March 13, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
203 
Princess Beatrice, Earl of Beaconsfield, Alba plena, &c., and now (the 
beginning of March) Harbinger is the finest of them all. 
I do not know which to admire most—the striking likeness of the plant 
to the common Primrose, or the refinement of the flowers. Everyone who 
sees it asks, What is this ? I am quite charmed with it as a decorative plant, 
and being hardy no protection is needed, yet is all the better for a slight 
protection at the flowering season. What also is lovelier than well-flowered 
plants of P. obconica with its lilac flowers in profusion all through the 
winter months ? Or the pure white of P. viscosa nivalis with its immense 
trusses and fragrance, the yellow and fragrant P. verticillata, the large 
heads of indigo-purple flowers of P. capitata, the bluish-lilac flowers in 
their numerous umbels of P. denticulata, or the rich violet-blue with the 
yellow-eyed flowers in globular umbels of P. denticulata capitata, to say 
nothing of P. Sieboldi vars., and the double varieties of P. acaulis, and 
Alpine Auriculas, all of which are beautiful plants for pots, only needing 
the protection of a frame to have them in flower at an early season. 
Harbinger has the foliage and habit of our common Primrose, and is 
apparently of very free vigorous growth. The plants in 6-inch pots are 
over 15 inches in diameter. The flowers are borne in loose heads or 
umbels, having usually ten flowers in an umbel. The plants have thirty 
flower heads each, and one plant in a 6-inch pot has 360 flowers. The 
plant is very compact, the flower heads forming a half ball. The flowers 
appear as a refined Primrose, are perfectly flat, quite circular, without 
indent, serrature, or fringe on the edge, being quite smooth, of good sub¬ 
stance, large (over 14 inch across), and the colour is white with a faint 
tinge of primrose. It is a really good variety, and must become popular 
in every garden,— G. Abbey. 
MANURES AND THEIR ACTION. 
Having shown on page 149 of the Journal that it is quite as 
essential for plants to have a constant supply of suitable food for their 
existence as it is for animals to be fed, and that they obtain that 
supply chiefly from the soil in which they grow, I will now briefly 
note how plant food can be added to the soil by the application of 
various manures, and thus meet the second part of “Querist’s ” ques¬ 
tion when he asks what the various manures are composed of, and 
in what way 7 they are beneficial to plant life. First, it will be seen 
that if the soil is constantly being deprived of the plant food it con¬ 
tains, and nothing be given to it in return, it is quite possible for the 
soil to be rendered unproductive and the land exhausted. This evil 
can be overcome by adding to the land such food as the plant requires 
in the form of manure. Manures can be classed as general and special, 
the former being a manure which contains all the ingredients neces¬ 
sary for plant food, the latter one which is applied for a special 
ingredient contained therein. 
There is only one general manure—viz., farmyard manure, which 
if really good is a perfect food for a plant. The application of farm¬ 
yard manure is really returning to the land a portion of that which 
has been previously borrowed from it. The quality may, however, 
differ under various circumstances, as, for instance, the age of the 
animal from which it is obtained or according to the management 
during and after the accumulation. Young animals while growing 
require a greater amount of nitrogen for the formation of muscle, 
&c., and phosphorus for the formation of bone ; therefore the 
manure of an old animal has a larger amount of both nitrogen and 
phosphorus than that of a young one. Then, again, if during its 
accumulation too much water is allowed to fall on to it the ammonia 
is washed away, or if fermentation is allowed to take place too 
rapidly the ammonia escapes. The successful fermentation of the 
manure heap depends chiefly upon the temperature at which it is 
allowed to proceed. If the ferment does not exceed 80° no ammonia 
is escaping. To have good farmyard manure we must have good 
food, good litter, prevent waste of urine, overheating, and waste by 
storm water. 
Some crops, however, require a greater supply of one kind of food 
than they do of another, and therefore exhaust the land of that 
ingredient, and it is found necessary to apply a manure which is rich 
in that compound or element. A special manure is then used, such 
as lime, bones, or guano. Lime is one of the ingredients which 
forms part of the structure of the plant. It also improves the 
physical properties of land, making clay soils easier to work and less 
retentive of water. There are three kinds of lime—carbonate of 
lime (limestone), caustic lime (calcined lime), and hydrate of lime 
(slaked lime). As a general rule, it may be taken that caustic lime 
should not be applied to land if there is a scarcity of vegetable 
matter in the soil, because it will exhaust the organic matter present; 
but it should be applied in the form of chalk or marl, which contain 
a large amount of lime. If the soil be heavy and tenacious, then the 
lime should be applied in the caustic form. 
If the phosphorus becomes exhausted in a soil ground bones are 
applied, as their principal ingredient is phosphate of lime. Bones 
contain bone cartilage (or organic matter, containing nitrogen, which 
will produce fermentation), 33-3 per cent ; tricalcic phosphate, 55 45 ; 
carbonate of lime, 3-85 ; oxide of lime, 2 - 90 ; phosphate of magnesia, 
2 - 05 ; soda and salt, 2-45. 
If ammonia be the required ingredient Peruvian guano takes the 
principal position. Guano also contains a quantity of phosphorus. 
This manure is the excrement of sea fowls found on the islands 
off the coast of Peru. The richest deposits were used first, and 
consequently much of the present supply only contains 8 or 10 per cent, 
of ammonia, while in 1855 the average was about 17 per cent.— Under 
Gardener. 
NOTES ON ORCHIDS. 
Dbndrobium lttteolum. —This is a beautiful and useful 
Orchid, with slender pseudo-bulbs 2 feet or more in length, 
from which are produced its cream-coloured flowers in twos and 
threes along the stem just as the plant is completing growth. 
The throat is blotched with a deeper shade of yellow, which is 
delicately pencilled with rosy-pink. The lip is large and well 
thrown back, while the sepals and petals stand forward and 
give to the flower a distinct appearance. The blooms last for 
a month, and are freely produced during the autumn and winter. 
They are very suitable for buttonholes and bouquets. After 
flowering a good season of rest is necessary to successful 
cultivation. Most winter and spring-flowering Dendrobes require 
well ripening and a good season of rest to secure a supply of 
bloom ; but D. luteolum makes its growth, flowers, and th< a 
requires its rest, which is as essential to success as it is in the 
case of those kinds that need to be well ripened and rested to 
flower well. 
Plants just past flowering will still have fresh foliage, which 
will soon ripen as the plants are kept drier at the roots. It is 
deciduous, and when well ripened should be placed in a cool 
house for a time, where it more thoroughly rests than if kept 
in heat. While growing it needs abundance of heat and 
moisture, and should be grown in a basket suspended from the 
roof. Like all Dendrobes, it requires shade from the burning 
rays of the sun while making its growth, but should have a 
light position, as upon this defends whether the plants are well 
or poorly bloomed. The time of flowering can be regulated so 
as to maintain a lengthened supply of bloom, and this accom¬ 
plished by starting the plants into growth at intervals of about 
a month. Yery little rooting material is needed, and it will do 
well in peat fibre and lumps of charcoal. It is very liable to 
attacks of red spider and thrips in a dry or unsuitable atmo- 
phere. Strong plants increase freely by forming growths along 
the ripened pseudo-bulbs of the previous year. Under artificial 
light the flowers appear pure white. 
Dendrobium Wardianum. —Those who have only seen this 
variety with puny pseudo-bulbs and a few small flowers can 
form no true idea of the beauty of a number of well-grown and 
profusely flowered plants. Under good treatment it makes 
pseudo-bulbs 3 feet in length, and these, if well-ripened, will 
produce two and three flowers from every joint for a length of 
18 inches or 2 feet. A number of plants with from three to six 
flowering pseudo-bulbs upon them, give, when in flower, to any 
house in which they are arranged, a highly effective appear¬ 
ance, whether suspended in baskets from the roof or grown 
in pots. They are best in baskets, as their growdhs are 
pendant or partially so, and if allowed to hang from the 
baskets naturally they are more pleasing and ornamental than 
if stiffly staked. No Denbrobe is of easier culture. If this 
species is grown in baskets the plants will do well in either 
all moss or peat fibre, with portions of crocks or charcoal inter¬ 
mixed. I use both moss and fibre, the latter inside and the 
former on the surface, because from this position it is readily 
removed annually as the roots commence action. From the 
time the roots are growing freely to the time the pseudo-bulbs 
cease extending they should always have a sufficient supply of 
water. Stimulants applied in the form of liquid manure will be 
found beneficial if given occasionally in a weak state. No better 
position can be found for this Orchid than the stove, and the 
temperature and conditions of a vinery at work will also suit 
them admirably. 
Cypripedietm villosum. —One of the best species that can 
be grown for the conservatory. The blooms will last in such 
positions longer than those of C. insigne. If these two and 
0 . venustum are grown they wfill yield plants for the con¬ 
servatory for at least a period of eight months. C. villosum 
will flow'er in this position for three months, and the blooms 
possess more substance and are brighter ill colour when deve¬ 
loped in a light temperature of 45° than when they are allowed 
to open in heat. It will do well in a cool house, but its progress 
under cool treatment is slow. Here the winter temperature 
ranges about 60° at night, and the plants are now ready for 
the conservatory, where they will remain until the middle of 
I May and then be returned to the heated structure The plant 
