April 8, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
269 
they were previously growD. He says they make much stronger roots and 
leaves, do not lose their foliage so readily, and flower much more freely 
in the cooler house. That pest the Cattleya fly has given trouble in the 
house named, and it has only been by cutting away all young growths 
Fig. 47.—Plant house at Highbury, Birmingham. 
showing any signs of containing the grub that it has been exterminated, 
Happily this has been accomplished, and the plants are fast recovering 
from the injury they received. On one occasion as many as a thousand 
growths were cut away infested with this pest, which is one of the worst 
Orchid growers have to contend with wherever it gets established. Some 
of the best specimen Cattleyas are C. Mendeli with eleven and sixteen 
growths, C. Mossiae with eighteen growths, C. Trianae with six to eight 
growths, C. Percivaliana, C. gigas, C. exoniensis, and many others all 
equally healthy. Laslias purpurata and elegans with their white varieties 
are thoroughly at home, one example of L. purpurata having had thirty- 
nine flowers, and they are showing well now. Cattleyas Dowiana and 
C. Sanderiana are in good health, the former suspended from the roof in 
pans. 
Two smaller houses are next reached, one (8) being in two divisions, 
chiefly for table plants at the warm end, Calanthes and Phalsenopses at the 
othrr. The adjoining one of similar size (9) is the Orchid show house, 
whither the best of the Orchids in flower are brought from the other 
houses and tastefully arranged with Ferns, and as the end of the house 
facing the door is fitted with a mirror a very pleasing eSect is produced 
in the same way as Mr. Bull arranges his plants at Chelsea every year. 
Some of the most notable plan's flowering at the present time are as fol¬ 
lows :—Cattleya Trianas, C. Trianm Corningi, Cymbidium Lowi, Calanthe 
Regnieri, C. Turneri, C. vestita oculata gigantea, Lm'.ia anceps, L. albida, 
Lycaste Skinneri, Dendrobium Wardianum, D. nobile, D. primulinum, 
D. Cambritteeanum, D. Pierardi, D. superbiens, Cypripedium niveum, C, 
Lowi, C. Stonei, Odontoglossum Alexam'rm, 0. Pescatorei, 0. maculatum, 
O. Rossi majus, Oocidium crispum, and Cymbidium eburneum. The large 
houses (10 and 11) are occupied with Azaleas, Camellias, and greenhouse 
Rhododendrons, of which some fine trained specimens are grown, as well 
as smaller useful examples. Houses 12, 13, and 14 are devoted to Pelar¬ 
goniums, Cinerarias, Adiantums and miscellaneous stove plants. A few 
Orchids are grown in Nos. 15 and 16, the latter containing some handsome 
specimens of Lselia anceps, Cypripedium Schlimi, Ccelogyne cristata, 
Odontoglossums vextllarium and Phalmnopsis. The last house of the 
range (17) is chiefly employed for Primulas in win'er. On the opposite 
side of the corridor is a convenient north house, 64 feet long and 10 feet 
wide, where the Odontoglossums, mainly O. Alexandra), are grown and 
now throwing up a great number of spikes. Masdevallias are also grown 
in large numbers, representing the best species and varieties, comprising 
a good proportion of M. Harrvana, M. Veitchi, and others. The potting- 
shed (19) is heated and fitted with every convenience, completing this very 
compact and excellent range. 
Mr. Cooper has proved the advantages of free ventilation for all the 
Orchids under his charge, and the system adopted at Highbury is a good 
one. especially where the houses are in blocks, like they are there. The 
air is conveyed up each side of the house in channels, and can be admitted 
at pleasure immediately under the pipes, so that it is warmed before it 
comes in contact with the plants. By this means constant ventilation 
can be provided whenever the weather is favourable, and during the 
season of growth air is admitted very freely at the top of the house as 
well, care being taken, however, to insure a good supply of moisture in 
the atmosphere. The other houses already incidentally referred to are 
occupied with Vines and Peaches, from which good crops of fruit are 
annually obtained, while the garden generally is neat and well kept.— 
L. Castle. 
.HINTS ON OKCIIID CULTURE. 
(Continued from page 251.) 
SELECTIONS OF ORCHIDS. 
The number of genera of Orchids recognised in the latest authori¬ 
tative work, Hooker and Bentham’s “ Genera Plantarum,” is 334, 
which comprise a total of about 5000 species. Of these probably 2000 
are in cultivation, but very few collections comprise 1000 species, and 
the majority are confined to much smaller numbers, especially where 
quantities of one sort like Odontoglossum Alexandra are grown. The 
variation in habit, floral form, and colours is very great, and in no 
generally cultivated family do we get such a remarkable range. 
The majority of Orchids are comparatively dwarf, and in some cases 
dimiuutive, as in the Bulbophyllums, the Australian B. minutissi- 
mum, and a Bornean species found by Dr. Beccari having pseudo¬ 
bulbs one-twelfth of an inch in length and breadth, and are the 
smallest Orchids known. From these we get many gradations to the 
stem-producing Vandas and Vanillas, and then by a great advance to 
Erythorchis or Galeola, which has bare scrambling stems sometimes 
exceeding 100 feet in length in its native habitats. The majority of 
cultivated Orchids produce pseudo-bulbs, and are either evergreen, as 
in the Cattleyas and Odontoglossums, or deciduous as in the Calanthes. 
The stem-bearing Orchids of the Aerides and Vanda type, with the 
leaves arranged in a two-ranked manner on each side of the stem, are 
all evergreen, as also are the non-pseudo-bulbous Orchids of the Cypr>- 
pedium type, except where these have tuberous roots, when they are 
usually deciduous, as in the North American forms of that genus. 
These peculiarities of habit must be all taken as indications of the 
treatment required, and, as previously pointed out, the deciduous 
species should all have a good period of rest. 
Some of the most useful genera to the cultivator are the fol¬ 
lowing :—Aerides, Saccolabium and Vanda, mostly small flowers, 
soft tinted, in racemes, and fragrant ; Angraecura, principally white 
or cream-coloured flowers, varying much in size, A. sesquipedale 
being the largest ; Calanthe, rosy crimson and white, free useful 
plants ; Cattleyas and Ltelias, showy Orchids, with large flowers 
