48 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 15, 1885. 
only consequence is that it gets upon its back some of the matter 
from that organ, which will prove useful presently. It forces at 
least its head past the rostellum, and forces its proboscis down 
to the nectary. Jtgets all the nectar it can, and then retires 
backwards. At this point its weight would exert less leverage 
on the lip, the depression of which, being less, the insect would 
be certain to push against the rostellum and force it outwards. 
As he does this he contracts more of the matter from the ros¬ 
tellum, and exposes more fully the tails of the pollen masses. 
These adhere to the bee’s back, and so it flies out of the flower 
with the pollen attached. It enters another flower, and the 
stigma of that being highly viscid, is almost certain to attach to 
itself some of the pollen which the insect brings in contact with 
it as he forces himself into the nectary. The pollen then shoots 
out its long slender tubes, which strike down the pistil to the 
ovules at the base. These thus become fertilised, and the flower 
having accomplished the purpose of its being, dies in a few 
hours afterwards. We can therefore have no greater enemy in a 
house of blooming Orchids than a bee or a wasp. In a few 
minutes he will fertilise and destroy possibly a dozen or two 
flowers which might have made a brave show for weeks to 
come. 
The Cypripediums, or Slipper Plants as they are called, have 
a set of organs not less interesting than those of the Cattleya, 
and though they are less highly organised, they seem equally well 
adapted for securing cross-fertilisation. The lip or slipper 
closes over the organs. The stigma is underneath the shield-like 
projection in the centre of the flower; it is, in fact, the under 
side of this shield. The stigma is not sticky, but sticky matter 
is found around the pollen masses. These pollen masses are 
placed at the extremities of the anthers inside the upper part of 
the lip. They are two in number, and can just be seen through 
the upper openings of the lip. An insect, having been attracted 
inside the lip, cannot retire at the large opening at which he 
entered.. Either the lip is so smooth and shiny, or, as in other 
species, its sides so bend inwards that if it attempts to crawl out 
here it falls back into the flower. Its only course is to crawl up 
the back of the lip, which is an inclined plane, and get out at 
one or other of the two uppermost openings. In doing this it 
must of necessity brush against the anther which stands in his 
path, and take away with him for the fertilisation of another 
flower some of the glutinous pollen. It passes the stigma before 
lie reaches the pollen, and there is consequently no fear of its 
fertilising the flower with its own pollen. When it arrives at a 
second flower, carrying on its head and back pollen of the first 
flower, a similar journey is repeated. As it passes beneath the 
stigma of the second flower up the inclined plane in order to get 
■out, some little projecting excrescences which cover the surface 
of the stigma brush the pollen from off him, and the fertili¬ 
sation of the second flower is thus completed by pollen of the 
first. 
(To be continued.) 
Roi al Horticultural Society. —At a General Meeting of the 
Fellows held last Tuesday in the conservatory at South Kensington, 
Mr. Maurice loung, F. R.H.S., in the chair, the following candidates 
were unanimously elected Fellows-viz., F. G. Barley, R. S. Bond, F. J. 
Coppin, E. E. Cornaby, Miss M. Tyrwhitt Drake, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, 
F.R.S., James Flint, Henry Fruen, Mrs. Garbutt, Sydney, Jacobs, Rev. 
Morgan Jones, Fredk. Knighton, B. D. Knox, Miss Mander, Miss C. 
Mander, Miss E. Mander, R. H. Measures, R. J. Measures, Admiral 
Montresor, Mrs. Montresor, Dr. Thus. G. Munyard, William Roupell, 
Charles Smith, Alfred H. Strong, John Stanton, W. Graham Vivian. 
B. Wynne. 
The weather in the neighbourhood of London has become 
very winterly during the present week. On Tuesday and Wednesday 
snow fell for several hours, and remained on the ground to a depth of 
neai.y 2 inches. The frost has not been very severe, the lowest temperature 
registered being 20° Fahrenheit. 
- We are informed that the Reigate Rose Association have 
x?d Saturday, the 4th July, for their Exhibition, 
- A correspondent referring to the remarks of “ J. A. W.,” on 
page 32, “ wishes amateur Rose-growers all the success they can have,’ 
and further states that “ gardeners are not too proud to learn, and he 
will be glad if “J. A. W.” will give a good practical lesson on Rose¬ 
growing in the Journal. 
- Mr. James Gray, Danvers Street, Chelsea, is now preparing a 
Curvilinear Roof for a Conservatory in Holland. It is of handsome 
design, constructed of cast iron, light and graceful in appearanco, but 
exceedingly strong, with elegant fluted column supports, and all the 
necessary arrangements for ventilating. The roof will be glazed with 
flat glass, the rabbets being straight for each length, thus avoiding the 
expense of bent glass. The conservatory for which it is intended is a 
remarkably fine building near Haarlem, and has also been heated by 
this firm. 
- A REMARKABLE LlST OF SEEDS IS ISSUED FROM THE JARD1N DBS 
Plantes, Paris (Index Seminum in Hortis Mu=®i Parisiensis), over 
4500 species being enumerated. These are arranged under their natural 
orders, from Filices to Abietine®, some of the most largely represented 
being Gramine®, Composite, Scrophularine®, Labiat®, Crucifer®, Um- 
bellifer®, and Papilionace®. Many very rare plants are named in this 
list which will prove of great value to the curators of botanic gardens. 
- “B.” writes :—“We are having plenty of Tea Roses, and, as 
I think, because we never allow the plants to stop growing. It is well 
known that Tea Roses in summer continue throwing up fresh crops of 
buds, and acting on that hint we have in managing Tea Roses, which were 
wanted all through winter, merely thinned out weakly growths and 
kept the plants growing without attempting a so-called ripening 
process. We have also strong-growing sorts planted out in various 
structures, which commence throwing out their buds at the axils of every 
leaf without any seeming period of rest.” 
- The Annual General Meeting of the Royal Meteorological 
Society will be held at 25, Great George Street, Westminster, on Wed 
nesday, the 21st instant, at 7 p.h., when the Report of the Council will be 
read, the election of Officers and Council for the ensuing year will take 
place, and the President will deliver his address. 
- Messrs. Robert Veitcii & Sons, Exeter, desire us to announce 
that they have been recently appointed seed merchants to the Queen 
The same firm issue a “ Gardeners’ Calendar and Almanack for 1885,” 
which contains useful hints for garden operations throughout the year, 
together with the dates of the principal shows and meetings of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. 
- “F. H , Cobham," writes :—“I have been reading with much 
interest the articles by Mr. W. Iggulden and others on Trenching 
Ground, and I would advise those who have clay subsoil to bring up 
about 6 inches and well burn it, then mix it with the bottom spit and 
enrich the surface soil. Gardeners will then have the soil in condition 
to receive liquid manure and well drained. I have worked and burnt 
400 loads of clay as above stated, and still continue the practice, as the 
results are very encouraging.” 
- A Large Araucaria. —“E. R.” sends the following—“The 
Baroness Dowager de Rothschild, who has just taken up her residence 
at Cannes, has had removed to her villa from the Gulf of Juan an 
Araucaria, which has not its equal in the country. It weighs 28 ton°, 
and was drawn on a dray to the town by thirty-two horses.” 
- Parts 18 and 19 of the Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening 
continue the subjects from Dahlia to Dipladenia. There are numerous 
illustrations, several of which have originally appeared in our pages, 
but they are not accompanied by any notification to that effect. 
- Mr. J. Bennett, Feldheim, Wimbledon, writes:—“I do not 
agree with Mr. Muir in his opinion of Lord Napier Nectarine, as 1 have 
grown it for several years, and it has proved very satisfactory. Here 
it is grown in pots. The trees are brought in the house in February and 
placed between Vines and dwarf Peach trees that are planted out. They 
remain there until the fruits are gathered, and the trees are then placed 
out of doors in the full sun until the following year. All the fire heat 
they have is a little to exclude frost from bedding plants. It is a very 
free setter with me, as free as any I have. The fruit is of a beautiful 
colour outside and fragant, and of very fine flavour. Instead of doing 
away with it, if I had space I should have another tree. I do not say 
