Octdber 18, 1883. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
355 
ffoundish-ovate, on stout footstalks. Skin greenish yellow, changing to 
pale amber when well ripened, tough or thick. Flesh firm, yet juicy, 
sweet, and pleasant, but lacking richness, excepting when very highly 
Tipened. 
History, Syc .—The origin or introduction of this well-known Grape 
is unknown to us. It is large’y grown for late work. Some of the finest 
-examples we remember to have seen were grown by the late Mr. Drewett 
when gardener to Mrs. Hope at The Denbies, Dorking, Surrey ; hence it 
was by some termed the Denbies Trebbiano. Mr. Curror of Eskbank 
exhibited at Edinburgh in 1875 a bunch of this Grape weighing 
56 lbs. 4 ozs., which is the largest bunch of Grapes on record. 
Cultural Notes .—Being of strong growth this Grape requires con¬ 
siderable spa e to develope properly ; and, although it fruits freely along 
with Black Hamburgh, it well repays treatment similar to Muscats. 
Mr. Gilbert, of Burghley, who is one of the best cultivators of the 
Trebbiano we know, gives plenty of time and plenty of heat to ripen it 
thoroughly, when the berries keep sound intoi March and April, and are 
4hen very rich. 
White Tokay. —An oval white vinous Grape. Season : late 
Merits : a first-class white Grape, very worthy of cultivation. 
Vine .—Growth remarkably strong and vigorous, with a fine free 
-constitution, the young shoots very strong and always ripening well ; 
very free-fruiting. Leaves large, deeply toothed. 
Fruit. —Bunches above medium size, regularly formed, on "strong 
footstalks, having strong shoulders ; compact ; always freely set. 
(Berries large, ovate. Skin thick, greenish white, showing the venation 
-through, becoming pale amber when fully ripe. Flesh firm, yet tender 
and juicy, with a sweet, pleasant, or sometimes rich flavour. 
History, $c .—An old Grape, at one time much more extensively 
grown than it is at present, and confused to some extent with the Muscat 
-of Alexandria, which in the north used to be called Charlesworth 
Tokay. 
Cultural Notes .—Will succeed in 'any house suitable for the Black 
Hamburgh, but requires longer time to ripen thoroughly. 
It will be observed that apart from the" differences in the fruit the 
‘buds and under sides of the leaves of Trebbiano are downy, while those 
•of the White Tokay are not. The work mamed in its reduced form 
should be in the hands of all growers of Grapes, and can be obtained 
.from this office post free for 5s. 3d. 
In a recent issue of this Journal we gave an illustration of this 
IDisa, and in the “ Botanical Magazine ” for the present month a 
■coloured figure of the same species is given, with the following 
particulars by Sir J. D. Hooker and Mr. H. Bolus. 
I am indebted to Mr. Bolus, who is preparing at Kew a Mono¬ 
graph of the genus Disa (for publication in the Transactions of 
the South African Philosophical Society) for the characters and 
the following description of this beautiful plant. It is, as he 
informs me, a native of moist grassy places on the eastern side of 
Table Mountain, Cape Town, at elevations of 800 to 2500 feet, 
flowering in December and January, and it extends thence eastward 
to Grahamstown, where it has been found by Professor MacOwan, 
now Superintendent of the Cape Botanical Gardens. It belongs to 
a section of the genus established by Mr. Bolus under the name of 
*“ Vexillata,” in which the dorsal sepal is erect, nearly flat or slightly 
saccate; the petals inarched and subexserted ; the lip usually 
narrow ; the rostellum high, erect, protruded or reflexed, its arms 
usually divaricate, and the column itself is produced behind into a 
■petaloid appendage, which embraces the long narrow ascending or 
reflexed anther. This group contains four species. 
D. racemosa was brought to the Koyal Gardens from the Cape 
by Mr. Watson, foreman of the propagation department, who 
visited that colony in 1887, and it flowered in May of the present 
year. 
Description.— Erect, glabrous, 15 to 30 inches high ; stem 
nearly straight, slender, distantly clothed with close wrapping 
sheaths with shortly spreading points. Leaves four to six. radical, 
flinear-lanceolate, acuminate, laxly spreading. Racemes distantly 
four to nine-flowered ; flowers subsecund, deep rose-red ; bracts 
broadly ovate, acute, erect, about as long as the ovary. Lateral 
■sepals broadly elliptic, obtuse, mucronulate below the apex, spread¬ 
ing, about ten lines long, seven to eight lines wide ; dorsal sepal 
-ovate, concave, obtuse, bluntly and widely saccate behind just below 
the middle, about nine lines long and five in depth. Petals obliquely 
oblong, apex incurved, posterior margin erose, meeting and arching 
over the anther, adnate to the column at the base. Lip linear, 
acute, five lines long. Column erect or ascending ; rostellum with 
divaricate arms, bearing the glands at their apices, furnished poste¬ 
riorly with a petaloid appendage reaching half way up, and closely 
embracing the anther ; glands facing the front of the flower. 
FIXED TEMPERATURES. 
It gives me much pleasure to read the opinions of Messrs. Bardney 
and Young on this subject. I mentioned on page 2G1 that this gardening 
fad is not yet obsolete ; I am afraid far from it. It is surprising to 
note the obstinate opinion some gardeners still maintain on this head, 
in spite of their neighbours growing their crops equally well, and in 
some cases even better than they, by the rational treatment set forth 
by Mr. Bardney on page 343. That, such treatment will give satisfactory 
results goes without the saying, for it can be seen clearly demonstrated 
every day. What unpleasantness is often caused between the chief and 
his assistants through these fixed temperatures ! Mr. Bardney seems 
fully alive to the best “ways and means’’ of maintaining these fixed 
temperatures. Can young men be blamed for resorting to these ille¬ 
gitimate means when they know perfectly well the chief will be round 
perhaps in a few minutes? If the mercury does not rise to the number 
that is attached to the top of the thermometer, means are used to make 
it do so. On the other hand, if the temperature is too hk-h up goes the 
lights till the house is near the “ fixed ” standard. I trust all those 
gardeners that insist on these conditions will think seriously whether 
they are gaining by such hard and fast rules. A house that is forcing 
had far better stand 5° too high than open the lights in such a manner. 
Is the excess or the sudden chilling blast the more detrimental to plant 
