310 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 30, 1891. , 
of Orchids. The most satisfactory results are obtained with a 
winter temperature of 50° to 56°, and a summer temperature of 
G0°to 65°. The nearer these temperatures are adhered to, with a 
correspondingly moist and buoyant, not draughty, atmosphere, 
the more satisfactory will be the results. It is true that cases 
have been cited where numbers of these Orchids have been 
subjected to greater extremes of temperature with apparently 
satisfactory results, and it has been reported in these columns, with 
satisfactory proofs, where they have done well out of doors in this 
country ; but on the whole, taking differences of latitude and varia¬ 
tions in local conditions into proper consideration, I believe the 
conditions previously and briefly stated are those most suited for 
the most successful cultivation of cool Orchids in these islands. 
Cinerarias. 
There is little doubt that the “ strains ” of these showy and 
easily grown plants vary considerably in quality, but I have no 
reason to think that they are deteriorating generally. Perhaps too 
much attention has been paid to mere size of flowers lately, but I 
think, given flowers the size of half a crown or a little larger, 
perfect in form, brilliant in colouring, freely produced, and the 
plants somewhat dwarf in habit—not too dwarf—say an average 
of 18 inches with “ heads ” of flower nearly as much across, and 
bold foliage nearly hiding the pot, there is little more to be desired 
from the Cineraria. 
Crocuses on Lawns. 
Having adopted the practice some fifteen years ago of plant¬ 
ing out under trees on the lawns Crocuses that had been forced, I 
can testify to the bright and charming effect produced by such 
jnasses of colour on a “ settingof green in the months of March 
and April. A thousand corms were forced every year, and these 
were afterwards planted under and around the trees each year 
until there were many square yards of ground so occupied. The 
larger the masses the grander the effect. We never found the foliage 
objectionable ; indeed, it had the value of covering the rather bare 
patches under the trees until either the foliage or trees hid it from 
view or patches of grass grew.— Hugh Dale. 
LETTUCES—LEE’S HARDY GREEN. 
Last autumn this variety was described as an excellent Lettuce 
for withstanding the winter, anti the exceptionally prolonged one just 
passed has been a good test for proving the hardine.ss of this and 
different other kinds. Two sowings were made of Lee’s Hardy Green, 
one about the 20th of August, the other about the Gth of September, in 
rows a foot apart, thinning the plants to about G or 8 inches asunder 
when large enough. Both sowings have withstood the winter well, but 
the September sown plants have proved the best, quite 90 per cent, of 
them being alive, and have been in use for salad since the end of March. 
Potatoes were taken from the land previously, and no manure used when 
the Lettuce seed was sown. For weeks also during the most severe frost 
they were well covered with snow. But to have them for salad purposes 
by the end of March a little special attention since the middle of Feb¬ 
ruary has been necessary. Some old handlights about 20 inches square 
that had done duty through December, January, and part of February 
in covering good patches of Parsley to pick from when snow covered 
the rest of the bed, also some clumps of Helleborus niger, not being 
wanted for that purpose any longer, were then put over the Lettuce, 
each handlight covering about six plants. On fine sunny mornings li^ht 
sprinklings of w'ater were applied. Heavy waterings were not required 
as the ground was quite wet enough underneath, but the slight 
waterings on the foliage promoted a moi.st genial atmosphere within 
the handlight. A little air is nece.ssary at all times day and night. 
This can easily be admitted at the corners, but if any of them have a 
little of the glass out of the lid (as mine have) it is sufficient, and 
although it is almost impossible to secure good hearts so early in the 
season, some tender and crisp Lettuce can be had for the salad bowl after 
a month or so being grown under handlights. Another plan is that of 
placing clean G-inch pots over each Lettuce plant, leaving the crock hole 
open to admit air, and allowing moisture to escape. A fortnight or three 
weeks under flower pots in the months of March and April very much 
improves them, and carries on the supply till those left unprotected are 
ready. 
Bath or Brown Cos and Hicks’ Hardy AVhite were planted as usual a 
foot apart in October, but about 40 per cent, have perished, and rvhat 
are left will not be fit for tying up for a few weeks yet. These three 
varieties w'ere the only ones sown to stand over the wunter. Twenty- 
eight degrees of frost was the lowest recorded. All the Year Round 
Cabbage Lettuce seed was sowm the first week in March of the present 
year on a w'arm border, and the plants are now thinned to a foot apart. 
This is one of the best for summer and autumn use, and .should be 
sown every fortnight or three weeks till August. It turns in quickly, 
and is ready before the spring sown Cos Lettuce.—A. Harding. 
Helleborus atrorubens. —A di.stinct form of a most interesting 
and useful family of spring flowering hardy plants. Nowhere does this 
show to better advantage than at the front of a shrubbery, backed up by 
dark evergreens. Certainly no hardy plant will give a better returTi for' 
the attention reeprired to ensure a full crop of flowers during the month 
of April. We have several clumps in the shnibberies, which never fail 
to flower abundantly, in spite of the fact of their not having had any 
assistance in the shape of manure for the last ten years. They are freely 
exposed to the sun, not being overhung by trees. The flowers tlo not- 
la.st long when cut, only a few hours, being quite different in that 
respect from the good old H. niger.—M. 
Well flowered plants of this Dendrobiura are decidedly attrac¬ 
tive objects at this period of the year—their natural season to flower^, 
and being of tolerable easy culture, it is suitable alike for the 
specialist as well as amateur cultivators. It adapts itself very 
readily, as do many Dendrobiums, to the conditions of the ordinary 
plant stove, and therefore demands some notice on the part of 
those growers having no structures strictly set apart for the- 
convenience of these now popular plants. They may be also 
purchased at a cheap rate, now they are so largely imported ; and 
while several plants may be grown, each would possibly differ 
either in the shade of colour, form, or habit of the flower spike.. 
This variety is singularly rapid in the development of its 
pseudo-bulb, and frequently vigorous plants will mature two, and 
sometimes even three, courses of growths in one year, although- 
they do not all flower the same season. This tendency to give- 
successive growths in one year makes it a comparatively easy matter 
to get a good specimen in a short space of time. 
Of the several plants of this species in bloom in Mr. Porter’s 
collection at Park House, Kingsclere, one has developed teri 
handsome spikes, another having unusually long pseudo-bulbs 
carries seven, the longest of them being nearly a foot in depth,, 
the other racemes only slightly less than this measurement makes 
it a very distinct and naturally much-prized plant by its owner and 
grower alike. Other plants carry fi'om five to eight spikes each,, 
the whole making a bold and choice display. D. densiflorum is 
also represented with its uniformly coloured pendent spike, and is- 
cherished even more greatly than the first named, though both are 
equally desirable and indispensable in a collection, however small it 
may be. Strong growths of D. thyrsiflorum produce two spikes- 
often from near their extremity, but it would not appear to be sa 
common an occurrence for three spikes to issue from one individual 
pseudo-bulb, at any rate not under ordinary cultivation. Being of 
an evergreen disposition they must not be subjected to the severe 
drying off that is practised in the case of some of the deciduous- 
species, but on the full completion of their growth they are 
benefited by cooler treatment until the flower buds are visible in 
spring, and in this state less water is naturally required than is- 
customary during the growing period. Unfortunately the flower 
spikes are somewhat short-lived compared with some of the others,, 
but by placing them in cooler structures, provided with shelter- 
from direct sunshine, and having several plants to form a 
succession, this failing is less observable than is the case of growers 
having but a solitary plant or bloom spike. But little trouble is 
experienced in the matter of insects, their tough leaves seemingly 
resenting any interference on the part of these tropical enemies SG 
common to many Orchids. Generally speaking, the merits of this 
species are numerous, and owners of small collections should not 
be content without at least one or two plants.—AV. S. 
Odontoglossums—Cool AVinter Treatment. 
I FULLY agree with all that has been said respecting the mistake- 
of maintaining a low winter temperature for Odontoglossums. Ir.' 
a temperature that ranges about 40° the plants are at a complete 
standstill, or they deteriorate, and are not in spring in the same 
satisfactory condition as in the previous autumn. This is due 
mainly, if not entirely, to the plants starting late into root 
activity and growth. The plants thus often have to make their 
growth during the dull days of autumn, and in some cases the 
pseudo-bulbs are scarcely developed before spring. This results in 
weakly flower spikes and puny flowers. To grow these plants- 
really well the winter temperature should not fall below 50° except 
on solitary occasions when the frost is severe. A temperature 5° 
lower then does no harm. Plants that have been kept in this 
temperature throughout the winter have now commenced root 
activity and growth, and potting or top-dressing must be attendedl 
