April 30, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
341 
to. Some years ago we were tempted to give these plants a low 
winter temperature with the result that we shall never do it again. 
Two years elapsed before the plants recovered the freedom of 
growth they previously possessed. More recently we had a house 
of these plants from which frost had merely been excluded. 
Throughout the summer they moved slowly, but they did not grow 
freely, and it is only now after warm treatment throughout the 
winter that they display signs of being restored to health and 
vigour. 
Shading Odontoglossums. 
I have commenced shading our plants for a few hours daily. 
Hitherto we have not provided the dense shade that some are in the 
habit of doing. No. 3 tiffany is heavy enough, and better for 
fhe plants than material of a closer texture. Shading will prove 
;an advantage to the plants after they are top-dressed and potted, 
.and thus prevent the atmosphere and the moss used on the surface 
of the pots drying. Maintain a moist atmosphere, and on fine 
■days syringe lightly twice daily. No barm results from this 
ipractice provided a little air is daily admitted to evaporate the 
. -water that lodges in the young growth. 
Methods of Potting. 
For some years I have discontinued the practice of using 
-sphagnum moss mixed with the peat for Odontoglossums. It 
■decays more quickly than good fibrous peat, and then if not 
removed proves injurious to the plants. It is also a mistake to 
•employ too little drainage. Drain the pots to within inch of 
the rim, and then if the plants are well elevated they have ample 
material to root in. My method of potting is to have the crocks 
perfectly clean ; if 'they are not in this condition they are washed, 
rand over these a thin layer of moss is spread, and then the plants 
.-are potted in peat fibre or in lumps if good. If the material is 
decomposed we carefully remove it from amongst the roots. If 
■good the surface only is removed, and the plants practically are re¬ 
potted. On the surface I place living sphagnum, but not to cover 
the surface, it is used in patches. But in this matter we are not 
particular, for I have found plants do equally well when about 
equal quantities of peat and moss are used on the surface. The 
living pieces soon become established by this method, and cover 
the surface more quickly perhaps than by the other. If moss is 
too freely used on the surface, especially during the winter, it 
holds too much moisture, more in fact than is good for the plants. 
When they are rooting and growing freely it is almost impossible 
to give them too much ; but in the early part of the season, in 
:iiutumn and during the winter, they can easily be overwatered the 
■same as any other plant. While they enjoy a moist atmosphere 
they resent one that is stagnant. One of the greatest mistakes 
that can be made in the culture of these plants is to employ too 
'large pots, and too much material about their roots. 
Suitable Positions. 
0. triumphans should be relegated to the coolest position in 
the house, next to it 0. Pescatorei, while 0. Alexandras must have 
the warmest. I rarely find any of these suspended in shallow 
i})ans from the roof, and yet they succeed capitally in these posi¬ 
tions. They appear to flourish as well in low houses as when 
•elevated on pots over the bed. They need careful syringing, and 
more frequent supplies of water. —Orchid Grower. 
Natural Hybrid Odontoglossums. 
It has become the custom in Orchid nomenclature to speak of 
all Odontoglossums which possess a combination of the characters 
distinguishing certain species or types previously introduced to 
•cultivation as “natural hybrids,” and the term is so convenient that 
It has been generally adopted. It is impossible to say how far it 
is strictly accurate, nor is this of much real consequence, as we cm 
only deal with probabilities, and up to the present no progress has 
been made under artificial conditions in the direction of either 
confirming or disproving the accepted opinions. It is not unrea- 
■sonable to regard many of the most boldly marked of these as the 
commencement of botanical species, and it is more than likely that 
some of those already ranked as species have originated in a 
-similar manner. Experienced orchidists incline to this view of 
the matter, and they are justified in giving titles of the same 
■value as those bestowed upon forms considered by botanists as 
worthy of specific rank. Whatever their origin, they to all intents 
and purposes constitute as it were the central points of what would 
■ultimately be definite groups of variations. 
This subject has excited some comment because at the two 
last meetings of the K. H. S. so-called “yellow forms of Odonto- 
glossum Pescatorei ” have been shown from two of the principal 
■collections of Orchids in England and certificated under very 
■different names. First we have 0. dellense from Baron Schroder, 
■af which a flower is depicted in the illustration (tig 63), the 
colour soft yellow with reddish brown markings. The other was 
from Sir Trevor Lawrence under the name of Odontoglossum 
Pescatorei Prince of Orange, the ground colour a rich and deeper 
yellow, with bright brown markings, and the flower of good shape ; 
in fact this is one of the best of the type yet seen. Some ten 
years ago Eeichenbach adopted the name O. excellens for a 
supposed natural hybrid between 0. Pescatorei and O. triumphans 
(or, as others say, 0. tripudians). Since that time several yellow 
tinted Odontoglossums, more or less similar in character, have been 
introduced, and have either received distinct names like “ dellense 
or have been placed as varieties of 0. Pescatorei. It is now sug¬ 
gested, and I think with good reason, that a preferable course 
would be to take O. excellens as the type, and arrange the others 
as varieties under it in the same way as would be done with true 
species. In this way we should have 0. excellens var. dellense. 
FIG. 63.— ODONTOGLOSSUM EXCELLENS VAR. DELLENSE. 
and 0. excellens var. Prince of Orange, and it would then matter 
little whether popular or Latin nomenclature were adopted.— 
L. Castle. 
PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 
Thinning the Fruits. 
In order to obtain large and handsome fruits, a point of great 
importance is to make a careful and good selection when the operation 
of thinning is carried out. Anyone who has paid due attention to this 
matter must have noticed a marked difference in the vigour and form of 
the fruits on each shoot ; this can be clearly seen when they arc about 
the size of peas, at which stage thinning should commence, and be 
carried out with determination and judgment. We like to crop each 
shoot according to its length and strength. In the first place all small 
or deformed fruits are removed, then those left are examined quickly, 
and critically selecting the most robust sturdy looking fruits of good 
shape, with due regard to having them well placed, so as to equalise, as 
far as possible, the crop retained over the whole surface of the tree, with 
the exception that very strong shoots are allowed to carry more than 
the average quantity of fruits, and the weaker portions of the tree 
thinned more freely. At the first thinning one, two, or three fruits 
should be left to each shoot, according to their length and strength. 
This will give a pretty severe thinning, but there will still be a good 
number to be removed at a later stage, and although I am no advocate 
for doing all the thinning at the first operation, neither do I believe in 
leaving the final thinning till after the stoning period, because I have 
never seen trees that were well attended to cast their fruits at stoning 
time unless they were then carrying far too heavy a crop. In such 
cases it seems to be a law of Nature for the trees to rid themselves of a 
part of their crop to show that they cannot be thus badly treated with 
impunity. 
The final thinning I would make when the fruits are about the size 
of marbles, when in most cases one-third or so of those previously left 
will require removal. And the slight strain of carrying these extra 
fruits for a time is amply justided by the fact that it can be seen to a 
nicety which are swelling the most freely and evenly. For exhibition 
purposes to obtain fruit of the finest size and quality one fruit to a 
square foot is quite enough for Peaches, and one to 9 square inches for 
Nectarines, but for table use where very large fruit are not always 
required the trees may safely be allowed to carry a crop one-third more 
in number. I have noticed on some varieties of Peaches, notably 
