1 86 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 165. 



of its transformations on the tree, and so long as there is suffi- 

 cient foliage to provide food its progeny have no occasion to 

 leave it, although many of them instinctively do go in search 

 of new trees upon which to deposit eggs. But if trees 

 are cleared of Bag-worms, a band of the " insect lime " will 

 prevent migrants from ascending them from other trees and 

 shrubs. Fortunately, this insect is rare in Massachusetts. 

 The Tussock Moth can also, and usually does, complete the 

 round of its existence upon the tree on which the eggs are de- 

 posited. The females being wingless, well-kept bands of the 

 " insect lime " would prevent either the females or the cater- 

 pillars from ascending trees which were already entirely free. 



In regard to the Fall-web worm, one can hardly see how the 

 !' insect lime" will prove effective. The female moth flies 

 freely, and when the caterpillar is ready to become a chrysalis 

 it is as likely to drop directly to the ground as to attempt to 

 crawl down the trunks of the trees where the band of lime 

 would prevent its passing over. A few might be destroyed in 

 this way, but the proportion would probably be small. 



The use of the " insect lime " for covering the eggs of the 

 Gypsy Moth would, no doubt, be effectual if thoroughly ap- 

 plied, but it would seem to be quite as simple and expeditious, 

 or economical, to scrape off, collect and finally burn the egg- 

 clusters. The kerosene torches used in burning the eggs at 

 Medford last year, must, doubtless, cause injury to tender- 

 barked trees. 



The value of the " lime " in preventing caterpillars from 

 crawling up or down the trees can be easily understood and 

 appreciated. 



Arnold Arboretum. J • <-*■ faCK. 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Orchids at Clapton. 



Saccolabium bellinum. — This is one of the prettiest of the 

 many described species of Saccolabium. It is remarkable in 

 being one of the smallest in habit and at the same time the 

 largest in flower. It was introduced from Burma in 1884 by 

 Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., Clapton, when it was named and 

 described by Reichenbach as " one of those elegant little beau- 

 ties one may delight to look at after being tired of monotonous 

 grandeur." The plants do not exceed six inches in height ; the 

 leaves are narrow, about six inches long, dark green and her- 

 baceous in texture. The racemes are produced at the base of 

 the plant, and bear from three to eight flowers in a compact 

 cluster ; each flower is an inch across, fleshy, the sepals and 

 petals yellow, with brown blotches, the lip with a large cup- 

 shaped sac, fringed round the margin, and colored white, with 

 red or purple blotches. I lately saw about five hundred plants 

 of this species in the Clapton nurseries, many of them in flower, 

 some darker than others, but every one charming in form and 

 color. I know from experience that this Saccolabium is easy 

 to cultivate, a plant which has been in the Kew collection since 

 1885, having flowered every year since. Many Saccolabiums 

 are not nearly so well behaved in the garden as this. 



Dendrobiums. — A magnificent collection of these beautiful 

 Orchids may now be seen at the same nurseries, where the 

 cultivation of this genus is exceptionally well done. Such spe- 

 cies as D. BensoncB, D. Brymerianum, D. hiteolum, D. crassi- 

 node, D. Wardianum, D. lituiflorum, D. Devonianum, D. thyr- 

 siflorum and D. suavissimum are grown in enormous numbers, 

 and Mr. Low informed me that his success with these plants 

 was the result of a radical change of treatment for them in the 

 growing season. This consisted of exposure to almost all sun- 

 shine, a constantly saturated atmosphere, arid no ventilation. 

 The most important item is this last. Mr. Low found that 

 closeness, with a maximum of light, was exactly what the Den- 

 drobiums reveled in. They kept free of insect pests, and they 

 were not attacked by " spot." The growth was rapid, and be- 

 came thoroughly ripened before winter set in ; consequently 

 there was a good set of flower-buds. 



PHALiENOPSis. — These plants have always been exceptionally 

 well grown at Clapton, where, in a favorable winter, it is not 

 an unusual occurrence for from five to eight hundred spikes 

 of bloom to be expanded at one time. This winter has, how- 

 ever, been very destructive to the early-flowering species, such 

 as P. amabilis and P. Stuartiana, of which scarcely a spike es- 

 caped at Clapton, although many hundreds were produced. 

 In the case of P. amabilis, Mr. Low retrieves the loss of the 

 first spikes by cutting them off to within six inches or so of the 

 base, which induces them to develop a secondary spike, and 

 as this matures later in the year the flowers are saved. Still it 

 is a great strain on the plants to force them to produce two 

 spikes instead of the normal one. 



P. Schilleriana, however, is magnificently in flower at 

 Clapton now, over 500 fine spikes of flowers being fully open 

 at the time of my visit. The health of the plants is perfect, 

 all, from the smallest with leaves no larger than a finger-nail, 

 to the grand specimens with leaves a foot or more in length, 

 being perfectly happy. The treatment for these plants at 

 Clapton differs somewhat from that usually followed. Mr. 

 Low thinks that a large percentage of the Phalsenopsis that 

 die in gardens are killed by too dry treatment. A light house 

 where the winter's sunlight may be made the most of, sufficient 

 heating power to maintain a temperature not lower than 

 seventy degrees even in severe weather, an earthen or cinder 

 floor and a constantly saturated atmosphere all the year round 

 — these are the main features of the Clapton treatment for 

 Phalsenopsis. Mr. Low says the sphagnum about these plants 

 should never be allowed to even approach dryness. Baskets 

 are used for all the kinds, and they stand upon open wooden 

 stages about two feet from the glass. The house is kept moist 

 by frequent damping down. There are two large span-roofed 

 houses devoted to these plants at Clapton, the principal species 

 cultivated being P. amabilis, P. grandiflora, P. Schilleriana, P. 

 Stuartiana, P. rosea and P. gloriosa. 

 London. Visitor. 



New or Little Known Plants. 



New Orchids. 



Odontoglossum luteopurpureum, var. Amesiana, Hort., 

 is a very handsome variety, for which Messrs. F. Sander & Co., 

 of St. Albans, received a first-class certificate from the Royal 

 Horticultural Society on March 10th last. It is described as 

 having flowers of a pale yellow-green color, unlike that of any 

 other Odontoglot. — Gardeners' Chronicle, March 14th, p. 334. 



Cypripedium x Ceres, N. E. Br., is a handsome hybrid, 

 derived from C. Spicerianum fertilized with the pollen of C. 

 hirsutissimum, in the collection of D. O. Drewett, Esq., of Rid- 

 ing, Mill-on-Tyne. It resembles the pollen parent generally, 

 though the dorsal sepal and staminode show characters un- 

 mistakably derived from the seed parent. — Gardeners' 

 Chronicle, March 21st, p. 360. 



Cypripedium x Juno, N. E. Br., is a charming little hybrid, 

 raised in the collection of D.O. Drewett, Esq., of Riding, Mill-on- 

 Tyne, between C. callosum and C. Fairieanum, the latter being 

 the pollen parent. It bears a strong resemblance to C. Farie- 

 anum in almost all its characters, but especially in the shape 

 and color of the flower. It appears to have arrived at the 

 flowering stage in less than three years from the time the seed 

 was sown. — Gardeners' Chronicle, March 21st, p. 360. 



Cypripedium x Pallas, N. E. Br., is a hybrid, raised in the 

 same collection as the two preceding ones, between C. x 

 calophyllum (itself a hybrid from C barbatum and C. venustum) 

 and C. callosum, the latter being the pollen parent. The upper 

 sepal is white, with numerous green nerves, as in the seed 

 parent, to which in other respects it bears a considerable 

 resemblance. — Gardeners' Chronicle, March 21st, p. 360. . 



Waluewa pulchella, Regel. — Described as a new genus 

 of Orchids, received from the province of Minas Geraes, 

 Brazil, by Herr Lietze, and which flowered in the Royal Botanic 

 Garden at St. Petersburg. It is dedicated to Count P. A. 

 Wahijew. It appears to be closely allied to Leochilus, but 

 bears a strong resemblance to certain species of Oncidium 

 of the 0. pulus group. The flowers are small, the sepals 

 greenish yellow and unicolorous, the petals yellowish, barred 

 .with purple; the lip also has some purple markings on a 

 yellowish ground. The linear disc is minutely papillose. — 

 Gartenflora, xl. (1890), p. 89, t. 1341, fig. 1. 



Kew. R- A. Rolfe. 



Cultural Department. 



Hardy Shrubs for Forcing. 



MANY of our hardy shrubs can be forced, under a moderate 

 temperature, into early bloom in the greenhouse. In 

 order to get the best results with the least trouble, shrubs 

 for forcing should be selected from the early-flowering kinds. 

 The forcing should be done moderately and gradually— that is, 

 the plants should first be placed in a cool greenhouse or cool 

 part of a greenhouse until growth has fairly begun ; later, 

 if desirable, they may be introduced into a warmer tempera- 

 ture, where growth and development of the flowers may be 

 hastened. 



When brought into a warm temperature too suddenly the 

 buds are liable to become injured or blighted, and a dry at- 



