June 22, 1898. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
495 
Ventilating Orchids. 
No doubt “ J. E.” (page 474) is right in supposing that the 
O chid houses he refers to are insufficiently ventilated. The 
practice of leaving a house of Orchids of any kind closed until the 
temperature reaches a certain limit is decidedly wrong, especially 
at this season of the year, when a little air should always be 
admitted day and night. 
With regard to the Odontoglossum house the day treatment is 
right, both as to shading and ventilating; for with the temperature 
outside at 80^^ or more it is little use having the ventilators wide 
open, as this only causes a dry atmosphere. Anyone experienced 
in the culture of cool Orchids has no need to look at the thermo¬ 
meter in summer. If the house feels pleasantly cool and moist 
on entering from the external air one need have no fear on that 
score. A good test, too, of Odontoglossums and kindred plants is 
to pass the hand lightly over the foliage. If this is firm, rustling 
to the touch and springs back readily to its place when the hand is 
removed, all is well ; but if on the other hand it is soft and flabby, 
then the sooner the plants are given more air and less heat the 
better. At night abundance of air can be left on, 
unless the wind is very rough, for it is impossible to 
keep the plants too cool for the next two or three 
months. After the end of August the night air 
must be gradually reduced, but it will seldom be 
found necessary to quite close the bottom venti¬ 
lators if these are either opposite to or just below 
the hot-water pipes. 
The Catileyas will not require so much air at 
night as the Odontoglossums. Where the lantern 
system of ventilation is in vogue and the air is 
admitted the whole length of the house, an inch 
on warm nights, and half an inch if there is much 
wind, will suffice. The grower must be guided by 
the weather by day as to giving air and shading. 
For Cattleyas the blinds should be kept up a little 
while after the air is increased in the morning, but 
not long enough for the leaves to get too hot. 
One day the sun may do no harm if allowed to 
shine on the leaves for a couple of hours, while 
another day half an hour’s sun would scorch the 
leaves and disfigure the plants for years. This is 
especially the case after a few dull days, or after a 
thunderstorm, when the air is clear and the sun 
bright. Watch the plants when the leaves begin 
to feel warm to the touch, then lower the shading, 
but not before. 
For a mixed house of Orchids it is difficult to 
give any definite instructions as to A'entilating and 
shading, so much depends on the plants that are 
grown. For example, take two well known Orchids 
that are often seen growing in the same house— 
viz,, Dendrobium nobile and Coelogyne cristata. 
The former can hardly have too much sun if there 
is plenty of moisture in the atmosphere, while the 
latter cannot be better placed than in a shady corner. 
It must be evident to “ J. E.” that no specified 
time can be given for airing or shading, but a well balanced atmo¬ 
sphere as to heat, air, and moisture should be always maintained. 
Then by arranging the plants in suitable positions according to the 
wants of the various species and the different stages of their growth 
many of the difficulties of a mixed house will be overcome.— 
H. Richards. 
Orchids at Sunningdale Park. 
For a collection which was formed only two years ago this is a 
very fine one. Many species and varieties are cultivated, and 
almost without exception the plants are in the best of health and 
vigour, A range of glass has been built expressly for Orchid¬ 
aceous plants, and it is in a great measure due to Mr. Joicey, jun., 
who is a veritable enthusiast among Orchids, that such an excellent 
selection has been obtained in the limited time. During the time 
that this gentleman was travelling abroad he very kindly sent home 
upwards of a thousand plants of various kinds, many of which 
were at the time of my visit making such growth as an Orchid 
lover delights to see, the foliage being clean and substantial. One 
cannot be surprised at a gentleman taking an interest in 
them when he has such a hard-working and conscientious gar¬ 
dener to look after the plants as is found in Mr. Thorne. 
Amongst the most noticeable in flower were Oncidium Gardneri, 
Epidendrum radicans, an exceptionally fine plant, Oncidium pulvina- 
tum, which has a grand spike smothered with its starry yellow flowers. 
Some very beautiful varieties of Cattleya Mossiae were to be seen, 
and also some Cypripediums, amongst which a seedling of Mr. 
Thorne’s own raising was decidedly p'e-emin?nt. Angulo?. Clowesi 
and A. Ruckeri, were very good, Sobralia macrantha in grand form, 
Vanda Batemanni, and a very dark form of Cypripedium barba- 
tum. But the feature which reflects the greatest credit on the 
grower is a group of Miltonia (Odontoglossum) vexillaria Cobbiana. 
The plants in 4^ and 6-inch pots are arranged in a low lean-to 
house facing due east. Many of the plants have over forty blooms 
on them, and the colours range from an almost pure white to a 
rich deep rose. I measured a bloom on a plant in a 6-inch pot 
carrying eight spikes each with six flowers, and found it to be 
Oj inches in depth and 4^ in width. 
There were many other things at Sunningdale Park, to which 
I will refer in an early issue of the Journal.—W. 
THE ROCKERY IN MAY. 
Surely never have things been turned so topsy-turvy in the 
domain of horticulture as they have been this year, and in no 
part more so than in the herbaceous and alpine plants, which have 
been so largely grown of late years, a fact to which the Temple 
Show bore ample testimony. I do not think that the plants have 
as yet suffered much. It has, however, decoyed them in their time 
of blooming, and we are seeing things in flower now which we should 
look for in ordinary seasons a month hence, while those which we 
have looked for at this season are long since past. In loking 
over my small rockery during the latter days of May I found 
the following plants doing well, and as some of them are some¬ 
times difficult to grow I may here state my method of treating 
them. 
Onosma tauricum, I believe, is a difficult plant to flower in cold or 
damp situations ; I know that in the climate of Cheshire it is almost 
impossible to keep it, much less to get it to bloom. I have placed 
it on an elevated position in the rockery and there it has stood un¬ 
harmed during the severe winters we have had of late years. It is a 
very striking plant with its long pendant racemes of yellow blooms 
which are freely produced and last a long time in flower. I do not 
think that I have noticed in any descriptions of this plant the 
peculiarly strong almond perfume emitted by the blooms, and 
which my daughter brought to my notice. Inhabiting as it 
does the Caucasus, in high altitudes it is perfectly hardy, and I 
imagine like many plants of a similar character it suffers more 
from damp than cold, and perhaps from the varying character 
of our winters. 
Nothing more surprises visitors who do happen now and then 
to visit my garden than to see Gnaphalium leontopodium 
flovering. They have been so accustomed when visiting Switzer- 
FIG, 89,—MAXILLARIA SANDERIANA VAR. XANTHOGLOSSA, 
