September 82,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
257 
Government officials to have it removed at their earliest convenience 
The Government were at that time engaged on the erection of the large 
pile of buildings called the Lawrence Asylum at a great cost within a 
few miles of the estate, and requiring a large amount of firewood for 
brick-burning purposes, &c., made the above arrangement, thinking the 
supply would be spread over a number of years, and that they could 
cart it away according to their requirements. They were therefore 
greatly inconvenienced by this act on the part of the proprietors, which 
proved, after all, to be but a very short-sighted stroke of policy. 
The forest had been all cut for some time before I took charge, and 
the aftergrowth had already begun to make its appearance above the 
felled timber to a considerable extent, which I viewed with no little 
alarm, well knowing the difficulties that were in store for me. The 
primary objects in all planting operations in India or where the growth 
of vegetation is so rapid, is first to prepare a nursery of young plants ; 
secondly, immediately the felled jungle has become dry enough to burn 
at once, then pit and plant the whole area thus cleared during the first 
season if possible; and all planters of any experience will invariably put 
forth their most strenuous efforts to gain th's end, for the reasons that 
the ground can afterwards be kept clear of weeds at a minimum of 
expenditure, whereas should any land be left unplanted the undergrowth 
is sure to attain formidable dimensions before another planting season 
comes round, weeds also springing up and seeding, rendering subsequent 
cultivation a very serious matter as regards expenditure both of time 
and money. This will, in some measure, explain the situation in which 
I was placed in taking over charge of the property. Instead of the 
ordinary routine of planting operations having been hitherto adopted 
the order of things had been exactly reversed, and I found myself face 
to face with 500 acres of felled forest which had been cut some eighteen 
months before, with masses of green aft' rgrowth appearing all over the 
surface, including thousands of plants of the formidable Solanum ferox, 
and many other species of tall growing and thorny plants of the same 
order. With only one small nursery in course of formation, and with 
a glass house with a limited number of pots of seedling Chinchonas, and 
no dwelling house save a rough building intended for a stable, I can¬ 
not say that I relished the appearance of things at all. However, I was 
now in a good climate, a charming and interesting locality, with abun¬ 
dance of good labour and plenty of money at command, so I went with 
a will to the work of simultaneously constructing a house, rearing some 
600,000 seedling Chinchona plants under glass, and forming large out¬ 
door nurseries. 
At the time of which I write there were no private Chinchona plan¬ 
tations on the Nilgiris, or if any did exist they were yet in a state of 
embryo. The Government, under the superintendentship of the late Mr. 
W. G. Mclvor, were pressing forward the cultivation and extension of 
their plantations on different parts of the hills, and, as Mr. Mclvor was 
considered at that time to be the only authority on Chinchona cultiva¬ 
tion, his directions were very generally followed by private individuals. 
Very few of the trees on the Government plantations had seeded till 
within a year of the time I took charge of Deva Shola ; but at that time 
seeds of the Succirubra species could be had in abundance, and the plan 
adopted for raising them was as follows:—The seeds were sown in 
shallow pans containing sand and brick dust only, and were left un¬ 
covered and kept continually moist. After germinating, and when the 
plants were large enough to handle, they were pricked off into other 
pans filled with the same material. When the plants had attained a 
height of about'2 inches they were removed to the nurseries. As time 
went on it was found that richer soil in the pans had the effect of bring¬ 
ing the seedlings on quicker, till eventually the system of raising seed¬ 
lings under glass was abandoned altogether, Dame Nature having pointed 
out in the mostunmistakeable manner the easiest mode of propagation_ 
viz., sowing in the nurseries thickly in beds without any covering of soil, 
but simply shading from the hot sun. The hint was taken in the first 
place by someone finding on one of the Government plantation innu¬ 
merable seedlings springing up under the shade of the large seedling 
trees after the heavy rains had ceased. After this tens of thousands of 
young plants were annually collected from under the trees and trans¬ 
ferred to nurseries, and large quantities of plants were raised from seed 
in the nurseries in the manner described.— Planter. 
ORCHIDS AT TULSE HILL. 
Mr. W. Hall, Upper Tulse Hill, is well known amongst 
suburban orchidists, for in his collection, though only of moderate 
size and contained in two span-roof house, includes some rare and 
valuable species and varieties. A strong plant of the handsome 
Lffilia Turneri has been flowering recently, and showed the 
character of this fine Orchid admirably. It is one of the 
L. elegans type, but is readily distinguished by its much larger 
flowers and more brilliant colours. The flowers are about G inches 
in diameter, the sepals and petals rosy purple with deeper veins, the 
lip an intense magenta at the base, a tint scarcely equalled amongst 
other Orchids. Mr. Hall’s collection also comprises some healthy 
plants of Oncidium macranthum, some very choice hybrid Cypri- 
pediums, and a number of other plants of considerable interest. It 
is surprising how well they all grow under similar treatment ; 
their condition indicates, however, that they receive careful atten¬ 
tion.—B. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM SCHRCEDERIANUM. 
At the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, Sep¬ 
tember 13th, Baron Schroder sent a plant of this scarce Odonto- 
glossum from his collection at The Dell, Egham, and a first-class 
certificate was at once awarded for it. Messrs. J. Veitch & Son 
give a description of it m their manual of Orchidaceous plants, and 
quote Professor Reichenbach’s description as follows :—“ A unique 
Odontoglot, quite unlike anything that has appeared before in 
Europe. The sepals and petals are oblong, acute, wavy, white with 
mauve purple blotches ; the lip is pandurate, white with two mauve 
purple blotches on the fore part of the disc, and the calli are yellow 
with some red spots. A much-developed callus in front of the 
column shows on each side a flute of radiating spines, as in O. tripu- 
dians and O. Pescatorei. It may be a cross between these.” The 
plant is said to have first flowered in Baron Schroder’s warden about 
1882, but we believe that Messrs. Sander & Co. claim to be the 
introducers. In any case it is very scarce, and it is distinct enough 
to merit the honour it obtained at South Kensington. 
Fie. 33.—Odonti glcssum Schioederianum. 
The flowers are about 21 inches in diameter in a raceme of three 
on the plant shown. The sepals and petals Scarcely correspond 
with the description given by Reichenbach, as they are heavily 
blotched and mottled with brown, and tipped with green ; the lip, 
too, is bright crimson at the base and white at the tip. The growth 
and pseudo-bulbs resemble O. hastilabium. 
HOLIDAY IN THE SOUTH. 
(Continued from page 203.) 
FAREHAM. 
We leave the Island via Ryde, and cross the water by steamboat to 
Stokes Bay, thence on by rail to Fareham, where we stop to make a 
call on Messrs. W. & G. Drover, florists of that town. A walk of about 
ten minutes brought us to their place of business. Chrysanthemums 
was the subject uppermost in our mind at the time, for during the past 
three or four seasons the firm have gained a reputation among Chrysanthe¬ 
mum growers and exhibitors, and have taken many prizes in the metro¬ 
politan and other Chrysanthemum exhibitions in the south of England ; in 
fact it might safely be said that no firm in the trade, since the time of 
Mr. Adam Forsyth, have been so successful with cut blooms, more especi¬ 
ally incurved, as have the Messis. Drover. The prize cards with which 
the roof and walls of their office are covered testify to their success. 
These have been received chiefly for Chrysanthemums and floral decora¬ 
tions, for Chrysanthemums are not the only plants that receive atten¬ 
tion at their hands, as all the leading flowers, for which there is the 
greatest demand for cut flower decoration, are grown in quantities here. 
There are 20,000 feet of glass devoted to the various plants, three long 
houses are occupied by Gardenias planted out, and overhead quantities- 
of Stephanotis flowering and in the best of health. Another house is 
planted with white Camellias, which look well set with flower buds, and 
promise to bring thousands of bloom in due season. Other houses are 
devoted to the cultivation of Ferns, Palms, Dracaenas, and similar 
furnishing plants. Tea Roses are largely grown in the spring, anti 
