198 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 166. 



miles away from any other member of the genus ; for there is 

 no species of Iris in the Australian continent, nor anywhere 

 nearer than China. The South African /. bicolor (Dietes) and 

 the North African I. stylosa are the most nearly related to this 

 giant from Lord Howe's Island. 



The Kew specimen is as ornamental without the flowers as 

 the New Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax, and in countries 

 where severe frost is not experienced the Iris would, no doubt, 

 prove equally serviceable as a specimen for lawns, etc., as the 

 Phormium is here. 



According to an account of this Iris, published in the Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle in 1872, by Dr. Bennett, it appears to have 

 first flowered under cultivation in the Sydney Botanic Gardens 

 in 1871. It also bloomed in the hill gardens at Hakgala in 

 Ceylon in 1885, and in the gardens of Mr. Dorien Smith, at 

 Tresco Abbey, Scilly, in 1886. 



Phajus Cooksoni X. — The stock of this beautiful hybrid has 

 been secured by the Messrs. Sander & Co., of St. Albans, 

 where some of the plants are now finely in flower, some of 

 the spikes being over two feet in height, and as stout both in 

 stalk and flower as P. Wallichii. Evidently, Mr. Cookson's 

 latest fine production is a first-rate garden Orchid, as it has 

 consistently grown and flowered from the first as freely as one 

 need wish, in this respect partaking largely of the nature of 

 P. Wallichii. Of the other parent, namely, P. tuberculosus, the 

 hybrid appears to have inherited only a large share of its 

 beauty without any of its " miffiness." As Mr. Sander says, 

 we need no longer bother about P. tuberculosus now we pos- 

 sess P. Cooksoni. Unluckily, however, the "we" in this case 

 is only Messrs. Sander & Co. 



Dendrobium Venus x. — This beautiful hybrid was raised 

 by Mr. N. Cookson from D. nobile and D. Falconeri, and flow- 

 ered for the first time in May, last year. It is now again in 

 flower at St. Albans. The habit of the plant is intermediate 

 between the two parents, and it appears to be as free in growth 

 as D. nobile. The flowers are as large as the largest D. Fal- 

 coneri, and similar in color, but minus the yellow disc of the 

 lip. Altogether, D. Venus is a distinct gain, and is certain to 

 take a foremost place among the best hybrid Orchids of arti- 

 ficial origin. Mr. Cookson, evidently, does not waste his time 

 and skill in operating upon Orchids that cannot produce any- 

 thing worth having. He has raised two of the finest hybrids 

 yet seen, namely, Phajus Cooksoni and this Dendrobium, be- 

 sides many other beautiful things. 



High-priced Orchids. — A portion of the collection of 

 Orchids formed by Mr. Pollett, the well-known horticultural 

 printer, was disposed of by auction in London this week, and 

 some of the plants realized exceptionally high prices. Among 

 them were Odontoglossum crispwn, var. Leopardinum,& small 

 and not very healthy plant, which sold for 100 guineas ; O. 

 crispum, var. lilacinum, fetched eighty guineas ; 0. elegans, 

 thirty-eight guineas ; 0. excellens, thirty-six gumeas, and O. 

 Hallii, var. magnificiun, thirty-four guineas. Several other 

 varieties of 0. crispum sold well; for instance, one called Bon- 

 nyanum, for nineteen guineas, Bickleyense for sixteen guineas, 

 Pollettianum thirty-seven guineas. Cypripedium Morganice 

 realized thirty guineas, C. Schroedercc seventeen guineas, C. 

 leucorrhodum eighteen guineas, and so on. The unusual suc- 

 cess of this sale is attributed largely to the colored illustra- 

 tions of die best Odontoglossums printed and circulated along 

 with the sale catalogue. Of course, Mr. Pollett's excellent 

 judgment as an Orchid connoisseur, which led to his collect- 

 ing only what is best among Orchids, gave buyers confidence. 

 Scarcely any of the plants were what would be termed large 

 specimens. 



As a set-off against the high prices paid for choice cool 

 Orchids I may mention the miserable prices realized by a large 

 sale of East Indian Orchids from the collection of the Duke of 

 Marlborough at Blenheim, which were disposed of by Messrs. 

 Protheroe & Morris a few days ago. Big specimen Vandas, 

 yErides, Saccolabiums, Angraecums, Cypripediums and other 

 tropical Orchids were sold for less than the pots containing 

 them had cost, and they were good healthy plants, too. A 

 democratic acquaintance remarked that buyers were justly 

 boycotting a nobleman who had entered into competition with 

 the struggling dealer, an allusion to the well-known trading 

 character of the Blenheim collection. 



Hippeastrums.- — The collection of these plants in the Chel- 

 sea nurseries of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons is now one of the great 

 horticultural attractions in London. A large span-roofed house 

 is entirely filled with the plants, and they now carry over three 

 thousand scapes of flowers. The effect of these when ex- 

 panded is magnificent. Every year brings new and improved 

 varieties, the successes of last year being eclipsed by the suc- 

 cesses of this. New crosses are made, seeds sown, and the 



bulbs grown on year after year, so that the thousands of plants 

 sold are replaced by a successional lot, and there is never a 

 gap. The brilliant results obtained in this field by Messrs. 

 Veitch place them a long way ahead of all other breeders and 

 growers of Hippeastrums. I have heard it whispered that the 

 profits of Hippeastrum culture have proved exceptionally sat- 

 isfactory at Chelsea. Apart from their commercial value, 

 these plants, when well managed — and, according to Messrs. 

 Veitch, few bulbs give less trouble — are almost without a rival 

 among in-door bulbous plants. I am told that enterprising 

 planters in the West Indies are buying some of the best of 

 these plants for extensive cultivation under the favorable con- 

 ditions afforded in some of those islands, with a view to sup- 

 plying the European and American markets with Hippeas- 

 trums by the thousand. 



London. W. WatSOH. 



Cultural Department. 



The Reticulated or Sponge-bearing Cucumber. 



TTNDER the name of " Luffa," or "Cucumber Sponge," 

 ^ we now import in compressed bales, from Japan and 

 Egypt, the reticulated skeletons of two varieties of what 

 Ebn Baitar, the Arabian botanist, twelve hundred years ago 

 described as the "Luffah," taking his title from the Egyptian 

 name of " Luff." Dr. John Veslingius, of Holland, in 1638, in 

 writing a work upon the plants of Egypt, as a sequel to that of 

 Prospero Alpini, describes, with two engravings, the Cucum- 

 ber-plant that now furnishes the commercial Luffa of Egypt, 

 under the title of Luffa Arabum, or Cucumis retiatlatus 

 -■Egyptius. The Japanese and Egyptian commercial varieties 

 so closely resemble each other that the pictures of Veslingius, 

 which were taken from plants grown by himself, are excellent 

 representations of the Japanese Luffa macrocarpa. Had he 

 cultivated the Japanese variety, which comes to maturity 

 much earlier, he would not have fallen into the error of de- 

 scribing the seeds as white instead of black. From a very 

 early period the reticulated skeletons of Luffa Arabum were 

 used by the Egyptians in their bath-rooms, and it is probable 

 that the Japanese did the sam.e with that of the L. macrocarpa. 



Sponge-bearing Cucumbers may be found in a large num- 

 ber of hot countries, and vary in size from that of a plum to 

 three feet in length. In some the skeleton is very thick and 

 strong, and capable of being made of use in the household, 

 but in the majority the netting is thin and delicate, and can 

 only be regarded as a curiosity. Like ordinary Cucumbers, 

 some are edible, and are grown for the table, while others are 

 more or less medicinal, and are used as domestic remedies. 

 As the reticulation forms at a late period, the Luffa, when of an 

 edible sort, can readily be cooked as a vegetable when young ; 

 the rank odor of the fruit would be an objection to its use 

 with us, but this has not availed much against the tomato. 



But little attention has been paid by botanists, either ancient 

 or modern, toward collecting, arranging and describing the 

 class of cucumbers which is distinguished by bearing a sub- 

 cutaneous or a complete internal skeleton. Under the name 

 of Momordica, Cucumis, Pepo and Luffa we may find several 

 varieties described in old botanical works, chiefly in Latin, 

 Dutch and French ; and may also discover that several, as 

 the Luffa Petola, L. acutangula, L. JEgyptica, etc., have been 

 very correctly represented by large plates. 



The Luffa is fully entitled to membership in the Cucumber 

 family, and is in no sense a Gourd, as it has sometimes been 

 called. It is monoecious, having separate staminate and pis- 

 tillate flowers, of which the former are much the larger, or 

 more conspicuous ; and the leaves much more closely resemble 

 inform those of our common cucumber than do many in Egypt, 

 Palestine and India, upon plants producing the best table 

 varieties, some of which are much more like Cantaloupe-vines 

 than Cucumbers, as we know them. 



My first trial in growing Luffa-seeds was a failure, because I 

 made the attempt with a variety that required so long a season 

 in which to perfect its net-work, that frost came, even before 

 it had begun to form. The fruits grew half a yard in length, 

 and the vine was vigorous, but the season required was too 

 long for this latitude. My second venture was with the L. 

 macrocarpa of Japan, which produced fully matured fruits in 

 five months from the day of planting. This is the best sort to 

 grow in a temperate climate, and bears the most symmetrical 

 of all the sponge cucumbers ; the fibre of the netting is 

 coarser than that found in the Egyptian variety, and not so 

 well adapted for use as a scrubber in bathing. L. macrocarpa 

 bears cucumbers from thirteen to fifteen inches long, and 

 some of them are very nearly straight. The vine is a vigorous 



