

 through legends, old herbaria, the coat-of-arms of the village, 

 elc. ; that, as the famous existing Purple Beech at Sonders- 

 hausen, in Thuringia, is about 200 years old (dating back, 

 therefore, to just about the time when Wagner wrote), it is not 

 impossible that it may have been propagated, by seed or cut- 

 ting, from one of the trees at Buch, without any record having 

 been preserved of the fact ; that the Purple Beeches of Buch 

 cannot have been derived from the Tyrol, where, very likely, 

 the variety is indigenous, but must have originated on the 

 spot ; that, if the example at Sondershausen was derived, 

 neither from the Tyrol, nor, which is also uncertain, from 

 Buch, then Purple Beeches have evidently originated sponta- 

 neously in various places ; and that this is the conclusion which 

 seems to himself the most sensible. "In any case," he adds, 

 "the questionable Thuringian tree is by no means the mother- 

 tree of all the Purple Beeches in the world." 



He does not deny, however, that it is the mother-tree prob- 

 ably of all, and certainly of almost all, those which now adorn 

 the pleasure-grounds of Europe and America. It is the only 

 authenticated source from which horticulturists have derived 

 their stock. Naturally, the propagation of its offspring is 

 usually effected by means of grafting, although, if a hundred 

 seeds of a colored tree are sown, some of them are likely to 

 produce plants like the parent, while from the others green 

 Beeches of the normal kind will spring. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



London Letter. 



THE last of the 1893 meetings of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society was held on the 12th lilt. For the 

 time of year the exhibits were exceptionally numerous 

 and interesting. There was a fine selection of Orchids, the 

 following being the most noteworthy : 



Cymbidium Traceyanuji. — This plant was introduced acci- 

 dentally along with a batch of C. Lowianum and flowered 

 for the first time in 1890 in the collection of Mr. A. H. 

 Tracey, an Orchid dealer of Twickenham. It afterward 

 became the property of Baron Schroder, who, I am in- 

 formed on reliable authority, would not now take a thou- 

 sand guineas for it. Only the one example of it is known, 

 and this is now a splendid specimen. It flowers freely, 

 having produced three very strong spikes this year. One 

 of these was exhibited among a group of Orchids shown 

 by Baron Schroder. It bore seventeen grand flowers, 

 each fully five inches across, powerfully fragrant, the ele- 

 gant sepals an inch wide and nearly four inches long, and 

 the lip as large as that of C. grandiflorum (Hooker- 

 ianum), to which C. Traceyanum is closely allied. The 

 color of the sepals and petals is pale yellow, with streaks 

 and dots of crimson, the lip being cream-yellow, with crim- 

 son spots on the reflexed front lobe, and crimson lines on 

 the upright rounded lateral lobes. The large waxy-looking 

 column is cream-white, with a purple tip. This is a mag- 

 nificent Orchid, and, compared with some high-priced 

 favorites, I should say it is quite worth the value put upon 

 it by its owner. 



Ccelogyne barbata — A large specimen bearing twelve 

 spikes, each eighteen inches long and bearing six or more 

 flowers, came from Baron Schroder. The flowers are white, 

 with a fimbriated lip colored snuff-brown. This is the 

 largest specimen of this species I have ever seen. 



Cypripediums. — Cypripedium Sanderse and C. Sanderia- 

 num are two nearly allied forms of the common C. insigne, 

 both having primrose-yellow flowers, without the green 

 and brownish coloring of the type. That called Sanderce 



is slightly larger and of a paler yellow color than the other, 

 from which it also differs in having a few dots of dull red 

 near the base of the white-bordered dorsal sepal. Exam- 

 ples of these also came from Baron Schroder's collection. 

 A single plant of C. Sanderas flowered among an imported 

 lot of C. insigne about five years ago. Messrs. Sander cut 

 the plant in two and sent one half to public auction, when 

 Baron Schroder bought it for seventy-two guineas. Mr. 

 Measures, of Streatham, secured the other half for one hun- 

 dred guineas. The year following he cut it in two, selling 

 one piece to his brother for one hundred guineas ; next 

 year he cut what remained into three, sold one portion for 

 one hundred guineas, kept one and sold back the third to 

 Messrs. Sander for twenty-five guineas. Baron Schroder's 

 piece has never been mutilated. C. venustum, var. Mea- 

 suresianum, is another variety which owes its value to the 

 absence of all color, except yellow and green, from the 

 flowers. A plant of it in flower was shown by Mr. R. D. 

 Measures. C. fascinatum is a new hybrid between C. 

 Spicerianum and C. hirsutissimum. A plant of it in flower 

 was shown by Monsieur Jules Hye, of Ghent, and it easily 

 obtained a first-class certificate on account of the size and 

 attractive color of its flowers, which are as large as those of 

 C. hirsutissimum, not unlike it in form and color, except 

 the dorsal sepal, which is large and colored rose-purple, 

 with a white margin and green spots at the base. C. Ceres, 

 raised in 1891 by Mr. D. 0. Drewilt from the same parents, 

 is not nearly so fine a plant. C. Warnhamense, a hybrid 

 between C. Curtisii and C. lasvigatum, obtained an award of 

 merit, as also did C. Wiganianum, a hybrid between C. 

 Harrisianum and C. Ashburtonae. 



L^lia anceps. — This species was represented by numer- 

 ous varieties, some rare and every one beautiful. Messrs. 

 F. Sander & Co. showed the following varieties : Oweniana, 

 Sanderiana, Percivaliana and Barkeriana. From the same 

 firm came a plant of the beautiful so-called natural hybrid L. 

 Boothiana, with flowers of a rich rose-purple color. Another 

 deviation from the usual run of autumn-flowering La;lias 

 is one shown as L. Finckeniana, which obtained a first- 

 class certificate. It is very near some of the white forms 

 of L. anceps, but the flowers are small, white, with a blotch 

 of purple on the front lobe. In my opinion there is as 

 much confusion among these Mexican Laelias in conse- 

 quence of the practice of naming every plant that varies 

 slightly in color or form from a selected type, as there used 

 to be in the Cattleyas of the labiata section before they were 

 boldly tackled by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons in their invalu- 

 able Orchid Manual. 



Novelties. — Chysis Oweni is a new species in the way 

 of C. aurea, but the flowers are smaller and yellowish, 

 tinged with rose-purple on the segments. Cyrtopodium 

 virescens is new to cultivation, having been introduced 

 from Brazil by Messrs. Sander & Co., who showed a plant 

 of it bearing an erect spike two feet high, with a crowded 

 raceme of elegant flowers each an inch across, with crisp 

 segments, yellow, with brown spots, suggestive of Ansellia 

 Africana. This distinct species is also now in flower at 

 Kew. Lycaste Luciani was shown by L'Horticulture In- 

 ternationale, Brussels. It has flowers as large as those of 

 L. Skinned, with dull flesh-colored sepals, whitish petals 

 and a hairy lip, white, flushed with rose. L. Imschootiana is 

 another new plant which was shown by the same firm. It 

 also has large flowers, colored pale brown, with dull red 

 dots, the lip yellow, with red spots. It obtained an award 

 of merit. Cochlioda Noezliana, a spike bearing seventeen 

 bright crimson flowers, and a spike of Cattleya labiata 

 (Warocqueana) bearing six flowers also came from the 

 Brussels nursery. The fame of this establishment for 

 Odontoglossums was well sustained by two beautiful 

 plants shown by them. They were both varieties of O. 

 crispum— one called Thompsona; carrying a spike of fifteen 

 large full flowers, with three large spots on each segment ; 

 the other, called amplissimum, being equally good, but 

 pure white. The former obtained an award of merit. 



Nepenthes. — Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons exhibited a group 



