JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 3, 1882. ] 
a certain practice to be right or wrong in a general way. I knew 
an old exhibitor of stove and greenhouse plants in Yorkshire who 
grew Dendrobium nobile better than I ever saw it elsewhere, and 
he always cut away the old pseudo-bulbs— i.e., some of the three 
and all the four-year-old ones—when he dressed up his plants for 
the shows. We have all been brought up to the dogma that the old 
pseudo-bulbs of Orchids are reservoirs of nutriment—savings- 
banks, as it were, of superfluous sap. This may be true, wholly 
or in part, as the case may be. In a state of nature every pro¬ 
vision is no doubt the actual outcome of absolute necessity, but 
what is necessary to a plant growing fully exposed to all the vicis¬ 
situdes of nature may be very unnecessary when the plant is placed 
in artificial circumstances, and receives regular cultural attention 
so far as heat and moisture are concerned. If it be true that the 
young growths of Orchids draw on the old pseudo-bulbs during 
the early and rootless stages of their existence, as seems probable, 
it is also equally true that the shrivelled and rootless old bulbs 
plump themselves up only at the expense of the young growth, 
and mainly just at the time that it attains its full development. 
It must be self-evident that rootless old pseudo-bulbs have no 
power of acquiring anything from the compost.” 
- At the Notts Agricultural Show we are informed that the 
Meadow Foundry Company had a splendid collection of 
designs in double, ornamental, and single coil pipes and cases for 
heating halls, public rooms, &c., while the garden vases and 
pedestals were above the average in workmanship and design. 
The large fountain placed in the centre of the open square was 
much admired. A Portland tubular hot-water boiler capable of 
heating a mile of 4-inch piping, for heating public buildings, 
conservatories, &c., was inspected by many with curiosity, beiDg 
the second boiler of its kind manufactured. 
- First-class certificates were awarded for the following 
new varieties at the National Carnation and Picotee 
Society’s Southern Show held at Kensington on the 25th ult., 
in addition to those noted in our report :—Carnations, Alfred 
Hudson, a scarlet bizarre of good form and rich colour ; W. H. 
Hewitt (Douglas), a crimson bizarre sport from the rose-flake 
James Merryweather, a beautiful and finely coloured variety 
William Skirving (Gorton), a handsome pink and purple bizarre 
staged by Mr. Douglas, the blooms large and even. 
f - Under the heading of “ Great Companies and Trading 
Firms,” the nurseries of Messrs. William Paul & Son of 
Waltham Cross are described in an entertainingly written article 
in Colburn’s new monthly magazine for July (E. W. Allen, 4, Ave 
Maria Lane, London). The cross of Waltham which marks the 
spot where the body of Queen Eleanor rested is thus referred to— 
“ Time, that insidious iconoclast, has dealt gently with this beauti¬ 
ful memorial of marital affection, for the regular features of the 
Queen are still distinct, and the tracery has suffered but slightly 
from six hundred years’ ceaseless wooing of wind and rough 
weather.” It is not necessary to cite anything about the nurseries, 
as they were described by a correspondent in our columns last 
week. 
- A “ City Man,” referring to the fine crop of Po¬ 
tatoes mentioned on page 77 last week, observes :—“While the 
results achieved by ‘B.’ are excellent and his experience valuable, 
his prices for Potatoes are too high, as any quantity of Potatoes of 
undeniable quality can be purchased from costermongers’ barrows 
in London and in greengrocers’ shops for a halfpenny a pound. 
There must have been two profits at least obtained, and possibly 
three, before the last-named vendors made their trifle. First the 
grower’s profit, next the salesman’s (commission), then the 
merchant (purchasing by the ton from salesmen), and lastly the 
small retailers who purchase from the merchants. What in 
such a case, when the latter can sell at the low price mentioned, 
could have been the original price that the cultivator obtained ? 
Certainly not three farthings a pound.” 
- The following is submitted as a characteristic example of 
American satirical humour :—“ Those who have been pestered to 
death by the irrepressible Dandelion on their lawns may now 
take heart. The pest will pester them no more. Eastern markets 
have begun to utilise them for greens, so that gardeners cultivate 
them for sale. The plant having thus become useful the bugs will 
eat it off above ground, the grub will saw its roots in two, the sun 
will parch it to death, the rains will drown it out, the rain will 
thrash it to strips, and the boys will dig it out and steal it. Thus 
the Dandelion, which has been among the first of the weeds to 
coax its way into human favour in the spring by throwing out its 
golden blossom, will retire from the field and the lawn to the 
seclusion of the guarded greenhouse.” 
- Mr. Clark, The Gardens, Tedfold Lodge, Sussex, states 
that he obtained 1 lb. of White Elephant Potatoes from 
Messrs. Carter & Co. of High Holbom, and planted them in the 
spring, and although he had to lift the crop some time before 
growth ceased, as he wanted the ground urgently, yet the produce 
was 174 lbs. of very large tubers. White Elephant is a new 
American variety, and has the reputation of being highly pro¬ 
ductive, a great disease-resister, and a good keeper. Mr. Clark 
will in due time be able to speak of the quality of this variety, 
which he does not appear to have tested. 
- “X.” writes :—“Very showy just now in some herbaceous 
borders are the forms of Lythrum Salicaria, especially roseum 
and grandiflorum, which are not unlike another common plant— 
the Narrow-leaved Willowherb (Epilobiura angustifolium), and are 
equally free in flowering. The two varieties of Loosestrife named 
above have larger and more brightly coloured flowers than the 
tj'pe, and with me they are rather dwarfer than it. They succeed 
well in any moist situation, and their stems thickly clothed with 
rosy flowers have a very pleasing appearance. The Epilobium, 
also mentioned above, should not be despised because it is common, 
for a patch of it in a corner of the garden that would perhaps be 
otherwise unoccupied is very welcome.” 
- In his report upon the trade and commerce of La Rochelle 
for the past year Mr. Vice-Consul Sadler draws attention to the 
havoc of the Phylloxera in French vineyards. The phylloxera 
commenced its ravages in the Department of the Gard in 1863, 
and is believed to have been introduced into Europe by Vines 
imported from America. In 1881, 104,536 hectares of Vines, or 
258,395 acres, were destroyed in France, against 37,000 hectares, 
or 91,450 acres, in 1880, and the malady has since made its 
appearance in five fresh arrondissements. The State is doing 
what it can to check the disease, and the proprietors are joining 
associations of mutual defence, but not much headway has been 
made as yet. Nothing can make up to the cultivators of the 
Vine for its loss. The land where Vines are destroyed is scarcely 
worth one-third of its former value, and could not easily be dis¬ 
posed of at any price. The depreciation in landed property due 
to the ravages of the phylloxera is already estimated at £12,000,000 
in a single department. 
- In an interesting article by Mr. Grant Allen in Nature 
upon the colours of flowers, many curious facts in regard 
to the changeability of colour are noticed. He says— 
“ All flowers, it would seem, were in their earliest form yellow, 
then some of them became white ; after that a few of them grew to 
be red or purple ; and, finally, a comparatively small number acquired 
various shades of lilac, mauve, violet, or blue. Some hints of a pro¬ 
gressive law in the direction of a colour-change from yellow to blue 
are sometimes afforded us even by the successive stages of a single 
flower. For example, one of our common little English Forget-me- 
