850 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
t May 12, IS-va. 
ense and L. e. Turneri, but the flowers ure of great size, measuring 
6 inches across. 
The iutroducers anticipate that it will prove to be an autumn 
bloomer and a very free grower. That it is a profusely flowering 
species could be gathered from the imported plants exhibited at 
the Drill Hall, which also served to indicate its habit. The 
pseudo-bulbs are a foot or more long, surmounted by very stout 
oval-shaped leaves in twos and threes, and the flowers number as 
many as eight to twelve on a spike, in some cases even more. All 
things considered, the sale of this superb species shnuld prove to be 
of exceptional interest, and its addition to our already rich array 
of Cattleyas a matter for mutual congratulation. 
L.elia Latona. 
This beautiful hybrid, for which Messrs. J.Veitch & Sons received 
a first-class certificate at a meeting of the Royal H' rricultural Society 
on May 3id, and which is represented by fig. 61 (page 353), marks 
another instance in which the orange hue of Lselia cinnabarina has 
been combined with the richer colouring of another Lselia or 
Cattleya. The effect is as distinct as the difference between white 
and yellow ground Carnations, and is in the highest degn e pleasing. 
The patents of L. Latona aie L. purpurata and L cinnabanna. 
Although the flower is much smaller than the former, the sepals, 
petals, and the lip being narrower, there is a clear resemblance 
between the two, especially in the labellum. The petals aie some¬ 
what broader than the sepals, and the lip fimbriated. The colour¬ 
ing is a delightful combination of the hues of the parents. The 
sepals and petals are old gold, the latter being very faintly veined 
with crimson. The lip is a beautiful carmine crimson, and this 
colour also extends to the exteiior of the tube, the front and edge 
of the lip being margined with yellow. The pseudo-bulos are 
narrow and conical, the leaves linear oblong, 6 to 8 inches in 
length. It is a charming acquisition. 
Peculiakities. 
It is certa'nly curious that some people go to the expense of 
buying Orchids and devoting a house or two to them, but will not 
buy marerial in which to pot them. A well-known culiivator, after 
spending a week looking over a large estate where he was told there 
was plenty of peat, reported that there was nothing suitable for 
potting Orchids. There was plenty of peat, but it was nothing 
but Wet sour bog. The plants were potted with the rhizomes 
of bracken. For a time all went on well, and the experiment— 
the result of difficulties—led to others being potted, umil the 
whole were done. It was after all only a seeming success, for fungi 
inffSted every pot ; the smell was so strong that it was readily 
perceived directly the door was opened. The plants were turned 
out, washed, and started again on blocks placed in pans and pots, 
with crocks, charcoal (home made), and sphagnum ino'S (foitu- 
nat-!y there was a fair supply of this). The result of this treat¬ 
ment in many cases was not unsatisfactory. A small supply of 
peat was afterwards annually conceded. The lesson for us to learn 
18 to be more careful than many are in the removal of Fern roots 
from amongst the material when it is pulled up for use. 
One of the peculiarities attached to Orchids is the almost 
general opinion that any dried specimen can be restored to 
health and vigour. In other plants such specimens would be 
totally ignored. In Orchids they are readily bought, and the 
cultivator into whose hands they are consigned comes in for a fair 
share of abuse if he fails to succeed. Very recently I had the 
m's^ortune to see a few lots out of several consignments a good 
deal more dead than alive. Their condition was so critical that 
the gardener hesitated whether to pot them or convey them to the 
rubbish heap. To buy such plants is a waste of money, a waste 
of time and labour, to say nothing of the worry they entail. 
Before it had been decided what to do with the bright lot of 
plan-s consigned to his care the fair and gentle purchaser of them 
write to ask how they were growing. If the-e remarks should by 
chance meet her eye, perhaps she will take the advice of an old 
hand, and try one good healthy plant to start with, evi-n if its 
first c )st IS as much as twenty half-dead pieces that the skill of no 
naan cm restore to health. The one will pay for looking after and 
give pleasure, while the others are a nuisance to all concerned. 
One more word. More Orchids are ruined by too much water 
towards autumn and again in spring than from any other cause. It 
must not be forgotten that the plants have been enjoying a season 
of r-^st, through haying been kept comparatively dry. The injury is 
done by not increasing the supply of water as the plants advance in 
growtly but subjecting them to a sudden change from dryness to a wet 
condition. The formation of roots should guide the cultivator in 
the supply of water needed. When the roots are extending freely 
liberal supplies are beneficial, but bef 're new roots are forming 
freely they are positively injurious.—R. M. B. 
BORDER CARNATIONS. 
[A paper read by Martin' R. S.mitii, E=iq, at the last imnthly conversazione of the 
Horticultural Club, May 3rd, 1892.] 
When, some years ago, I first commenced to take an active 
interest in the cultivation of the Carnation, I was sanguine that 
I should be able to produce from the open border blooms which 
should rival, if not surpass, those cultivated under glass. My 
anticipation was, of course, as you must all know, a mere piece 
of presumption, a seedling from enthusiasm ciO'Sed by ignorance 
or want of experience. I do not, bowev r, now regiet that my 
aim was somewhat loftier than I could hope to realise, as it taught 
me, at any rate, to be dissatisfied with anything but the best, and 
encouraged me to seek that best by aU means in my power. I feel 
it as a compliment, altogether beyond my deseris, that I have been 
asked to-night to open the discussion upon this subject, and I feel 
that I cannot do better than give, in as simple woids as I can, the 
result of my own experience. 
The first and most impoi tant fact that I learnt, and one that 
has subsequently br en confirmed by many disapp inting experiences, 
is that all Carnations are not suitable for open air cultivation. 
This is one of the points upon wrdeh I hope to hear some remarks 
this evening ; I state it as a conclusion to which my own experience 
has led me. Do not understand me to call in question the hardi¬ 
ness of the ordinary Carnation (of couise I am not speaking of the 
Malmaison type). No doubt all Carnations will live, and all will 
bloom more or less without shelter of any sort. But one va'^iety 
will give eight or ten good blooms in the open border where 
another will give but one or two, and those veiy inferior to what 
the same variety would produce when cultivated under gla«a. The 
first thing to be decided, therefore, is what varieties should be 
grown. It is impossible, or rather I should say it wi uid be useless, 
to give names, for I have found Carna ions singularly sensitive to 
the influences of soil and climate, and that varieties which will do 
well in one garden will by no means n-^cessariiy thrive in another, 
even though it be but a few miles di.-tant. For iusiance, I have 
several neighbours at Hayes, one in pinicular some two and a half 
miles from me, in whose garden the old Ciove Carnaiion fl u'ishes 
magnificently, whereas, with me at Hayes, they all, year alter year, 
perish miserably from spot, until I am almost forced to confess 
that I cannot grow them. 
The first essential, to my mind in a border Carnation is that 
it should not be what we call familiarly “abuister.” All Carna- 
tiors will at times, and in certain seasons, show a tendency to this 
weakness, as we know only too well ; but certain variet’es with 
short, round, flat-headed buds always must burst their calyx, the 
very form of the flower bud necessitates it, and such varieties 
should never be planted in the open border, for the weaihtr, the 
bees, and the earwigs will spoil every bud before it is well open. 
There are certain characteristics required for all border varieties. 
They must be of vigorous habit and fr-e flowering, preff-rably of 
dwarf rather than tall growth, and they should be inclined to make 
hard and wiry rather than “ sappy ” gra^s. Th-re is no doubt that 
this matter of the nature and character of the growth is of much 
importance, and that there are many varieties appaieutly of 
extremely vigorous type which will not stand great vicissitudes of 
weather in the winter. About four years ago I rai-ed two or three 
varieties of apparently very vigorous habit, with which I was much 
p'eased. They had the foliage of the Clove if not aim' st of the 
Malmaison—that is, succulent and sappy. They did famously the 
first year or two, but the winter before last killed ev ry one of 
them. I tried to recover them from friends to whom I had given 
them ; but they were all gone—finished off by ihe same winter. 
Again, border Carnations should be of eiecc h b.t—that is, 
should hold their flowers up to look you in the face. Half the 
effect of flowers in the open border is lost when they have a j;ea- 
dulous habit, and present to the spectator on'y the back of the 
bloom. Ii is also tedious to have to stoop and turn up every flower 
that you may wish to examine. As I have said, my experience is 
that Carnations are very sensitive to peculiarities of soil and 
c’iraate, and for this reason I have always c un'e'led friends who 
are starting Carnations in the open to commence with vaiieties 
which thrive in their own vicinicy, and to extend thtir stock 
gradually by experiment. 
One peculiarity Carnations have, and I fancy it is the same 
with all flowers, and that is the commoner the type the more 
freely and vigorously do they flourish in the open border. There 
is herein a temptation to gardeners to be satisfied with sudi flowers 
in the open, and to grow their finer varieties exclusively under 
