THE ORCHID 



WORLD. 



always ditiicult to find, as it frequently allows 

 many years to pass without sending" u}) 

 a single spike of its strongly scented, rather 

 large, flowers, resting content to grow only 

 underground. Not far away, at Stechelberg", 

 I have found the Early Purple (Orchis 

 nuiscula) in full perfection as late as the end 

 of June. 



Higher in the mountains, in the beds of 

 Alpen roses, whortleberries and heather, 

 Bicchia albida succeeds well. They are dear 

 little plants, seldom more than six inches high, 

 with closely packed heads of white, sweet- 

 scented flowers. With it grows its usual 

 companion and near relative, the Gnat 

 (Gvmnadenia conopsea). Higher still, just 

 above the hamlet of Ober Steinberg, another 

 devoted couple of companions are found, the 

 Globe (Traunsteinera globosa), with a round 

 head and ball-tipped pink petals, and 

 Nigritella angustifolia, which we English 

 usually call the Chocolate or the Black Orchid, 

 from its unusually dark colour, or sometimes 

 the Vanilla, of which it is scented, like so 

 many of the European kinds. The Swiss, 

 however, call it " Mannentreu," and amongst 

 them a bunch of it accompanied by the Edel- 

 weiss constitutes a proposal of marriage. 

 These two also blossom together high on tlie 

 Oldenhorn, among the Diablerets, in Canton 

 Vaud. With them in both localities may be 

 .seen squatting m the short grass crowds of 

 the little green Frogs (Coeloglossum viride) 

 and Orchis maculata. Around Ober .Stein- 

 berg, besides those already mentioned, I 

 found the Fly (Ophrys muscifera), a true 

 woodland species, but there growing on the 

 open hillside far away from the shelter of any 



trees, the broad-leaved Epipactis latifolia, a 

 late kind not }et m blossom. Orchis latifolia, 

 the Bird's Nest and the small greenish 

 Hcrminium monorchis, usually called the 

 Musk, though the scent to me is decidedly 

 more comparable to honey. 



Now I will leave Canton Berne, f have 

 already spoken of some of the plants of 

 Canton Vaud, but will also give away a few 

 other locahties. Around Leysin the most 

 characteristic plant is the Bird's Nest (Neottia 

 nidus-avis), which seems so appropriate to that 

 sanatorium district, for the plant itself always 

 looks as though it were dying, its dingy, 

 brown flowers rising, leafless, from a thick 

 matted cluster of roots which gives it its 

 name. This plant appears really happicf in 

 Canton Schaffhausen, where there are miles 

 of Beech woods, for it certainly seems to 

 prefer that soil to the Pine and grows 

 splendidly at Kohlfirst and Diessenhofen by 

 the Falls of the Rhine, accompanied in the 

 latter situation by Cephalanthera pallens. 

 This white Cephalanthera is not quite so 

 particular about the Beech and grows well in 

 the Oak woods near Aigle (Canton Vaud) 

 with C. rubra and Epipactis latifolia. iVround 

 Leysin also grow the common Twayblade and 

 tiie Gymnadenia. From there up to the 

 Diablerets, by the Ormonts, the po.st-road 

 passes good patches of Epipactis palustris, 

 growing in damp spots, accomjaanied by the 

 rich claret-coloured Orchis latifolia with its 

 hollow stems and spotted leaves. Here I 

 lia\e only given my own experiences of the 

 Swiss Orchids, but I believe that other, and 

 perhaps rarer, ones flourish in Cantons I have 

 not visited. 



CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR MARCH. 



By J. T. BARKER, The 'West Hill, Hessle, E. Yorks. 



TEMPERATURES. With the longer 

 days these may be advanced a few 

 degrees m every house, and with the 

 increased sunshine the rise will be consider- 

 able ; this will be of great benefit to the 

 plants. 



Atmosphere. With the increased temi:>eratures 



moisture ma)' now he distributed more 

 freely, for with the increased power of the 

 sun by day and the fire heat in the pipes at 

 night evaporation will take place more 

 quickly. The various houses may be damped 

 d(jwn twice a da_\-, at the least, at this season, 

 but as different houses vary the cultivator will 



