December 28,1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 587 
This might have been caused by the crowded state of the berries, 
which had’swelled more fully than hitherto, and owing to the 
thin nature of the skin splitting would ensue, and decay in con¬ 
sequence. The scissors will have to be used more freely in future, 
and a dry buoyant atmosphere maintained. 
To sum up. I consider the Duke the finest white Grape in cul¬ 
tivation except the Muscat of Alexandria, and, giving it ordinary 
Black Hamburgh treatment and long spur-pruning, it cannot fail 
to please the most fastidious. What a grand sight a whole house 
of it must be at Clovenfords ! while a Belgian gentleman who 
called here this summer on his return from Mr. Thomson’s, ex¬ 
claimed on seeing ours, “Hon! Hon l Magnifiqne /” 
The respective merits of Foster’s White and Buckland Sweet¬ 
water Grapes have also lately been discussed. Now I do not 
think it is fair to either Grape to judge them from only one point 
of view ; for while Buckland Sweetwater is e-sentially an early 
Grape, fit to eat as soon as coloured, and even before that, Foster’s 
White is practically of no use for dessert until weeks afterwards ; 
in fact not until it has assumed that deep golden hue so mucb 
prized in Muscats, and that can only be obtained by long hanging 
and partial exposure to the sun. Hence if white Grapes are 
desired as early in the season as possible Buckland Sweetwater 
is the better of the two, with Foster’s to follow ; but both must 
make deep obeisance to the noble Duke.—A. Wipf, Eastcliffe 
Gardens, Lincoln . 
ONCIDIUMS. 
Tropical America is the home of the great family of Oncidiums ; 
but though many of the two hundred or more species are found in 
tropical latitudes, yet some of them ascend to such great heights 
in the mountains that numbers of the most handsome can be safely 
included amongst what are termed cool-house Orchids. Still the 
greater proportion of them require warm treatment, similar to 
that afforded the East Indian species. Of those which are found 
at the greatest elevations, perhaps 0. Warscewiczii is the most re¬ 
markable, as it has been observed growing upon Oaks on the 
mountains of Costa Rica 8000 to 10,000 feet above sea level, and 
there the temperature in the coolest season falls to 40° or even 
below it. 
The Oncidiums are of epiphytal habit, and they are chiefly 
treated as such under cultivation ; but there are some, especially 
the strongest, which succeed very well under culture in pots, and 
there are few which cannot be grown in baskets. As, however, 
the treatment required by these plants is so extremely varied, the 
Fig. 99.—Oncidium tigrinum. 
particular character of each species noted will be referred to 
under their respective names. One peculiarity of the genus is the 
enormous length the inflorescence attains in certain species, 10, 12, 
and even 15 feet being reached by O. unguiculatum and others. 
Yellow, too, is the most prominent colour, and the shades of this 
from the most delicate lemon to the deepest orange are very nume¬ 
rous. In a few purple hues are found, and perhaps one of the 
best known of these is the spotted O. cucullatum, the flowers of 
which contrast most strikingly with such types as O. concolor or 
O. tigrinum. 
In the following notes the best and most useful species only are 
selected, as many of those known and some of those that have 
been introduced are comparatively worthless in a horticultural 
point of view, though interesting botanically. 
Oncidium tigrinum .—The two species shown in fig. 99 and 
fig. 100 represent two distinct types, the large and the small-lipped 
forms. Decidedly the most showy of these is the former, which 
is entitled to rank amongst the best of the whole genus. There are 
several varieties of this species, but that shown in the engraving 
—viz., O. tigrinum var. splendidum, is by far the finest. The lip 
is the most prominent portion of the flower, of a very bright clear 
yellow colour, the sepals and petals having a similar ground colour 
heavily barred with rich chocolate brown. It is said to have been 
found both in Mexico and Guatemala, and I believe first flowered 
in this country in Lord Londesborough’s collection about twelve 
years ago. It produces a handsome branched raceme 2 feet 
or more in length, the flowers being 3 to 4 inches in diameter, 
and the lip often 2 inches broad. They are produced early in 
spring, and last for a month or more in good eondition. A pot or 
a basket suits both the variety and the species very well, the 
temperature of the Cattleya house being most likely to insure its 
success. The typical O. tigrinum, which is also grown under the 
name of O. Barkeri, has been much longer in cultivation, having 
been introduced about 1840. 
Oncidium zebrinum .—A charming species, but much rarer in 
cultivation than it should be. As already noted this is an ex¬ 
ample of the small-lipped Oncidiums, and it is curious that there 
should be similar characters in the genus Odontoglossum ; for 
instance, Odontoglossum vexillarium, O. Phalaenopsis, and 0. 
Roezlii may be taken as species of the large-lipped section, while 
O. cirrhosum, 0. Halli, O. gloriosum, and others come under the 
small-lipped type. The flowers of Oncidium zebrinum, as shown 
in fig. 100, are of moderate size, the sepals and petals white barred 
transversely with rich reddish purple, and are borne in a panicle 
that occasionally reaches, or even exceeds, 10 feet in length. 
Plants appear to have been introduced by several different 
persons, but the first to flower I believe was one in Mr. W. Bull’s 
collection in 1872. It is a native of Venezuela, and succeeds 
best in a warm house.—L. Castle. 
(To b« cotttiaued.) 
Heliotrope White Lady. —This is an excellent variety, which 
will doubtless, when well known, be accorded a place in every garden 
