464 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[' Jane 7,188S. 
3 feet high and about the same in diameter. They flowered with the 
greatest freedom when not more than half this size. R. Countess of 
Haddington is more compact still, and if anything more profuse in 
flowering, but the flowers droop more, and are not so fragrant. It is, 
however, a grand variety. K. balsaminseflorum album is one of the 
best of the new varieties, but it is rather expensive as yet. In the 
general class I can speak most favourable of R. Duchess of Teck, R. 
javanicum, R. Jlaiden’s Blush, R. Scarlet Crown, R. Countess of Dal- 
housie, R. Lady Filzwilliam, R. Princess Alice, and R. Veitchianum. 
Anyone beginning with two, three, or half a dozen plants will soon 
add more to their collection, and their culture is easily mastered. The 
proper time for them to make their growth is immediately after they 
have flowered. New shoots will appear then, and ought to be en¬ 
couraged. If the soil is not in good condition at the roots turn them out 
and repot. If they require a larger sized pot let them have it, but being 
a little root-bound induces them to flower more freely. Fine plants may 
be grown in 10-inch pots. They grow well in a soil consisting of three 
parts peat, one of loam, and a liberal dash of silver sand. The drainage 
must be perfect, and placed in so that it may rem.ain of use for two or 
three years, as this is often enough to repot them. Repotted or not, they 
may be placed in a warm house or pit until they make their growth, and 
during that time sj^ringe them daily. As soon as the growths are well 
developed remove them from their hot quarters, and gradually harden 
them until by July or August they may be placed in the open air. There 
they may remain until the autumn, when they can be placed in a frame 
or house, well watered at the roots, and frequently syringed to keep the 
foliage clean. When frost comes protect them, but do not attempt to 
keep them in a strong heat.—J. Muik, Margam. 
GLADIOLI NOTES. 
1 TAKE an opportunity to write a few more notes. Mr. Kelway 
finds the Gladiolus almost as easy of culture as the Narcissus and Snow¬ 
drop. I have no doubt that is so under conditions which suit it. But 
were Mr. Kelway located 5° fuither to the north, and instead of soft 
western breezes he had to put up with dry easterly wfinds for weeks 
together, he would find the Gladiolus not amongst the most easily 
managed of bulbous plants. However, Mr. Kelway hardly does the 
Snowdrop justice when he concludes the second paragraph of the 
article on page 402 with the remark (referring to the Gladiolus) that 
“ After all, without care and skilful knowledge failures are certain.” 
Surely there is not much care or skilful knowledge required to grow the 
simple flowers he names. They make themselves at home here along 
with Tulips, Scillas, and other bulbs, and are cut down with the scythe 
after flowering, and fail neither to increase nor flower under such rough 
treatment. Facts do not bear out Mr. Kelway’s theory taking the 
country in general. Taking writers in this Journal, “ D., Deni," has 
been troubled about the Gladiolus for many years. ‘‘A Northern 
Amateur,” who is a most skilful grower, plainly says there are some 
which he cannot keep. Out of a large number of varieties of Mr. Kel- 
way’s raising which I bought eight years ago I have only one left. 
Some have increased here in the course of a dozen or so years a hundred 
fold. What is the reason for the difference 2 “ D., Deal," considers 
disease the sole root of the mischief, but although I lose a few with 
disease that is not the reason. Mr. Kelway says, and has said so for 
many years, that “ exhaustion ” is the cause. That is to say, as I take 
it, that Powering the plant has exhausted the energies of the young 
corm. But the fatal objection to that theory is that the varieties which 
disappear are not those which flower freely and early in the season, but 
those which in cold seasons have no opportunity of flowering on account 
of winter overtaking them before that stage is reached. If my experi¬ 
ence in the north teaches anything, it goes in the line of showing that 
many of our seasons are too short to enable the later varieties to be 
grown, unless some method of lengthening the season of growth is fol¬ 
lowed. I believe starting the corms under glass will prove the best way of 
doing this, and I hope another season to again try Duchess of Edinburgh 
under such conditions. I have just been dibbling out little plants from 
spawn which were started in boxes. Mr. Kelway, and doubtless m.any 
others, find these do well enough in shallow drills out of doors, but they 
do not succeed well here in that way. So far Gladiolus are looking very 
well, not quite so strong as last season, but if we only had a few genial 
showers instead of hard drying winds the strength would soon be 
increased. 
I am sorry if I incautiously misrepresented Messrs. Kelway’s position 
as exhibitors. I was under the belief that the firm I named had beaten 
them at London a dozen years ago. Certainly the spikes as seen at 
home were splendid, and the papers gave no stinted praise to their 
excellence, but, though under the impression that they had Messrs. 
Kelway as antagonists, I may, of course, be wrong. 
Just a few words as to varieties. Tastes differ so much, especially 
when any standard is set up to test by, that what “ D., Deal" 
condemns others would at once select as fine. I always find, whether in 
Gladiolus, Carnations, or Auriculas, and perhaps less so in other flowers, 
that the untutored eye selects that which the florist considers poor. A 
florist looks at a flower as it is, and as it should be from his point of 
view, and the nearer it approaches his ideal, apart altogether from its 
intrinsic merit, the better pleased is he. Ordinary people, of whom the 
world is composed, see simply the flower as it is, and are delighted with 
its colour, its form, its odour, without needing to look any further as to 
whether it may be offending against the law of the florist. Just so with 
some of the Glatliolus, which I like altogetLer apart from their pro¬ 
perties as florist flowers. Diamant, though flimsy as a piece of tissue 
paper, is nevertheless a lovely flower. Le Phare is a most brilliant 
colour. Penelope I also like for its colour; and to sum up, I musk 
confess to more than a weakness for the old gandavensis itself.—B. 
ORCHIDS AT CROYDON LODGE. 
A GRAND variety of Cattleya Mossite is now in bloom at Croydon 
Lodge. The plant has fifteen flowers, the sepals and petals are v^ 
pale, the lip is of great size and richly coloured with a pure white- 
margin. Of Dendrobium densiflorum there are some fine specimens p 
one plant is 4 feet across, bearing three dozen spikes of bloom. 
D. thyrsiflorum, similar in habit to the above, is also well flowered 
in 32’s ; the best, a large form, has six spikes with about sixty 
blooms each. The flowering house is attractive at the present time 
with these and many other Orchids. Another cool house has 
recently been erected against a wall having a north-west aspect. 
On the front stage Masdevallias and Odontoglossums are growing^ 
and the back wall is artistically made to represent a rockery from 
the roof to the ground. Pockets have been made in it for the 
reception of Ferns and Orchids; a few of the latter have been 
planted and some are in bloom, and no doubt when well furnished it 
will be a most interesting place. 
The Phalacnopses are grown in the plant stove. They are few in- 
number, but the plants are large, and one piece of P. Schilleriana is said 
to be the largest in the country. They are in baskets, and the rule 
observed here is to water them from the spout of the can, and 
syringe the long roots occasionally, a system to be recommended 
where it can be carried out without interfering with plants beneath. 
Epidendrum bicornutum has been in bloom for a long time. It 
is grown successfully near the glass in the stove, and while growing 
syringed every day along with the Crotons, <5c., but while at rest 
it receives no water. Peristeria elata in the same house is well 
grown ; one plant is in a 14-inch pot, and has enormous pseudo¬ 
bulbs and four strong growths ; they all flower annually, sending 
up thick spikes. The collection belongs to Stephenson Clarke,. 
Esq., and the compost used by his gardener, Mr. Carr, is good 
yellow fibrous loam with a little peat and moss, and cWcoal is- 
used very liberally. 
CATTLEYA SKINNERI AT ELMER’S END, BECKENHAM. 
Mr. Goddard’s plants have again been a magnificent sight. When 
I saw them a fortnight since they were arranged in a high lean-to 
house 24 feet long by 15 feet wide, forming an immense bank of 
rose purple coloured blossoms. There were over a hundred spikes 
averaging nine blooms each. A few Ferns and foliage plants were- 
tastefully arranged amongst them and along the front. Racemes 
of Oncidium ampliatum majus, Odontoglossum vexillarium, and 
well bloomed Laslia purpurata, including the beautiful delicate 
coloured variety Russelliana, the bright Epidendrum rhizophorum^ 
with Cattleya Mendeli and C. Mossise, helped to give variety in 
colour, and also to break up the straight lines of C. Skinneri. 
PHALA:N0PSE3 at oldfield, bickley. 
These continue to increase in size. They are grown in baskets- 
suspended from the roof, and the long healthy roots hanging down 
denote the care bestowed on them in watering. Each plant as it 
requires water is taken down and carefully steeped, and then hung^ 
up again in its place. This is a simple lesson which young men 
would do well to remember. I have frequently seen choice Orchids 
in baskets thrust into a vessel of water too small for the purpose,, 
and the roots broken or damaged. So long as this occurs the- 
plants cannot possibly compare with those of !Mr. Philbrick or give- 
the grower satisfaction. There is a fine display of flowers now in 
the other Orchid houses at Oldfield.—G. W. C. 
DENDROBIUM CLAVATUM. 
A CAPiTAE coloured illustration of this Dendrobium is given in» 
the Botanical Magazine (t. 6993), with the following remarks :— 
“ This magnificent species has never been described or figured in alb 
its beauty as here represented, and j'et it is one of the earliest 
discovered of the golden Dendrobes of India, having been found by 
Wallich in Nepal in 1821, and subsequently by his collectors in 
Silhet. Unfortunately the specimens he distributed were not in 
flower, and the species was hence passed over by Lindley in his 
‘ Genera et Species Orchidearum.’ It was for some time supposed 
to be a variety of D. moschatum. Thefii-st descrqition of it is that 
