COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



397 



lime and the hills are mostly limestone. The seed, which takes eighteen 

 months to ripen, comes up very freely with me. It was sown broadcast 

 on two beds of light soil which was full of lime (effervescing freely with 

 acid). The beds were 4 feet by 25 feet, and the plants came up so thickly 

 that the bed was a mass of green in about six weeks. This place is about 

 4,500 feet above sea level and at the time of sowing, April and May, the 

 temperatures in the shade are — maximum 82° and minimum 60°-61° ; 

 the average maximum for the two months, 76°, the average minimum 63°, 

 and the minimum on the grass 54°. The April rainfall amounted to 5*39 

 inches, that of May to 7*72 inches. Luculia flowers in the Kochin Hills 

 in September, but here, in the first year, with a deficient rainfall, it did not 

 flower till December ; this year, with a heavier rainfall, it is flowering 

 in September. 



The young shoots were cut slightly by frost here on the flat last year, 

 when the minimum on the grass was 26°." 



Vanda coeeulea. 



The same Fellow says concerning this well-known orchid, " Vanda 

 coerulea grows here (at Kalan) on several species of trees from 10 feet 

 to 40 feet above the ground, in my experience. As a general rule, the 

 rainfall averages about 45 inches and falls from the middle of April to 

 the end of September fairly regularly. Some heavy showers come in 

 October, and, generally, a wet spell of a few days in either November 

 or December. 



Vanda flowers from the end of July to late in September. It seeds 

 freely and likes its roots to be in the shade, while the flower spike frequently 

 finds its way outside the foliage of the tree where there is a gap. Too 

 much shade makes the flowers very pale. The roots grow to two feet or 

 more in length and adhere closely to the bark of the trees. It does not 

 appear to mind whether the wood is dead or not. I think some of these 

 fleshy-rcoted orchids suffer at home from their roots being confined and 

 (generally) kept wet. Out here, tied to a bit of the trunk of a tree or thick 

 branch, they grow to perfection. This year I had a dead branch about 

 3 feet 6 inches long with fourteen sprays out at one time. This of course 

 is exceptional and is the best I have ever seen. When not flowering the 

 branch is fastened up perpendicularly, or nearly so, so that the sprays 

 pointing upwards are shown off well when brought inside the house." 



A Suggestion foe Local Show Committees. 



From a correspondent we have received a copy of a letter written by 

 Mr. Thomas Canning, of Discard, Cheshire, containing a somewhat novel 

 suggestion which we commend to the consideration of the Committees of 

 Local Horticultural Shows, Associations of Allotment Holders, Local 

 Education Committees, and the like. Although there might possibly be some 

 difficulty in getting suitable vacant land at the season of the usual summer 

 shows, yet it is probable that at other seasons such land could be obtained 

 easily and that such a competition would meet with at least as great a 

 measure of success as attends ploughing matches, and at the same time 

 would tend to improve the most important horticultural operation to the 



