March 23,1882 ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
233 
and hastily mulched or covered all the more forward Potato tops 
before these rays affected them. This had the desired effect, or nearly 
so, for when I examined them in the evening they seemed little the 
worse, though those I could not attend to have been blackened. The 
point deserves attention.—W. J. M. 
TWO HYBRID DKNDROBES. 
Several very pretty additions to this genus have been made 
in recent years by the hybridiser’s skill, and by the careful cross¬ 
ing of the most attractive species good results are being con¬ 
tinually obtained. The three well-known beautiful species, D. 
nobile, D. aureum, and D. japonicum, have produced three of the 
best hybrids in the genus—one D. Ainsworthi, now a general 
favourite, and the new forms D. Leechianum and D. endocharis, 
the latter two being described in the following notes. 
Dendrobium Leechianum. — The accompanying woodcut 
(fig. 45) represents a flower of an extremely beautiful hybrid 
raised by Mr. Swan, gardener at Oakley, Fallowfield, Manchester, 
and named in honour of his employer, YV. Leech, Esq. It re¬ 
sembles D. Ainsworthi, but is much larger, the sepals and petals 
being tinged with bright purplish crimson, like some fine varieties 
of D. nobile. The lip is large, open, and marked with very rich 
crimson in the throat, the tip being also tinged with a similar 
colour but somewhat lighter. The petals are 
broad with a wavy margin, and the whole 
flower has an appearance of great substance. 
A great additional recommendation is the 
sweet fragrance it possesses, like D. aureum. 
The plant flowers very profusely at this 
time of year, and lasts for a considerable 
time in beauty. Mr. Swan writes as follows 
concerning the origin and qualities of the 
hybrid—“I flowered several of the plants 
last year during January and February, and 
then considered them sufficiently distinct to 
deserve a name. I, however, thought it well 
to wait another season ; this we have done, 
and now some of the first have flowered 
again, and others have this season bloomed 
for the first time. I find it a free grower and 
an abundaut bloomer, and one of its chief 
recommendations will be that it may be 
hastened into flower by Christmas, and by 
keeping it quiet and cool it may be retarded 
till March and April, or probably even later. 
The parents were D. nobile and D. aureum. 
D. nobile was fertilised in January, 1875, 
with pollen taken from a strong plant of 
D. aureum; in fact this was one of the 
strongest pieces I have seen, with growths 
2 feet long covered with bloom. The flower 
of D. nobile soon withered but did not fall, 
the seed pod quickly formed, and the seed 
was ripe, and sown in June of the same year 
on the top of a basket containing Dendro¬ 
bium crassinode. The seedlings were first 
observed in February, 1876. Being so small 
I did not disturb them for some time ; however, 
when they had pseudo-bulbs about three-quarters of an inch long 
I pricked them out into two pots and hung them up in the East 
India house. They continued to grow well, so that by the spring 
of 1880 I placed many of them in baskets 2 inches square. Since 
then they have grown very freely, some last summer making 
pseudo-bulbs a foot long and proportionately stout. I am sure 
as they increase in size every season it will prove to be even 
finer than at present, as many have flowered on pseudo-bulbs 
made nearly two years ago, which in some cases were only from 
4 to 6 inches high.” 
Mr. Swan also sent flowers of a very handsome variety of D. 
nobile, the seed parent of the above, the flowers being very large 
and richly coloured. For comparison also he enclosed blooms of 
D. nobile intermedium ; D. nobile ccerulescens, a richly coloured 
form ; D. crassinode album, a rare variety ; and D. Ainsworthi, 
all good, but not equal in beauty to the hybrid. 
Dendrobium endocharis. —Though it has now been before 
the public for several years this is comparatively new and by no 
means so well known as it deserves to be. As in the case of D. 
Leechianum, D. aureum was the pollen parent, D. japonicum 
being the seed parent; it, however, more nearly resembles the 
former in general characters. It was raised by Mr. Seden in 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons’ Chelsea Nursery about ten years since, 
and has been several times exhibited and certificated at metro¬ 
politan shows. The flowers are white with a slight yellowish 
tinge, and are produced very freely in clusters from the joints of 
the pseudo-bulbs. They are extremely fragrant, strongly sug¬ 
gestive of Violets, and one or two plants in a house produce an 
agreeable perfume. It flowers profusely during autumn and 
winter, and lasts a very long time in bloom. Pots or baskets are 
well adapted for it, and plants seem to thrive particularly well 
in the small shallow pans employed in the Chelsea Nursery. The 
woodcut (fig. 47, page 239), supplied by Messrs. Veitch & Sons, 
pourtrays the character of the plant very accurately.—L. C. 
LA GROSSE SUCREE STRAWBERRY. 
One of your correspondents at page 216 of your last issue, 
remarks that at Woolton Hall La Grosse Sucree Strawberry, 
started at the same time and under the same conditions as Vicom- 
tesse de Thury, was fully ten days later. My experience of the 
two varieties is quite the reverse. I consider La Grosse Sucree 
the best Strawberry for early forcing that I am acquainted with. 
YVe have been gathering from that variety since the middle of 
February. I forward you a few fruits which are fair samples of 
a good batch we have in bearing at the present time. Vicomtesse 
Hericart de Thury under the same conditions has plenty of fruit, 
but small, and is quite ten days later than La Grosse Sucree. 
Fig. 45.—Dendrobium Leechianum. 
Has Mr. Faulkner the latter variety true? It is a very distinct 
Strawberry, carrying heavy crops of large and well-coloured fruit, 
and will endure more forcing than many varieties. The batch that 
is now ripe was started on December 5th. Although being so 
satisfactory for forcing, it makes but little growth when planted out, 
possibly owing to our soil being cold and heavy.—G. Summers, 
Sanclbech Park . 
[The Strawberries received are very fine, rich in colour, and 
of good flavour. This is undoubtedly an excellent variety for 
forcing.] 
The Glastonbury Thorn is a variety of the Cratmgus Oxyacantha, 
or Whitethorn. This variety is remarkable, as alleged, for flowering 
on Christmas day, and as some say—in the county of Somerset—Old 
Christmas day. There are a number of curious legends connected 
with the appearance of this Thorn, the principal of which is that it 
was derived from the walking-stick of Joseph of Arimathsea, who is 
said to have planted his staff on the site of the old abbey at Glaston¬ 
bury. Now as I have a tree said to have been derived from this Thom 
it may be a matter of interest to note that in a period of eighteen 
years this Thorn has flowered three times in winter, and that this year 
I had the pleasure of examining some fine flowering specimens of 
the plant on Christmas day, and again on Old Christmas day were 
gathered some fresh flowers, while that of the earlier date was well 
set in fruit. The truth is, that this tree in my shrubbery usually 
flowers and fruits twice in each year, but it is very irregular as to date • 
