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March o, 1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
107 
floriferous as Berberis Darwinii, and the flowers are disposed in 
a similar manner. 
The woody Spirmas do not seem to have gained the attention 
they deserve. Shrubbery borders do not, as a rule, include suffi¬ 
cient diversity of plants. In small gardens certainly it would be 
no easy task to display a great variety of shrubs if effect is to be 
gained, but extensive borders might be greatly improved by em¬ 
ploying more distinct species and varieties. 
The old Spiraea opulifolia grows well in the neighbourhood of 
Manchester. When in bloom it is very attractive. The flowers 
are small and white and borne in loose pyramidal panicles. 
Some other good forms are the following—S. Nobleana, a hand¬ 
some shrub from California. S. callosa from Japan is a near ally, 
and both have beautiful spreading cymes of flowers. S. Douglasii 
is a well-known species with flowers in erect contracted panicles. 
S. bella and bella coccinea are good, but the latter is perhaps rare. 
The above five have reddish or pink flowers. The following are 
all white-flowered, and with the exception of S. opulifolia and 
S. cantoniensis have small foliage, which blends well with their 
innumerable clusters of small flowers. S. trilobata, from the 
Altai mountains, is a remarkably fine species. S. pruuifolia 
fl.-pleDO is good and perhaps better known ; and S. cana, a native 
of Dalmatia. The two following, namely—S. Thunbergii, Japan, 
and S. decumbens, a native of Siberia, are best adapted for banks 
Pig. 40.— ONCIDIUM CUCULLATUM VAR. ATRO-PURPUREUM. 
or for rockwork on account of their dwarf habit.—T. Entwistle, 
Didsbury. 
ONCIDIUM CUCULLATUM ATRO-PURPUREUM. 
Amongst a little batch of imported plants of this species we 
have had considerable variation in form and colouring. That 
now figured is one of the best, both perianth segments and label- 
lum being very highly coloured. Quite a small plant bore an 
eight-flowered spike, and the flowers endured in beauty for nearly 
three months from the time the first flower opened. The sepals 
and petals are of a dark purplish brown colour shaded with olive. 
The elegantly crisped lip is soft lilac blotched and spotted with 
dark violet purple, as shown in our sketch. As a neat-habited 
plant which grows freely in a cool house, flowers freely, and en¬ 
dures a long time in beauty, it is well worth careful culture. We 
find that the cool moist treatment in which Odontoglossum Rossii 
majus luxuriates suits this plant also. Another fine variety of 
this type is 0. Phalamopsis, in which the lip is white with a 
lemon spot at its base. Both are well worth careful culture, and 
are especially valuable as cut flowers for the reasons above speci¬ 
fied. We grow them singly in very small pots half filled with 
small crocks for the sake of efficient drainage. The compost is 
tough peat fibre and sphagnum in the proportion of two of the 
fibre to one of the moss, and to this is added finely broken crocks 
and small nodules of charcoal. I have quite given up the use of 
sand in Orchid-growing, preferring in its stead crocks finely 
broken, or even coarse sandstone grit from the wash of a hillside 
roadway. That this species blooms all through the autumn, 
winter, and spring months, if grown in quantity, is an addi¬ 
tional recommendation, and it has a very agreeable and delicate 
perfume.— D. _ 
AN ISLEWORTH MARKET GARDEN. 
February is far from being the best month to choose for a 
visit to market gardens generally, particularly those where the pro¬ 
duction of fruit constitutes the chief portion of the business, as is 
the case on the extensive grounds owned by Mr. W. Warren at 
Isleworth. Yet there, as in other establishments of a similar 
character, plants receive some considerable attention, and in that 
department the care and judgmeut manifested in the entire 
management are producing similar creditable results. It is, how¬ 
ever, well known that the proprietor’s fame as a cultivator is 
largely due to his success with outdoor fruits and vegetables, the 
growth of indoor plants at present occupying a subsidiary position 
in importance. Some of these are, however, so well grown that 
they demand a few words of notice. 
At this time of year the most attractive feature is Cyclamens, a 
large number of healthy vigorous plants bearing a profusion of 
flowers producing a gay effect in several houses, while abundance 
of most promising young plants indicate the provision made to 
meet the demand of next season. One long frameful of the latter 
was particularly noteworthy, the plants being plunged in coal 
ashes a few inches from the glass, the bed sloping parallel to the 
lights. A pipe along the front of the frame affords sufficient heat 
even in adverse weather, and that the plants appreciate their 
position is well shown by their healthy appearance. By thus 
plunging the plants a more equable degree of moisture can be 
preserved in the soil—one of the essential requirements of young 
Cyclamens—and they are still further aided by occasional light 
syringings. Great care has been paid by Mr. Warren and his son 
to improving their strain, and substantial progress has already 
