December 16, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
519 
highly satisfactory. Amongst Azaleas A. amoena comes first, as it almost 
blooms naturally in December and January, when the treatment received 
in summer has been such as to induce it to mature its growths early in 
the autumn. The flowers are small—the smallest of all the Azaleas—but 
they are exceedingly bright rosy purple in colour, and appear in such 
profusion that the plant at once becomes an object of great attraction. 
The next easiest forced Azalea is A. indica alba, and as the flowers of it 
are of the purest white they are most valuable. This variety is very free 
in growth, and surpasses all the large-flowering varieties in its free and 
early flowering qualities. It may be forced into full bloom readily by 
Christmas. 
Calla rethiopica is very easily induced to flower in any of the winter 
months. We have some scores of them in bloom at the present time, 
and the massive pure white spathes are admired by all. If the plants 
have developed freely during the summer an intermediate temperature 
will induce them to throw up the buds and open their blossoms in three 
weeks. We have generally had those in bloom at Easter, as they are 
well known at that season, but we find them so highly valued at Christmas 
and during the shortest days that we now try to have them in full bloom 
then, as effective flowers are more scarce now than at Easter. 
The Abutilons, although not so showy as many other flowers, are 
easily induced to flower at midwinter by placing them in a temperature 
of 60°, and when the blooms are gathered and tied up in little clusters 
together they are excellent for placing in small glasses. When the petals 
are turned back the flower assumes a curious reflexed appearance, and can 
hardly be recognised as an Abutilon. 
The old Double White Camellia is one of the easiest to get into bloom 
by Christmas, as when it makes its growth early in the season, and the 
flower buds become prominent by October, the blooms will develope in 
December without any forcing ; in fact they will not bear forcing, as 
much fire heat will cause the buds to fall off before opening. A tem¬ 
perature from 40° to 55° is in their favour, and plenty of water at the 
root and a slight syringing overhead on fine days softens the buds and 
induces the massive and delicate blooms to open in a delightful manner. 
Poinsettias are not greenhouse plants compared with Camellias, but 
their time of blooming is late in December, and when grown in a cold 
frame in summer, which they may be readily, there is no difficulty in 
getting them to develope their showy red heads in a temperature of 
55° or 60° in December. We regard them as an easily managed and most 
useful class, and grow them extensively annually. The Epiphyllums are 
another class easily flowered in winter. They are amongst the easiest 
managed of all plants, as if they are only allowed to make a little growth 
in any of the spring months the flower buds are sure to appear in early 
winter, and they will blossom with great freedom in January in a 
temperature of 60°. Mere twigs of plants produce many blooms, and 
large specimens are beautifully draped with them. They are very orna¬ 
mental as seen on the plants, and they may be cut and used in glasses at 
all times. The Habrothamnus, especially H, elegans, is a capital winter¬ 
flowering plant, as it produces a cluster of bright blooms at the end of 
every shoot, and they never fail to appear in January at the latest in a 
temperature of 55°. Luculia gratissima resembles a Hydrangea in the 
size and form of its flower clusters. It is delicate pink in colour, and so 
deliciously fragrant that all who come near it are at once charmed. It 
will open its blooms in the conservatory in December as freely as Prim¬ 
roses in a hedgerow in May, and it merits more extensive cultivation than 
it at present receives. There is some impression that it is difficult to pro¬ 
pagate and bad to grow. The first is partially true ; the latter false.— 
THE ORCHIDS OF CEYLON. 
A friend writing from home tells us that on the occasion of a recent 
visit to the magnificent Botanical Gardens at Kew he was struck by 
observing that there was an absence in the houses there devoted to 
Orchidere of many specimens with which he had become acquainted 
while resident in Ceylon. So much attention is now directed—not by 
botanists alone—but by home floriculturists to this family of the plant 
world, that it is certainly des : rable some effort should be made to have 
every member that can be discovered represented in the national 
collection. 
Not very many years back, while travelling through the dense forest 
towards Batticaloa, the gentleman already referred to saw, for the first 
time, forms of Orchids which had to that time been altogether unknown 
to him. Of one of these varieties he sent specimens to Kew, where it was 
pronounced to be of a new kind, and wis gladly accepted and propagated. 
There is no part of Ceylon where Orchids grow in such profusion, or in 
such variety, as they do on the forest tmes in the neighbourhood of the 
Kugam tank, only a few miles distant from Batticaloa. Doubtless great 
havoc has been made thereabouts by the clearing of the land recently 
brought.under cultivation through the execution of the irrigation works, 
but it is exceedingly improbable that having once flourished in the 
district there should not remain many undisturbed spots where these 
lovely eccentricities of Nature do still abound. We are asked to suggest 
that those whose business or pleasure take them into the recesses of the 
forests we have referred to, or to others equally favourable and remote, 
should endeavour to secure specimen plants of any varieties which may 
appear to be new or rare. Their value as regards their transportation to 
Kew can be determined by a reference to the savants of Peradeniya ; but 
so great is the production and wealth of Orchid life in the forests between 
the foot of the hilly ranges and the Batticaloa lake, that—notwithstanding 
all that has been done by the plant collectors of Dr. Thwaites and Dr. 
Trimen—it is just possible that careful seach will reveal varieties which 
may not yet have been named or catalogued. In the paper which Dr. 
Trimen read before the local branch of the Boyal Asiatic Society a few 
months ago, he mentioned that there were in Ceylon of Orchideoe 155 
species, of which seventy-four species (or 477 per cent) were endemic, 
that is, Orchids peculiar to Ceylon. It ought to be an object of interest 
and ambition—apart from prefit—with travellers, sportsmen, and others, 
to add to this list. 
The wonderful and endless changes in form and colour which the 
family of the Orchideae present to us are, to a great extent, the results of 
hybridism. This, which is artifically induced in the greenhouses cf 
England, may be presumed to go on naturally among surroundings 
specially favourable to growth such as are presented in favourite localities 
in Ceylon. Now in England it is no uncommon thing for 60 or 70 guineas 
.to be paid for a single new hybrid of special beauty or eccentricity in 
form or colour. It might prove far from unremunerative, therefore, for 
search to be made in the favourite habitat of the plants for such hybridism 
as may have occurred naturally. It may not be far-fetched to assume 
that, by encouraging hybridism in such a vast storehouse of the plants as 
we possess here in Ceylon, a new and paying form of industry might be 
opened out. We are all accustomed to laugh at the Tulip mania, which 
wrought, through the speculation to which it gave rise, so much ruin 
among our countrymen in the time of William and Mary, and again also 
at that for Crotons, favourite kinds of wl ich sold in Java a very few 
years ago for from £10 to £20 cash. But the craze for Orchids is scarcely 
less strong in its present development than was that for the flashy bulb of 
the Hollanders, and more permanent than that for Crotons could be. If, 
as we learn is the case, any new and strange variety of Orchids bring 
prices running up almost to 100 guineas the plant, who can pretend to 
say whether our eastern forests might not prove well worth a careful 
examination ? There, at all events, the plants abound among conditions 
most fostering to their growth, A little art employed to aid Nature, and 
there need be no limit to the fantastic forms and brilliant colours which a 
skilful operator might produce, and if he can bring these under the 
notice of the connoisseur at home, he will scarcely fail to reap the fitting 
pecuniary reward of his labour and skill .—(The Tropical Agriculturist.) 
W0KK.f°^ the WEEK. S 
34 
!§l 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Digging and Trenching. —Some cultivators who only look on their 
vegetable garden as a department of third or fourth-rate importance are 
not particular as to wtr n they do their digging, and the majority of the 
ground is allowed to remain undug until a day or sometimes an hour or 
two before the crops are sown or planted ; but such kitchen gardening as 
this is never profitable, and those who use the crops fail completely to 
secure the best qualities from the vegetables. Those, however, who value 
good vegetables and know that they cannot be produced without good 
cultivation place much importance on preparing the soil, and winter 
digging and trenching play an important part in this, and the whole of the 
vacant quarters should be dug or trenched at once. Where the soil has 
only been turned on the surface and the subsoil is "good trenching 
ought to be done to the depth of 2 feet, and some of the bottom soil 
ought to be mixed with the surface material. We do not, however, 
approve of bringing up a poor subsoil. In trenching or digging always 
take a wide opening cut at one end before beginning, as the soil can never 
be properly turned over without this. Rough vegetable refuse may be 
placed at the bottom of each trench, and any littery matter may be dug in, 
but good short manure should be reserved until nearer cropping time. In 
all cases the surface soil Fhould be left as rough as possible, as the frosty 
air in winter is an excellent fertiliser when it can penetrate freely. 
Parsley. —It is now this useful subject is apt to fail, and probably 
nothing in the kitchen garden will be so much missed ; but no labour 
should be considered too much to save it, and a little attention now may 
give valuable results throughout the winter. Do not try to lift any of 
the plants, as they will not bear transplanting at this time, but protect 
them when necessary where they grow. Pick the dead leaves off and dry 
them for seasoning. Bend some sticks over the rows hoop-fashion, and 
in the time of froBt or snow place some old mats or some other protection 
over them. Do not put any covering over plants in fraines or under hand- 
lights until protection is actually required, and always remove it when the 
weather is favourable. 
Young Cauliflower Plants,— The season is now trying on these, 
and the plants are inclined to become spotted and yellow on the lower 
leaves. This is not a good sign, and is generally caused by keeping them 
too close. So long as frost and excessive moisture is kept from them that 
is all that is required, and when the weather is fine admit air freely. 
During severe frost it is necessary to cover the glass at night, but 
always take the covering off during the day, as allowing it to remain on 
blanches the plants and makes them very tender, a condition to be 
avoided above everything. 
Stored Hoots. —The whole of these should be looked over and all 
that show the slightest sign of dtcay removed. It is now that a few 
diseased ones will quickly contaminate a large number. Some of the 
softer-growing Onions have begun to sprout a little and the whole of them 
