April 6, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
269 
as many kinds will grow and flower freely in an ordinary plant 
stove ; bat if once the culture is commenced with a desire and pur¬ 
pose continually to add to the collection, then it is much better that 
houses be set apart for the different classes, and so built that the 
needs of the various species are taken into due consideration. 
Doubtless all were aware of the advantages of span-roof houses 
for most flowering plants, but it is not essential that all structures 
devoted to Orchid culture should be of this description. Half-span 
houses facing the south or south-west are capital structures for 
Cattleyas, Laelias, Dendrobiums, Aerides, and Vandas, while one of 
a similar form facing the north is very desirable for Odontoglossums 
and Masdevallias. This latter structure is much more necessary in 
the southern parts of the country than in the north, for if Odonto¬ 
glossums are so situated that the greater portion of the summer 
sunshine falls on the glass roof the probability is that the atmo¬ 
sphere (though the house may be shaded with canvas blinds) will 
be much drier than is desirable for the well-being of the plants ; 
and only by constantly damping the floor, entailing a considerable 
amount of labour and time, can an approach to a regular humidity 
in the state of the atmosphere be maintained. But a house facing 
north receives less of the sun’s rays, and correspondingly a lower 
state of the temperature prevails. 
The ventilation, too, would not need to be so excessive, which 
is often excessively draughty, and so when a good damping down 
is given morning and evening the air retains a sufficiency of 
moisture without any great variableness. It is very doubtful, too, 
if side lights are any advantage to Orchid houses, inasmuch as in 
summer, when the sun shmes fiercely upon them, the state of the 
atmosphere about the plants is much too dry. To prevent this 
many fasten tiffany or paint summer cloud on the glass ; and, again, 
in the winter the cold is so liable to catch the side that thick canvas 
or mats are fastened round to prevent the sudden and rapid lowering 
of the temperature. 
If, then, instead of glass, brickwork were carried up to the 
gutters the houses would be cooler and moister in the summer, and 
in the winter drier and warmer. Again, do not allow cement to 
be spread on the inside walls of any Orchid house ; this covering is 
of such a hard, dry nature that, holding no moisture, it cannot part 
with any. And in the winter the heated air from the pipes creeping 
up or along these surfaces soon become even more dry and hurtful. 
Simple brickwork, well whitewashed, will retain moisture, and be 
of considerable service in maintaining the uniformity of the 
atmospheric conditions. 
The tanks for holding rain water should be outside, well bricked 
over, with a communication to a small dipping place inside ; or, if 
the tanks should be built inside, they too, with the exception of a 
small place for dipping, should be covered, so that the whole of the 
surface under the stages would be simply soil, covered with ashes 
for appearance sake, or if clean fresh leaves can be obtained, a 
layer of these would be of considerable service. These surfaces 
during the spring and summer should often have a watering with 
liquid manure, and if a little guano and soot water can be obtained 
by all means use it. 
Open tanks in the houses are a great evil, more especially when, 
as is often the case, they run the whole length of the centre and 
side stages. An idea is held by some that with such tanks evapo¬ 
ration will constantly be taking place, and a sufficiency of moisture 
be present to compensate for that which is lost through ventilation 
and the hot-water pipes. That the pipes will cause the air to 
become dry I readily admit, but that cold water in open tanks will 
throw off enough moisture I emphatically deny, and those who con¬ 
struct under this delusion make a fatal mistake. If the water is 
warmed by having a hot-water pipe passing through it, at times 
when the pipes are very hot too much evaporation will take place, 
and if there is no pipe at all the cold water becomes a condensing 
rather than an evaporating medium. Cold water under such condi¬ 
tions is as impervious as marble, and when still and without motion 
gives, comparatively speaking, nothing ; but by abstracting the 
moisture already in the atmosphere the house becomes unduly arid, 
causes much harm, the plants suffer, while injurious insects increase 
at an alarming rate. 
Houses specially erected, or those it is proposed to alter to the 
growing of Orchids, should have the side and centre stages built on 
the double shelf principle. By this I mean a lower shelf made so 
that the ashes or shingle may be spread on tiles or slates, and over 
this some 6 inches, another open lath stage on which to stand the 
plants. By keeping this lower shelf well watered much moisture 
is always present, and the open upper stage permits water rapidly 
to pass from the plants. 
Phaius maculatus. 
This handsome representative of a useful and popular genus is 
not quite so frequently met with as it might be. It has a double 
claim on our attention, as not only has it lovely flowers, but it is 
one of the very few Orchids with variegated foliage, its dark green 
plicate leaves, which are nearly 2 feet in length, being freely 
spotted with yellow. The scapes spring from the base of the large 
ovate pseudo-bulbs, and are about 2 feet in height. These carry 
racemes of ten or twelve flowers rather closely arranged. The 
individual flowers are 2 or 3 inches across, of a soft yellow colour, 
except the middle lobe of the lip, which is heavily marked with 
reddish brown. P. maculatus is a native of Northern India and 
Japan, and was introduced in 1823.—A. B. 
Odontoglossum Ruckerianum splendens. 
As will be seen by referring to the illustration (fig. 53), this 
variety is a decided improvement upon 0. Ruckerianum, and when 
exhibited by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., at the Drill Hall, on 
March 14tb, the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society adjudged it an award of merit. The sepals and petals are 
white with a faint rose tinge, and are densely spotted with 
FIG. 53. —ODONTOGLOSSUM RUCKERIANUM SPLENDENS. 
chocolate or reddish brown. The lip is pale yellow marked with a 
dark crimson blotch. The specimen exhibited bore an arching 
spike, on which there were fourteen fully developed flowers. 
Dendrobium X Burfordiense. 
Thebe is one invariable good quality that hybrids from Den¬ 
drobium aureum possess, and that is that the lip is comparatively 
spreading or reflexed, and consequently shows off to advantage. 
This is well seen in D. x Ainsworthi, D. x Leechianum, and 
D. X splendidissimum, all derived from D. aureum and D. nobile. 
The present hybrid was derived from Linawianum $ and’ 
D. aureum ^, in the collection of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., of 
Burford, Dorking, by Mr. W. H. White. It is a charming little 
thing, and may be compared to D. X Dominianum (D. nobile 5 X 
D. Linawianum (J), except that the sepals and petals are more 
spreading and of a lighter shade, and the lip flatter, more reflexed,, 
and with a smaller disc. The sepals and petals are pale blush, 
passing into light rose-pink near the apex, and the lip with a small 
maroon disc, a white zone round it, and a rose-pink tip. It is of 
free growth and very floriferous.— i^TJie Orchid Revieiv.) 
NOTES FROM IRELAND, 
With us March has been a month of uninterrupted sunshine, 
and Narcissi have opened very quickly. I fear that at the coming 
Spring Show of the Royal Horticultural Society in Dublin on 
April 20th they will be conspicuous by their absence. Last season 
they were a strong feature. The finest display of Narcissi in or 
near the Irish metropolis is at the College gardens, but coupled 
with the name of Burbidge, cela va saris dire, En route for these 
