292 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



May 



7, 1898. 



A MOR 



3 Mix 



saluberri 



In the orchid oracle's laboratory there are few n r i zes 



nkq_ hut his work is absorhino- « ft. . . P riz CS 



I regret to have to announce the indisposition of Peter. For some 

 time past he has lacked his usual sourness, and been affected by sudden 

 bursts of hysterical cheerfulness. This alarming symptom was followed 

 by another equally amazing and grave. I caught him with pencil (a stump 

 one inch long) and paper (a wrinkled sheet permeated with an odour of 

 tobacco) in obscure corners of the garden, making jottings with an air of 

 desperate and awe-inspiring malevolence. A rumour then leached me 

 that he was preparing a column of notes of his own for the Gardeners' 

 Magazine, in which various "experts" were to receive such a taking 

 down as they have never experienced in the course of their misspent lives. 

 Happily, however, for their repose and reputation, the unwonted effort 

 has exhausted Peter, and he has disappeared, leaving word that he had 

 been ordered a change of air. He may have gone to the Ghent quin- 

 quennial, led on by those wonderful illustrations ; he may have gone to 

 the wars ; he may have gone to select a new site for the Horticultural 

 Hall. The only things which are certain are that he is not here, and 

 that his manuscript is missing also. 



On learning the nature of Peter's task, the result of which I awaited 

 with mingled curiosity and trepidation, I had contemplated a brief respite 

 from literary labour. It seemed to me certain that his communication 

 would have been of so fearful and wonderful a nature that readers would 

 have clamoured for a suppression of the Luxian in favour of the Petronian 

 mixture. As it is, I find myself under the unexpected necessity of gird- 

 ing myself for fresh literary labour. Just at the moment I appear to be 

 at peace with the world, whatever dread onslaught may be looming in the 

 future. There has been no second "evening dose n to disturb my dreams. 

 I will take advantage of the lull to speak of a visit to a friend whom 

 I call the orchid oracle, and of a wonderful new form which will soon see 

 the light. The orchid oracle is steeped to the eyebrows in orchid lore. 

 He knows every one of the thousands of forms, their habitats if imported, 

 their pedigree if cultivated hybrids. He is a walking encyclopedia of 

 orchid information. 



are tat widkri^^ s^^^ 

 time is lost in raising and cultivating new seedling S ne< ^ * 

 worthless ? There is some acquisition secured, sown D 2 ? n « provc t0 •* 

 or eight years ago, but watched with all a mother's devS me * v * 

 season, until at length it gives its reward. So we wander ^ son ^ 

 million on million, house after house densely packed, a prSfr!^ 

 tion, with many a pause to admire some choice sort or tn *n! 1 ' 

 the prospects of a slowly-developing hybrid. And at length *™ 011 

 back to the tent of paper, where the latest and greatest treasure k wT 

 away. As yet no outsider s eye had rested upon it : the orchid i*, 1 

 had not announced its birth, nor committees sat in consideration 

 My friend the oracle was, I could see, going to ^ mT^SJ 

 of my visit and of our chat by giving me the honour of bein^the S 

 of the general public to gaze upon his precious bantling. 



I saw a noble cattleya, with sepals and petals of richest mauve 

 glistening and shimmering in the sunlight like the sparkling of disto* 

 waters. Its surface was smooth and of silky softness, but there was* 

 ripple-like play of colour upon it, as there is in the phosphoresce* 

 coruscations on a moon-bathed sea. No vagrant breath of air moved the 

 satiny petals, yet the play of light on their shining folds gave an appear- 

 ance of gentle oscillation. In the cavernous recesses of the throat were 

 golden veinings, as though they were paths leading to some cave of 

 treasure trove deep down in the heart of the flower. The lip was a 

 carmine of the intensest depth, with purple shadings added, as though 

 there were not warmth and glow enough without them. Not only was 

 its beauty great, but, as the oracle hastened to point out, it gave its 

 glorious blossoms with a lavish freedom. It was a gem indeed, a pearl 

 of great price, and an amateur had eagerly secured the first claim on it 

 at a price which made me cease the wild, foolish jingling of gold in 

 trousers pocket, and turn regretfully away. Lux. 



DlSA LONGICORNU AND D. MACULATA. 



Was there as much evidence in the tubers of the Cape disas ;is there is 

 in some plants to indicate their requirements, no doubt more succea 

 would have been attained in their cultivation by persons with a widt 

 knowledge of plant culture. Could they see the hard, wiry leaves 

 and stem of the blue disas mentioned in my last note, and the soft, 

 ordinary-fleshed ones of the two above-named species, they would at ooce 

 conclude there must be a difference of treatment to ensure success * 

 each. Probably it may have been observed that the tubers of some art 

 covered with a soft wool, as it were, while others are quite bare and 

 smooth. The extent to which this is developed seems to be in propor- 

 tion to the dryness of their habitats ; and were its parts properly 

 examined doubtless they would be found similar in structure to "root- 

 hairs," and so be the means of obtaining the greatest amount from a very 

 small supply of moisture. 



However, be that as it may, Disa longicornu and I). maculatt J* 



verv Hiflfpr^nt trv fV.^ mU^, u^u \ry or^^ nnrp nnrl the conditions UBdff 



which they are found in a wild state. " "They are also more rare 

 in their distribution, D. longicornu being confined to Table Moun ™ 

 and D. maculatato the Muizenberg and Hottentots' Holland Mountain* 

 The flowers of both are of the same exquisite shade of blue, wTttgj 

 hood more or less distinctly veined with green. D. longicornu is reaj 

 known from D. maculata by the broader radical leaves and shorter J 

 with a much larger flower and a hood terminating in a blunt *P ur !T 



nnp on^ ^ 1 — it .~ m. • _t 1 mn^iifa ha* more aitenu*^ 



There is more than one lorchid oracle in existence, but, like the 

 champion cyclist, he is rare. My oracle stands high amongst his fellows, 

 and when I paid my visit I found him gazing abstractedly at a square 

 enclosure of paper in one of his houses, deep in a day dream. Around 

 were thousands of plants, some spearing through like grass on anew 

 lawn, others large specimens with quaint and wonderful flowers. For 

 the nonce they were all forgotten ; his thoughts were absorbed in the 

 precious jewel which was shielded from the vulgar gaze beside him. I 

 knew my man, and let him think on. Before me was a strange cypri- 

 pedium with flowers of pearl, such as I have never seen gracing Mr. 

 Chamberlain s button-hole in the House of Commons. It was a rare 

 bloom of the Lady's Slipper tribe, with milky sepals and pouch, and tails 

 drooping like frosted wire below. So chaste, so beautiful, so valuable a 

 find must have a marvellous rival indeed, methought, that it cannot win 

 even a thought from the artist whose skill has brought it into being. 

 Fresently the oracle awakened. He smiled to himself in silent gratifica- 

 tion, then stretched out his hand as though to lift the veil and gaze once 

 more on the goddess beneath ; but my voice made him drop it, as though 

 ♦w £ a chess - board before him and had been about to make a move 

 that he now perceived would have led him to destruction. He breathed 

 a «gh of relief on seeing me, and I led the conversation to the milky 

 cypnpedium so as to let him recover his self-command. 



It was a oure whitp fnrm *kI7TT~- a u A 11 e~* 3 • nnuaiijuuiiarger nower ana a noou terajuiaiiug *r - * — — 



candidulum, £ us sav wX , f ^ ft P ld T' a Sed «" one and » half to two inches long. D. maculata has more atttnosg 



driven snow It wilt I , P ' ^ and u .labelluni chaste as the leaves and stem, and only a blunt projection, scarcely suffiag 



dehght, and the ^ session TZJ^V^T ° n wUh develo P ed t0 be *d a spur, to the hoo P d. The whole plan. js s*J 



Orchid journa s wilUnnounce itl h^i they W1 " vigorously contest, more than nine inches in length, being about three inches longe than* 



tion upon it, andTts mkl will he 3 ^ ' commtte * s W,U "* in considera- longicornu. The colour, combined with a dwarf elegant hah.t she* 



it comes. Then there is L iintL 1° H T" • 1 \ ncome - w u h en ma ke them great favourites with lovers of this class of orchids. 



Nature has produced fo the evfdent nurnose l? h"V^ , , DuHng November, when in flower, the clump* <* »- -acul 



work to make a lip for it A cvorinediiim w^thnnt a lin • li hybnd,stsat J*fces or in the crevices of perpendicular ro 



without a tail as a donkev SFhnnfjl t $? ? • *■ a u° nk *Z Viewed from below, with the clear sky overhea( 



a palpable monstrosity and [^h/^LZtJT^^ WOrr ' ed ^ such imperceptible ; but in a side view, with the rock 



of D. maculataj os* 



v ery effect 

 ers are atof 

 ckground. * 



scapes i» *• 



m ,Z. h ! re • to °' a new ca »leya of ivory whiteness, with pink and 



E w7h n !L an , d r " geS ° f /° ,d ' a form ° f sur P**ing beauty, and 

 hvbr disina t . del ' clous ^our of honeysuckles. This is another 

 been le irk rff ^ ItS ,ike th ^ of the others, has not 



with the swTfmeL ^ eaS °1- The orehid does not y ieId U P its treasures 



gnarled stems ind | Ju by year ' bui,din S "P strange, twisted, 



>s passed "the S«S2?J^ ""I 11 at length the P eriod of Probation 

 flowers guS forth n hSnSS 011 Nature's palette, and the wondrous 



of age into Wh as & *? d beaUty ' P is as the transformation 



fluttering butterfly i \\V!S!* thC du " COCOOn int0 the dazzlin g» 



soul, gut theorSdd 2i2?^ hos,S for wh,ch Faust bartered his 

 notes the attributes of thU tH- IS , not a Mephistophelian one. He 

 perfect colouring of another , ? I that ' the beautiful form of one, the 



live qualities in one flower 'S e " WOrk to unite their res Pec- 



• h J • r - \ ie cr oss fertilises with care, sows his seed 



e labor* 



the common 



from 



sed with emeralds, .s occasionally ^ 0 



draped with the lovely filmy H>menopn>nuro ^ 

 H. tunbridgense. The well-known part.a^y ^ 

 ermine at once the amount of percolatm^rn 



tb«.*5 



constant! H 

 t-»cf The 



I 



deficiency 



time the disa obtains its necessary res l ^ ^ 

 sihlv nht^in w onld be early in the ^.^^^i^l 



possibly 



steep banks of wide ravines. M ttat usuallrr^ 



The treatment cnrr«s would seem to 



tuberous plants. 



fresh water 



rater OP* 

 tbe*^ 



and inch by inch of stem and Vh u ye \ r ^ they de velop leaf by leaf, 

 L S i;L S :I!. W . ard SoSes a 'ZuT ' ffprnmS 



ant.cipated, afamilvof numb e r of van 



none valuable ; wmeS b f and sisters diff< 

 -li be n orth the SE 8™« in a heap 



until they are at perfect rest when a jshdf m ^ d 

 ^ould be an ideal place for them. The soil for D ^ 

 Peat perhaps more spongy for D. long.co^u than ^ „ 



nch h** o 1 ^ rp.t rommencing in v**- Amr: 



can scari 

 well-beir 



1 pUJJiwi 



perpend 



positi 



essential 



<0 



Cape Town. 



f. W. MATH** 1 



