﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



[June, .904. 



labelled C. macranthum ventricosum, while C. macranthum collected 

 at the spot was labelled C. macranthum vulgare. I do not find that Maack 

 also collected C. Calceolus, but, according to Ledebour, all are found in 

 Siberia in the Ural and Baikal districts. Reichenbach regards C. ventri- 

 cosum as a variety of C. macranthum (Fl. Germ., xiii., p. 169, t. 497), but 

 the point should be investigated from the standpoint of possible hybridity. 



Since the above was written I have seen another example, in the group 

 of Alpine plants exhibited by Messrs. James Backhouse and Sons, of York, 

 at the Temple Show. There were also examples of C. Calceolus and C. 

 macranthum, and on enquiry Mr. W. A. Clarke informed me that all came 

 together from a nurseryman at St. Petersburg ; also that the supposed 

 hybrid had previously appeared in similar importations, and had been 

 taken for a form of C. macranthum, though its intermediate characters 

 had been noticed. R. A. Rolfe. 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR JUNE. 



By JOHN Mackay, The Gardens, Highbury, Birmingham. 

 The temperatures given for last month should be maintained in all depart- 

 ments, and the shading, airing, and damping down well attended to, which 

 is a matter of great importance. On the Cattleya and Laelia houses, also 

 the Dendrobium and other warm houses, the blinds should be removed 

 rather early in the afternoon — say from three to five o'clock, according to 

 the position of the house — and at the same time the ventilation should be 

 reduced and a thorough damping down given. Spraying the plants also 

 overhead is beneficial. In fact, at this season, when the weather is bright 

 and hot, a good spraying overhead with soft warm water when the house is 

 closed is attended with good results. But when this is done it is necessary 

 to be a little careful with some few things, whose young growths are in the 

 habit of damping off. When plants are healthy, however, and the 

 conditions well attended to, as advised, the plants that damp are few and far 

 between, though one or two Dendrobiums are likely to do so, particularly 

 D. Bensoniae and D. superbum. The houses, when closed and damped 

 down, will become beautifully warmed, and a suitable growing temperature 

 will be generated that will last throughout the night without the assistance 

 of fire heat, although it is frequently advantageous and even necessary to 

 have a slight warmth in the pipes during the night in the warmest 

 departments, that is, the Dendrobium and East Indian houses. When 

 finally closing the houses in this manner for the day, it is advisable to have 

 the ventilators more or less open at the bottom, according to the conditions 

 of the weather. It is well to remember that the above treatment is good for 



