THE ORCHID WORLD. 



'47 



gathered the plants the species is, unfortun- 

 ately, not so common as formerly. It is, 

 however, gratifying to know that it is also 

 found in adjoining situations. The glorious 

 scarlet colour of the flowers has caused it to 

 be known in its native habitat as the Pride of 

 Table Mountain. 



Disa uniflora, the original name, was 

 changed by Linnaeus, the younger, who 

 thought Disa grandiflora more appropriate. 

 As it IS now so well known by the latter name 

 we have felt obliged to maintain it, especially 

 as only when the plant is very badly grown 

 does it produce a single flower. On account 

 0|f the beauty of the flower the plant well 

 deserves the name " flower of the gods." 



In its native home it is found growing in 

 very moist black sandy peat, the atmosphere 

 being always cool and very damp. Probably 

 the greatest mistake in attempting its culti- 

 vation is to place the plants in too dry and too 

 warm an atmosphere. A cool house or cold 

 frame, in which the frost is excluded, has often 

 produced the finest results. 



Re-pottiyig may be done as soon as 

 the tubers commence their new growth, 

 taking care to remove only the sour or 

 decayed compost and disturbing the roots as 

 little as possible. As the plants will require 

 a large amount of water during the growing 

 season, care must be taken that the drainage 

 is very effective, otherwise any accumulation 

 of surplus water will rapidly rot the bulbs and 

 sour the compost. 



The pots or pans should be filled about one- 

 third full of crocks, on the top of which place 

 the compost of fibrous peat, loam, sphagnum 

 moss and coarse sand. Place the pots in a 

 cool airy house, and water carefully for the 

 first few weeks. The growths will make 

 rapid headway and should, on all favourable 

 occasions, be syringed about twice a day with 

 rain water about the same temperature as the 

 house. The plants must never be allowed to 

 become dry at the roots, or serious trouble 

 will result. 



Some growers advocate giving consider- 

 able shade, while others use but little. We 

 believe the best results are obtainable when 

 only a slight shade is used during the middle 



of the day. It must, however, be remem- 

 bered that plenty of ventilation should be 

 given, otherwise the foliage will be quickly 

 burnt by the sun. 



Correct cultivation has proved how inappro- 

 priate the name uniflora (one flower) is. At 

 Hyde Park House, near Cork, some thirty or 

 more years ago, a plant of Disa grandiflora, 

 grown in a i2-in. pot, bore ig flower stems, 

 on which, in the aggregate, were S4 flowers, 

 and three other plants produced 66 flowers, 

 or a total of 120 flowers on four plants. 

 These plants were grown at the east end of 

 an airy house, where they obtained abundant 

 supplies of water during their growing season, 

 and always had plenty of air both day and 

 night. 



In the celebrated garden of Chatsworth, 

 there was, in the year 1875, one of the finest 

 plants which has probably ever been pro- 

 duced ; on one spike it had twelve large 

 bright scarlet-crimson flowers veined with 

 pink. Mr. B. S. Williams, a noted Orchidist 

 of that time, stated that it was worth a journey 

 from London to Chatsworth to see it. The 

 plant was grown in a cold Heath house, where 

 there was always plenty of ventilation, both 

 night and day. 



In Mr. George's garden, Purdysburn, Bel- 

 fast, this species was cultivated with consider- 

 able success. A small piece was, in a few 

 yelars, grown into a remarkable specimen ; 

 when in a 20-in. pan it carried no less than 

 95 spikes of bloom each bearing from two to 

 five flowers. An illustration of the plant was 

 given in The Garden, December 13th, 1884. 



Probably, owing to the discontinuance of 

 cultivating Heaths and other hard-wooded 

 plants, some difficulty is experienced in 

 obtaining a suitable house for growing Disa 

 grandiflora ; we certainly do not, at the 

 present time, see such remarkable specimens 

 as formerly. This is regrettable, for there 

 is no other Orchid possessing such an amount 

 of scarlet colour in its flowers. In the variety 

 known as Barellii a suspicion of orange colour 

 is noticeable. It may be possible, one day, 

 to discover a yellow variety ; what a rarity 

 it would be. 



