198 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 8,1889. 
success. When the pseudo-bulbs have finished growth give only 
sufficient water to keep them plump until the flower spikes show, 
then gradually increase the water supply, taking care not to pour it 
on the flower spikes, as it will cause them to go black and decay. 
We keep our Coelogynes in the Cattleya house all the year round. 
The compost is two parts of good fibrous peat, one of charcoal, and 
one of sphagnum well mixed together, with plenty of drainage.’’ 
ORCHIDS AT BLEXHEIM. 
The ext nsive glass department at Blenheim continues to increase, 
and notwithstanding the amount of room afforded by a score or more 
large Orchid houses, the plants are arranged closely together ; indeed, 
many of the pans and baskets hanging from the various roofs are 
actually touching each other. One great adv.antage derived from having 
houses with different aspects and temperatures is that plants which do 
not succeed in one may be shifted about until the best .one is found. 
If 1 remember rightly the Mexican house has been turned into the 
Vanda or East Indian house, and the Odontoglossums of the crispum 
section have been transferred from a large and lofty house about 70 feet 
long to a new one 11(! feet in length with a much lower roof, with the 
result that the growths are much stronger, and the condition of the 
plants would satisfy the most sanguiire. Their old abode is now occu¬ 
pied with Cattleyas and Lmlias, and the great amount of air and direct 
light which was not the best for Odontoglossums are very beneficial to 
the irewer occirpants. Cattleya Wageneri is here in fine condition, one 
large pl.ant in a basket has nine good sheaths. On one of the side staaes 
are 500 C. Bowringiana, many flowering freely. Like most other species 
they vary considerably in size and depth of colour in bloom, but the 
best are very beautiful. It is a useful winter blooming Cattleya. bear¬ 
ing some resemblance to the well-known C. Skinneri in the flowere, 
which are borne on erect spikes averaging five or six on each, being 
about 2.j inches in diameter, and of a rich rosy purple with deeper 
coloured'veins ; the anterior portion of the lip is deep purple, and has a 
transverse maroon band, below which is a white blotch. Also in bloom / 
are some fine forms of Lajlia pumila pr^stans in shallow pans, 
and Lffilia albida. On the other side stage are numerous plants of 
the lovely 0. Lawrenceana and C. Harrisoniana, the latter in flower. 
Above the path are suspended plants of the quaint looking Coelogyne 
pandurata. L.'clia cinnabarina is grown in (i-inch to !l-inch teak baskets, 
and some of them are finishins; as many as nine good strong growths 
each. The centre stage is filled with Lselia purpurata, C. Mendeli, 
having eight and nine flowering sheaths on each, C. Ekiorado and C. 
Gaskelliana, vvhile C. amethystoglossa and C. Leopokli are remarkable 
for their fine growth in this house. 
The large Cattleya house is worth going many miles to see ; it is over 
100 feet long by 20 feet wide, and although the end of December is 
about the worst time of year to find much in the way of bloom, yet 
the few that are in help to make the place attractive, and the hundreds 
of flower sheaths already formed promise a grand display by-and-by. 
One of the most noticeable perhaps is a specimen of Lxlia purpurata, 
(! feet across, and carrying twenty-two flower sheaths. Immense pieces 
of Cattleya Skinneri, C. Mossim, and C. Mendeli are showing well, and 
the first of C. Trianre is already in bloom, together with C. maxima 
and several of C. Dormaniana, and among others thriving admirably are 
C. aurea, C. Sanderiana, C. Schilleriana, Oncidium sarcodes, Epidendrum 
iStamfordianura, and numbers of large pans of the useful Coelogyne 
cristata. An interesting feature here is the great rockwork opposite 
the foiling doors at each end, and the natural way in which many 
Orchids are growing on them. Pockets or rather well-lined openings 
have been left and filled with drainage and compost to suit the indi¬ 
vidual requirements of each plant. 
The Pescatoreas and Warscewiczella.s, which are unmanageable in the 
majority of Orchid collections, are growing freely : the leaves are all free 
from spot, and produced abundantly together, ainl the roots are clinging 
to the rough stone surface, which they appear to like much better 
th-in a quantity of _ potting material. Zygopetalums are in a similar 
condition. Z. Gautieri, with fine spikes of bloom, Sobralia macrantha, 
and S. virginalis, with Cymbidiums, are also planted out and growing 
vigorously. Some of the Cattleyas and Laelias like the treatment, but 
in my opinion they should not be put out unless intended to remain, 
for after the roots are attached to the stone it would be difficult to 
transfer them into pots without breaking the best roots. 
Two houses are devoted to Cypripediums, one having a wide centre 
stage containing other Orchids besides, including a quantity of Vanda 
teres planted out and rooting freely, spflendid specimens-of Cymbidiums, 
C. eburneym, C. Lowii, ami C. giganteum, and C. Masters! in bloom, 
but these are soon to be removed, and the end they occupy will be 
filled with choice Phalaenopses from a smaller house. The side stages 
are planted with Cypripediums, crocks being laid thickly on the bottom 
and the roots covered with a layer of growing sphagnum ; they include 
plants of C. Boxalli, C. caudatum, C. ciliolare, C. hirsutissimum, C. 
Lowi, C. Inevigatum, C. Lawrenceanum, C. Pearcei, C. selligerum, and 
C. Ston< anum, with C. grande, and C. nitens showing flower spikes. 
Calantbe \eitchi in bloom is dotted freely amongst them, and On¬ 
cidium Lanceanum enjoys the heat growing in baskets suspended from 
the roof. 
The other house is more like a span-roofeil pit, and the dwarf-growing 
ones are established there, such as Cypripedium concolor and C. Gode- 
froyre with a hundred healthy pieces of C. Sanderianuin and many_ C, 
Hookeraj. Maxillaria Sanderiana is represented by a fine plant, but which 
has not yet flow'ered. Aerides mitratum, Angrascum Ellisii, A. Sanderia- 
num,and A. Scottianum .arc remarkably well grown and flowered. Cym- 
bidium Parishii is making seven new growths from three old ones. Odon- 
toglossum lloezlii and O. vexillarium are rooting well in new' material 
of peat and sphagnum. Overhead several fine varieties are in bloom or 
Odontoglossum Krameri and I’aphinia grandis, and Odontoglossuin 
Phalamopsis deserves special mention on account of its numerous 
growths and clean and healthy appearance. Another house is filled 
with various Odontoglossums planted out in the peat shaken from the 
fibre. It is found to be a good practice to start them when a large 
number of imported plants are received, and as they begin to root and 
make new pseudo-bulbs they can be drawn from the loose soil and potted 
without risk of breaking their roots. In what is styled the 0. grande 
house are many other species ; O. Insleayi splendens is plentiful, and 
from one growing here the drawing for the Iteichenhacliia was made, 
Oncidium cucullatum, 0. Marshallianum, 0. Rogersi, and 0. undulatum 
make their growth here; 0. Phalmnopsis is in bloom, hanging to wires 
from the roof, and the prettj' O. Limminghei in a similar position is 
doing w'ell. Nanodes Medusie close to the glass is equally at home. 
In a long house having a north aspect are the Masdevallias, Tn- 
chosma suavis, Disa grandiflora in large pans, several of them contain¬ 
ing as many as thirty flowering growths each. Odontoglossum Rossi majus, 
and the pretty Butterwort, Pinguicula caudata. In the Gardenia house Mr. 
Whillans is experimenting with Cattleya citrina, to endeavour to make 
a quick and early growth, to be succeeded by a long and cooler rest. 
Great masses of Dendrobium Ealconeri are still in this heat, a D. 
bigibbum, D. Dearei, and D. Wardianum have grown and are flowering 
well. 
It is a treat to see the scores of hanging baskets laden with bloom 
of the pretty little yellow Oncidium cheirophorum ; in another house 
with'hundreds of flowers on, the useful old Cypripedium insigne, and in 
another the sweet-scented 0. oriiithorhynchum, Sophronitis coecinea, and 
S. grandiflora, the former of a brick-red colour wdth shorter pseudo-bulbs- 
and smaller blooms than the latter, which is orange scarlet, some of the 
blooms measuring 2^ inches across. 
The L.'clia house is also gay. There are about a hundred spikes of 
L. anceps ; two large plants of the alba variety have^even strong spikes, 
these are much thicker than any of the other forms. L. harpophylla 
can be counted in the three figures, and a fine stock of Odontoglossum 
Harryanum occupies one corner; some have bloomed, and others are 
showing. 
Dendrobiums at rest are in a light airy house. D. Jamesianum^ is- 
flowering on well-ripened growths, and specimens of the same species 
as those in the Gardenia house mentioned, and others will yield plenty 
of flowers for cutting in their respective season. Most of these had 
been subjected to a sojourn in the open air last summer. 
Tlje Vanda, or East Indian house, contains a .collection of good 
Orchids. V. Sanderiana is plentiful, growing in long boat-shaped 
baskets and rafts. A plant of V. Cathearti ha.s five leads, one being 
8 feet long, and bore ten spikes of bloom at one time. Vanda Hooker- 
iana is present in numbers. Aerides vandarura has eleven spikes ; of 
A. Lawrencim there are good plants, and among others in bloom were 
AngHTScum sesquipedale and A. Ijeonis. 
An additional block of four houses was built last spring, each IIG feet 
in length, connected at each end by a wide corridor. The one on the 
south end is filled with Odontoglossum citrosmum, there being no stages- 
in it. The whole of.the plants, which are in baskets, are suspended neai- 
to the glass. The other one is used for resting Dendj-obiums, and for 
Lapagerias, Roses, and Chrysanthemums. 
The Odontoglossum hpuse comes first, and I was informed that with 
0. Alexandrre, 0. Rescatorei, and O. cirrhosum there are no less than. 
8000 plants, consequently there is always something in flower. Mr. 
Whillans has had all these, besides many others, repotted, since he took 
charge of the extensive gardens at Blenheim. They were formerly 
grown in roots of Polypodium vulgare, which is very abundant about 
the plantations, but he found on examination that Orchid roots below 
the surface had [ erished. They appeared to do well at first, but after¬ 
wards the Fern commenced growing at the expense of the Orchid, besides 
introducing a number of slugs and other insects. Nothing is used now 
but good peat and fresh sphagnum. 
The other houses are filled with Bouvardias, Ac., which I hope to 
note another time. But in a mixed stove I noticed healthy plants of 
Calanthe vestita gigantca with 100 spikes. This is much later and 
stronger than the other deciduous Calanthes. Pbaius grandifolius was 
also sending up many strong spikes. It may be imagined that with 
forty-five men under his cb.arge Mr. Whillans is obliged to dej^end a great 
deal upon responsible foremeu in each department, and that each feels 
that responsibility there can be no doubt: and Mr. John Coles, who has 
charge of the one I am writing about, is entitled to a certain amount of 
credit for the pains he takes in the Orchid houses, .and Mr. Whillans 
speaks well of him. The young men’s comfort is looked to, for they 
have a splendid bothy, in an excellent position, fitted with every con¬ 
venience, with a large kitchen, dining-room, and library, which certainly 
requires a few more good useful volumes, but as the place has not been 
completed very long they may yet be forthcoming. 
I have only now to add my best thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Whillans 
for their kindness and hospitality, and to give, at my opinion, that the 
right man is in the right place.—G. W. Cummixs, 
