OPERATIONS FOR OCTOBER. 
215 
but the sepals and petals are altogether darker, and the labellum comprises a 
variety of tints, from a light blue to the deepest violet. The pseudo-bulbs are 
yellowish, as in the other species. It has just flowered at Messrs. Loddiges' 
nursery, and promises to prove one of the most splendid orchidaeeaB which have 
been introduced for some time past. 
Oxalis geniculata. A small and very neat species, about two inches high, 
and bearing a profusion of peculiarly rich orange blossoms. It is a native of the 
Cape of Good Hope, whence it was imported a few years ago. Specimens are 
blooming finely in the stove of Mr. Knight, Chelsea, and it is managed as the ordi- 
nary stove-bulbs. It would possibly thrive in the greenhouse, where, as well as 
in the stove, it is interesting as a plant fitted for placing on conspicuous shelves 
amongst other dwarf exotics. 
OPERATIONS FOR OCTOBER. 
In specifying the duties which devolve upon the culturist during the month of 
October, the chief place must be assigned to a preparation of all the objects beneath 
his superintendence for bearing without detriment the cold and gloomy weather 
that may be expected directly to ensue. According to the ordinary course of 
climatic changes, this may ever be considered as the last of the fine months ; 
for though November sometimes opens propitiously, and occasionally continues 
mild till its close, such conditions cannot be looked for, and even when they exist, 
they are almost invariably accompanied with a misty and murky state of the 
atmosphere, which is highly injurious to vegetation at that period. 
What we mean, therefore, by preparing plants at the present season for what- 
ever circumstances they may be likely afterwards to be called to undergo, is to 
induce or foster the requisite degree of torpidity for enabling them to stand against 
either extreme cold or wet, if they should be casually subjected to it, or to endure a 
more moderate degree of these, beyond what is really useful. In pursuance of this 
design, heaths, camellias, or any other plants that have a tendency to form a 
second growth, or to prolong their previous developments, should be checked as 
much as possible by exposure, and in the case of the small- wooded kinds their 
elongations may be removed as they appear. We have observed this disposition 
to recommence growing in several places lately visited, and the peculiar length of 
the season sufficiently accounts for it. But the continuance of the usual supplies 
of water will do much towards augmenting the evil ; and this leads us to the 
direction that all plants, except such as have not reached a state of productiveness, 
and for which a more protracted stimulus may be desired, ought now to be brought 
into as dry a condition as is at all compatible with their vitality. 
As water must necessarily be administered, to a greater or less extent, through- 
out the winter, to every specimen cultivated in pots that does not lose its foliage, 
and assume an almost inanimate aspect, it becomes of the greatest consequence 
