418 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C0T1AGE GARDEEER. 
[ May 21, 1885. 
unable to refer to the beautiful Miscellaneous Groups of Plants Exhi¬ 
bited at the Orchid Conference. Messrs. Wm. Paul k Son, 'Waltham 
Cross, staged a very handsome group of pot and cut Roses, for which a 
silver-gilt Banksian medal was awarded. Messrs. Barr k Son exhibited a 
portion of their well-known magnificent collection of Daffodils, which 
were, as usual, judiciously arranged, and attracted considerable attention ; 
a silver Banksian was awarded. A bronze medal was adjudged to M. 
Louis Yan Houtte, Ghent, Belgium, for a group of Azaleas ; and also to 
Mr. Rumsey, Joynings Nurseries, Waltham Cross, for several boxes of 
cut Roses. Mr. T. S. Ware, Hale Farm Nurseries, Tottenham, was ad¬ 
judged a bronze Flora medal for a group of Pmonies and hardy plants, 
which was deservedly admired. Messrs. Paul & Son, The Old Nurseries, 
Cheshunt, received a similar award for a charming collection of rock 
plants, including several varieties of Phlox setacea, of Saxifrages, Pole- 
monium reptans, Cheiranthus alpinus, Trollius asiaticus, Viola pedata, and 
many other hardy plants. Messrs. James Yeitch k Sons were represented 
by a small collection of plants, and Messrs. Kelway & Son, Langport, by 
boxes of cut Amaryllis blooms. 
The Weather. —During the past week north-easterly winds 
have been prevalent accompanied by low temperatures, which injured 
vegetation in many districts of England. Upon the Continent the weather 
has been much more severe. A Vienna telegram to the Daily News say 3 : 
One of the most terrible storms ever witnessed in Vienna raged on 
Friday night, and destroyed shrubs, trees, and even houses. The cold 
was so piercing that six persons who had been thrown down in solitary 
parts of the outskirts were frozen to death before the morning. From all 
parts of Austria and Hungary news has been received that the snow 
covers vineyards and fields where the crops were in an advanced condi¬ 
tion. One single night has caused immeasurable damage everywhere. 
The extraordinary fall of temperature has been followed by heavy snow¬ 
storms in several districts of France. In the Vosges the mountains are 
covered with snow. At Chambery there is constant rain with hail, and 
all the villages are under snow. The corn crops have suffered greatly, 
and also the V ines. In the Canton of Raffieux, not far from Aix-les- 
Bains, the hail has completely stripped the Vines of their young buds- 
In Haute Savoy the weather is equally bad, and in the environs of 
Annecy snow is reported at very low altitudes. 
AUTUMN STRAWBERRIES. 
A dish of Strawberries is always acceptable, and now that 
we have varieties that may be said to be almost perpetual fruiters 
no difficulty need be experienced in prolonging the Strawberry 
season. Some sorts, notably Princess Frederick William, and 
in a lesser degree Yicomtesse Hericart de Tbury, will frequently 
produce a second crop from plants that have previously fruited 
in the open ground. More dependance, however, can be placed 
upon the forced plants, as if a few of these are planted out they 
will be certain to produce a crop of fruit in the autumn. The 
earliest forced plants of almost any sort of Strawberry will as a 
rule fruit again in the autumn; but the two above-mentioned 
sorts are now, 1 believe, almost exclusively relied upon. They 
should be assigned a sunny position and good free-working soil, 
as they do not quickly strike root into stiff newly worked ground. 
Those who grow a few plants only and do not force them early 
10 ay yet, if they are the right sort, fruit them a second time in 
the open. No time need be spent or room occupied in hardening 
them off, all that is necessary being to lightly protect them after 
they are planted and when the nights are frosty with branches of 
evergreens. Every plant should be thoroughly moist at the 
roots when turned out of the pots, as if planted in a dry state it 
is almost impossible to moisten them again, and a partial failure 
be the consequence. They do not require much room, espe¬ 
cially if only a single row is planted, but each plant should be 
just clear of its neighbours. The ground about them should be 
rammed down firmly, care being taken that the upper portion of 
the balls do not protrude. If the ground is at all dry a good 
watering must be given, and in any case it is advisable to mulch 
heavily with strawy manure. Later on they should be examined 
occasionally, and given a soaking of water or liquid manure 
whenever they appear to require it. 
. Towards the autumn, or when the fruit is commencing to 
ripen, it is advisable to raise the clusters clear off the ground, 
both for the purpose of preserving them from slugs anclalso in 
oi dei that the fruit may. have the full benefit of the sunshine. 
Wire crinolines of any kind are suitable, but light stakes and 
rings of string or matting will answer equally well. It some¬ 
times happens that the crops are produced too late in the season 
to ripen properly in the open, and in this case where there is 
plenty of house room the best of the plants may be lifted and 
placed into sizes of pots rather larger than those in which 
they were first grown. Some growers prepare them especially for 
lifting and fruiting under glass, and the plan of plunging the 
pots rather below the level of the ground, so as to induce the 
roots to spread into the surrounding soil, is a good one. In this 
case they are usually disposed in a sunny border conveniently 
near the water supply, as they naturally require frequent water¬ 
ings. When they are lifted, this being usually done late in 
September, much of the soil, as well as the principal portion of 
roots that are attached to the pots are removed, and their loss 
does not appear to injuriously affect the crop. Each pot is stood 
in a saucer and kept well supplied with water and liquid manure. 
The crops ripen best on the sunny shelves of the freely ventilated 
Peach houses, but we have also succeeded with them in other 
houses, pits, and frames. 
Some of the best crops of late fruit I have yet seen were pro¬ 
duced by plants growing in 6-inch pots and treated as just 
described. The clusters of fruit were neatly staked, and when 
placed on the dining table made one of the most pleasing 
decorations imaginable. Birds are perhaps more destructive to 
late Strawberries than slugs, and nets must be placed over the 
rows directly the fruit commence to colour. I am well aware ail 
cannot grow late Strawberries, owing to scarcity of garden room 
or other causes, but many more might cultivate a few, if only 
fifty plants, than are in the habit of doing so. —W. Iggulden. 
ORCHID NOTES. 
[Communicated by Professor Beichenbach to the Orchid Conference, South Kensington, 
May 13tb.] 
Proliferous Roots of Orchids. —There have been various records of 
buds originating on roots of Orchids lately, as in the instances quoted by 
Messrs. Lendy and Salter. I have long since attached great interest to 
such cases, but I have made only a few observations, one plant only having 
showed me this method of propagation. It is the Bird’s-nest Orchid, 
Neottia Nidus-avis, which very often perishes after after having flowered, 
while in other cases it produces fresh shoots from the axils of certain 
sheaths. In other cases it produces a fresh p’ant at the very top of a 
root-fibre. I saw this as long ago as 1849, when I observed the fact at 
Tharant. I learned very lately that it had been observed before by 
T. P. E. Vaucher in 1841. After Vaucher and myself it was seen by 
Irmiscb, Prillieux, Hofmeister—who got it from me; then it was formally 
denied by Drude, but re-observed and neatly described by Warnrng, the 
excellent Scandinavian botanist. 
The second case was observed in my Phalamopsis deliciosa, gathered 
n 1843 by Zollinger. My specimen shows a young plant on a root having 
ijust emitted a small rootlet of its own as described by Mr. Salter. This 
specimen can be seen in my herbarium. 
The third case is a sad one. A Cyrtopodium (if I remember well, a 
savannah plant from Venezuela) produced a fine shoot from a root in 
Consul Schiller’s collection, under Mr. Schmidt's able management, I 
believe, in 1867. I watched it carefully, but at length a young assistant 
gardener broke it accidentally, and threw the shoot and part of the root 
away, hoping the loss would never be remarked. 
The last case is that of Saccolabium micranthum, Lindl. Director 
Lucien Linden lately sent me a fine Cochin-Chinese plant, with a young 
two-leaved shoot on a root. The whole plant was boiled and carefully 
dried. It may be seen in my herbarium. 
Three-lipped Orchids. —I had seen various monstrous accidental 
cases of this kind. In all these there were no anthers developed at all, 
and the genuine free style had a terminal upright stigmatic hollow, with¬ 
out the least pronation (deflexion). The finest thing of this kind that 
ever came in my reach was a grand flower of Oncidium Papilio with three 
lips, three sepals, and a fusiform Aposta^ioid style, without the least 
indication of anthers or filaments. It was most kindly presented me by 
my excellent second eldest English correspondent, Mr. J. Day. I remem¬ 
ber to have seen a very fine Cattleyoid flower of this kind (if I remember 
aright, Laelia elegans) in the hands of Mr. Thiselton Dyer. 
All these cases were accidental, and as the stamens were absent I 
adopted the view of an antagonisvius [compensation], the column beiog 
reduced, and partly made normal, to pay the vast expense of the luxury 
of three lip?. 
Some instances have, however, occurred to me, in which, together 
with three lips, the column was normal. This was observed a second 
time on the next shoots of the same plants. 
The first case was that of Oncidium piretextum Leeanum. The 
Sanderian traveller, Mr. Osmer, was struck by a panicle laden with such 
flowers, so that he made the laudable, but unusual, attempt to dry them. 
They are now, thanks to Mr. Sander’s liberality, by my side, eight in 
number. The plant itself is in the glorious collection of Mr. William 
Lee, where it produced equal flowers, eleven of which lie before me, 
thanks to the kind possessor, who will, I hops, watch his precious unique, 
telling us long it lasts tiilabellic. 
The second case was observed by my highly valued correspondent, 
Major Lendy, both in 1884 and 1885. It is not quite so evident as the 
just quoted Oncidium, inasmuch as the Phalaenopsis Stuartiana Lendyana 
has but one normal lip. Yet the petals approach much more lips than 
