134 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 16, 1882. 
Gardener” gives the following note—“ The greatest destructives 
of Orchids and rare wild plants of all kinds in many districts are 
forest fires, which prevail during dry seasons. These sweep 
everything before them, and do more damage in a few days 
than all the collectors in Europe could do in their lifetime. 
Nothing surprises a young collector more than his own utter 
smallness for good or evil when brought face to face with the 
mountain ranges of the tropics. A collector on the Andes or 
the Himalayas is a great deal smaller and more helpless in degree 
than the smallest of ants crawling about the largest of haystacks ! 
You may sit and look at a dark gully up a mountain side when 
twenty miles away, and its whole area seems to you about as 
big as a ten acre field. After three or four days of walking, or 
perhaps of riding on a buffalo or a mule, you find yourself on the 
spot, and the ‘ ten acre field ’ has seemingly increased its dimen¬ 
sions ; and to thoroughly explore it would give four or five collec¬ 
tors six months’ constant work. This, it must be remembered, is 
only a mere speck on a mountain range. Those who have made 
a walking tour amongst our native mountains may form a slight 
idea of what collecting is, and of man’s power to extirpate any¬ 
thing tolerably abundant on their sides. To the physical diffi¬ 
culties of the thing must be added Nature’s own life’s work, 
which is specially carried on in order to frustrate extirpation or 
annihilation of all kinds ; hence all those shifts and appliances 
to insure due cross-fertilisation, long ago pointed out by the 
‘ Father of Evolution.’ ” 
STENORRHYNCHUS SPECIOSA. 
Terrestrial Orchids, like many other plants, are greatly 
neglected, or, perhaps, their cultivation is not thoroughly under¬ 
stood. Everyone is aware of the beauty of the epiphytal Orchids, 
and the ease with which many of them are cultivated. There 
are many terrestrial species which might be more extensively 
grown, for some are very valuable and scarce. I think if col¬ 
lectors were to pay a little more attention to terrestrial species 
our Orchid collections would soon reap the benefit of their 
labours. Many of the terrestrial species of Orchids are deciduous, 
and if not well known by collectors they may be easily passed 
unobserved ; but if once seen in flower I am convinced more 
attention would be paid to them by cultivators and collectors. 
Take, for instance, Spathoglottis Lobbii, one of the prettiest and 
most handsome Orchids, with flowers of a bright canary yellow. 
Compare that with some of the dull Oncidiums and others that 
are so much admired, and I feel convinced it would be more 
generally grown. One of the evergreen kinds which especially 
deserves attention is Stenorrhynchus speciosa, a valuable plant 
well worth the attention of cultivators generally, as when not in 
flower it is handsome, for the foliage has a peculiarly satiny hue. 
The flowers are produced on spikes nearly a foot long, erect, and 
are light rose colour. The individual flowers are not unlike Ada 
aurantiaca in shape, but the sepals are shorter, the spikes stouter 
and more densely clothed with flowers. It grows very freely in 
a cool moist corner of the intermediate house, and should be 
liberally supplied with water all the year round. A mixture of 
good fibry loam, a little leaf soil, and sand suits it well, allowing 
the. thick fleshy roots plenty of room. It flowers in midwinter, 
and would prove very useful for indoor decoration.—W. K. 
RAISING EARLY VEGETABLES. 
Vegetable seeds have now been received by many cultivators 
whose duty it will be to make the most of them, and with this 
object we must endeavour to produce early crops. I can say 
from experience that of all our vegetable supplies none give 
more satisfaction than those we forward by a few extra con¬ 
trivances in spring. We commence sending two large hampers a 
week to London about the beginning of April, and, these being 
much appreciated, we are encouraged to still increase the supply. 
There is nothing like employers showing their appreciation of their 
gardeners’ exertions ; this will often accomplish more than extra 
money. 
In raising early vegetables a good hotbed and frame, or 
two or three of both, are of the greatest importance. For 
many kinds they are more useful than glass houses, and the 
beds may easily be formed of old leaves from trees, vegetable 
leaves, and stumps and littery manure. The more manure is 
used the greater will the heat be at first, and the sooner will 
it decline. Tree leaves hold heat longest, and most of them 
should be used where they can be had plentifully. Two cartloads 
of leaves, one of manure, and the same quantity of other refuse, 
will make a fine bed for any ordinary two-light frame. Where 
time and labour will allow, it is a good plan to throw the whole 
into a heap and allow it to remain for several days, when it may 
be turned and formed into a bed. In any case the firmer the 
material is trodden down the more steady and lasting will the 
heat remain, and this is important in late cold springs. Some 
may make the bed higher at the back than the front; others may 
have it the same height all the way round ; and both plans will 
be found to answer unless the position is very shady, when the 
former will be preferable. When the material is fresh the heat 
rises quickly, and the bed may be finished and the seeds sown 
almost as soon as it is formed. When the bed has been made the 
frame should be placed in its position, and the soil in which the 
seeds are to be sown should be placed in. Some vegetables 
require a deeper soil than others, but from 8 to 12 inches is a 
good depth of surface soil for most of the crops I am about to 
recommend. 
First, among these are early Carrots, which are so much valued 
in April and May. A moderately rich soil with a little soot 
mixed through it to kill the grubs suits Carrots well. The French 
Horn is the best variety for frames, sowing the seed broadcast. 
If sown at once on a gentle hotbed delicious small roots will be 
obtained in eight, ten, or twelve weeks. The soil should be firm, 
and air must be admitted on all favourable occasions. When the 
plants have well advanced the smallest should be drawn out, as 
they do no good when crowded. 
Early Turnips may be grown in the same way. Suttons’ 
Forcing is a good variety. The Turnips are more liable to run 
to seed prematurely than the Carrots ; but this is not always the 
case, and serviceable roots are usually formed, especially if they 
are not hastened too much by being kept very close or dry. A 
very thin sprinkling of Radish seed may be thrown amongst these 
seeds where beds are scarce, but when a frame can be devoted to 
them they are better. 
Dwarf Peas and Dwarf Kidney Beans may also be forwarded 
greatly on these hotbeds, but the soil must be both good and firm. 
They should, however, be sown chiefly with the intention of giving 
them a good start, removing the lights later on. 
The culture of the Potato on dung beds is so well known that 
nothing need be said of it here, but the plan of forwarding these 
in pots and boxes, which I recommended some weeks since in 
these pages, is worth more extensive trial than it has yet had by 
all who value a good dish of early Potatoes. Beetroot will not 
bear forcing. With plenty of frames Spinach may be had early 
in large quantities, and most acceptable it is in April and May, 
and indeed at all times. The most profitable way of sowing it in 
frames is broadcast. 
There are other crops of equal importance to the preceding 
which come under the same treatment and must not be omitted. 
A pinch of Celery seed should be sown early in all gardens, but 
as hundreds of plants might be had from a space no larger than 
a page of this Journal, a frameful need not be sown at once. 
In fact, the best way is to sow a little in a 6-inch pot and prick 
out the plants in the hotbed as soon as they are large enough. 
Early Cauliflowers, Cabbages, Brussels Sprouts, and Lettuces may 
be raised with much advantage in this way. At the present time 
I have C-inch potfuls of all these just ready for dibbling in the 
hotbeds, and in a few weeks hence these will be fine healthy 
plants, which will be gradually hardened and be finally planted 
out in March or April according to the weather ; at the same time 
a few will be left in the frames to grow and come in before 
those in the open. When the plants are taken from the pots and 
placed in the beds a patch of seed of the same kind will be sown 
in the corner of each frame, and the plants from this will be 
pricked out, coming in some time before those from seed sown 
out of doors. 
To be successful in raising young vegetables they should never 
be subjected to a sudden excess of heat, and extremes of cold must 
also be avoided. When severe weather occurs the lights should 
never be kept quite close for any great length of time, especially 
when the plants are growing rapidly, or they will soon become 
weakly. 
As regards the soil most suitable for the young plants, light 
sandy compost must be avoided. They might grow well in it for 
a time, but when transplanted scarcely any of it can be moved 
with them, and this is a great disadvantage. Securing a good 
ball with each plant is important, and for this reason the plants 
must not be closer together than 3 inches or so, and the soil 
should be of a character that will adhere together when moist. 
