JV'npn.st 29, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
175 
tire orate, about 4 inches high, and of a peculiar shade of green ; 
the leaves are about 2 feet in length, much plaited, the ground 
colour being green profusely ornamented with yellow spots. The 
scape is erect, from 18 inches to 2 feet in height, and towards 
the apex is home a raceme of about a dozen flowers, which 
are of a showy yellow colour ; the lip is fringed and streaked 
with reddish hrown on the front margin. The flowers open 
during the spring months, and continue in beauty for a very 
long time. 
The plant is easily grown into a good specimen, and it requires 
only the ordinary care bestowed upon stove plants. It enjoys an 
abundance of light and sunshine, yet, as its leaves are somewhat 
thin, it should be shaded through the hottest part of the day in 
•summer, in order to preserve its foliage intact, for they present a 
very bad appearance when scorched. If the plant is grown with 
-other Orchids it will thrive best at the cool end of the East India 
house or the warmest end of the Cattleya house. It is a terrestrial 
plant, and should be potted accordingly ; the soil we have found it 
to thrive best in is rough fibrous peat, good turfy light loam, and 
sharp sand thoroughly incorporated. The drainage must be good, 
and should be covered with a layer of sphagnum moss to prevent 
"the mould running into and choking it. A liberal supply of water 
-is necessary during the growing season, which must, however, be 
•considerably curtailed during winter, when, although much less 
is necessary, it should never become quite dry, or the leaves will 
^suffer and the plant become disfigured. At the time the spikes 
begin to appear the supply of water may be increased, as these 
require strength to develop their beauty. When the blooming 
season is over the plant begins to renew its strength, and this is 
"the best time to repot; if this is not necessary the upper portion of 
-the old soil should be removed and renewed.—B. S. Williams 
>{in Orchid, Album). 
ODONTOSLOSSUM ROSSI MAJUS. 
Plants that have been suspended at the warmest end of the 
Odontoglossum house since they flowered in October last have 
■completed their growth. At this season they are liable to start 
mgain unless they are removed to the coolest end of the house, or 
better still to a very cool airy position. This will retard them. They 
imust still be liberally supplied with water and shaded from bright 
•sunshine. We have found that no injury results from suspending 
■them under the shade of Vines, where the ventilators are open day 
and night. On established plants an autumn growth is not desir¬ 
able, and may with a little care be prevented. It is clear that this 
variety will bear without injury a very low temperature. When a 
■succession of flowers is required over a lengthened period of time 
some must be pushed into growth in a warmer atmosphere than is 
necessary for the general stock. The only drawback to this is the 
liability of the plants to make a second growth. Few Orchids with 
which I am acquainted yield a better return for the room they 
occupy and the labour required in cultivation. The flowers last 
well in a cut state, and are suitable for any purpose, especially for 
furnishing small vases. All our plants are grown in small shallow 
pans, 5 and 6 inches in diameter, and very little more than 2 inches 
-deep. A good layer of crocks is placed at the base, and the plants 
<potted in peat fibre and small lumps of charcoal, with a thin layer of 
moss on the surface. The plants are but slightly elevated, as they 
require very little rooting material, but what is given them should 
be open and sweet. From six to twelve good flowering pseudo¬ 
bulbs are grown in each pan.— Orchid Grower. 
EDIBLE FUNGI. 
There are few matters that the general public are more 
•deplorably ignorant about than that of fungi. While every rustic 
■knows the Mushroom, and considers an hour’s search well spent if he 
is rewarded with finding half a dozen, he may at the same time 
have passed over fifty funguses which, if he only knew to be non- 
poisonous, would be gladly gathered. But it is not only the rustic 
whose information is faulty. Among gardeners, who ought to be 
better informed on the subject, there is probably not one in a 
hundred who could gather a disb of edible fungi and have them 
cooked for his own dinner without grave misgivings as to results. 
This ought not to be. Which of us does not like a well-cooked 
juicy Mushroom ? Which of us, this side the Tweed at all events, 
for it is a well-known and rather extraordinary fact that they do not 
take kindly to them on the north of that famous river. I have 
frequently been told when advocating their merits that they would 
be “ geyan hard up afore they would eat a wheen wersh puddock 
stules,” a remark suggestive of poor cookery. The whole fungus 
family require not only to be well seasoned, but to be thoroughly 
well cooked. 
But for those who do enjoy the above-named luxury isn’t it 
just a little hard that we are denied entering on a more extensive 
field of fungology, all for want of a little information ? 
I have often wondered why some enterprising nurseryman did 
not issue a coloured plate of five or six of the best and commonest 
edible fungi ; and a like number, and those the most closely 
resembling the good, of poisonous or useless varieties, as a safe¬ 
guard, with names and brief description. Such a plate would be 
likely to hang for years in many a gardener’s office or kitchen, and 
in many a country home—not only for annual reference, but as a 
perpetual advertisement of the firm who sent it out.—A. C. W. 
PHYSOSIPHON LODDIGESI. 
At one of the meetings held by the Floral Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society at Chiswick this year, Mr. F. Gr. Tautz of Studley 
House, Hammersmith, showed a plant of the peculiar little Orchid 
represented in the woodcut (fig. 24)—namely, Physosiphon Loddiges". 
It is not altogether devoid of attraction, as it is graceful in habit, and 
ts slender spikes of flowers are freely produced. The generic name is 
