44 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ January 18, 1883. 
in affording nourishment in the shape of saccharine matter 
which the sugar funguses require, while they in their turn have 
given way to various other species of false or diseased funguses, 
producing the result which the “ Wiltshire Rector ” and his 
brother fruit-growers deprecate in capricious and often very 
precocious maturation. 
Two significant lessons seem to come of the above remarks. 
(1) To grow only or mainly those superb all-round varieties of 
Pears like Doyenne du Comice, whose superabundance of sugar 
can cope with a season like the present ; and (2nd) wherever 
and however fruit-repositories may be chosen, not to have them 
too dry, this being far more important than temperature, when 
sooner or later the fruit may ripen ; but with too excessive 
evaporation in the case of substances of such different densities 
coming into action as air and water, no precaution with fruit 
of inferior juices in a wet season can help shrivelling and im¬ 
perfect maturation. —Herefordshire Incumbent. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM ALEXANDRAS. 
Only a few years ago it was generally impressed upon the 
minds of most persons that the cultivation of Orchids entailed 
a large amount of trouble, and that they of all plants were the 
most difficult to manage. This notion and the enormous price 
at which they were sold prevented many from obtaining them, 
and those who did grow them and attained a fair amount of 
success were regarded as having achieved the masterpiece of 
gardening. Tens of thousands of Orchids have been collected 
and imported to this country during the past few years in 
fresh condition, and they can now be obtained for a few shillings 
each, thus being within the reach of all who possess a garden 
and a greenhouse. The idea that they are difficult to grow is 
still prevalent with many ; but this is not the case, although it 
applies to certain species and varieties, and the supposed 
difficulties attending the management of some of the most 
handsome and useful kinds I hope in a few years will have 
died away. 
Odontoglossum Alexandra is one of the easiest, cheapest, 
and most lovely Orchids that can be grown. If I was con¬ 
fined to the cultivation of one variety I should choose this one. 
It has graceful arching flower spikes, which are freely produced, 
and many of the varieties are beautifully spotted with crimson, 
purple, and brown spots, which show to great advantage on the 
pure white ground ; others are slightly suffused with pink or 
rose, while some are conspicuous for their spotless purity. 
This Orchid is mow very popular, and there can be no doubt 
that its popularity is rapidly on the increase, and in a few 
years will be as freely grown in the majority of gardens as 
Zonal Pelargoniums are at the present time. Already we 
find it in hundreds in some gardens, and no better plant 
can be grown where choice flowers are required during the 
winter. 
The flowers last for five or six weeks, and their usefulness 
in a cut state is too well known to need any remarks from me. 
But not only are the flowers useful in that way, but the plants 
when in flower can be used for a variety of decorative pur¬ 
poses. It will safely bear removal without injury from the 
house in which it is grown, and will stand in rooms for at least 
three weeks wffiere gas is not employed and cold draughts kept 
from the plants. When arranged in the conservatory few 
plants have such an elegant appearance with their graceful 
arching flower spikes standing well above other plants. If the 
hot-water pipes are directly under the stage and dry the plants 
quickly, it is a good plan to place under them a shallow pan of 
water in which is inserted a flower pot for the pot in which 
the plant is growing to stand upon. 
Imported plants I have found do the best when obtained 
either duiing the winter or in early spring, and if they have 
not started into growth on the journey so much the better. If 
the pseudo-bulbs are fresh and plump when they arrive the 
plants are almost sure to start freely and make a good growth 
the first season. If, on the other hand, the back pseudo-bulbs are 
much shrivelled, they seldom grow vigorously, and often remain 
small for a very long time ; in fact I would not purchase such, 
because abundance are now landed in this country in the best 
condition, and upon this depends much of the rapid develop¬ 
ment of the plants afterwards. After they are first received 
the dead roots and decaying pseudo-bulbs that may be upon them 
should be removed, and the plants laid thinly in pans or 
sieves in a shady part of a house where the night temperature 
is maintained at about 50° until they show signs of starting 
into growth. At first the moisture of the house will be suffi¬ 
cient, but after ten days or a fortnight they should be lightly 
syringed two or three times weekly. As soon as they com¬ 
mence growing they should be placed in 2^-inch pots, in fact 
the smallest pots the pseudo-bulbs can be secured in, as I have 
found them do better than when larger pots are employed. 
The pots should be about one-third filled with small crocks for 
drainage, and the remaining portion filled with fibry peat, 
from which the smallest particles have been shaken, and 
clipped living sphagnum moss, used in about equal proportions. 
The pots should be filled a little above the rim, and the pseudo¬ 
bulbs firmly secured on the top. If they have not sufficient 
roots to hold them firmly, a small stake can be placed between 
them and into the material used for potting. They should 
then be placed closely together, so that they will be convenient 
for syringing until they have well started into growth. 
When once fairly started into growth, if the pseudo-bulbs 
were fresh they quickly commence forming roots, and are then 
top-dressed with sphagnum moss, and the plants watered, as I 
shall detail in a future issue for established plants. Some of 
the plants wfill grow more rapidly than others, and soon form 
their first growth and then start again vigorously, and require 
3-inch pots before the summer is over. Others will only make 
one growth the first season, but the majority will throw small 
flower spikes, on which we only leave one flower just to see 
what the variety is like. It is a mistake to leave more flowers 
upon these small plants or allow the one to remain long, for I 
am convinced that it weakens them materially. Those plants 
that have made a second growth will very often produce a very 
fair spike with five to seven flowers upon it, but will be later 
than those that make but the one bulb.—W. Bardney. 
(To be continued.) 
ECONOMICAL MANURING. 
Having in my last letter (page 590, last vol.) attempted 
to prove that applying manure during autumn and early winter 
was generally a mistake, the all-important question now is, 
How can it best be preserved till the time is favourable for its 
application without any material loss, and at the same time 
that it shall be so far decomposed as to be available immedi¬ 
ately for the sustenance of the crops for which it is applied ? 
What I have for manure—and I am afraid many other gar¬ 
deners are just as badly off—is simply the straw which has 
been used one night in the stables in which carriage horses are 
kept, the urine from which mostly passes away in the drains, 
and the droppings I am obliged to collect for the purpose of 
grooving Mushrooms. There is then very little besides the 
straw itself to act as manure, and if this were left to become 
violently heated or much washed with the rains the support it 
would give to growing crops would be small. 
The best plan I know is to mix the fresh material with some 
which is partly decayed, and turn it frequently during the 
winter. In my case I have a quantity of fresh litter to apply 
at each turning—say once a fortnight till the end of January, 
and I find that in the short time between the turnings all the 
fresh material is so far decomposed as to be scarcely dis¬ 
tinguishable from that Avhich has lain together six months, 
so fast does decomposition help decomposition. The fresh 
material is never added in sufficient quantity to produce violent 
heating, and the old material supplies ample moisture to keep 
all in such a condition that it will absorb all or nearly all the 
rainfall, so that there is little or nothing washed away, and the 
combustion being slow, gradual, and continuous, there is little 
or nothing carried away by ffie atmosphere. 
While the manure has been accumulating another heap con¬ 
sisting of refuse soil, weeds, lawn mowings, &c., has also been 
formed. This, too, is turned up together to assist deccrepo¬ 
sition. Then there is some harder material in thr shape of 
prunings, Asparagus roots which have been forced, Cabbage 
stumps, tops from the strong-growing Potatoes, &c., which 
