126 
MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GARDENS. 
coloured Oncidium.) — A very neat and pretty 
stemless species, with subdisticlious (two- 
rowed), rigid, triquetrous (three-angled) leaves, 
having a deep grove or channel on the upper 
side. The flower- stems (scapes) are produced 
from the axils of the outer leaves, and rise 
about a foot high, branching into a loose 
slender panicle; the sepals and petals are 
small, greenish yellow, transversely streaked 
and spotted with red ; the lip is white, with 
two small lateral lobes and a large centre one, 
which is kidney-shaped, or lunate. It was 
collected by Mr. Purdie, in Jamaica, and sent 
to the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, where it 
flowered in March and April, 1 844. 
Physurus Pictus, Lindley. (Pencilled 
Physurus.) — A native of Brazil, introduced 
by Messrs. Loddiges. The leaves are curi- 
ously veined, appearing to be covered with a 
net-work or film of silver; the small white 
flowers are borne in spikes, and have a bar of 
dark brown on the middle of each sepal and 
petal. It grows among decayed leaves. 
Pilumna Laxa, Lindley. (Loose-flowered 
Pilumna.) — A new species from the woods of 
Timbio, near Popayan. It has linear oblong 
leaves, and a loose raceme of flowers spring- 
ing from the base of its pseudo-bulbs; the 
sepals and petals of the flowers are narrow, 
and pale watery green, slightly tinged with 
purple, and the lip is cream-coloured. 
Spiranthes Lobata, Lindley. XLobed- 
lipped Spiranthes.) — A terrestrial species, 
with oblong pointed leaves, and yellowish 
flowers, the centre division of which is three- 
lobed, whence the name. It has been culti- 
vated by Sir C. Lemon, who received it from 
the neighbourhood of Real del Monte. 
Spiranthes Diaphana, Lindley. (Trans- 
parent sheathed Spiranthes.) — This is pro- 
bably from Mexico. It is a curious plant, 
flowering (apparently) before the leaves are 
produced, that is, if we reckon by the calendar; 
the stems are eight inches high, with three or 
four semi-transparent scales, streaked with 
rose; the flowers are inclosed in a head of 
such sheaths; they are whitish, with green 
streaks outside, and a yellow blotch on the lip. 
Vanda Parviflora, Lindley. (Small- 
flowered Air-plant.) — An inconspicuous spe- 
cies from Bombay, with a leafy stem, and 
small pale ochre-coloured flowers, the lip 
being sprinkled over with purple dots. 
Warrea Cyanea, Lindley. (Blue-lipped 
Warrea.) — This is a native of Colombia, and 
was imported by Messrs. Loddiges, in 1843. 
It is nearly allied to the Maxillarias and Ly- 
castes, and among the members of its own 
genus is most nearly related to W. Tricolor, 
but is altogether smaller. It is pseudo-bul- 
bous, the flowers are white, but the lip, which 
is somewhat wedge-shaped, with a rounded 
head, and a distinct point, is of a most beauti- 
ful pure blue colour, finely contrasting with 
the white of the other portions. This colour 
is novel among Orchidaceous plants. 
MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GARDENS. 
Some writer on gardening, Mr. Loudon, we 
believe, used to say that it required as good 
a gardener to manage a small garden as it 
did to keep up one of ten or a hundred acres. 
Without going to this extreme, we may fairly 
assume that there is great difficulty in keep- 
ing up the appearance of a small garden, and 
providing a succession of flowers. At many 
villas out of town the ground allotted to 
each is very inconsistent with the size of the 
dwelling, totally inadequate to produce vege- 
tables, and hardly large enough to make a 
tolerable show as an ornamental appendage to 
the house or a flower-garden. The larger 
portion of this is generally in front, and unless 
the plants can be removed as soon as they are 
out of bloom, it can never be kept in high 
condition. On this account a small garden 
is often more expensive than a large one, 
because many little sacrifices are necessarily 
made for the sake of appearance, and great 
management is required to make this sacrifice 
as small as possible. Generally speaking, 
one of the two gardens, either the back or 
the front, must be occasionally untidy. The 
greatest assistance towards enabling us to 
keep up a first-rate appearance is a general 
system of pot culture; for, by a judicious ob- 
servance of the seasons, and a succession of 
plants grown in pots, and kept ready at all 
times to be moved and replaced, a garden 
need scarcely for a single hour be other than 
neat, well- stocked, and abundantly supplied 
with flowers and ornamental plants. As the 
principal stock in trade, if we may be allowed 
to use the term, with an amateur, will be 
flower-pots, he had better expend a few 
pounds at once in ordering them by the cast 
from some pottery; he will have to pay from 
two to three shillings per cast for them de- 
livered at his house, anywhere within a few 
miles of the pottery, or probably any nursery- 
man with whom he is in the habit of dealing 
will supply him at something like those prices. 
The sizes he will chiefly want will be sixties, 
(which means sixty to the cast,) forty-eights, 
thirty-twos, and twenty- fours; though a cast 
of thumb-pots, as they are called, which are 
the smallest made, and a cast each of sixteens 
and twelves, will occasionally be found useful. 
In the garden intended to be kept in high 
condition, he may confine everything he puts 
in it, to potted plants, or he may use the potted 
plants only partially. Some very gay flowers 
and plants ought especially to be potted, not 
