August 25, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
171 
Cypripedium caudatum Luxembourg 
Yariety. 
The tide of new Cypripediums has flowed 
somewhat slowly of late, but a notable 
addition to them was made in C. caudatum 
Luxembourg variety, which was shown at 
the Royal Horticultural Society’s meeting 
on August 11th by Mons. Godefroy-Lebeuf, 
5, Rue d’Edimbourg, Paris, when a first- 
class certificate was awarded. It is a very 
beautiful and distinct variety, chiefly remark¬ 
able for the fine colouring of the sepals. 
They are rich buttery yellow, paler towards 
the base, and veined with green. The dorsal 
sepal is narrow, and the edges curl back 
until they meet. It arches over the pouch 
so much as to fully display the deep yellow 
back. The lower sepal, on the contrary, 
is broad and flattened. The pouch is dull 
green, dotted on the edges of the throat 
with purple, the interior pure white. The 
tails are long, twisted, and of a dull purple 
hue. Fig. 25 represents this charming variety. 
established plants may be they fight shy of them. Amateurs say 
to themselves, “If someone wants to get rid of an established plant 
which has received a good deal of attention it cannot be a very 
good variety,” and they will have nothing to do with it. It is 
certain that many established plants offered for sale have a real 
value, but experienced orchidists prefer, rightly or wrongly, to 
leave them alone. When an established Trianas that has flowered 
is bought for 4s. or 5s. it may be put down 
as a bad one ; if it were not the dealer 
would have sold it in bloom. When an 
introduced plant is bought it may be bad, 
but there are 80 chances in 100 that it is 
good, 10 that it is perfect, and 10 only that 
it is not worth more than the established 
plant of the same price. Offer the esta 
blished plants at a low price to an experi¬ 
enced grower and you will see what a 
reception you will get ; offer him imported 
plants and he will show himself better 
disposed. 
All dealers attach great importance to 
the variety ; they know that a beautiful 
one gives no more expense than a bad one, 
and they keep it or sell it at a good price. 
In choosing imported plants amateurs should 
no longer allow themselves to be guided by 
the strength of the specimens, but rather 
by their condition. If a plant has good 
eyes, even though it be small, it is worth 
more than a strong plant of which the eyes 
are gone. It is a question of experience, 
which is usually acquired quickly, although 
it sometimes proves to be expensive. 
many which answered the purpose fairly well, yet this Smilax is 
welcomed as being something distinct in appearance from all others, 
and in many respects superior to them. 
Nothing I have yet seen is so useful for hanging over the sides 
of glasses and bowls on the dinner-table, or for trailing in grace¬ 
fully curving sweeps upon the tablecloth. As greenery for arrang¬ 
ing with flowers to form a shower bouquet nothing is more sought 
Orchids in Belgium. 
At the last monthly meeting of the 
Belgian horticulturists and of tho Royal 
Botanic Society of Ghent certificates of 
merit were awarded to the following Orchids : 
—Cattleya gigas Warscewdczi, C. g. imperi- 
alis, Cypripedium Rothschildianum,C. Curtisi 
atropurpureum and Gongora atropurpurea 
from M. A. van Imschoot; Cypripedium 
laevigatum platyttenium, C. elegans hybrida, 
Odontoglossum tentacullatum and O. mulus- 
odoratum from M. Jules Hye ; Laelia elegans 
Yervaeti from M.M. Edm. Yervaet & Co. ; Sobralia xantholeuca 
from M. Moens, and Phajus Humbloti from M. van Geert. 
SMILAX (MYRSIPHYLLUM ASPARAGOIDES). 
It has fallen to the lot of few trailing plants to become so 
rapidly and universally popular as the extremely useful plant under 
notice. Almost any kind of cut flower decoration may be vastly 
improved by the addition of a few trailing shoots of it. The free 
and easy method of arranging both plants and flowers which has 
been fast developing during recent years has rendered the use of 
trailing shoots imperative, and although we have for years grown 
:5.—CYPRIPEDIUM CAUDATUM LUXEMBOURG VARIETY. 
after than Smilax, the demand for which is so great that there are 
few places where a sufficient quantity can be obtained. Thk 
scarcity, I believe, has been brought about by cutting too hard 
before the plants are thoroughly strong, thus giving them but little 
chance to make good growth. I venture, however, to predict that 
when its culture is better understood Smilax will be grown largely 
and well, and the difficulty which is now experienced in its culture 
will be but little heard of, for it is really a very accommodating 
plant, and will grow well under widely differing conditions. 
The best way to work up a stock of plants is to sow seed some¬ 
time during the present month, and keep the young plants 
obtained growing steadily for twelve months, by which time each 
plant, if well grown, will produce a shoot from 8 to 12 feet in 
