178 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDENING. 



per list, may be increased at any time most conve- 

 nient between the time of lifting and tbe end of July, 

 but this is the latest period they can be done, at 

 least to get them effective for spring bedding. When 

 the old plants are lifted, place them in any shady 

 spot, and keep them supplied with water till they can 

 be divided or split up into small pieces that can be 

 pricked out -with a pointed stick ; the smaller the 

 pieces, so much more vigorously do all of them start 

 into growth. A warm border and rich soil are requi- 

 site, and the plants may nearly touch when first put 

 out, because all this class of plants should be en- 

 couraged to make a growth sufficiently dense to be 

 pared off with a spade, or turfing-iron, with a suffi- 

 ciency of soil adhering to render it uimecessary to 

 plant, but simply to press firmly into the soil, thus 

 producing immediate effect, and at the same time 

 saving the labour of planting. 



ORCHIDS. 



By William Hugh Goweb. 



Ansellia. — As a genus, this is characterised by 

 Its oblong fleshy sepals, which axe spreading and 

 free ; the petals resemble them, but are broader 

 and straight. The lip is sessile, three-lobed, the 

 middle lobe the smallest and vemicose. The stems, 

 like pseudo-bulbs, are erect, terete, sheathing, bear- 

 ing towards the summit numerous plicate leaves. 

 PoUen masses, four, the two dorsal ones very small. 



Ansellias are epiphytes naturally, but thrive best 

 under cultivation when grown in pots, and these 

 require to be large in order to accommodate their 

 numerous roots. Pot in peat and sphagnum, and 

 water freely during the growing season. East 

 Indian House. 



A. africana. — A robust plant, attaining a height 

 of several feet; leaves plicate, dark green. The 

 panicle is produced from the summit of the pseudo- 

 bulb, pendulous, much-branched and many-flowered; 

 the sepals and petals yeUowish-green, transversely 

 blotched with brownish-purple ; lip yellow, the side 

 lobes barred with purple. Its peculiar-coloured 

 flowers are very welcome during the winter months. 

 This plant is abundant on the island of Fer- 

 nando Po, and also on the mainland of Africa 

 opposite. A variety called gigantea, from Natal, 

 produces a very much larger and brighter-coloured 

 flower, although not distinguishable from the species 

 botanicaUy. 



A. africana, var. Rolliasonii. — This plant seldom 

 attains a height of more than twelve to fifteen 

 inches. The pseudo-bulbs are stout. The panicle is 

 small, but the individual flowers are much larger 



than the normal form, and more spreading; sepals 

 and petals yellow, profusely blotched with purpHsh- 

 brown. Winter months. Natal. 



Arpophyllum. — This genus contains a few very 

 handsome and distinct plants. They have slender 

 stem-like pseudo-bulbs, and thick, coriaceous, arching 

 leaves. The flowers individually are small, but they 

 are densely set upon long, erect, cylindrical spikes, 

 resembling in outline the brush of the fox. 



Arpophyllmns are. strictly cool-hOuse Orchids; 

 one species {A. alpinum), which has never been 

 brought alive to this country, we are told is found 

 on the branches of alders on Mount Totanicapan, 

 in Mexico, at an elevation of 10,000 feet. Here it 

 luxuriates in an atmosphere too cold for the Mexican 

 Oak to exist. 



These plants have not been very popular with 

 Orchid-growers, on account of their blooming some- 

 what shyly; This, however, has been entirely the 

 fault of the cultivator, through keeping the plants 

 in far too high a temperature. Experience has 

 proved fully that if ArpophyUums are grown with 

 full exposure to the sun's rays, and with very little 

 artificial heat, they thrive vigorously and bloom pro- 

 fusely. 



Pot these plants in rough peat. Give a plentiful 

 supply of water during the period of growth, but 

 reduce it to a very small quantum when at rest. In 

 the growing season keep them in the Mexican 

 division, but remove to the Peruvian House during 

 the resting season. 



A. cardinale. — This is undoubtedly the most 

 beautiful of the species yet introduced, and at the 

 same time is extremely rare in cultivation. The 

 rhizome is creeping, pseudo-bulbs erect, stem-like, 

 some six to eight inches long, and clothed with 

 stout sheath-like scales; they bear a solitary arching 

 leaf, eighteen to twenty-four inches in length, and 

 upwards of an inch and a half in breadth; these 

 are thick and leathery in texture, and bright green ; 

 the erect flower-spike springs from between a large 

 sheath at the base of the leaf, and is upwards of a 

 foot in height: flowers dense, rather small, the sepals 

 and petals rosy-pink ; lip destitute of any fringe, 

 bright reddish-crimson. It blooms during spring 

 and early summer. Mexico and Guatemala. 



A. gigantcum. — A bold-growing plant, with very 

 much the appearance of the preceding species ; it is, 

 however, more robust, the leaves are longer and 

 broader, whilst its erect flower-spikes are longer 

 and more massive ; flowers very numerous, ■ sepals 

 and .petals rosy-lilac ; lip ovate, fringed in front, 

 and deep rosy-purple. April and May. Mexico and 

 Guatemala. 



A. spieatum. — This species has been introduced to 



