108 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 6, 1891. 
of Gladioli raised by himself ; but my visit was, I am sorry to say, too 
early in the season to permit of my seeing them in bloom. Many thou¬ 
sands of plants were being carefully cultivated and looked remarkably 
healthy. One of Mods. Lemoine’s specialities is the Fuchsia. Many 
distinct and beautiful varieties have been sent out by this firm, among 
them La France, Nancy, Mrs. G. G. Hill, President Grevy, &c. Several 
thousands of seedling plants, unproved a3 yet, were just coming into 
bloom ; all are planted in long nursery beds in the open air, a mulching 
of dung being placed over the roots of the plants and plenty of water 
being constantly supplied. Fuchsias treated in this way appear to do 
remarkably well in France. Not only here but in the gardens and parks 
oi Paris and elsewhere standard and dwarf bush Fuchsias are used with 
great effect in combination with other plants. Although the sun was 
so hot, the foliage was green and the flowers most abundant. Zonal 
Pe’argoniums also constitute a feature at these nurseries ; but, as Mons. 
Lemoine remarked, it is very difficult to get anything really new and 
distinct in this line except the name. Beds of Montbretias, Lantanas, 
Primula species, all claimed far more time and attention from me than 
I had at disposal, as after a hasty look round for the few minutes that 
remained before starting to catch the train I bid a reluctant farewell 
to my kindly French friends and made for beautiful Switzerland. 
Another long drawn out but pleasant railway journey via Epinal and 
Port d’Atiluri, through Vine-clad hills and smiling valleys, with a view 
here and there of the Saone River, brought me at length to the main line of 
the Chemin de Fer de l’Est at Vesoul, and a few more hours through 
the grand scenery which lies between the above town and Belfort 
onwards, landed me at Bale.—R. G. Beachy. 
VIOLAS. 
Messes. Dobbie & Co., florists, Rothesay, have for some years past 
taken the Violas in hand in Scotland, and grown them well, their exhibits 
at Birmingham, London, and other places proving this clearly enough. 
I recently received from them a box of Viola blooms consisting chiefly 
of the more recently introduced varieties, and the size of the blooms and 
clearness of colours bore testimony to the suitability of the we 3 t of 
Scotland for the cultivation of these lovely flowers, and which are daily 
becoming more and more popular. I have been much pleased this year 
to see them grown in gardens where hitherto they were not allowed a 
place, and the cooler weather than usual of June and July has 
suited them admirably. In some places late planted-out Violas are 
dying off very much, and I wish again to urge the desirability of early 
autumn planting. The Viola will stand much hard weather if well 
established, and by placing young plants in their flowering quarters in 
October or early in November they get good roothold before winter 
»sts in. 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co. have the sending out year after year of Mr. 
Baxter’s new varieties, and have ample opportunities for picking up 
other new varieties worthy of note, so that their collection is really an 
extensive one of the best varieties. Amongst the blooms they recently 
sent to me were in whites, Countess of Hopetoun, a well known variety 
of dwarf habit, and our best white ; Snowflake, thin in substance and of 
inferior form, but a showy bedder; Lady Dundonald, pure white with 
rayed centre, and a good bedder ; Marchioness of Tweedale, a pure white 
with a tendency in hot weather to flush a little in colour ; Blue Cloud is 
white with an edging of ultramarine blue, resembling Skylark in every 
way, but with a greater depth of margin ; Joy is thin in substance and 
inferior in form, but very showy, white bordered and flushed with soft 
pale lavender; Annie King is a charming new light coloured variety, 
which will be sent out in the autumn, and this new variety received 
a certificate at the Midland Counties Pansy Show ; Gipsy Queen is 
shaded and veined white and pale lavender, deficient in substance and 
form, but it is a flower which will have many admirers ; Dawn of Day 
is a large flowered distinct variety, white with greyish lavender markings. 
In yellows Bullion is one of the best yellows, deep in colour, 
bright, and an excellent bedder. Wonder is a light yellow with a deeper 
tinted centre, a really useful fine variety. Goldfinch is light yellow 
with an irregular margin of deep lilac, a beautiful variety. Duchess of 
I ife resembles Goldfinch, but with a brighter tint of colour in the 
margin and with white and yellow body colour. This is a new and 
lovely variety. 
In blues Archie Grant was the leading one, a very fine variety. Of 
purple shades there were Pytho, the lower petals rich violet purple with 
lilac shading in the top petals, very fine form. Mrs. Bellamy, rich violet 
purple lower petals with a white margin to the top petals, of fine form 
and good substance. John Burns, rich rose-tinted violet charmingly 
blotched with white, distinct and of fine form. Cottage Maid, a lighter 
coloured flower than John Burns with more white in the blotches, a dis¬ 
tinct and fine variety. Neptune, a superb variety in form and substance, 
and rich in colour, greyish white top petals, and the lower petals are of 
a rich violet tinted purple colour with a small light blotch in each. 
Lady Gertrude resembles Neptune in the markings and colour, but the 
body colour has more of a rose tint in it; a very fine variety. Queen of 
Scots is a Countess of Kintore style of flower, a white self with rich 
blue violet central blotch ; a lovely variety. Evelyn is a Duchess of 
Albany style of flower, shaded mauve lilac centre, the lower petals 
bordered with grey, and greyish white top petals; fine form. Sunrise 
is a lovely variety of fine form and substance, shaded rosy plum colour, 
and veined with a lighter shade of colour. Ada Adair, shaded lilac 
tinted rose with a dark blotch and lighter top petals ; a distinct pretty 
variety of good form. Eeauty, deeper in colour than Ada Adair; a 
bright charming flower. Mrs. Grant is a distinct variety, purple tinted 
rose coloured centre, the side petals grey tinted, and almost white top 
petals ; a distinct variety of good form. William Neil is a distinct 
variety of a new shade of colour in Violas, soft lilac tinted rose, and very 
pretty. Columbine is white, with pale pink top petals and the same 
coloured margin to the lower petals ; attractive and distinct. 
In addition to the varieties I have enumerated from Messrs. Dobbie 
and Co.’s consignment of blues, York and Lancaster, Ethel Baxter, 
Spotted Gem, and others of their introduction should be in all collections. 
Lady Amory and The MearDS are both very beautiful, and Dean’s True 
Blue is far away the best blue Viola known. Amongst yellows, Queen 
of Spring and Golden Queen of SpriDg are two very excellent sorts, and 
Golden Gem (Dean’s) is a beautiful variety. Bridesmaid, another 
of Dean’s seedlings, is of the habit of Countess of Hopetoun, and 
of a creamy white colour; and Dean’s Mrs. John Pope is a very 
beautiful new variety. On the 20th inst. I received a box of shoots 
with blooms of several kinds of Violas, sent from Mr. J. McLeod, 
Chingford, Essex, to show that Violas can be grown easily and well near 
to London. The flowers w r ere quite as fine as those from Scotland, and 
as fine as we can grow them in the Midlands. Violas can be bought 
now at such very cheap prices as to be within the reach of everyone, 
and I cannot to a strongly recommend them for very early garden deco¬ 
ration, blooming as they do with early Tulips and Hyacinths, and. 
continuing in beauty until late in the summer.—W. Dean, SparlthiU, 
Birmingham. 
Cattleya Dowiana aurea (Young’s Variety). 
The most recent issue of Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son’s “Orchid 
Album ” (part 108, yoI. ix.) contains beautiful plates of Odonto- 
glossum Mulus Holfordianum, Cymbidium elegans, Masdevallia 
macrura, and the handsome Cattleya named at the head of this 
note. Concerning this fine Orchid the following interesting par¬ 
ticulars are given :— 
Cattleya Dowiana aurea was first sent home by Gustav Wallis 
from New Grenada about twenty-three years ago, and Roezl, who 
afterwards found it, fixes the locality in which it grows some 600 
miles distant from that of the typical C. Dowiana, which had been 
introduced to our gardens a few years previously from Costa Rica, 
by Mr. Skinner ; but it was originally found about 1850 by the 
veteran Polish traveller and collector, Warscewicz, whose consign¬ 
ment of plants, however, arrived in this country dead. It had been 
the intention of Warscewicz to dedicate this fine Cattleya to the 
famous Mrs. Lawrence of Ealing, the most enthusiastic patroness 
of horticulture in her day ; but in the C. Lawrenceana since 
discovered in British Guiana we have a very beautiful and 
distinct plant. This is dedicated to her equally interested son, 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., Burford Lodge, Dorking, 
Surrey, the President cf the Royal Horticultural Society of 
England. Cattleya Dowiana aurea, although separated by so long 
a distance from the typical plant, with no intermediate station 
between, as far as is known, cannot lay claim to be anything but a 
geographical variety of it ; but yet it is a superior form, and the 
one here figured must be allowed to claim first rank in the way of 
varieties. Its principal differences are in the rich clear golden 
yellow of its sepals and petals, and the amount of the same rich 
colour upon its lip. This variety originated with Reginald Young, 
Esq., Fringilla, Linnet Lane, Liverpool, who, when it flowered 
again last season, kindly sent it to us for depicting in the Album. 
We recently saw the plant, which was looking in the best possible 
order, and we have much pleasure in recording the fact that 
Mr. Young’s plants are in the very best of health and condition. 
This plant belongs to the Labiata section of the Cattleya family ; 
it is an evergreen, of strong growth, with clavate stems and large, 
oblong, deep green leaves. The flowers appear soon after growth 
is completed in the autumn, and remain some few weeks in full 
perfection if they are kept from sprinklings from the syringe, or 
from damp of any kind. It grows naturally near Frontino, in the 
company of Cattleya giga a , and several apparent hybrid forms have 
appeared from amongst the plants imported from that neighbour¬ 
hood ; the best of these are C. Hardyana and C. Massaiana. 
Several plants having similar markings have from time to time 
appeared, but none can equal C. Hardyana in the richness of 
colour or in the undulations of its crisp lip. C. Dowiana aurea 
requires to be kept dry and cool immediately after its growth is 
completed, and it should not be allowed to stand in strong heat 
until growth starts again, as we recently observed had been the 
case with one grower of these plants, who had half made growths 
