94 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 2, 1893. 
Hall; Treasurer, Mr. S. G. Buxton. Committee : The Mayor, Mr. B. E. 
Fletcher, Mr. I. B. Coaks, Mr. E. A. Field, Sir Harry Bullard, the 
Rev. T. H. Marsh, Mr. G. Daniels, and Mr. F. Morris. Mr. J. Green, 
East Dereham, was elected to fill a vacancy caused by the retirement 
of Mr. W. Cork. Mr. J. E. T. Pollard was unanimously re-elected Hon. 
Secretary, with thanks for his invaluable services for the past five 
years. Messrs. A. W. Preston and W. H. Back were re-elected 
auditors. 
- Meetings op Protest against Railway Rates. —A few 
of the leading market gardeners of Evesham and district met recently 
to consider the new railway rates. The following memorial to the 
Board of Trade was drawn up, and instructions given for the same to be 
distributed in the district for signatures of those interested in the matter : 
—“To the President of the Board of Trade. Sir,—We, the undersigned 
memorialists, being market gardeners and farmers of Evesham and dis¬ 
trict, desire respectfully to call the attention of the President of the 
B jard of Trade to the grievous injustice inflicted on the market garden¬ 
ing and farming interest by the arbitrary raising of rates by the Midland 
and Great Western Railway Companies. Competition being now so 
keen that even the late rates were too high in comparison to the value 
of the articles, any increase will be simply ruinous to the market 
gardening and farming interest.” The members of the London Whole¬ 
sale Seed Trade Association also held a meeting on the 20th ult. to 
protest against the new rates. Amongst other firms represented were 
Messrs. Hurst &: Sons, Watkins & Simpson, Cooper, Taber, & Co., 
J. Wrench & Sons, and Nutting & Sons. A great meeting was held at 
the Mansion House on Monday, the Lord Mayor presiding. Sir James 
Whitehead, M.P., proposed the following resolution, which was carried 
unanimously :—“ That this meeting of traders and agriculturists, from 
all parts of the United Kingdom, is of opinion that, in view of the per¬ 
sistent efforts made by the railway companies for many years past to 
secure additional powers of charge, the large and general increase in 
rates which they have recently made (^in spite of their frequent denial of 
any intention to do so, and immediately after obtaining such powers) 
has shown conclusively that the fixing of actual rates ought not to be 
left to their irresponsible discretion.” 
- R.H.S. Certificates, 1892. — General Distribution. — The 
wide area over which the certificates of the Royal Horticultural 
Society are distributed, for plants and products examined by its 
Committees, is shown in the following facts. First as to countries, 
we find that one certificate went to Africa, one to America, one to 
Belgium, 380 to England and Wales, six to France, three to Ireland, 
one to Jersey, and two to Scotland. Next referring to the English 
and Welsh county distribution, we find that two certificates went to 
Bedfordshire, twenty-one to Berkshire, ten to Buckinghamshire, one to 
Cambridgeshire, two to Derbyshire, two to Devonshire, one to Dorset¬ 
shire, nine to Essex, seventeen to Gloucestershire, five to Hampshire, 
one to Herefordshire, fifty to Hertfordshire, forty-nine to Kent, ten to 
Lancashire, two to Leicestershire, two to Lincolnshire, eighty-six to 
Middlesex, fifteen to Monmouth, two to Norfolk, one to Northampton¬ 
shire, eight to Northumberland, six to Nottinghamshire', one to Oxford¬ 
shire, one to Shropshire, thirteen to Somersetshire, five to Staffordshire, 
thirty-eight to Surrey, one to Warwickshire, four to Wiltshire, two to 
Worcestershire, seven to Yorkshire. As is inevitable, England as a nation 
takes the lead and naturally exhibits from the home counties, because 
of the convenience of short distances for travel and transit to the meet¬ 
ings, receive more certificates than the fewer exhibits could possibly do 
from distant parts of the country, yet Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, 
Somersetshire, and Lancashire appear to have done remarkably well. 
There is this to be said about the honours of the Society, that the merits 
of the products are alone considered, and the Committees would as 
readily certificate a plant from Kilkenny as from Kew, a fruit from 
Kentucky as from Kent, or a vegetable from Fiji as from Fulham ; so 
send them along. 
Lycaste Barringtoni^. 
Although one of the oldest members of the genus this 
Lycaste is but seldom met with under cultivation. This is no 
doubt due in a great measure to the utter absence of the bright 
tints common in L. Skinneri and the more popular kinds, the 
flowers being of a uniform greenish-white colour. The freedom 
with which they are produced, however, compensates for their dull 
hue, and a well-flowered specimen, especially of the variety grandi- 
flora, is by no means an unattractive object. L. Barringtonim was 
introduced from Jamaica about 1790, and has been in turn named 
Epidendrum, Dendrobium, Colax, and Maxillaria. A fine plant 
with fifteen flowers may be now seen in the Orchid houses at 
Kew. 
The variety grandiflora was introduced in 1868. It is the 
largest of the Lycastes, having leaves 2 feet or more in length, 
and flowers as much as 5 inches in diameter. It is figured in the 
“Botanical Magazine,” t. 5706. 
Oncidium splendidum. 
The specific name of this Oncidium is in no way exaggerated or 
misleading. Sir J. D. Hooker described the plant in 1871 as 
“ without doubt the finest Oncidium hitherto discovered,” and 
even at the present day this description requires no qualification. 
A native of Mexico and Guatemala, O. splendidum was introduced 
in 1862, but it is only within the past tw'o or three years that it 
has become at all plentiful. The fleshy deep green leaves are 
oblong, 6 inches to 1 foot in length, and about 2| inches broad. 
The scape is stout and erect, about 2 feet in length, and terminates 
in a many flowered branching raceme. The flowers are about 
2 inches in diameter and very showy. The sepals and petals are 
yellow blotched and barred with brown ; the lip is very large, flat, 
and entirely yellow. This Oncidium should be grown in a basket 
or on a block ; it requires a stove temperature. It is figured in the 
“ Botanical Magazine,” t. 5878, as a variety of 0. tigrinum, and in 
the accompanying description, by a curious error, the leaves are 
said to be “ 2^ feet broad.” 
Bulbophyllum comosum. 
Very few of the Bulbophyllums are considered worthy of a 
place in the Orchid collections of the present day, and such as are 
occasionally met with are cultivated more for some pecunarity in 
the structure and appearance of the flowers than for their beauty. 
The species under notice, however, is a graceful and attractive 
little plant, which may attain a greater measure of popularity than 
its congeners. It is a recent introduction from tipper Burmah, 
and was exhibited at the last meeting of the Orchid Committee of 
the Royal Horticultural Society, when it received a botanical 
certificate. It is a deciduous species, and blooms before the leaves 
make their appearance. The creamy-white flowers are individually 
small, but are thickly crowded on the pendulous racemes, the 
peduncles of which are erect until the flowers are reached. The 
sepals and petals are fringed with hairs, which give a light feathery 
appearance to the racemes. A plant has been in flower for some 
time in the warm Orchid house at Kew.—A. B. 
Zygocolax Veitchi. 
One of the most admired of all the Orchids exhibited at the 
Drill Hall on January 17th was the beautiful bigeneric hybrid repre¬ 
sented by fig. 13, page 87. Zygocolax Veitchi is the result of a cross 
between Colax jugosus and Zygopetalum Mackayi var. crinitum, 
the former being the pollen and the latter the seed parent. It is 
undoubtedly one of the happiest of the Veitchian hybridiser’s 
efforts in the inter-crossing of Orchids, the blending of the 
characters of the two plants being effected in a most pleasing and 
harmonious manner. The form of the flower is accurately pour- 
trayed by the engraving ; it will suffice, therefore, to describe the 
colouring. The sepals and petals are pale greenish yellow blotched 
with chocolate. The short, nearly flat, and very broad lip is pale 
lilac veined with rosy purple and margined with the same colour. 
The habit is dwarf, the pseudo bulbs short and blunt, the leaves, as 
shown, long and narrow. There is a strong suggestion of the 
Zygopetalum parentage about the hybrid, but it is, as it were, 
modified and toned down, the contour of the flower being 
improved by the “ Colax blood.” In every respect Zygocolax 
Veitchi is a beautiful and charming Orchid, and a distinct triumph 
of the hybridiser. 
Cycnoches pentadactylon. 
The special feature—one might almost write the sensation—of 
the last meeting of the R.H.S. was a magnificent plant of this 
species of the Swan Orchid, exhibited by W. W. Mann, Esq., 
Ravenswood, Bexley (gardener, Mr. Simmonds). On the score of 
novelty it could not have attracted attention, for the plant is an 
old one, and has been often seen ; but its dimensions and inflores¬ 
cence were so remarkable that it became the centre of attraction, 
and was awarded a first-class certificate by the Committee. It had 
