218 
JOraXAL OF lIOIlTTCULTUIiE AXD COTTAGE GAEDEXER 
[ Miircli 15, 1888. 
shaped stems. Flowers in terminal racemes, magenta, rose and 
M’liite, and dark rose, very beautiful. Mexico and Guatemala. 
.Somewhat difficult to grow, requiring a warm sunny and well 
ventilated position when growing, and a cool position for resting. 
IJlocks. Winter—spring. — c,yc/otc%, elegans, Slcinneri. 
Blkti.v.—D eciduous, with short thick pseudo-bulbs and long 
narrow' leaves. Flowers in scapes a foot or more long, purplish rose 
or bright rose. China, Japan, West Indies, and New Grenada. 
Pots ; loam, leaf soil, and sphagnum. Cool house. Winter and 
spring. — liyacinthina, patula (intermediate house), Sheplierdi, 
Sherattiana. 
Brass.\vol.\.—E vergreen plants, with thick linear Rush-like 
leaves, or thickened spindle-shaped pseudo-bulb-like stems. Flowers 
mostly singly in scapes from the base or terminal, sepals and petals 
greenish, lip large and white, deeply fringed in B. Digbyana and 
fragrant. Mexico, Central Arnerica, and West Indies. Warm or 
intermediate house. Blocks or baskets. Autumn and spring.— 
acaulis, Digbyana, glauca. 
Bkassi.a,.—E vergreen, short ovoid dark pseudo-bulbs, and long 
narrow leaves. Flowers in racemes, yellowish green, yellow and 
spotted. Curious and distinct. Mexico, Brazil, New Grenada, 
West Indies. Pots ; peat. Intermediate house. Summer.— 
Lanccana, Luwrenciana, maculata major, verrucosa grandiflora. 
Bkougiitonia.—E vergreen, with ovoid pseudo-bulbs and long 
narrow leaves. Flowers in terminal racemes, rich crimson. 
Jamaica, on exposed rocks. Block with moss. Warm house. 
Summe".— sanguinea. 
Bulbophylluji.—M ostly interesting for the strangely formed 
flowers, but of little horticultural value. India, Borneo, Java, 
Siam, &c. Blocks or baskets. Warm house.— barbigcrum, Lobbi, 
si im nse. 
Buklixgtoxia.—E vergreen, short ovoid pseudo-bulbs, broad 
leaves. Flowers in loose drooping or erect racemes from the base 
of the pseudo-bxdbs, fragrant, w'hite, flushed or streaked yellow' or 
rosy purple. Demerara, Brazil. Baskets or pans. Sphagnum 
and potsherds. Warm house. Spring and summer.— Candida, 
decora, fragrans, venusta. 
Calaxtiie.—U seful plants that can be culturally divided into 
two groups, one comprising C. masuca and C. veratrifolia, ever¬ 
green, with large pseudo-bulbs, broad leaves, and purplish or w'hite 
flowers respectively ; the other including C. Veitclii and C. vestita, 
which are great favourites, deciduous, with large conical pseudo- 
bulbs and long racemes of deep rose or white flow'ers. They all re¬ 
quire pot culture and similar soil—namely, loam, leaf soil, and a 
little old manure ; but the deciduous species require a w'ell marked 
season of rest after flow'ering. They are widely distributed in the 
tropics of the old world, and require a place in a wai’m house when 
growing. The evergreen Calanthes are mostly summer flow'ering ; 
the deciduous are winter flowering. 
Cattleya.—F avourite and useful Orchids, evergreen, with 
pseudo-bulbs of various sizes, short and ovoid, or long and spindle 
shaped, with thick broad dark green leaves. Flowers mostly large 
and very handsome, several together in short racemes from the tops 
of the pseudo-bulbs, generally before the growth ; sepals and petals 
white, mauve, or rose, with rich crimson and magenta lips, fre¬ 
quently fragrant; bright lemon yellow and very sweet in C. citrina. 
Pots or baskets, with blocks for Acklandiae, citrina (wdiich grows 
dow'nwards), and Walkeriana. Brazil and Central America. Inter¬ 
mediate house. Plenty of light. In flower all the year, the fol- 
low'ing providing a succession and comprising the most showy. 
January to March, Percivaliana and Triancc; March to July, 
Achlandi(c, citrina, gigas, intermedia, Mendeli, Mossice, SJcinneri ; 
July to September, bicolor, crispa, Eldorado, Loddigesi ; September 
to December, Doxoiana aurea and maxima Warscewiczi. There are 
numberless varieties of Mendeli, Mossiae, and Trianae, and these are 
all refeiTed to the species labiata, the true autumn flowering form 
of which (labiata vera) is very scarce. 
CiiYSis.—Deciduous, with thick spindle-shaped stems. Flow'ers 
in long racemes produced with the growth, handsome yellow and 
white streaked crimson. Venezuela, Mexico. Pots. Intermediate 
house. Spring and summer.— aurca and bractescens. 
CfEEOGYXP:.—Evergreen, globular or ovoid pseudo-bulbs and 
narrow leaves. Flowers in graceful racemes, white and yellow', or 
of strange brownish tints. India and Malayia. Pots. Intermediate 
house. February to May.— cristata, one of the most useful Orchids 
grow'n, cristata Leinoniana, ocellata maxima. 
Culax.—D warf evergreen Orchids, with small ovoid pseudo-bulbs. 
Flowers two or three in a raceme, white, marked with rich purple, 
very pretty. Brazil. Pots. Intermediate house.— jugosus. 
COMPAUE'r riA. —Slender pseudo-bulbous evergreen Orchids, with 
crimson and rose-coloured flowers in graceful racemes. Peru and 
Central America. Baskets or blocks. Intermediate house.— 
falcata. —L. C. 
(To be continued.) 
PACKING FRUIT. 
I HAD really no intention of replying to your correspondent, 
“ R. W.’s” criticism on my paper on packing mixed fruits. However, 
after reading his reply to Mr. Treseder and “ W. H.” I thought perhaps 
it would be as well to answer him now, and set his mind at ease. 
I wrote the paper in question at the request of a partieular garden¬ 
ing friend, who is a eonstant reader of the Journal and a keen observer ; 
and if I remember rightly I gave a plain statement of facts, describing 
the method I adopted in packing mixed fruits and the materials I used. 
I also stated that paper shavings and clean dry moss were recommended 
by some gardeners of experience for packing, but I neither recom¬ 
mended nor condemned them. I pointed out, how'ever, that soft hay 
could be procured in sufficient quantity in most places, an advantage 
w'hich could not be said in favour of good moss. 
Your correspondent asks “ why I prefer soft hay to paper shavings ?” 
Well, to satisfy his curiosity, I w'ill use his own words in answering the 
question, and say. Soft hay, such as is used here “ is in my opinion pre¬ 
ferable in all respects.” It is convenient and easy to pack w'ith, and the 
fruits packetl in it travel in good condition to their destination. What 
more, I would like to ask, is required, whether the material used is dry 
moss, soft hay, or “ 11. W.’s ” paper shavings ? My paper dealt with 
packing mixed fruits (which your correspondent informs me “ I spared 
no pains in describing”), but when packing Grapes by themselves I use 
the same material and a plain box without divisions of any kind in pre¬ 
ference to “ R. W.’s” favourite box with partitions of various sizes, 
“ which he ventures to say will travel both by land and water if kept 
right side up. One side of the bunch at the journey’s end will be look¬ 
ing almost as perfect as when they were cut from the Vines.” We are 
here called on to accept “ R. W.’s ” ipse dixit as a settlement of the 
question. “ R. W.” writes :—“I also take exception to Mr. Pettigrew’s 
mode of Peach packing. He recommends the use of two boxes, tin and 
wood. The former I do not find necessary. The box I use is made of 
wood divided in various sized divisions suitable for Peaches and 
Nectarines.” Your correspondent makes a mistake in saying “ I recom¬ 
mend the use of two boxes, tin and wood,” in packing Peaches. I re¬ 
commended nothing in the paper in question. I said the Peaches were 
packed in tin trays by themselves, which fitted neatly into a wooden 
box, and described the modus operandt of packing ; but, as usual, your 
able critic finds a better plan, which I leave your readers to peruse. 
In his concluding paragraph he remarks :—“ I may also remark in 
the dispatch of fruit, should there be two or three boxes to be sent to the 
same address, I invariably find the fruit in better condition when tied 
together in one package than if travelling singly.” Just so, “ R. W.,” I 
suppose the fruit is improved by travelling in bulk.—A. Pettigrew, 
Cardiff. 
THE PEAS, TANYBWLCH, NORTH WALES. 
To the modern tourist in Wales the name Tanybwlch is one of the 
most familiar, thanks in no small degree to the wonderful Toy Railway 
between Portmadoc and Ffestiniog that was constructed some years ago 
for the conveyance of slates, &c., from and to the quarries at the latter 
named place, some of which bearing his name are the property of W. E. 
Oakeley, Esq., who is also owner and occupier of The Pliis. 
The Toy Railway referred to is really a w'onder, the permanent way 
having the appearance of an ordinary small tramway, such as is usual 
about coal and other works, the guage being 2 feet only, the entire 
length of line being about 13 miles and rising in that distance 700 feet. 
The small engines that perform the journeys draw up this gradient fifty 
to sixty or perhaps even more empty slate waggons, besides goods trucks 
and passenger coaches, and are curiosities in the engineering world. 
They xvere designed by Sir Robert Fairlie, and are called “double bogie 
engines,” with chimneys at each end, and are admirably adapted for 
such mountain work as they perform. It maj' be interesting to state 
that until their introduction horses were employed to draw the empty 
trucks up from the wharf at Portmadoc and were themselves carried 
down in the train, which was impelled downwards by its own gravitation. 
It is amusing to watch the train on its winding course, first appearing on 
the edge of a precipice and as fast disappearing again, only to reappear 
and play the same game of hide-and-seek the whole of its mountain 
track. The sharp curves give to the train in passing over them a most 
grotesque form. In one spot a horseshoe is very nearly described, and 
in another the letter S ; indeed, a long train can in one spot perform the 
feat of describing two such letters at the same time. Looking out of 
the train as we approach Tanybwlch station we see the roof only of The 
Plas house and stables immediately beneath us, so much so that the 
timid would instantly anxiously exclaim for the safety of the 
inhabitants. 
Looking down the mountain side on leaving the station we see a 
beautiful lake several acres in extent almost surrounded by woodland, 
grand in all seasons, even in dreary winter. The Oak, which grows 
here natural, ever reluctant to cast its foliage, which though somewhat 
sombre, adds much to the general effect. It has been our privilege to 
enjoy the scene in various seasons; we can, however, only chronicle the 
fact that our measure of enjoyment w'as full to overflowing, and that 
our pen refuses to do more. The lake, though really artificial, made by 
Mr. Oakeley, was already formed by Nature, and only required a few 
yards of embankment, which has teen made in such a manner, under 
the direction of Mr. Roberts, the much respected gardener, that we 
should not suspect any interference with Dame Nature’s work. The 
water is supplied by mountain streams that never fail, and the overflow 
