January 29, 1891. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
79 
T hese are not often cultivated for sale in a cut state, yet they 
pay •well. This winter, owing to the great scarcity of other 
flowers, Calanthes have been more appreciated than usual, a better 
price for the spikes being the outcome. Florists frequently inquire 
for flowers with long stems, and if in addition they keep well after 
they are cut their value is considerably enhanced. The fact of 
•Calanthes combining these good qualities, also being members of the 
great Orchid family, adds to their charm, and altogether I am 
strongly of opinion there will be a great demand for them as their 
merits become better known to the buyers and retailers of cut 
flowers. They are particularly to be recommended for culture in 
those private gardens where flowers for buttonhole bouquets and 
ladies’ sprays are in great request. The white, or nearly white 
■flowers, are admirable for the former purpose, and very elegant 
sprays can be made of the C. Yeitchi forms. Hundreds of single 
flowers can be detached from a fairly large number of spikes with¬ 
out affecting the market value of the latter in the least. In fact, 
the spikes ought not to be cut before the flowers at the point are 
nearly or quite expanded, and by that time many of the lower 
flowers on long and moderately long spikes would, if not used, 
have faded badly. Nor is there any gain in growing extra fine 
spikes, but, on the contrary, it pays better to allow each pseudo¬ 
bulb to form two or three medium-sized spikes rather than one 
from 3 feet to 4 feet in length. 
If we except one or two varieties of recent introduction, the 
most valuable of the winter flowering Calanthes will be found in 
C. vestita lutea, the spikes and single blooms of this variety being 
well adapted for making into hand and other bouquets, sprays, 
wreaths, and crosses, and the best of them fetch from fls. to 
12s. per dozen, the smaller sizes realising 6s. per dozen. C. vestita 
oculata is not so valuable, though well worthy of extended cultiva¬ 
tion. The spikes of this and either of the three forms of 
C. Yeitchi fetch from Gs. to 9s. per dozen spikes, and seeing that 
at least six spikes can be obtained from three moderately strong 
bulbs in a G-inch or rather larger pot, the profitableness of Calanthes 
is very evident. 
Increasing the stock of pseudo-bulbs is not such a slow progress 
as might be imagined by the inexperienced, a good supply of 
C. Yeitchi being raised comparatively quickly ; but the short thick 
pseudo-bulbs of the vestita type are certainly more difficult to 
increase. There are several points so to speak on the long Yeitchi 
pseudo-bulbs, and if cut into lengths each would form a growth, 
which would under favourable conditions develop into a good sized 
pseudo-bulb. We prefer the slower method of snapping the pseudo¬ 
bulbs in two, the upper part forming a moderately strong growth, 
while two or more stout growths would be obtained from the lower 
half, or nearly as good as though the pseudo-bulb had been left 
intact. 
Trebling the number of pseudo-bulbs each year is not bad 
progress, but when our stock ■was insufficient the old pseudo-bulbs 
were not thrown away as being of no further value, but were set 
rather thickly in pans filled with light peaty compost and kept in 
heat. The greater part of old ones thus treated form a young 
growth from their base, and being potted off when the roots are 
about 2 inches long serviceable bulbs eventually result. We never 
cut or break up the pseudo-bulbs of vestita, but strong ones will 
No. 553.—VoL. XXII., Third Series. 
form two or more shoots the season after flowering, and frequently 
another if taken good care of in the following spring. 
It may sound somewhat strange, but it is true nevertheless, that 
the cultivation of Calanthes, say to flo^wer next winter, ought to 
commence from the flowering period this winter. A few days in a 
well heated living house will do them no harm, but on no account 
ought the plants to be placed for any length of time, either when 
in or out of flower, in a cool conservatory or greenhouse, or the 
consequences to the bulb may be nearly or quite fatal. Not only 
is a moderately warm house, or say one which seldom falls below 
55° during the night or often exceeds 65° in the daytime, the 
safest place for the bulbs, but the flower spikes also open and last 
much the longest under this treatment. After the foliage is dead 
and removed little or no water ought to be given, and the plants 
must also be kept in heat and quite dry during the resting period. 
If preferred they can be shaken clear of the old compost, have their 
old roots lightly shortened, and then be rather closely but not deeply 
packed together in pans or boxes of light peaty soil, there to 
remain till shoots and roots are formed. This plan answers well if 
the final potting-off is not delayed till the roots are become inter¬ 
laced, in which case they cannot be separated without injury to 
them. Ours are usually left in their flowering pots till they have 
made shoots about 2 inches long with a cluster of short roots 
attached, when they are carefully separated from the old soil and 
at once repotted. 
Opinions vary as to the best compost for Calanthes, and to this 
difference of opinion many failures are to be traced. A free use 
of loam is recommended by some authorities—the majority pro¬ 
bably—and with all due respect to said authorities I yet maintain 
that loam ought not to be so generally and freely employed in the 
compost. Light loam full of fibre doubtless will grow them well ; 
but not one gardener in a hundred can procure this, and a loam 
void of fibre, or any containing a slight per-centage of clay, is 
nearly fatal to Calanthes. What never fails with us is a mixture 
consisting of two parts brown fibrous peat in lumps to one each of 
sifted horse-droppings, chopped sphagnum moss, charcoal, and 
broken crocks, the two last somewhat coarse. Even with such a 
porous compost as this it is advisable to nearly half fill the pots 
with drainage. What is wanted is a potful of roots as quickly as 
possible, after which they may safely be fed with liquid manure. 
It is almost needless to add the pots should be clean, those fresh 
from the potteries being avoided, as robbing the compost of the 
little moisture necessary. 
A 4-inch pot is large enough for a single pseudo-bulb of the 
vestita type, and a 5-inch pot would do for a good-sized one of the 
C. Yeitchi varieties, these sizes being useful for house decoration^ 
When required to afford cut blooms only the best plan is to place 
three or four in a G-inch pot, and about five in a 7-inch or 8-inch 
pot. By growing C. Yeitchi singly in 6-inch or rather larger sizes 
it is possible to have pseudo-bulbs from 9 inches to 12 inches in 
length, and with proportionately long spikes ; but we want neither 
the one nor the other. In potting, nearly fill the pots with compost, 
this being previously well warmed by means of hot bricks placed 
jn the centre of the heap. Make this firm, and carefully fix the 
pseudo-bulbs, or so as not to injure the young roots, the base being 
just below the surface. The old roots being only shortened serve 
to steady the plants. 
Many succeed all right, or follow the right lines up to this point 
only to err in their choice of site for the pots. Ordinary plant 
stages will not suit them, nor do they often succeed well when 
interspersed among other Orchids. They can best be grown on 
shelves of well heated houses, and near to the glass. Ours never 
fail on the back shelves of three-quarter span-roofed plant stove 
and forcing houses, three long rows being grown, but they do not 
thrive nearly so well on side shelves in the same houses. They also 
do well on shelves in Pine stoves, and on these shelves generally 
they ought to be kept till the spikes are well advanced in flower 
No. 2209.— VoL. LXXXIV., Old Series, 
