90 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 31, 1895. 
Ada aurantiaca. 
The individual flowers of this species are not large or in 
themselves attractive, but as they are very bright in colour and 
plentifully produced on the gracefully arching racemes they are 
very welcome just now. This plant needs to be associated with 
other Orchids to produce the best effect, the bright orange red 
contrasting well with the quieter tints of various other kinds. 
It is easily grown under the same conditions of culture as Odonto- 
glossum crispum. Ada aurantiaca is a native of New Grenada, 
and is the only member of the genus in general cultivation. 
Vanda ccerulescens. 
This is one of the most charming of the smaller flowered 
Vandas, which section seems to be rapidly growing in favour. 
The blossoms are produced on erect simple spikes, each bearing 
from eight to twelve. They are about 1^ inch across, the 
sepals and petals mauve, the lip violet. The plant grows from 
1 foot to 18 inches high, the leaves being about 6 inches in 
length, and like V. coerulea peculiarly notched at the apices. 
This species thrives well in baskets suspended from the roof in 
the Cattleya house. 
The basis of the compost should be formed of sphagnum moss, 
and some rough pieces of charcoal must be placed in the bottom 
of the basket. The plants may have new compost if this is 
needed immediately after flowering. Great care is necessary in 
removing plants of this description from the baskets in which they 
have been growing, especially if they are thriving and the roots are 
much entwined about the rods of the basket. In such a case 
these latter must be carefully sawn through just inside the 
corners, when all that the roots are not clinging to may easily 
be removed, and those that the roots cannot be separated from 
without injury left and placed in the new baskets. 
Out otf all dead roots before replacing in the baskets, and 
if the lower part of the stem is decayed remove this also with 
a sharp knife. When returned to the house only sufficient 
water must be given to keep the sphagnum fresh until the roots 
are seen to be actively taking to this. Give more as growth 
proceeds, and on fine days sprinkle the foliage freely. 
The plants must be kept free of insects, especially the small 
brown scale which clings so tenaciously to this class of Orchid. 
Oockroaches are also very fond of the roots of this and kindred 
plants and frequently do much mischief. These must be 
sought for at night with a lantern and killed, or when they are 
in strong force they may be poisoned with arsenic. The best way 
to do this is to make a stiff paste of white sugar, flour, and 
lard, and mix pure arsenic with it in the proportion of one to four. 
Lay this about near the plants that have been attacked in 
the evening, and the effect of it will be seen next morning. 
If they are not all killed the first time, lay a second lot of 
poison down in about a week’s time. 
V. ccerulescens has been known to botanists since 1837, when 
it was discovered in Burmah. It was not, however, introduced 
to this country until 1869. The variety Boxalli is a still more 
recent introduction, having flowers much lighter than those of 
the type.—H. R. R. 
ONION CULTURE. 
Last year for the first time I raised the entire supply of Onions 
under glass. The seeds were sown in ordinary cutting boxes, and 
transplanted into the open garden. My reason for doing this was, 
that seeds sown in the open in the usual way seldom provided 
bulbs, and some years maggot cleared off whole rows. 
Of course, methods of deterring the Onion fly from laying eggs 
were tried, and means were taken to destroy the maggots, but in no 
single instance with any material success. Now, however, by the 
simple plan of raising the seedlings early in the year the difficulty 
has been overcome. Not only was the maggot evaded, but the 
crop of Onions in 1894 was the heaviest I have ever grown. I had 
in previous years raised in this manner a few hundred plants in 
order to secure extra large bulbs, and consequently had no fear of 
the result other than as regarded the keeping qualities of the bulbs. 
Even in this respect it would appear that early sowing has a dis¬ 
tinctly beneficial effect. 
The present is a suitable time to sow the seeds. Last year 
some were not sown until the beginning of March, and though 
they grew as well as the others there was the greatest difficulty in 
ripening them off. On this account I would not delay sowing later 
than the first week in February. After the seeds have germinated 
the plants must be kept just on the move. There is a danger in 
forcing the plants, and in my experience they grow with enough 
speed when in a cool structure. The ideal would be a mild hotbed, 
where the seeds could be sown on a bed of soil under the protection 
of a frame. Nothing is gained by transplanting the seedlings into 
other boxes or frames. I had been accustomed to do so, but the 
number grown last year rendered it unadvisable to attempt it. 
The seedlings, therefore, were transplanted direct from the 
boxes to the quarters set apart for them, and if anything I think 
we gained by this simpler method. The plants were very small 
when set out towards the end of April, but they overtook and in 
the end surpassed autumn sown plants. 
Onions, like Leeks and Celery, must have vast supplies of 
manure. A fair quantity of manure for either crop is a thickness 
of 6 inches over all the ground. What I prefer is a mixture of 
horse droppings and cow manure. I do not bury any of it deeply, 
and it is a moot point whether the manure should be laid in a layer 
at an equal depth below the surface, or incorporated with the soil. 
I prefer the latter method myself. Soot, superphosphates, and 
nitrates are good stimulants for Onions. I may add that it is very 
important that the soil should have been thoroughly well worked 
by means of light surface forkings, previous to setting out the young 
plants. 
What about the extra labour ? someone may ask. In reply, 
when the time taken to sow out of doors, the thinning of che 
plants, and hand-weeding, is set against simply transplanting a 
certain number of plants, it will be found there is the least labour 
involved in raising the plants inside and afterwards transplanting. 
—R. P. Brotherston. 
OVERGROWN TREES AND SHRUBS. 
From various causes these often become too large for their 
places, and encroach on paths, making them impassable without 
curtailment of the branches. The proper time to operate on trees 
or shrubs that have become aggressive is in advance of their annual 
growth, deciduous trees requiring to be cut sooner than ever¬ 
greens, as they are more liable to bleed from their possessing 
vascular tissue far more abundantly than do evergreens. Deciduous 
trees or shrubs should always be acted on by severe pruning while 
quite dormant, or preferably in the early autumn months when the 
sap (so-called) is receding, which insures the speedy healing of the 
wounds by the then comparative solidity of the fluids and the 
retrocession of them from the external parts. Of course, the term 
“circulation” does not apply to plants ; indeed, there is no analogy 
whatever between plants and animals in this respect, for it is not a 
matter with the former of circulation, but of diffusion. But there 
is what is known as the rise and fall of the sap, which must be 
recognised for purposes of pruning. 
The manipulation of deciduous trees should be carried out 
while there is little movement of watery matter from the roots, 
and then the substances in the cells adjacent to the severed parts 
have time to solidify and form a new epidermis at the points 
around where the bark joins the wood by the energy of the 
protoplasm of the cambial layer, the cells of the bark or cortex 
being oxidised, or rather their contents implanted on the walls, 
and made more or less impermeable by fluids. A similar process 
insures the closing of the exposed cells of the wood, the contents of 
which retreat more or less, and they become filled with air. Thus 
pruning when the sap is receding allows of a barrier being 
interposed between the living and the exposed cells, and they are 
consequently unaffected by external influences. When the 
pruning is performed in the spring there is danger of bleeding in 
some cases, as in that of the Walnut; but the Oak bleeds very 
little, yet several bleed profusely, and this materially affects the 
pushing of fresh growth, for until the forces are concentrated on 
the latent buds no growth can take place, and this cannot be 
effected until the dissevered cells or those adjoining cease to 
transmit sap by osmose. This can be prevented to a great extent 
by an antiseptic applied to the wounds, but it is better to prune so 
that the sap recedes, and then close the pores by an adhering 
substance, otherwise they only form receptacles for fungus spores, 
that may or may not germinate and pierce the internal tissues. 
When pruning is done late and no bleeding occurs the wounds 
heal over quickly by the growth of cellular matter from the 
cambial layer, but as no growth takes place of this nature from 
the wood cells they indurate, and can only be covered with fresh 
bark and growing cells from the cellular tissues last named, which 
is effected by growth over the wound by the process of occlusion. 
But growth from late pruning is not nearly so strong, nor the buds 
started so numerous, as from late summer, or early autumn, or 
even early spring pruning. By the latter is meant no apparent 
activity in the buds, and that is the latest time at which deciduous 
trees or shrubs should be pruned, then the non-bleeding kinds 
concentrate the energies on the latent buds, and they start into 
growth at the natural season, pushing vigorous shoots, which have 
time to develop and become thoroughly matured in wood and buds 
before autumn. On the other hand, trees or shrubs liable to 
