284 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 1,1891. 
most people. Secondly, dried flowers and drawings have been 
exhibited which confirm as far as such evidence can the statements 
published concerning it. This will answer the question as far as it 
is in my power at present, but I am promised interesting infor¬ 
mation from several different sources both at home and on the 
Continent, and the subject will no doubt have to be referred to 
again. _ 
It may be added that while several quotations have been given 
from Gardner’s travels bearing upon the fact that he found 
Cattleya labiata vera in two places in Brazil, as to one of 
these Messrs. Yeitch state “ it is now known to have long since 
disappeared from that locality,” and with regard to the other the 
same authorities have the following note in their excellent mono¬ 
graph of the genus Cattleya. “ Gardner also states that he detected 
C. labiata at Sapucaya on the River Parahybo which separates the 
provinces of Minas Geraes and Rio Janeiro, but the form he met 
with here is, with a very high degree of probability, believed to be 
the variety Warneri.” In view of the opinion expressed at the 
meeting of the Orchid Committee when C. Warocqueana was first 
shown, this is a peculiar coincidence, and has apparently been over¬ 
looked by recent writers. It may be remembered that C. labiata 
Warneri is one of the nearest relatives to C. labiata vera that is 
known. It has also been collected in the same district, but flowers 
much earlier. 
Just as I had concluded these notes a poetical effusion came 
to hand entitled “Who found the old labiata?” It bears a 
distinguished orchidic name, but as “ all rights are reserved,” and 
I have no permission to utilise this remarkable production, it must 
be passed with the observation that the readers of the Journal 
who are partial to verses have lost a composition of absorbing 
interest, perfectly unique in metre and rhyme. The first four 
lines, however, convey a geographical reference, and I cannot resist 
quoting them :—“The woods of Rio Pinto are now a gaudy show, 
The lime is early winter, where old labiatas blow, And Sander of 
St. Albans, the mighty Orchid King, Is filling all his boxes for 
shipping in the spring.” Presumably this is retrospective, and 
“the boxes” referred to have apparently arrived, but whether 
“the woods of Rio Pinto” is really the home of the plants or 
merely a poetical fiction I must leave to others to determine.— 
Lewis Castle. 
VIOLETS FOR FRAMES. 
The wet and sunless weather we have had has not been 
favourable to the growth of large plants. It is true they have 
kept free from red spider, which during some seasons give a good 
deal of trouble to eradicate, but for a long time plants raised from 
early runners produced by last season’s plants in frames did not 
make much progress after they were rooted and planted outside. 
During the past month or six weeks they have grown luxuriantly, 
in fact too much so to be in the best condition for lifting and flower¬ 
ing profusely afterwards. We have found that plants of sturdy 
growth flower more freely than overgrown ones. The weather 
for some time past has favoured the development of large but soft 
foliage. 
For some years past we have been in the habit of changing the 
ground annually for these plants, but always selected for them a 
north but moderately light border in which old hotbed refuse has 
been freely incorporated. At the same time we have been careful 
not to use too much of this material, so that the plants will be 
sturdy instead of large and soft. Too much manure and leaf 
mould will result, especially in seasons like the present, in pro¬ 
ducing plants that are scarcely capable of supporting their own 
foliage. 
It will prove beneficial to the plants if they are checked by lift¬ 
ing without further delay. Early lifting will not only arrest the soft 
growth they are now making and induce them to form flower buds, 
but the plants have every chance of being thoroughly established 
before winter. The last is important if early flowers are needed, 
The Neapolitan varieties are the earliest to bloom, and two courses 
are open to those who grow Violets. Where they are needed as 
frequently as they can be produced a slight hotbed should be made 
at once in an open sunny position, and a frame placed over it. On 
the surface not less than 6 inches of soil should be placed. Select 
plants that are already showing plenty of flowers. Marie Louise 
is, perhaps, one of the best for autumn blooming. Lift them 
with moderately good balls of roots, and plant them fairly close 
together in the frame or frames provided for them, but avoid 
crowding, and the heat of the bed should be on the decline. A 
good soaking of tepid water should be given to start them, and 
by the aid of a gentle bottom heat they are soon established, 
and will not be long before they commence pushing up their 
flowers. The plants may be kept close and lightly shaded from 
the' sun for a few days, when plenty of air may be given after¬ 
wards to prevent their drawing up weakly. 
Where frame room cannot be devoted to as many as may be 
required good success can be attained by placing plants in boxes 
5 to 6 inches deep, leaving them outside until established, and 
afterwards placing them in light positions in vineries and Peach 
houses. It must be remembered, however, that Violets bear 
gentle forcing only, and that should always be conducted with 
free ventilation. In a close confined atmosphere they flower only 
poorly, and soon become a crowded mass of soft weak foliage. 
When needed in spring only, and two frames can be devoted to 
them, they should be placed in different positions, one where it will 
catch every ray of sunshine, and the other in a more northerly 
aspect; these then form a capital succession. The frames for these 
must be prepared and the plants placed into them at once. For 
these we place a few inches of old hotbed refuse at the base and 
then fill up to the depth of 9 inches or 1 foot with old potting soil, 
being careful that too much manure and leaf mould has not been 
mixed with it. If the heap at disposal is considered too light we 
invariably mix with it soil in which Melons or Tomatoes have 
grown. After a good watering and the plants have been established 
the lights are thrown off daily when favourable, and ventilation is 
also provided at night until the approach of frost. Frost appears 
to do Violets very little harm during the winter. The soil about 
ours was hard for weeks last winter, and we never remember plants 
having flowered better. 
The old Czar is still a valuable variety for frames and outside 
flowering in spring, and is much more fragrant than the double 
forms. After the frames have been filled the remaining plants may 
be lifted and planted in sunny positions for early flowering outside, 
while a good batch should be allowed to remain on a north border. 
It is always wise to plant the latter so that they can be left undis¬ 
turbed. Last year two or three hundred plants in this position 
flowered well for us when all others were over. 
It is a mistake to leave Violets on the same ground year after 
year ; they soon exhaust it, and then make puny growth and small 
flowers that have scarcely any stem. They pay for replanting 
annually in good soil, where they will make fairly vigorous growth 
and yield afterwards large blooms with several inches of stem.—B. 
JOHN LOVE AND HIS GARDEN. 
While driving in September from Bridge of Weir to Kilbarchan 
(Renfrewshire) we had begun to descend the hill above the latter town, 
when turning our eyes to the left we saw a wonderful crop of Apples, 
and found that the place was called Mount Pleasant. The present 
owner most obligingly escorted us around this fruitful orchard, and we 
soon found that what was to be seen from the highway was but a sample 
of the whole stock. In making inquiry we found that about sixty years 
since the substantial house had been built by one John Tarbet, an old 
soldier who had in his time been a bombardier at the taking of 
Martinique. He had an eye for a fine site anyhow, and we can fancy him, 
while the days were declin'ng, looking over the beautiful country around 
him and thinking how he could command with his artillery any radical 
rising which his keen political townsmen might be tempted to under¬ 
take. He planted fruit trees instead of batteries of cannon, and after 
his decease the place came to a relative, Mr. Climie, who continued the 
garden in cultivation, and his daughter married Mr. Love, the subject of 
our sketch. 
About the year 1840 the young couple came to reside there. With 
a large garden to keep in order the evening hours were spent at home. 
In spring time useless trees were regrafted with good bearing sorts, 
if possible several different kinds being put on each tree. The old Keswick 
Codlin, the more modern Stirling Castle, with the best of the purely 
local varieties as the Lochwinnoch Pippin and the Golden Leadington 
(a variety whose name was suggested by Dr. Hogg) were carefully 
inserted, and now this year are just loaded with fruit. A curious feature 
in grafting we observed, and which Mr. Love rejoices over yet, is his 
successful experiment of placing a Pear on a Hawthorn stock. The 
thorn is one of many stems, gnarled and twisted most curiously, while 
the Pear scion is inserted about 6 feet from the ground. To graft Plums 
on Thorn trees is not uncommon, but in another garden in Kilbarchan 
there is a Rowan Tree (Mountain Ash) with a Pear graft on it yielding 
even better results than this experiment at Mount Pleasant. Here we 
see the old Caledonian Plum in fruit on its own roots. Some years 
it is so overloaded as to resemble the trees we see in the Yale of 
Evesham, but this is not a productive year apparently with it. In this 
old garden of an acre, or thereby, the trees are thickly placed together, 
many now interwarped in their branches, while beneath them are 
Gooseberries and Currants galore. 
The soil is a rich, red, vegetable mould, sloping to the south, but fully 
exposed to all the winds that blow. The Rose succeeds to perfection, 
and old-fashioned border flowers were beautiful, from the Snowdrops 
of January and February, till the blue autumn Crocus of September 
were buried beneath a whirling cover of bright October’s leaves. 
All through the summer the busy bees of “ friend John” were gathering 
