December 22, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
housed unless there is ample room for the rest of the stock. Tier 
there is the question of crown or terminal buds. This depends 
entirely upon the variety, and must be learnt by experience or by 
reference to works, where all the principal varieties are tabulated, 
and their peculiarities noted. 
Housing the Plants. 
We will now enter upon the important step of housing the 
plants, which takes place at the end of September. First take 
care that your houses are perfectly clean, if fresh painted so much 
the better. I always house a plant on the very first symptoms of 
showing colour in the bud. I am quite certain that to leave such 
a plant outside means simply the loss of the flower. I have found 
by experiment that with good blinds and proper ventilation a house 
can be kept cooler than the air outside, and a bloom kept in such a 
house will open later than one kept outside and will not be ruined 
as in the other case. I house the bulk of my plants during the last 
days of September, and have all in by October 2nd or 3rd. It is 
always a relief to me to know that they are safely housed and out 
of the way of the strong winds and frosts which often do so much 
harm at that time of year. When all are in, give a good smokincr 
in two successive nights to kill all green fly. After that give 
plenty of ventilation night and day till the middle of the month 
of October. 
I may say that several small houses, where the temperature can 
be regulated, are far better than one large house. Some varieties 
lequire more heat than others to get the best results, and some wili 
want hurrying on and some retarding. I prefer a three-quarter 
span house, with front and back ventilation. From 1 foot to 2 feet 
will be found the best distance for the blooms from the glass. It 
is important to house the plants when dry. All houses must have 
blinds, or shading should be used, as no blooms will stand the sun 
after they show colour. A perfect house to my mind would have 
an outside and also an inside blind ; the latter is most useful in 
protecting the blooms from drip caused by condensation. Many 
blooms supposed to have damped in the ordinary way are lost from 
this cause. Avoid all draughts, but always allow plenty of air, 
except when very cold or rough outside, when great care must be 
exercised. After the plants are housed they will require less 
water, and stimulants must not be given after the bloom is half out. 
Then there is the great damping question. Thousands of 
blooms are lost every year from this cause, and various theories 
advanced to explain it and advice given for prevention of the evil. 
I do not myself believe that the use of stimulants is in itself the 
main cause. I have had plants damp off which have had no 
stimulants at all. I think the real reason of the disease arises from 
the fact that we grow only one, two, or three blooms on a plant 
which is capable of growing perhaps as many hundreds, and that 
the amount of sap in the plants fails to find sufficient work to do, 
and causes the evil. Some blooms no doubt are lost from the wood 
not being properly ripe. I think that careless ventilation is one 
great cause of blooms damping. Avoid all draughts, and on no 
account allow the sun to get on the blooms. Some varieties are 
much worse than others. Those with heavy foliage are much more 
difficult to get ripe, and proportionately disappointing. I intend 
next season, as an experiment, to reduce the foliage of some 
varieties. I have lost eighteen splendid blooms of Col. W. B. 
Smith out of twenty this season, and the plants were the best among 
my collection. 
On setting up the blooms and taking them to the shows I will 
only say a few words. I think that the best tubes are those 
patented by Mr. E. Beckett and bearing his name. I use them in 
conjunction with the Jameson clip, which enables one to adjust the 
bloom to any desired height. A great deal can be done by careful 
arrangement of the colours. I believe in placing the largest blooms 
in the back row. On one matter I feel strongly, and take this 
opportunity of expressing it. A habit has crept in among 
exhibitors of altering the character of many blooms by spreading 
them out by means of cardboard discs and wire crinolines. The 
object is to give the stand an appearance of weight which it does 
not really possess. I think that the time has come when this 
practice should be put a stop to, and all tubes limited in diameter 
to a certain specified size (say 2 inches), and no other supports 
allowed. If this were done we should hear less about the boards 
not being large enough. At the October Show of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society I saw two good blooms of E. Molyneux 
entirely spoilt by an enormous card being placed between the tube 
and the bloom. Instead of being deep solid blooms they appeared 
to be quite flat, and altogether out of character. I think that the 
Judges should persistently go for deep solid flowers, and ignore all 
such manipulated blooms. 
Best Varieties. 
Now that new varieties of merit are so constantly appearing 
I feel that it is almost impossible to give a complete list of the 
best varieties of Japanese Chrysanthemums; but I give below a 
list of those I think are the leading forty-eight at the present 
time, not in the order of merit:—Mrs. A. Hardy, Viviand Morel, 
Etoile de Lyon (terminal), Mrs. E. W. Clarke, Puritan, Mrs. C. W. 
Wheeler, Stanstead White, Violet Rose, R. C. Kingstone, Colonel 
W. B. Smith, Mrs. E. D. Adams, W. W. Coles, E. Molyneux, 
W. Tncker, Florence Davis, Coronet, G. C. Schwabe, Gloire du 
Rocher, Glonosum, Mrs. Herbert Fowler, W. Hr Lincoln, Sarah 
Owen, .Madame J. Laing, Sunflower, Mons. Bernard, Avalanche, 
Mrs. F. JamesoD, Mdlle. Marie Hoste, Miss Anna Hartzhorn, 
Japonaise, Eynsford White, Madame Baco, Lilian B. Bird, Lord 
Brooke, Beauty of Castlewood, Beauty of Castlehill, Aida, Ruth 
Cleveland, J. Stanborough Dibbins, Mrs. J. S. Fogg, Beauty of 
Exmouth, W. K. Woodcock, Lady T. Lawrence, Mr. A. H. Neve, 
W. Lane, Hamlet, Boule d’Or, and Ralph Brocklebank. 
I hope this paper has not been too long, but the subject is so 
large that I could have written much more, and I assure you that 
I have found it an unfailing source of interest during the last 
four years. I would strongly advise any who have the opportunity 
to try and grow a few plants next year, and note the many differ¬ 
ences which are to be found in the habits and likings of this most 
interesting family. 
If a song of joy and exultation ” can ever be sung over 
Orchids surely it is at Christmastide, when the wings of the dark¬ 
ness are spread over the garden and outdoor plants are sunk in 
slumber. It is true that we do not possess them in their springtide 
glory, when the delicate tremulous blossoms droop from & the 
knotted growths and hang from blocks and baskets in lavish 
profusion. But their scarcity adds to rather than detracts from 
their interest, making us admire and treasure them the more. For 
centuries they flowered and waned with none but savage eyes to see 
them in the dense primeval forests. To the wild man the sight of 
the flowers emerging from the twisted and gnarled stems hid no 
parable, and so to all intents and purposes they 11 blushed unseen ” 
until the wandering feet of the white explorer led him to their 
haunts. 
In singing a Christmas carol about Orchids, albeit in prose, one 
is embarrassed by their many-sidedness. Some flowers we love 
because they have been long with us, and they are as the dear faces 
of friends. Others we cherish—sternly utilitarian—because they 
serve some special purpose of the season. It can hardly be said of 
Orchids that they claim special recognition under either of these 
heads, and yet who will see that they do not eclipse all their 
rivals? We call them aristocrats, and perhaps instinctively feel 
less familiar with them than with the modest old friends which we 
take to our hearts at this festive time ; but that idea, I must 
contend, is wrong. They are vested with delicacy and infinite 
grace, still they have the sweetness and sympathy of the truest 
beauty. Many admire Orchids, few feel that they can dare to love 
them ; but one may get beyond a bowing acquaintance without a 
snub, and, thus encouraged, learn to feel affection for them, even as 
we do for a Violet or a Rose. 
Claiming indulgence from the revising official in possession of 
the editorial chair for such vagrant fancies because of its being 
Christmastide, I may be allowed, perhaps, after writing thus to go 
farther, and suggest in Orchids higher qualities still. Real 
nobility ever lends an ear to the sick and needy, and its floral pro¬ 
totype would never be more at home than in soothing the sufferers 
whose Christmas greeting is uttered by the hospital nurse. Would 
these delicate wax-like ornaments of our hothouses be out of 
place, think you, there ? Rather is it that their loveliness has 
found its proper task when ministering to the wants of those who 
are smitten, and who mourn while their fellows rejoice. What 
beauty is there in that which does not move the breast nor stir the 
intellect ? Orchids surely are capable of doing both. So let us 
surround ourselves with them and every fair thing that will tend 
to higher aspirations and wider thought. 
But writers, like preachers, are the better for some inspiration, 
and so I journey out a few miles beyond the city smoke and seek, 
it, where of all other places it is most likely to be found at the 
drear midwinter season. Should anyone be tempted to think that 
an Orchid carol must be forced and lack spontaneity he should 
spend an hour or two at Christmastide in the great Sanderian home 
not far from the Cathedral of St. Albans. No flowers ! Why 
