470 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE A'ND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
at the Royal Horticultural Society’s meeting on June 7th, and 
fig. 82 (f-ee page 481) represents it. It is a garden hybrid, having 
been obtained by crossing C. Spicerianum and C. Stonei. The 
petals and lip follow the latter species, more particularly the former. 
They are long, narrow and much twisted, greenish yellow in colour, 
thickly dotted with purple. The lip is purplish brown edged with 
yellow. The dorsal sepal is incurved and arches over the pouch, so 
that the back, which is deeply flushed with rosy purple, shows the 
most conspicuously. The front or lower portion is soft blush 
flecked with rose. The general appearance of the flower is one 
of considerable grace. The foliage is long and narrow. 
Indian Orchids. 
In selecting the subject of Indian Orchids for this paper, I have 
been induced to do so chiefly with the object of showing that a 
considerable number of the most beautiful plants known in Nature, 
and formerly cultivated in the glass houses of this country with the 
most assiduous care, and, of course, with corresponding success, 
have of late years gradually receded in public favour, and many, 
indeed, appear to suffer a neglect at the hands of cultivators, which 
they by no means deserve. Without attempting to inquire into 
the cause of the disfavour into which many Indian Orchids appear 
to have fallen of late, and which may probably be as much assigned 
to the caprice of cultural fashion as to any other cause, I will bring 
under rapid review some of the most important genera of Orchids, 
in their horticultural bearing, whose homes are in the far East, and 
endeavour to show that they are still as deserving a place in the 
Orchid collections of this country as they formerly held. Although 
in treating of Indian Orchids generally I must be allowed to use 
the term in a wider sense than the name implies, and include 
within its meaning the Malayan region, for in reality the greater 
part of India proper, the whole of the Eastern Peninsula, or Indo- 
China as it is sometimes called, and the great Malayan Archipelago 
form, in a botanical sense, but one region in which all the climatic 
phenomena peculiar to the tropics occur, and over which a general 
similarity of climate prevails, except where the local conditions are 
such as to interfere with the general law, as in the high table land 
of the Deccan and the arid districts of the north-west, which are 
destitute of Orchids. As a natural consequence of like climatic 
conditions, the plant life of the whole region, one of the richest on 
the globe, is made up of an immense number of affinities that are 
more or less represented in every part of it, and this is especially 
the case with Orchids. Dendrobes, Ccelogynes, Vandas, Aerides, 
Saccolabiums, and Cypripedes are found in New Guinea and the 
Philippine Islands almost as plentifully as in Lower Burmah, 
Assam, and the tropical Himalaya. 
Within the British Indian territories there are about 1400 
species of Orchids out of a total of 14,000 known flowering plants. 
It will not, therefore, be an exaggerated estimate if we assume the 
number of species of Orchids dispersed throughout the whole 
region under review to be about 2500, but of this large number 
not much more than one-tenth would be considered of sufficient 
interest or beauty to be worth their house room in Europe. They 
include a most surprising variety in form, habit, size, colour, and 
shape of flower, more so than is to be found in the American 
Orchidese. From the gigantic Grammatophyllum speciosum, with 
stems 10 to 12 feet high ; the scarcely less robust Stauropsis 
lissochiloides, still occasionally seen in collections under the name 
of Vanda Batemanii ; that Goliath of Dendrobes, D. taurinum of 
the Philippine Islands ; through every gradation in size and habit to 
the minute and curious Drymodas, and the tiny Bulbophyls of 
Sumatra, whose dimensions can be contained within an ordinary 
wineglass, while in strange contrast to these are the scrambling 
Galeolas that climb to the top of trees 60 to 100 feet high, and the 
beautiful Vanda Hookeriana that sprawls over the low jungle 
bushes in Perak in such profusion as to obtain the local name of 
Kinta Weed. 
The stations occupied hy the members of this vast assemblage 
of Orchids are scarcely less remarkable than their surprising 
variety of form. Some are found in the Mangrove swamps on 
the sea coast, and others delight in the hot, damp, low-lying tracts 
of the Sunderbunds and the delta of the Irawaddy, while in the 
tropical Himalaya some ascend to 8000 and'even 10,000 feet. 
Between these extremes Orchids are found all over the Indo- 
Malayan region in well-nigh every possible situation where the 
all-importanc element of moisture is sufficiently abundant. In 
such a diversity of stations it occurs sometimes that a most 
desirable species for the Orchid collection of Europe grows under 
conditions and with an environment that it is simply impossible to 
imitate artifi iaily, even appri ximately in our glass houses, and 
thence a difficult problem is brought to the gardener to solve. 
Instances will be noted in the different genera I propose to bring 
under review. 
One is tempted to ask. How is it that amidst such a wealth of 
[ June 23,'1892. 
colour, form, and fragrance as is to be found in the Indo-Malayan 
Orchid, comparatively few species maintain their ground in the 
general estimation of amateurs ? Doubtless such Orchids as 
Dendrobium nobile, D. thyrsiflorum, D. Wardianum, D. Brymer- 
ianum, with its marvellously fimbriated labellum ; Coetogyne cristata, 
the ever useful Cypripedium insigne, the elegant winter flowering 
C. Spicerianum, and some of the choicer hybrids of which it is 
one of the parents, the lovely Cypripedium niveum and its im¬ 
mediate allies, and a few others that can be named will always hold 
their own ; but the bulk of the species and varieties of these same 
genera that were once in such high repute seem to have somewhat 
paled in public favour before the splendid array of South American 
beauties represented by the numerous Cattleya labiata forms, the 
Brazilian and Mexican Laelias, the Columbian Odontoglots, and 
some of the Andean Masdevallias. It is among these that we now 
find “specimens” of cultural skill. “Specimens” of Aerides, 
Vanda, Saccolabium, and Coelogyne are well nigh things of the 
past. At one time the. pride of their owners and the admiration of 
the public when exhibited, they are now nowhere to be seen ; they 
have been elbowed out to make room for their more fascinating 
South American rivals. 
One of the assigned causes of the comparative neglect of Indian 
Orchids generally should, however, here be noticed. They require 
so much more artificial heat to bring them to perfection, and the 
consequent greater amount of attention than is required for the 
cooler growing Cattleyas and Odontoglots. Too much stress has 
undoubtedly been placed on this point, for experience has long 
since shown that Indian and Malayan Orchids, those that require a 
purely tropical treatment, are more successfully cultivated in the 
glass houses of this country in an average lower temperature than 
in a temperature raised by artificial heat to nearly the same mean 
as that of their native home. Moreover, in the details of their 
culture, while an unrelaxed attention is necessary all through the 
year, they are not more exacting in this respect than the popular 
South American kinds. 
I will next take a glance through the Indo-Malayan genera of 
Orchids that are most rich in species and varieties worthy of the 
cultivator’s care, and I doubt not that it will be manifest how many 
fine and interesting forms there are well worth more consideration 
than they actually receive.—V. 
(To be continued.) 
LATE PLANTING OF SHRUBS. 
Given a properly prepared plant, and the proposition is sound 
that a shrub or tree may be transplanted at any season of the year. 
The exigencies of labour demand that most of this important work 
should be overtaken during the late autumn and winter or early 
spring months, but it is doubtful whether these times are the best. 
Enormous quantities of newly planted young trees have perished 
during the winter and spring of the last three years, which, if left 
until late spring or early summer, would in the great majority of 
cases have taken root and lived. However, the difficulties in the 
way of extended summer planting are so great that a note of its 
utility is only made here in passing. 
The main object of this note is to call attention to the certainty 
of success attending the removal of shrubs at the present time. 
Few years pass without our having to transplant some. A big tree 
may fall and smash everything in its way, and th=i only solution of 
the difficulty is to make good the gap by means of a few large 
shrubs. I never knew these fail, and in a couple of months no one 
could tell by their appearance that they had so lately been trans¬ 
planted. In the beginning of the present month I had to transplant 
a few good sized shrubs—Rhododendrons, Yews, and ornamental 
Coniferre—and am now waiting an opportunity to plant a 6 foot 
high hedge, and a blind of good sized shrubs for immediate effect. 
I am sure many readers of the Journal would be glad to get jobs 
such as these out of hand with credit to themselves, but may feel a 
diffidence to attack such work at this season. As already stated, 
the work can be successfully undertaken. Natural conditions are 
favourable— e.g., the soil is warm, the plants aie making plenty 
of young roots as well as young growth, and it only requires 
ordinary intelligence in carrying out the work with rapidity 
and sound judgment in selecting the plants to ensure complete 
success. 
To descend to details. A dull or drizzly day should be chosen. 
If after a heavy rainfall so much the better. If, however, the soil 
is dry, well water the plants to be removed before beginning to lift. 
Select those shrubs which are known to possess plenty of roots near 
home, so that a fair ball may be secured. Have the position each 
shrub is to occupy prepared and ready before the shrubs are lifted. 
When lilted, get each plant into its place and the roots covered with 
soil as quickly as possible, finishing up the planting of each with a 
