56 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE- AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 21, 1887. 
with a Sophronitis had produced a Laelia. Some doubt has been ex¬ 
pressed whether the pollinia characteis will remain constant, and 
whether they are all fertile, but the flowers borne by the plant ex¬ 
hibited from The Dell Gardens seemed identical with those pre¬ 
viously produced, except that they were finer and of richer colour. 
It has evidently thriven under Mr. Ballantine’s charge, for it had 
two racemes of three and two flowers each, the sepals and petals 
possessing a peculiar rosy satin-like lustre or crystalline appear¬ 
ance closely resembling that seen in Impatiens Sultani, with the 
faintest violet tinge occasionally perceptible in a favourable light. 
ONCIDIHM DASY3TYLE, DR. WOODFORDE’S VARIETY. 
Many Orchid growers are familiar with the graceful and peculiar 
little Oncidium dasystyle, as the dark crest at the base of the 
yellowish lip much resembles the body of a bee. The plant was 
imported by Mr. B. S. Williams from the Organ Mountains, Brazil, 
and was figured in the “ Botanical Magazine,” May, 1880 (T. 6494), 
and the form there depicted has been that generally seen in collec¬ 
tions until quite recently. Dr. W. T. G. Woodforde, Oakbank, 
Spencer’s Wood, Reading, has, however, forwarded a flower of a 
variety in his collection that is greatly superior to the ordinary type, 
considerably larger, brighter, and more delicate in colouring and 
markings. In the type first figured the flowers were Ij inch in 
diameter, in this they are If inch from tip to tip of the petals. The 
sepals and petals are three-eighths of an inch broad at the base, pale 
yellow, heavily and clearly spotted with purplish brown, especially 
at the base. The lip is of a delicate creamy yellow tint, is 1 inch 
in diameter, five-eighths of an inch across the centre from the base 
to the margin, slightly indented at the apex, uniform, contracted at 
the base into a narrow claw, with a dark purplish black rounded 
projecting crest, which has a curious effect in contrast with the pale 
tint of the other portion of the lip. The column has two rounded 
wing-like projections near the top, spotted at the inner surface with 
pale purple. 
Dr. Woodforde has favoured me with the following particulars : 
—“ I received it direct from Brazil (Rio Janeiro) two years ago, it 
being one of a parcel of some fifty Orchids brought home for 
me by my son, Dr. Sidney Woodforde. I was fortunate enough to 
have hardly any losses in starting them, and since then they have, 
without a single exception, thriven and done well in a cool 1 general 
utility’ house, size 30 feet by 10 feet (glazed on the non-puttying 
system and amply ventilated). They have had to put up with 
ordinary treatment, as the house also contains some young Vines 
and climbing greenhouse plants, as well as the usual contents of 
such a house in their various seasons. They have grown vigorously 
and flowered, some last year, while others which had not then suffi¬ 
ciently established themselves have now done so, and promise well 
for bloom. In managing my Orchids I have been guided mainly by 
your admirable little book, with occasional references to Williams 
and other writers on them, and I need hardly say that they are a 
source of continual and daily interest to me. Last summer some 
plants of 0. dasystyle of the ordinary type bloomed with me and 
are now flowering again or showing for bloom. The variety of 
which I sent you a flower has a spike some 22 inches in length, 
bearing eight blooms on the upper 8 inches. There is some little 
difference in the leaf of this and the ordinary kind.” 
I am informed that Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., Burford 
Lodge, has a variety resembling this, which was purchased last year 
at one of the sale rooms. H. M. Pollett, Esq., Bickley, also has a 
handsome variety, but differing from this in several points.— Lewis 
Castle 
AMONG THE ORCHIDS. 
Until very recently, says the Bradford Observer of July 8th > 
we were unaware that the importation of Orchids had become an 
adjunct to the staple trade of Bradford, but a visit to Heaton 
clearly testified to the fact, for upon the slopes of Heaton Reservoir 
Mr. Joseph Charlesworth, wool merchant, has established an em¬ 
porium for receiving these floral treasures from all parts of the 
globe where Orchids are met with. 
It is only comparatively recently that Orchids have been culti¬ 
vated to the extent that they now are, their great value and the 
difficulty formerly found ingrowing them operating considerably in 
restricting their cultivation. Orchid-growing is, however, no longer 
exclusively the privilege of the few, although the rarer varieties 
can only find their abode with such as are able to pay high prices 
for them. Of the Cattleyas Mr. Charlesworth has in stock about 
fifty distinct varieties. The Odontoglossums are pre-eminently 
among the most prized of the Orchids, and they are very strongly 
represented at Heaton. There are not fewer than thirty varieties, 
and of Odontoglossum Alexandra; or crispum over 15,000 plants. 
The latter Orchid is a charming addition, and one which affords 
many variations, ranging from pure white to yellow or rose, and 
including various highly spotted forms. Some of the latter have 
been sold by auction in London for 160 guineas. Of this species, as 
indeed may be said of other Orchids, scarcely two flowers will be 
found to be exactly alike. The demand for these plants has become 
very great, and it is not to be wondered at, for they are lovely, and 
can be grown in a cool house at less expense than the more stately 
Brazilian and East Indian Orchids. 
Cypripediums form a remarkably distinct genus of the Orchid 
family, consisting partly qf terrestrial and partly of epiphytal 
species. They are generally known as the Lady’s Slipper Orchid, 
the form of the flower somewhat resembling a Turkish slipper. 
Many of the species have beautiful foliage as well as flowers. In 
Mr. Charlesworth’s nursery there are about seventy-five varieties 
from the East Indies, South America, &c. The Oncidiums are among 
the oldest importations to this country, some 250 varieties having 
been recorded. They are all evergreen, and make fine plants both 
for exhibition and decorative purposes. The collection at Heaton 
comprises twenty-two varieties. It would be undesirable to name 
in detail all the many varieties of Orchids to be found in this 
notable collection. The following are among the chief sorts—viz., 
Ada aurantiaca, Aerides (various species), Angrsecum, Calanthe, 
Ccelogyne, Cymbidium Lowianum, Dendrobium (thirty varieties), 
Epidendrum, Laelia (twelve varieties), Masdevallia (twenty varie¬ 
ties), Phahenopsis, Saccolabium, Yanda, Zygopetalum, growing 
on the stem of a Tree Fern (Alsophila ferox), from Brazil. 
Like many other species of great rarity, some of the Orchid 
family are far from being prolific in bloom. The process of raising 
new varieties is even more tedious work still. We saw seedlings 
fifteen months old not the size of a finger nail, and two years must 
elapse from the time of sowing before any real sign of progress is 
made. This tardiness is, however, all forgotten when the flowers 
appear. It is then that Nature, in her most compensating mood, 
makes up for any apparent defect in the construction of the plant. 
There are three suitable structures at Heaton, one 150 feet in length 
for the tropical specimens, and two cool houses, each 100 feet in 
length, besides accessory buildings. These erections are completely 
stocked with Orchids, ranging from half a guinea to 50 guineas 
each. Mr. Eichel, the manager, has an extensive knowledge of 
Orchid culture, and an evident pride in the large collection in his 
charge. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
July 12th. 
Scientific Committee. —Present—Dr. Lowe, in the chair; Messrs. 
O’Brien, Wilson, W. G. Smith, Boulger, and Dr. Masters. 
The meeting was but thinly attended, and the objects brought before 
it on this occasion, were not numerous. 
Hay Fever. —Mr. O’Brien made some comments on a paragraph 
recently published in the columus of the Gardeners' Chronicle, and 
detailed his own experience with reference to the flowers of Golden 
Feather, Artemisia insect-powder (Pyrethrum), Hibbertia volubilis. 
Patchouli, Lilium auratum. and other plants, by the perfume of which 
he was to a greater or less degree affected. Other cases of a similar kind 
were mentioned by members of the Committee, the general inference 
from the varied nature of the plants, being that the real causes of the 
symptoms must also be varied, and that the pollen alone cannot be 
credited with the mischief. 
Yorlt and Lancaster Rose .—The Chairman showed a specimen of a 
Rose which this year had produced on the same stalk a red Rose and a 
white Rose. Dr. Lowe stated, on the authority of the late Rev. H. 
Ellaeombe, that the Damask Rose with striped petals, now commonly 
called the York and Lancaster Rose, is not rightly so called. Dr. Masters 
alluded to other instances of dimorphism in Roses, attributable to the 
sudden dissociation of previously combined hybrid characters. 
Celestial Rose. —Dr. Lowe exhibited a specimen of this old Rose, 
remarkable for its very glaucous foliage, its elegant light rose flowers, 
and delicious perfume. 
Double Campanulas, SfO. —Rev. C. Wolley Dod sent a curious formj 
which seems to have a regular place in the history of that very variable 
species, Campanula rotundifolia, The form with the corolla cleft into, 
narrow segments is generally produced in greater or less proportion from 
the seed of the form with the double corolla. I have never found either 
of these two forms wild, but the one with double corolla, known in 
nurseries as var. soldanellaeflora, is not uncommon in gardens ; and the 
other, of which I send both double and single flowers, seems to follow it 
in natural sequence. I enclose also the single form produced among 
seedlings with the other two. 
Hybrid Lychnis. —Dr. Masters called attention to the interesting, 
hybrid between L. coronaria and L. Flos-Jovis sent him by A. O. 
Walker, Esq. 
ROSE SPORTS—INSECTS. 
Last evening I found a bloom of Baroness Rothschild upon a 
plant of Merveille de Lyon. There is no doubt whatever about it. 
It is a singular proof of the breeding-back theory. I presume 1 am 
correct in the idea that the latter Rose is a seedling from Baroness 
Rothschild. 
Hive any of your readers, I wonder, been troubled this year with 
