March 4, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
177 
vallias these are very suitable, but for taller plants and in 
warmer houses side lights are advisable, as they give greater space for 
arranging them and admit more light. A span-roofed house intended 
for a large miscellaneous collection of Orchids should be in two or 
more divisions according to its size, and the kinds of plants that 
are to be cultivated having the warmest division at the boiler end, 
and the coolest can be employed for Odontoglossums or plants in 
ower, as the blooms last much longer in a lower temperature and 
less moisture. A well built lean-to frame against the side of such a 
house can be used for Odontoglossums if sufficient piping be supplied 
o prevent the temperature falling below 40° in the winter, and in 
several gardens they are so grown with excellent results, the plants 
being placed upon a bed of sifted ashes and carefully looked after to 
prevent the depredations of slugs. 
When houses are set apart for Orchids the staging to be employed 
requires some consideration. The plants need a constant moisture 
round the roots and foliage when in growth, and cool-house Orchids 
must have it at all time3. This is provided in various ways. In some 
cases the stage is constructed of slate slabs with iron supports, and 
upon it is placed a layer of fine pebbles, spar, shells, small coke, or 
coal, the chief objection to the two last being their dull appearance, 
though they are now much employed in nurseries. Whatever 
material is selected it must be kept constantly moist by syringing or 
otherwise, and the plants are either stood direct upon the material or 
elevated on inverted pots. In Messrs. J. Laing & Co.’s nursery 
corrugated zinc is now generally employed as staging for Orchids 
and other plants, being covered with a layer like that described. It 
is very durable, and forms a use¬ 
ful storehouse of moisture, while 
preventing any undue accumula¬ 
tion. Open wooden stages are 
frequently placed over the solid 
stages and the plants arranged 
on these, where, if the supports 
are isolated by means of little 
cups kept filled with water, as is 
now practised in some of the best 
collections, there is no danger 
from slugs, woodlice, or other 
pests of that character unless 
they are introduced in the soil 
with the plants. In warm houses 
the lower stages are often planted 
with Panicum, small Ferns, Sela- 
ginellas, &c., which have a pleas¬ 
ing appearance and serve more¬ 
over to preserve a healthily 
moist atmosphere. They are 
sometimes objected to as har¬ 
bouring insects, but with the 
double stage there is nothing to 
be feared in that respect. For 
uch houses as that at Oldfield, Bickley, where the Phalsenopses are 
early all suspended from the roof, it is a great improvement and 
very beneficial. When central stages are employed they are usually 
of open lattice shelves, over tanks or beds of some material, old 
leaves being occasionally used as the moisture-holding substance. 
In many houses, especially those for Odontoglossums, tanks are 
constructed on each side of the path under the stages to serve as 
reservoirs of rain water, and to provide a continual supply of moisture 
in the air. If intended merely for the latter purpose they are 
usually only shallow troughs, 4 to 6 inches deep. Paths can be 
formed as desired, those of red or ornamental tiles having the best 
appearance, but those of any loose material, or even of the earth 
tself, are equally good as regards the health of the plants. 
From the foregoing remarks it will be seen that houses can be 
easily altered and fitted to suit Orchids ; but in some gardens it may 
not be convenient to go to that length, and the houses must be 
utilised as they are. This need not deter anyone from commencing 
the culture of Orchids, for some of the best can be grown with other 
plants. For instance, the ordinary stove will accommodate a far 
greater number of tropical Orchids than is usually supposed. Vineries 
or Peach houses where forcing is proceeding exactly suit numbers, 
such as Dendrobium nobile ; and a warm conservatory, which in some 
places is maintained at a temperature intermediate between that of a 
stove and a greenhouse, is admirably adapted for many Orchids 
when in flower ; and we have seen some extremely pretty effects 
produced by the tasteful grouping of Dendrobiums, Oncidinms, 
Odontoglossums, Cypripediums, and even Phalasnopses, with Ferns 
and graceful foliage plants. At Furzedown, Tooting, the residence of 
0. Seeley, Esq, the gardener, Mr. Laing, has for many years 
made groups of this character a special feature in the conserva¬ 
tory early in the season. Cucumber and Melon houses, Pine pits, 
forcing houses, propagating houses, warm frames, and other structures 
afford abundant space and convenience for the majority of heat- 
loving Orchids, the only house really unsuited for such plants being 
the greenhouse, in which the atmosphere is too dry and the plants too 
much exposed to draughts to thrive. 
An instance was given some time ago in the Journal of Horticul¬ 
ture, showing how an amateur had succeeded in growing Orchids in a 
small case erected on a lead outside a window, which is worth notice 
as illustrating how easily Orchids can be accommodated. A diagram 
of this is given in fig. 30 which will be understood from the following 
explanation : a, the case 6 feet long by 3 feet wide ; b, the window 
of the sitting room ; c, glass door with 6 inches between it and the 
window, in order to prevent damp entering the room ; cl, d, venti¬ 
lators ; e, body of the case 6 inches deep, filled with sand, the bottom 
being well drained ; /, /, hot-water pipes. The ventilators were 
wooden shutters 18 inches long and 6 inches wide, the space opposite 
these inside being covered with a woollen net on a frame to filter the 
air as it passed through. In this miniature structure with liberal 
supplies of water the owner succeeded in growing the following 
Orchids in a smoky district of London. Aerides crispum, A. virens, 
Aganisia pulchella, Brassavola acaulis, Broughtonia sanguinea, 
Calanthe vestita, Camarotis purpurea, Coelogyne cristata ; Den¬ 
drobiums formosum, Lowi, pulchellum, Jenkinsi ; Huutleya margi- 
nata, Laelicpsis domingensis, Peristeria elata, Phalsenopsis amabilis 
and P. grandiflora, Saccolabium curvifolium and miniatum, Sobralia 
macrantha, Sophronitis grandiflora, Stanhopeas aurea, insignis and 
tigrina, and Vanda suavis.— An Amateur. 
(To be continued.) 
SOME SINGLE BOSES AS DECORATIVE PLANTS. 
[An article by Mr. T. W. Girdlestone in the “ Rosarian’s Year Book.”] 
( Continued from page 168.) 
Mr. Baker’s group VI., bringing together spinosissima and Alpina (the 
thornless Bose), is rather a satire on the classification of plants merely by 
general external appearances. I must own to a decided preference for the 
Touch-me-not Bose all set with little wilful thorns over the plausible in- 
sinuting alpina (or pyrenaica). A good plant of the burnet Bose in full 
bloom is a “ charming sight to see,” but though when cut fresh and young 
a bunch of Alpine Boses is pretty and very fragrant, the flowering is too 
desultory to be ever very effective on the tree, while nothing short of an 
earthquake, or at least a general upheaval of rocks, will secure the eviction 
of its suckers from any Alpine garden in which Bosa alpina may have been 
domiciled. 
R. Ecse, with its brown stems covered with equal prickles, appears a 
very characteristic plant, but I have not yet seen it flower; and a definite 
position is hardly yet assigned either to it or R. Beggeriana nigrescens, a 
slender growing but vigorous plant, producing freely numerous delicate 
white blossoms, which are very effective among the graceful bluish-green 
foliage, and which are followed by brilliant little heps like waxwork. 
Rosa canina (IS.) may truly be called the slave of the Rose family, and 
like Cinderella, is only thought of in work-a-day garb, and is unquestion¬ 
ably sat upon. It is designated by the contemptuous name of dog, and then 
dragged out from the hedgerows to be the standard-bearer of Queen Rosa’s 
army ; it is cut to pieces to support the mounted infantry that they may 
achieve glorious victories, and be decorated with medals on the tented 
field; uniform drills are the rule for its very seedlings till they are drafted 
into the line for active service with the colours ; moreover, it undoubtedly 
helped to originate many garden varieties, while some of its own variations 
are very pretty; and yet hardly anyone seems to think it deserving of a 
place even in the wildest of wild gardens. The versatile Gerard, in his 
quaint and gossiping Herbal, can hardly condescend so much as to mention 
poor R. canina, “ a plant so common and well-knowne, that it were to small 
purpose to use many words in the description thereof; for even children 
with great delight eat the berries thereof when they be ripe, make chains 
and other prettie gewgawes of the fruit; cookes and gentlewomen make 
tartB and such-like dishes for pleasure thereof, and therefore this shall 
suffice for the description.” (They must have had good digestions in those 
days, when it was possible to sharpen an appetite by botanising on the site 
of the present barracks, and gathering R. pimpinellifolia “in a pasture as 
you goe from a village hard by London, called Knightsbridge unto Fulham, 
a village thereby; ” for the old Surgeon repeats that “ the fruit when it is 
ripe maketh most pleasant meats and banqueting dishes, as tarts and such¬ 
like; the making whereof I commit to the cunning cooke, and teeth to eate 
them in the rich man’s mouth ! ”) Another aggravation to which R. canina 
is subjected is the treatment of its different forms. This Rose has gone 
into variations literally by the hundred, to try and obtain horticultural 
recognition, but without success. For as soon as it has elaborated a fresh 
attraction and appears in the glory of deeper colour, larger flowers, downy 
leaves, or what not, someone is sure to be ready with a sesquipedalian 
name of probably as many consecutive consonants as his own patronymic, 
and we are indulged with the “discovery of a new species 1 ” The poor 
dog can gain neither credit nor admission any way. Some years ago, when 
a crowded train reached Cologne, certain English passengers, engrained with 
the black dust of the hot night journey, immediately started off to get a 
bathe, their German fellow-travellers, whose demands on the water supply 
were—well, more Teutonic—promising to keep their seats for them in the 
compartment. But when the bathers returned several shades lighter in 
colour, and radiant in clean collars, the exact mind of the Teuton refused to 
admit their identity with the whilom grimy companions, and informed 
them that they must find room elsewhere, that compartment being reserved ! 
So that their smartened exterior nearly cost the renovated Englishmen their 
seats in the train. This trying to make a specific distinction between a 
