893 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 26, 1892. 
bsred that a small consignment of it was sold at the auction rooms 
recently, and the one plant in bloom showed it to be attractive 
and pleasing in the cjlour of the fljwers. Mons. Otto Bxllif 
thinks that it ought to be classed amongst the best introductions 
of the year, and states that it does best in a mixture of Polypo¬ 
dium fibres ani living sphagnum, in well drained pans or baskets 
suspended near the glass of a cool house. It does well when 
associated with Odontoglossum crispum, contrasting admirably 
with these jewels of the Orchid family by its bright vermilion 
flowers, which can only by compared with certain varieties of 
Sophronitis grandiflora. _ 
The employment of Orchids as cut flowers is ever increasing, 
and when their exquisite delicacy of tone is considered there is 
little cause for surprise that the demand should grow with such 
rapidity as is now the case. Wherever floral decorations are carried 
out, unless on a limited or very economical scale, Orchids are pretty 
sure to be found playing an important part. As it is on this, so it 
is on the other side of the Atlantic, and it is stated that the demand 
for Odontoglossum crispum is so great in the United States that a 
Belgian firm are now studying means of placing cut flowers on the 
New York markets. America is flooding Europe with fruit, and 
now Europe proposes to retaliate with Orchids. 
Should Orchids be cut ? Undoubtedly they should, and as a 
number are in beauty at the present time it may be advisable to 
repeat the warning that has been previously given against allowing 
the plants to have matters all their own way in respect to flowering. 
Many persons who have not long experience to guide them rejoice 
to see the plants smothering themselves in bloom, and no doubt 
plume themselves on the cultural skill they have displayed ; but 
when the plants are seen to get weaker and weaker it is necessary 
to look about for a reason. The true one is often passed over, and 
something else, such as the fog, fixed upon. There was a time 
when east winds were the cause of every ill that gardeners had to 
struggle against, from corns to caterpillars, and all that the east 
wind was guilty of in those days the fog is blamed for amongst 
Orchids. It is the universal pill that kills instead of cures. 
It is an interesting point whether very profuse flowering is 
weakening, independently of seed production. A correspondent 
says: “With all due respect to those who hold an affirmative 
opinion I think a negative reply ought to be given if the question 
were put. Take any ordinary free-flowering greenhouse plant, such 
as a Z )nal Pelargonium or a Fuchsia, and it will be found that 
there is no weakness observable, however abundant the bloom, so 
long as seeding is prevented. And it is the same with still 
commoner flowers, such as garden annuals. If the flowers are 
picked while young the plants remain vigorous and floriferous. I 
fail to see why what holds good with these should not apply 
equally to Orchids. A common law rules them all.” The point 
to observe is to cut away the flowers immediately there is the 
least sign of fading. Nearly everybody waits too long before 
removing them. _ 
Pleurothallus punctulata, recently flowering in Mr. R. J. 
Measures’ collection, is one of the curiosities of the Orchid 
family, and one of those flowers which compel attention by their 
quaint and extraordinary appearance. There are two sepals, the 
lower double the size of the upper one, yellow, dotted with reddish 
brown. The petals are small and are deeply blotched with purplish 
carmine ; the hanging lip is dull purple and the column lemon. 
The under side of the leaves is mealy. A description of the 
.colouring gives no idea whatever of the remarkable appearance of 
the flower. 
Under whatever name it may be known, Odontoglossum 
vexillarium or Miltonia vexillaria, this Orchid is one of the most 
beautiful and valuable at the present period of the year. A 
splendid collection is grown at Cambridge Lodge, comprising about 
320 plants in many choice vaiieties. They are now in great 
beauty. The richer coloured forms are wonderfully effective in a 
mixed collection, but some of the softer shades are very pleasing. 
The struggle for supremacy that has been waged for some time 
between an English and a continental Orchid firm has developed 
into a battle-royal as respects names. A produces a species from 
somewhere or other, and gives it the name of a popular princess ; 
B caps this by another species that merits nothing less than 
association by nomenclature with the popular princess’s mamma- 
in-law. If this sort of thing goes on all the crowned heads of 
Europe will find themselves cast in floral prototypes. We shall 
have a Cattleya Crown Prince and than a Cattleya Emperor, a 
C.ypripedium Cesarevitch and afterwards a Oypripedium The Czar. 
When this source is exhausted others will have to be brought into 
requisition. _ 
That some Orchids will do well under cooler conditions than 
those usually accorded to them is proved by a fine plant of Den- 
drobium Pierardi now flowering in a mixed structure at Tunstall 
House, near Sittingbourne. The temperature falls to 45°, and 
sometimes as low as 40°, in winter, to the serious detriment of 
Eucharises, but the Dendrobe is in robust health, and is now 
carrying eleven good spikes. It was transferred from-a 4j-inch to 
a 12-inch basket a year ago, and has progressed most satisfactorily. 
When under such condition as there shown by Mr. Aitken this 
Deiibrobe is undeniably beautiful. 
Exhibitors will have to be careful how they mix up Orchids 
and other plants at the shows, for the public make straight for 
them and class all alike as Orchids. Some of the knowledge that 
these enthusiasts acquire is curious in the extreme, and when they 
draw upon the store subsequently the effects must be decidedly 
funny at times. For instance, one person was heard to adjure 
another to “ put down the name of that beautiful Orchid,” with a 
profound emphasis on the adjective, when the plant indicated was 
an Anthurium. Those who are familiar with plants smile at the 
ignorance of the general public, but after all, there is nothing to 
be wondered at in it.— Nova. 
IN MEMORIAM—HENRY WILSON OF HALIFAX. 
I DEEPLY regret the occasion to write a brief memorial of a true old 
florist, and a sincere old friend of mine and many more, Henry Wilson 
of Halifax, who passed away on May the 6th, aged seventy years. He 
was on the point of starting with his Auriculas for the Northern Show 
on the morning of April 26th, when he was seized with the illness that 
ended with his life ten days afterwards. He was one of those old 
growers whom the National Auricula Society brought together twenty 
years ago, and ever since that time he had been a peaceful, helpful, 
steadfast, and successful member. At any competition wherein bis 
plants could appear at their best he was always a power to be reckoned 
with, and they have occupied the highest places. He was happy in 
success and cheerful under defeat—a good winner and a good loser. It 
is given to not many to be so equable as was dear Henry Wilson. 
His love for his favourite flower was most single and intense. He 
had an eye for all that is beautiful in flowers, but a heart for only one— 
the Auricula. He was a keen and accurate judge, but in his gentle and 
retiring way would never occupy the office of one if it were possible for 
him to avoid it. His love for the Auricula had some most expressive 
and characteristic features. His regard for the plant was so tender, 
and his delight so great in its health and unburdened growth, that he 
habitually denied himself the pleasure of seeing the full duration of 
its bloom. When the shows were over, or a flower had reached matu¬ 
rity, he would remove the flower stem for the plant’s sake. Some of us 
who grow Orchids might learn a lesson here. 
He would never raise a seedling because of the cost to the plant, and 
though he would gladly grow a plant of a good new seedling it took him 
some time to be reconciled to an unfamiliar type of foliage. He would 
often say to me in his visits to see the Auriculas, “ I am not at home 
among these. I recognise so few among your plants.” There were some 
Auriculas he would grow for their very name’s sake, for the sweetness or 
the power of it, though fully aware of their weak points as florist 
flowers. Among such were Bonny Lass, Smiling Beauty, Regular, 
Highland Laddie, Taylor’s Glory, Champion, Freedom, while to me his 
merry laugh seems to echo yet in the name of the very last plant there 
is of Clough’s Jingling Johnny, raised by a very strong-minded old dame 
of that name, of whose character he would give us most amusing 
reminiscences. This last of Jingling Johnny o. ce came to me for a 
year’s change. It was little more than a huge-flowered, pure green 
self, whose leathery flowers lasted as long as any Orchid I know. 
As a cultivator of the Auricula Henry Wilson took infinite pains. He 
never would use glazed pots or the familiar 4-inch pot of most growers. 
Bach plant was set in the middle of a heavy, large, hari-burnt vessel 
with substantial rim, not deep for its width, which might be some 
7 inches inside. Of soil, however, it would contain little more than 
would fill a 4 or -fi-inch pot, the rest being thorough and powerful drain¬ 
age. He was a master hand, and thoroughly understood the plants. He 
grew them very healthily and very hardily, never under more protection 
than that of strong wooden frames. Often during summer I have seen 
his plants in the open air set in single row on the cool side of garden 
walks in the grounds of our mutual friend, J. Whiteley Ward, Esq., of 
South Royd, Halifax, who of late years gave a warm welcome and a 
kind home to my old friend’s Auriculas, there being no suitable garden 
attached to Mr. Wilson’s residence at Upper Lodge, Manor Heath. 
With Henry Wilson’s death dies out the culture of the Auricula in 
Halifax. In his time he had seen many thriving collections there ; and 
in a simpler and less smoky age that neighbourhood must have been a 
perfect home for such a plant as this. To this day it is not the place 
itself that would know the Auricula no more, it is that they who loved 
