694 



FLOWER GARDEN. 



soil, approaching to clay, and is found growing 

 on little hillocks rising out of marshy places. 

 The growing season is from April to September, 

 during which period they require abundance of 

 water, and in a temperature not exceeding 75° 

 in summer, or falling below 46° during winter, 

 which is their season of rest, at which time they 

 should be kept comparatively dry. 



Stenorhynchus, — A genus of true terrestrial 

 orchids of easy culture. Soil turfy loam, and 

 temperature that of tropical orchids in general. 



TrichopUia. — Requires the usual soilof orchids 

 in general, with a temperature during the grow- 

 ing season of from 70° to 75°, giving abundance 

 of moisture. From 50° to 60° is a good medium 

 winter-heat, accompanied with a much drier 

 atmosphere, as well as much less water at their 

 roots. 



Zygopetalum. — This very interesting family of 

 terrestrial orchids is easily managed if potted 

 in light fibrous turfy soil, well drained, and kept 

 in a temperature during their growing season of 

 from 70° to 76°, with a humid atmosphere, and 

 a moderate supply of water only at the roots, 

 reducing the heat during their period of rest to 

 the extent of 10° from the above. 



The natural order of orchidaceous plants is 

 so extensive, that to do anything like justice to 

 a description of them, or their culture in detail, 

 would require a volume. The excellent treatise 

 on their culture by Mr Lyons of MuUingar, the 

 papers by Mr Gordon in the " Journal of the 

 Horticultural Society of London," and the ex- 

 cellent articles on Exotic Orchidaoese, by Mr 

 Appleby, in " The Cottage Gardener," may all be 

 read with great advantage by the inquiring cul- 

 tivator. The botanical periodicals, and the splen- 

 did works on orchids — such as those by Mr 

 Bateman, Dr Lindley, &c. — are almost beyond 

 the reach of readers in moderate circumstances. 



A selection of fifty sorts taken from the collec- 

 tion at Dalkeith, with their season of flowering. 

 — Aerides odorata — May, June, and July ; 

 Aerides crispa — July and August; Brassia 

 maorostachya — spring and autumn ; Barkeria 

 spectabilia — June and July; Cattleya Skinneri 

 — February and March; Cattleya Mossise (of 

 this we have four varieties) — May to August; 

 Cattleya crispa — July and August; Coelogyne 

 cristata — April and May ; C. Walliohiana — Sep- 

 tember and October ; Coryanthea macrantha — 

 June; Chysis bractescens — March and July; 

 Cymbidium Mastersii — August and September ; 

 Dendrobium Wallichianum — Februai-y to May ; 

 D. formosum — February, March, and April; 

 D. pulchellum — April and May; D. Dalhousi- 

 anum — March and April; D. ohrysanthum — 

 February, March, and April ; D. cucullatum — 

 March and April ; Lyoaste Skinneri — November 

 to April ; L. aromatica — February and March ; 

 Lselia superbiena — November to January; L. 

 anceps — November and December ; L. Perrinii 

 — October and November; L. acuminata — No- 

 vember and December; Mormodes luxatum — 

 October and November ; Miltonia spectabilis — 

 August and September; M. Candida, of which 

 we have two varieties— August and September ; 

 Odontoglosaum grande — September and Octo- 

 ber; 0. citrosmum — September and October; 



Oncidium Lanoeanum — June, July, and August; 

 0. guttatum — May and June ; 0. sphacelatum 

 ■ — May and June; 0. flexuosum — May and 

 June ; 0. tricolor — May and June ; Phaloenopsis 

 amabilis — nearly the whole year; Periateria 

 elata — August and September ; Renanthera 

 coccinea — June to November; Saccolabium 

 guttatum— May to August; Stanhopea aurea — 

 June to September; S. tigrina — June to August; 

 S. grandiflora — July and August; Sobralia mac- 

 rantha — July and August; Triohopilia tortilis — 

 several times during the year ; Vauda teres — June 

 to August ; Zygopetalum Mackayii (of this we 

 have several varieties) — November, December, 

 January, and February ; Cattleya superba — July 

 and August ; Cattleya citrina — July and August. 



The orchid-house is a very fitting habitation 

 for the genera Tillandsia, Billbergia, Pitcairuia, 

 .iEchmea, jEschynanthus, &c., all of which may 

 be successfully cultivated either in pots or sus- 

 pended baskets, and treated, as to soil, tempe- 

 rature, and water, much the same as has been 

 detailed above for orchids, as well as the singular 

 genus Nepenthus, and the equally curious Cepha- 

 lotus, or Pitcher plants. 



Ferns. — The more shaded parts are also an 

 excellent position for tropical ferns, and many 

 of them may be advantageously grown inter- 

 mixed with the orchids, their slender and ele- 

 gant fronds filling up the blanks between, and 

 forming an excellent contrast with the stiff 

 and formal foliage of the latter. Ferns are 

 chiefly natives of shady woods, growing in the 

 half-decomposed vegetable matter formed by 

 the exfoliation of trees and shrubs, sometimes 

 growing out of the crevices of rocks, often in 

 the soil beneath, and also upon old or decaying 

 trees, but in almost all cases accompanied with 

 moisture, and in general where decaying vege- 

 table matter exists. Although they delight in 

 moisture, that must not be in a state of stagna- 

 tion ; and, therefore, when grown in pots, atten- 

 tion should be paid to ample drainage. Spring 

 is the most proper time for shifting them, and 

 water must be administered abundantly; for if 

 ever ferns are allowed to become too diy, their 

 death is next to certain. They are propagated 

 by seed, by division of the plant, and some of 

 them by forming viviparous plants towards the 

 points and edges of the fronds. The seeds or 

 sporules exist on the back of the fronds, and 

 are arranged in difierent forms in particular 

 genera, some in form of round brownish dots, 

 some along the whole margin of the leaves, and 

 others in lines running from the midrib to the 

 margin, &c. In either case the seeds or sporules, 

 when ripe, may be brushed off with a soft brush, 

 and, if allowed to fall upon a smooth surface of 

 damp soil, in a shady warm place, but not 

 covered as in ordinary seed-sowing, on account 

 of their extreme minuteness, they will vegetate 

 freely. We have often, by brushing the seed of 

 even dried specimens, and allowing them to fall 

 upon the surface of a piece of soft sandstone, 

 reared fine crops of young plants. In the Royal 

 Gardens at Kew, Mr Smith, one of our first 

 oryptogamic botanists and cultivators, has a 

 shelf filled with rather strong loam, upon which 

 he scatters the sporules of many rare ferns, and 



