8 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 5, 1889. 
with young ones, give the latter good room to develope, and stop when 
about 6 feet long. Leaders on young Vines also to be carefully 
fastened to the walls, and be duly stopped when they are 4 feet or 
more in length, or according to their vigour. Lateral growth from 
ripened wood to be kept stopped at the fourth or fifth joint, and from 
the young canes at the first joint.” 
THE OLDFIELD ORCHIDS. 
The first portion of the collection of Orchids formed by 
F. A. Philbrick, Esq., Q.C., at Oldfield, Bickley, was sold on 
June 26th and 27th at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms, 
Cheapside, and as many rare and valuable plants were included, 
numbers of Orchid growers were attracted and some good prices 
were realised. Some of the most important plants sold were the 
following, with the prices attached : — Cypripedium villosum 
aureum, 10 guineas ; Coelogyne cristata Lemoniana (Veitch) 
12 guineas and 21 guineas ; Lrelia lilacina, a natural hybrid 
between L. Perrini and Cattleya crispa, a plant with twelve 
pseudo-bulbs, 21 guineas ; Cypripedium Veitchi, fine plant with 
eight flowers, £23 2s. ; fine plant and good variety of Cattleya 
Trianse, 15 guineas ; Cattleya Trianse Backhouseana, 13 guineas ; 
Cattleya Mossiae grandidissima, 16 guineas ; Cattleya Trianre Clio 
with fifteen pseudo-bulbs and two growths, large flower, £24 3s.; 
Phalfenopsis Stuartiana nobilis (true), 12 guineas ; Coelogyne 
cristata alba with fifteen pseudo-bulbs and seventeen breaks, 
18 guineas ; Lafiia elegans Turneri with fourteen pseudo-bulbs 
and two breaks, £27 6s. ; Cypripedium politum, a fine plant of 
this hybrid with four breaks, 11 guineas; Ltelia anceps Dawsoni, 
a strong plant, part of the original figured in the “ Orchid Album,” 
vol. i., £31 10s. ; Ltelia anceps Schroederi, a fine plant, 17 guineas ; 
Cattleya Mendeli Wallacei, a grand plant with twelve pseudo 
bulbs and two breaks, £23 2s. ; Cattleya Mendeli hybrid with six 
pseudo-bulbs, 11 guineas ; Cattleya Skinneri alba with eight 
pseudo-bu.bs, 15 guineas ; Phalasnopsis Schilleriana, 10 guineas ; 
Cypripedium cardinale, two leads and two growths, 12 guineas ; 
Cypripedium insigne Chantini, a fine plant, 10 guineas. 
VANDA BATEMANN r . 
This strong-growing and somewhat rare Vanda is not very 
frequently met with, only in gardens where Orchids are extensively 
cultivated, the reason probably being that it is not sufficiently free 
blooming to merit a place in smaller collections. There is a strong 
plant which is now producing its vigorous flower spike in the 
gardens of J. Dei ham, Esq., Sneyd Park, Bristol, the blooming of 
which is exciting some little attention, as it forms one among 
very few, if not the only specimen in the neighbourhood. It 
is growing in a pot some 14 inches in diameter, and if I remember 
rightly, it has fourteen pairs of its stiff, broad, pale green leaves on 
the principal growth. It has two other small leads, a third having 
been removed for the purpose of increasing the stock. The plant 
has been growing for some time at the shady end of a large span- 
roofed stove, a position that has evidently suited it well. The 
flower spike promises to be of a good length, and will continue 
the display over a long period, the buds being disposed at rather 
wide intervals along the stem, this being at the time of my visit 
about 2 feet in length. The first bud, although not nearly open, 
was just assuming its richly coloured tints, while the point sug¬ 
gests the possibility of many more flowers to follow for a long 
time hence. Mr. Rye, the gardener, has had this plant for several 
years under his charge, but this is the first flower-spike formed since 
its importation.—W. S. 
THE DOWNSIDE ORCHIDS. 
Many regrets were expressed when it became known a few 
weeks ago that the estate of 'William Lee, Esq., Downside, 
Leatherhead, was to be shortly sold and the magnificent collection 
of Orchids dispersed, for numbers of Orchid lovers have had the 
satisfaction of inspecting the well-grown plants included in the 
extensive ranges of glass houses. The sale of the first portion of 
the collection is fixed for July 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, at Down¬ 
side, and no doubt it will constitute one of the most interesting 
gatherings of the kind yet held. For the four days 1280 lots are 
enumerated, comprising many valuable hybrids, and rare, or in 
some cases unique, plants. The collection is especially rich in 
Cattleyas. Those who have seen the large span-roofed house filled 1 
with specimens in flower will not readily forget the spectacle. 
Cypripediums also comprise scores of choice plants, DendrobiumS' 
and all the larger genera being proportionately represented. The 
situation, houses, and treatment have evidently suited the plants- 
exactly, for they are in vigorous health, a recommendation which 
Orchid purchasers readily appreciate. The sale will commence- 
each day at 12.30 p.m. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
June 26th. 
Scientific Committee. —R. McLachlan, Esq., F.R.S., in the chair 
Present : Messrs. Boulger, O’Brien, Church, Murray, D. Morris, Dr. 
Masters, and Mr. Ridley. 
Mr. Ridley reported that the Odontoglossum referred to him for a 
name at the previous meeting was a form of O. oblongatum. 
Aluminium in the Ashes of Plants. —Professor Church contributed 
a summary of his highly interesting and important researches upon the 
presence of aluminium in the ashes of plants. This substance, instead 
of being peculiar to the species of Lycopodium, as once supposed, is 
found in minute traces in the ashes of very many others, a circumstance 
not to be wonder, d at, considering the abundant distribution of the 
element in many soils. It occurs in all the species of Lycopodium 
examined, except those which are of epiphytic habit, and which, con¬ 
sequently, do not directly derive their food from the soil. It does not 
occur in the allied genus Selaginella. It occurs in the ashes of some 
Tree Ferns in large proportions, sometimes forming as much as 20 per 
cent, of the ash, as in Alsophila australis, Cyathea medullaris, while 
from others it is all 1 ut absent. In the British species of Ferns little 
or no alumina has been found. 
Weevil Attaching Rhododendrons. —Mr. McLachlan exhibited speci¬ 
mens of a beetle destructive to Rhododendrons at Sunningdale, and 
which he identified as Strophisomus limbatus. 
Beetle Injurious to Tobacco. —Mr. McLachlan showed specimens sent 
from Trinidad of beetles injurious to Tobacco and Egg Plants in that 
island, and which he found to be a species of Epitrix, allied to that 
which feeds on Atropa belladonna in this country. 
The Plague of Caterpillars. —Mr. McLachlan called attention to the 
notion that cold winters are injurious to insects—a notion he stated to 
be erroneous ; although, no doubt, severe alternations of cold, heat, 
drought, or moisture were prejudiced to insect life. During the present 
season it was noticed generally that great destruction of foliage occurred 
from caterpillars which destroyed the succulent portions of the leaf 
and tied the framework and fragments together by a web of fine 
threads comparable with spiders’ web.?. These caterpillars were different 
in different cases. In the Oak they were species of Tortrix ; in the 
Apple the winter moth was destructive ; while in other cases the larva 
of the Ermine moth was exceedingly hurtful to leaves. 
Heteroicous Fungi.— Mr. Plowright contributed specimens illustra¬ 
tive of the following notes :— 
JEcidium- on Pea and on the Bean. —This was produced on both 
plants by infecting them with the same infecting material—viz., 
Uromyces fab®. The JEcidium on the Pea differs in appearance from 
that on the Bean, the pseudoperidia in the former being few and 
scattered over pale yellowish spots, while on the Bean they are crowded 
in thickened white spots. 
Puccinia extensieola. —This produces a very handsome AScidium on 
Aster tripolium. Mr. Plowright found the Puccinia last year at Wells- 
next-the-Sea, Norfolk, and produced the JEcidium this year on the leaf 
now exhibited. 
Gym nosporangium confusum (Plowright).—This species has hitherto 
been confounded with G. fuscum. It occurs on Savins, but does not 
produce JEcidia on the Pear as G. fuscum does, but on the Hawthorn, 
Quince, and Medlar, specimens of which were exhibited. Professor 
Sorauer of Proskau had sent leaves of Hawthorn on which he had pro¬ 
duced the secidiospores of G. confusum from teleutospores sent by Mr. 
Plowright about a month ago. The eecidiospores of G. clavariaeforme 
were also sent for comparison. All the specimens sent were the products 
of cultivation. A special vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Murray 
for this and other contributions of Mr. Plowright. 
Spiral Torsion in Mint. —Dr. Hogg exhibited a specimen of Mint 
in which the stem was so twisted that all the leaves were placed in 
one continuous line. The phyllotaxis, as pointed out by Mr. Henslow, 
is really not interfered with in these cases. The occurrence is not un¬ 
common. [See Masters’ “Vegetable Teratology,” German edition, 
1886, page 367.] 
Opuntia Shoots. —Mr. Morris exhibited joints of Opuntia mona- 
canthus and O. Dilleni, which bore seeds in their interior, shoots from 
their upper edge, and roots from their lower end. [Analogous cases 
were observed as long ago as 1832, and various references to similar 
phenomena are given in Masters’ “Vegetable Teratology,” German 
edition, 1886, page 207.] 
Various Exhibits. —From the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 
came catkins and cones of Pinus contorta and other species of Coni¬ 
fer®. A malformed flower of Odontoglossum crispum from Mr. Douglas 
was referred to Mr. Ridley. Brassia caudata and Aeanthophippium 
striatum were also shown. 
