Desember 25, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
667 
is the most widely distributed of any Orchids. Varieties of it are 
found in every quarter of the world, and in England we possess one 
native variety, Cypripedium Calceolus, which is said to he found 
more especially in the north of England. The Cypripediums have 
no pseudo-bulbs, because they are not called on to bear drought. 
They are found in moist places at the foot of trees, or protected by 
moist rocks and stones. The plant I am specially referring to comes 
from Sylhet, and is called C. insigne. It may be of interest to con¬ 
trast the flowers of the ordinary type with those of this superior 
variety called C. ineigne Maulei, after the firm Messrs. Maule, of 
Bristol, w'ho were fortunate in importing some plants of it many 
years ago. The upper portion of the flower has a much larger colour¬ 
ing of white than the normal type, and there are besides some hand¬ 
some purple spots on the same part of the flower which are wanting 
in the common type. 
The collection, the sending to this country, and the distribution 
here of exotic Orchids has become of late years an important industry. 
At first a few of the largest nurserymen, Messrs. Loddiges, Veitch, and 
others, sent out at great expense skilled botanists, who sought out 
plants and sent them home. The facilities for travelling in those days 
were not so great, nor were the best modes of packing the plants so 
well understood as they are now. At the present time the exact 
hunting ground for all the ordinary sorts is well known, and the col¬ 
lectors make for the right spots without the uncertainty which the 
earlier collectors experienced. The natives co-operate intelligently in 
the work of collection and packing, travelling is more speed}'', and, 
therefore, the plants are imprisoned for shorter periods. Owing to 
all these causes, instead of only one or two out of a large importation 
arriving in this country in a living state, as used to be frequently the 
case, large quantities are now transmitted full of vigour and health, 
with constitutions prepared to bear up against what is in many cases 
the cruel kindness of their cultivators. 
While many of the Orchids that find their way to this country are 
nursed by the importers into reawakened life, and are then sold as 
established or fully-growing plants, yet a large number are put up to 
auction in their yet dormant state at Stevens’ and other sale rooms. 
The purchase of these lately arrived plants has about it the charm 
which mankind seems always to find in uncertain investments, for the 
Orchid buyer may give a few shillings for some freshly imported 
pieces, and after establishing them may find that one or more of them 
from some excellence or peculiarity of the flowers is worth in the 
Orchid market as many ten-pound notes as he gave shillings. Many 
romances could le told of such purchases. Mr. James of Norwood, 
a very estimable and successful nurserj'man and cultivator of Orchids, 
bought at a sale some years ago for a few shillings a bundle of Den- 
drobium nobile. One amongst the number, when it flowered, turned 
out to be a very fine and indeed unique variety, and was named 
nobilius. Mr. James raises every year by cuttings a few very small 
plants of it, and for each of them when 5 or G inches high he gets 
ten guineas. lie could sell scores of them at this price if it were 
possible to produce them. He raises, of course, as many as he can, 
and this one plant will probably bring him in a very agreeable 
annuity for the rest of his life, or till some finer variety of the kind 
puts it into the shade. 
(To be continued.) 
DRAINAGE FOR FRUIT TREES. 
An extensive grower of fruit trees for sale told me recently that the 
majority of them were sent out in December, January, and February ; 
and as the planting season will now be on I think the question of 
drainage will repay for discussion in your pages and practice in the 
garden. In making new Vine borders and before planting Vines there 
is generally much work devoted to draining the border. Peach trees 
under glass are also considered worthy of this attention, but those planted 
in the open have not always the soil drained for them. Now, it appears 
to me if trees which are planted under glass and away from the influence 
of excessive rains require drainage under the roots, must it not be very 
detrimental to those planted in the open air to have no provision of this 
kind made for them ? Under glass trees have generally the best of soil 
in their borders, and no one would ever think of planting them in the 
clay and other wet soils in which open-air trees are frequently planted. 
If more attention were given to the drainage of the soil underneath 
Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, and all kinds of fruit trees in the open air, 
we should see fewer fruits fall prematurely, become cracked, woody, and 
flavourless. 
Canker in the wood, too, as a rule proceeds from causes at the roots, 
and if the roots have penetrated to an ungenial subsoil or are living in a 
wet undrained soil, atmospheric conditions, no matter how favourable 
they m.ay be, will fail to produce good results. All fruit trees should 
have the positions they are to occupy fully drained before planting. On 
the driest and best of roils the roots may be induced to run down far 
beyond a genial depth, and if it were for nothing but to prevent this 
drainage ought to be provided. From 2 feet G inches to 3 feet is a good 
depth of soil for fruit trees, but large round holes should be made 
IS inches deeper than this and filled with drainage. Rough ashes and 
clinkers are very good when broken stones or bricks cannot be had. No 
roots of any importance will penetrate 18 inches of such material, and 
this will always insure the roots being in a sweet soil. We do not carry 
drainage to excess, however, with wall trees, as we consider a distance 
of 8 feet or 10 feet directly under the main roots sufficient. Trees in the 
kitchen garden or orchard should have their positions drained to the 
extent of about G feet across the bottom of the holes in which they have 
to be planted. When the drainage has been placed in to the required 
depth, if turves can be had a quantity of them should be packed closely 
upside down all over the drainage, and this will form one of the best beds 
for a fruit tree.—A. K. G. 
CRASSULA LACTEA. 
Whether grown in baskets or pots this Crassula is useful for yield¬ 
ing a profusion of white flowers during midwinter of a character quite 
dissimilar from all other plants flowering at the same period. Like some 
other plants, Sedum spectabile for instance, Crassula lactea is greatly im- 
Fig. 94.—Crassula lactea. 
proved by generous culture, and plants such as those above referred to are 
eminently worthy of special note. It may be remarked, however, that 
when grown in pots the plants produce much larger flower heads than 
when grown in baskets, and it is for pot culture especially that this old 
and almost forgotten Crassula is likely to become useful. 
Crassula lactea, which was introduced from the Cape of Good Hope 
in 1774, is a white-flowering plant but little known or cultivated; but 
now that flowers are more the fashion than formerly, and when white 
flowers especially are in great request in the dull days of winter, anything 
to relieve the monotony of the Camellia and Primula must be looked upon 
as an acquisition. This Crassula is a plant of easy culture, and requires a 
temperature only warm enough to keep out the frost, except when it is 
about to come into flower. It is better then to remove a batch of the 
most forward plants into a warm house temperature from 55° to G0°. If 
this is done every ten days a good succession of flowers can be kept up. 
The cuttings arc best taken off in January or February'. We insert 
four cuttings in a GO-sized pot, strike them in heat, and keep them there 
until the pots are well filled with roots. The plants may then be shifted 
