140 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 13, 1885. 
will now refer to them briefly. The Cattleya house is 30 feet in length 
and 13 feet in width. One plant of 0. Sanderiana was bearing a spike of 
six flowers, and the individual blooms measured 9 inches across. The 
colour was uncommonly rich, and the specimen altogether a fine one. 
There were some scores of fine healthy plants of C. Mendeli in flower, 
and they bad a gorgeous appearance ; indeed I never saw so many fine 
Mendelis in flower at once or in one house, and this is a special and 
much-valued variety there. The stock did not represent all that had been 
bought in, as many had been weeded out from imported batches as they 
bloomed for the first time, and it was only the cream which had been 
retained, which may account for the good impression they made on me. 
S >me of them 10 inches across were slightly shaded on the petals, while 
others were as white as snow, with very deep-coloured lips, and these we 
admired most. There were some hundreds of blooms, and when massed 
together the effect was quite unique. There was a good batch of Cypri- 
pedium Yeitchi in this house, the plants being remarkable for the very 
rich colour and fine health of the foliage and the numerous blooms each 
one was bearing. Laelia pnrpurata was bearing six large blooms on a 
spike. Odontoglossum vexillarium was well represented, one plant, pro¬ 
bably one of the best of them, bearing eighteen spikes of bloom, but 
most of the Odontoglossums were to be seen in the house devoted to this 
genus, which contained about 2000 plants of different varieties, O. Alex¬ 
andras being largely represented. Many of the plants were growing in 
shallow pans, and Mr. Hill, the able cultivator, thinks it is quite im¬ 
possible to overdo them with drainage. In another house we saw many 
plants of Phalacnopsis amabilis and P. Schilleriana, not in flower, but with 
capital foliage, large, clean, and healthy. A plant of Saccolabium guttatum 
in this house was bearing thirteen large spikes. There was also a large 
batch of Cypripedium Spicerianum, the plants being grown in shallow 
pans with plenty of drainage, and the foliage was compact, abundant, 
bread and healthy. A plant of Cypripedium niveum, which was growing 
in a pan, had twenty-one open blooms, and this, like several more of the 
best varieties in the class, were exceedingly good plants. So far as I 
could see and understand, the system of growing Orchids there is a 
thoroughly common-sense one, extremes of all kind*, such as very high 
temperatures and the like, being avoided, and it would be quite impossible 
to meet with a better managed collection of these valuable plants. Master 
and man take the deepest interest in them, and it is pleasing to record the 
success which has attended their efforts in selecting good varieties and 
cultivating the same.—M. M. 
AUTUMN-SOWN ANNUALS. 
From the middle of April to the middle of June is always our worst 
time in the flower garden, whether its ornaments be planted in masses, or 
only in the mixed way. Annuals are uncertain in summer, as we all 
know, and few people like to trust to more than a very few sorts of them 
for keeping the beds full for any length of time, too, the first difficulty a 
new beginner meets with. He is no gardener, but he wants flowers, and 
would like to try his hand at something cheap to get experience. No 
plants are cheaper than annuals, and from the present time to the first 
week in September is the time to sow a number of them. 
When the beds and borders of a mixed flower garden are dressed up in 
the spring, and all the established plants have sticks or labels set to mark 
the places, all the spare ground ought to be immediately filled with the 
different kinds of annuals that were sown in the autumn, for they are as 
easily removed and replanted as Cabbages, and coming into flower just 
at the time we are most in need of their aid, it is our own fault if we do 
not come up to the mark six weeks earlier every year than most of us are 
now in the habit of doing. 
Like all other crops, annuals sown in the autumn are liable to be 
injured by the weather. Avery mild and late autumn is much against 
them, because they grow too rank, and are very liable to be cut off by a 
very severe winter. The soil should be light and poor, and the situation 
an open airy spot, away from where fallen leaves are likely to gather in 
heaps by the wind. This gathering together is the very worst thing I 
know of for any seedlings ; for if such quantities of leaves rest on the seed 
bed for a week, the little seedlings are either smothered or made so tender 
and blanched that the fi-rat dry wind or cold night finishes them. The soil 
should not be dug more than 3 inches deep, and the seed should be sown 
thin ; a deep bed is likely to encourage the seedlings to grow too fast and 
bulky, and so make them more liable to be cut with frost; and if they are 
thick in the bed, the one helps to draw up the other too weak and spindly. 
Like many other causes of success in gardening, attention to these little 
matters is more essential than great skill or practical knowledge. 
The best thing to cover seed-beds in the autumn is one-half light soil 
and one-balf finely sifted coal ashes, from which the very fine dust and the 
rough cinders are taken ; the first few rains will wash down all the finer 
particles of this compost for the roots to work in, and the surface is left 
gritty and porous, so that the stems and collars of the seedlings have free 
air and elbow room, instead of being jammed in a sour crust of rank earth, 
as would be their condition if they were sown on a rich, strong soil. A 
west aspect is by far the best for them, as then they are less liable to 
suffer from hard frosty nights, followed by very sunny mornings, or what 
we call extremes of weather. New seed of many kinds of annuals is not 
so good to sow in the autumn as old seeds, because the newer the seeds the 
more strong and healthy the seedlings, and, therefore the more liable tr 
tuffer from a hard or long winter. 
Red and white Clarkias are well worth growing, and no winter kills 
them when self-sown. Collinsia bicolor and C. grandiflora are the two 
best of that family ; they also are hardy enough to stand most winters. 
The two yellow Escbscholtzias are a? hardy as Wheat or Barley, and 
though not annuals they do much better if sown and treated as such, first 
in September, and secondly about the middle of April ; if they are to be 
transplanted, it should be done when they are quite young. The blue and 
sp >lted Nemophila insignis and N. maculata, also N. atomaiia, pass over 
almost any winter, and come into bloom before April is out. Eucharidium 
grandiflorum ought to be grown, and the plants stand a smart winter. 
Godetias are as good as they are gay, and as hardy as a Scotch Crocus, 
and they will be the brighter in flower, and more manageable in plaut if 
they are planted in poor soil rather than rich ; but, recollect, if poor, it 
must be deep and well worked. Stinted growth is quite a different thing 
from subdued growth caused by sandy soil well tilled. The flowers of all 
the Godetias show brighter when the plants are in this subdued growth. 
Gilia tricolor is hardy and very attractive ; this and Collinsia bicolor are 
the two best lilac. Erysimum Perofskianum, when sown in September, 
planted out in the beginning of March, and trained down to the surface of 
the bed as it grows, comes into bloom at the beginning of May, and lasts 
till midsummer, or longer, and, so treated, is one of the very fine-t beds 
ever seen in May ; but if allowed to grow its own way you might just as 
well have a bed of seed Turnips. A second sowing of it the first week iu 
April, and again about the end of May, would carry it right through the 
season till the frost came. Six or seven plants of it put into pots about 
the new year would come in finely for the greenhouse in April ; but it 
will not stand forcing—the protection of a greenhouse or pit is as much 
as it can safely endure. LastheDia californica and Limnanthes Douglasii 
are two yellowish kinds, which are grown for making up this colour in 
May. Bartonia aurca, a beautiful clear yellow flower on a weedy-looking 
plant, sown now, and transplanted into very poor, light soil early in 
April, will flower in May, and be much better than under any other 
treatment. The flowers are as rich a3 those of Allamanda ; but the plant 
is no better than a Dock in good soil. Leptosiphon densiflorus, a very 
dwarf lilac, or purple-and-white-mixed flower, stands the winter well. 
Lupinus nanus has quite a different character when allowed to grow on 
slowly all the winter. It blooms from May to the middle or end of 
August from seeds sown about the middle or end of September, provided 
the plants are not allowed to ripen any seeds. Another sowing, about 
the first week in May, would carry it on to the middle of October. Silene 
penlula, S. compacta, and S. Schafta are the best of the Catchflies, and 
are always best from autumn sowing. The Virginian Stock flowers in 
April if sown now, and all the varieties of the branching Larkspur will 
bloom most part of the summer, if sown earlier in September. Corn¬ 
flowers (Centaurea cyanus) should be sown now for cut flowers.— Flower 
Gardener. 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
August 11th. 
A varied but not extensive display of plants, flowers, fruits, and 
vegetables constituted au interesting m seting on Tuesday last, the chief 
features of which were Mr. T. S. Ware’s superb collection of hardy flowers, 
Messrs. Kelvvay’s Gladioli, and Messrs. Rivers’ Gooseberries. 
SHOW OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 
The prizes offered for these did not bring a very strong competition, and 
several of the classes were quite unrepresented. The best competition and 
the best plants were those entered in the class for six Caladiums, in which 
Messrs. J. Laing & Co., Forest Hill, won first honours with well-grown 
specimens of some of the most effective varieties in cultivation. The plants 
were 3 to 4 feet in diameter, with la ,- ge, well-developed, and highly coloured 
foliage, the varieties represented being as follows :—Mithridate, red and 
green ; Elsa, white with green veins and red blotches ; O natum, green with 
red veins: Candidum, white with green veins, very distinct and good; 
Madame Fritz Koechlin, white with green and red veins : and Ferdinand de 
Lesseps, green with a red centre. Mr. Chadwick, Hmger Hill House Gardens, 
Ealing, and Mr. H. James, Lower Norwood, followed, showing smaller plants, 
but also of good varieties. Fuchsias were not of great merit, and second 
pnze3 only were awarded to Mr. Lambert, E rindale Lodge, Herne Hill, for 
six and four plants, the former standards fairly well flowered and the latter 
dwarfer compact plants, the best of the varieties in each case being Con- 
spicua, Warrior Queen, and Scarcity. The same exhibitor was first with 
twelve plants, small but healthy examples, Mr. H. James following. 
Of the cut flowers the most important exhibit was the collection of 
Gladioli from Messrs. K lway & Son, Langport, Somerset, which comprised 
100 spikes, nearly all distinct varieties, massive compact specimens, with 
large brilliantly coloured and varied flowers. Several varieties were new 
and were honoured with certificates, as will be se -n in our list of certificated 
plants at the end of this report. Th sa w re Milton, Galatea, Abas, and 
Lorna, while of others not so distinguished the following were especially 
worthy of note :—Irex, cream, centre crimson, with red streaks ; Queen 
Mary, white, crimson ceniral b’otch; Caleiphon, salmon scarlet, white 
centre ; Joseph Broom, white, streaked withc imson; Lady Carrington, very 
pale pink, a charmingly delicate vadety; and Opiter, deep scarlet, white 
centre veins. The Asters showed the effects of the weather in their com¬ 
paratively email size, but they were fresh and bright in colour. The only 
comp°tition was in the cda3s for twelve Chrysanthemum or Pmonv-flowered 
vari-ties. Mr. A. S. Price, Park side House, Ewell, Surrey ; Mr. J. S. Cooper, 
Windhill, Bishop’s Stor'ford; Major Scott, Wray Park, Reigate; and Mr. 
W. Smith, Bishop’s Stortford, taking the prizes in the order named, the 
last two having equal third prizes. M \ T. S. Ware secured the prizes for 
Hollyhocks, their twelve stemi of double varieties being exceptionally fine, 
the blooms large and the colours rich. 
Vegetables .—Prizes were offered by the Society for four Tomatoes 
in pots, Mr. Chadwick be'ng the only exhibitor, being awarded the 
first prize for fairly well-fruited examples of Sutton’s Earliest of All 
and Reading Perfection. Messrs. Sutton & Som, Reading, also offered 
prizes for three dishes of Tomatoes, twelve fruits to form a dish 
