330 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 18 1883. 
moderate quantity of wliat I feel sanguine will prove really 
creditable fruit, grown in a minimum of space, protected from 
the injurious effects of spring frosts, and quite under the 
control of the cultivator. Good loam will be incorporated 
with the existing soil when planting the wall trees. This 
will support, with occasional assistance by way of artificial 
manure, not only these but the Strawberries and Gooseberries 
too. The trees in pots will be well supported, therefore a 
heavy crop will be insured in a minimum of space—a great 
boon to many situated like myself. —A Suburban Gardener. 
CULTURE OF HARDY ORCHIDS. 
After considerable experience with hardy Orchids I find 
there are but few species really capable of multiplying them¬ 
selves to any extent and increasing in size under cultivation. 
Most Orchids live more or less when properly cultivated, but 
as they do not multiply in the long run the individual deaths 
soon extinguish the collection. I have found after various 
experiments that the following species multiply by the growth 
of the roots. 
Aceras anthropophora. —The green Man Orchis will, if not 
disturbed, give a marked increase in the course of two or three 
years. It thrives best in a shady exposed situation, say on the 
top of a rockwork facing due north. 
Cypripedium Calceolus .—One of our prettiest and most interest¬ 
ing British Orchids. It increases considerably when planted 
m a dry chalky border under the shade of Pine trees. A 
gentleman in the south of England tells me that with him it 
grows like a weed under the above conditions, and becomes so 
strong that it has to be checked every second or third year as 
an inducement to flower. 
C. pubescens. This is easily cultivated, growing and in- 
cieasing m an ordinary shady border, but when planted in a 
damp situation amongst the coarser-growing hardy Ferns attains 
a perfection seldom if ever equalled in its native habitats. 
C. spectabile ,—The prettiest species of the genus, requiring 
the same treatment as 0. pubescens. It is also well adapted 
zor forcing, and when better known is likely to be used very 
much for that purpose. 
Epipactis palustris. —The only one of this genus that increases, 
which, however, it does but slowly, and only under favourable 
circumstances. It should be grown in a shady corner, where 
water can be used unsparingly. It is very susceptible to drought, 
&ncl will often succumb if allowed to become dry. 
Good yer a repens.—A. pretty little sweet-scented plant, which 
L nnd does best on a damp shady border under Pine trees, where 
it increases and flowers profusely. I have tried it on a bog 
exposed to the full blaze of the sun, and in less than a month 
more than half had disappeared. 
G. pubescens increases rapidly under the same treatment 
as given above for G. repens. Is perfectly hardy, standing 
our severest winters with impunity. 
Habenaria tridentata may be said to more than hold its own 
under oi dinary circumstances. It does very well when grown 
in pots, _ but succeeds much better in a low damp situation 
shade ^ an< ^ w ^ ere ^ w iU not be subjected to perpetual 
H. bifolia, with its numerous white flowers, is perfectly at 
home on a moist border overshadowed with Ferns, where it 
increases rapidly, and has already more than filled the place 
allotted to it. 
E. hyperborea. A small North American species, having 
nothing in the way of beauty to recommend it, although of 
considerab.e interest botanically. It increases slowly in a com¬ 
position of brick and lime rubbish in a shady border. It must 
Do w&tei 6Q occasionally m very dry weather. 
Herminium monorchia.—W hen grown in a stiff chalky clay 
twill, in the course of a few years, increase considerably. 
Orchis foliosa.—Often called Poor Man’s Orchid, from the 
.ease with which it can be cultivated, a damp shady spot in a 
-compost of peat, lime rubbish, and decayed leaves being the most 
suitable for its full development. It increases at the rate of 
•about 50 j er cent. 
O. latifolia I find increases very slowly, even when carefully 
attended to. It does best m ordinary garden soil, and requires 
plenty of water m hot dry weather. 
0. ma.ulatu.— A very pretty species. It increases when 
V anted under brushwood, partially shaded in ordinary soil. It 
also grows and flowers freely on rockwork with north aspect. 
Ophrys pseudo-sambucina. —In one year increases 25 per cent. 
—that is, from twenty-four bulbs I collected thirty. It requires 
to be grown in pots in a cool frame, and will not stand frost. 
Ophrys bombylifera is the most productive of any of the 
hardy Orchids ; it never fails to more than double itself. From 
fifty pseudo-bulbs of this species planted singly in pots, no 
fewer than forty four had produced two pseudo-bulbs each, 
whilst six had produced three pseudo-bulbs each, making 106 as 
the total for the year. They should be placed singly in pots about 
the beginning of September in good rich soil, with plenty of 
drainage. The pots may then be embedded in sand in a cool 
frame, which should be kept open as long as the thermometer 
is above 40°, unless when raining or during high winds. 
The whole can be watered as a bed, but only at two periods 
of their growth—viz., in September and October, when the roots 
and leaves grow, and in January and February, when the young 
pseudo-bulbs grow. Between these two periods little water 
should be given, and when the flowering is over the water should 
be gradually decreased, and eventually cease. 
Where it is not convenient to have them in pots they may 
be planted under a hand-glass, taking care after the bulbs are 
planted to cover them over with good river sand. Here they 
are liable to the attacks of slugs unless sawdust be laid round 
the inside edge of the hand-glass. They will stand a little frost, 
but I find a few Pine branches very useful to throw over them 
in severe weather. In the case of the pots, when the stem and 
leaves die, they may be taken out of the frame and placed on 
their sides in a cool shady place until the beginning of August, 
when they may be emptied and the new pseudo-bulbs collected. 
For those under the hand-glass, as soon as the leaves show 
signs of decay, the top part of the light should be tilted, so as 
to admit plenty of air, and at the same time guard against their 
getting wet. It would also be well to cover the glass with some 
light shading material. Collect pseudo-bulbs as directed above, 
and replant the requisite number as soon as they show signs of 
growth.— D. Dewar, Herbaceous Department, Kew. 
SIX MONTHS IN A YINERY. 
Although I have very much cause to be gratified with the recep¬ 
tion “ Vines at Longleat ” met at the hands of the public, it has been 
urged, and with some reason, that not many people have such an 
admirably constructed house to deal with as that therein described, 
and indeed comparatively few cultivators have even a chance of 
forming new borders and planting young Vines ; therefore to meet 
the requirements of a large number of readers I resolved to make a 
sort of diary of the management and its results of what may be 
fairly termed a very commonplace sort of vinery, and as the building 
in question is considerably over half a century old, and its occupant 
probably but a very little younger, I hope I may be able to make the 
matter interesting. 
The notes I have were made almost daily for the space of five 
and a half months, commencing last New-year’s day, with enlarged 
notes and remarks made about once a week, consequently they are 
rather voluminous ; but I will promise not to inflict more than a 
portion of them on your readers, as some of them are rather crude, 
and although interesting and instructive to myself they must be 
considerably condensed to suit the present popular taste. I shall, 
however, as I go on add notes embodying the “ wrinkles ” picked up 
during the two seasons which have elapsed since the writing of my 
treatise, and wherever I have had occasion to alter or modify my 
views I will endeavour honestly to state the facts plainly. 
The description of the house must now of necessity be written 
from memory, but it will be sufficiently accurate for the purpose." 
Its dimensions are about 40 by 16 feet, and it has a fall of probably 
5 feet in its length. In shape it is hip-roofed, or what is sometimes 
called three-quarter span. It faces the south, has a rather flat roof, 
with heavily built sliding lights and panes of old-fashioned glass 
about 6 inches wide. To lessen the cost of construction at a time 
when glass was very dear, the part of the roof which faces the north 
was constructed of lath, plaster, and slate—or at least that is how it 
is at the present day. The path is under this portion, which of course 
is of no use for growing Vines, so that the cultivable width is reduced 
to about 11 or 12 feet. 
It has upright front sashes about 18 or 20 inches high ; these are 
available for ventilation, but are not of much use for admitting light, 
as the mullions, framework, and plate are of such a substantial build 
that they nearly overshadow them. It has been so far modernised as 
to have five rows of 4-inch pipes fixed in it, but in other particulars 
it does not, I think, differ materially from the original plan. 
One Vine occupies the house. It is planted close to the front wall 
inside, and about equidistant from each end. It divides when it 
reaches the top of the front sashes'; a main branch runs to each end 
