'October 24, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
351 
•stimulants every time water is needed. Soot water in a clear state 
-and liquid manure made from cow manure, given alternately, will 
prove beneficial. Aphides are troublesome after the flower spikes 
have attained 18 inches or more high. The best means of destroy¬ 
ing them is by slight fumigations. This plant will bear retarding 
after the flower spike is once visible in order to form a succession. 
If they are removed gradually to a temperature of 50° to 55° no 
harm will result. While in a lower temperature water must be 
given with the utmost care or the roots will perish. Few Orchids 
are more serviceable than this for conservatory decoration. When 
grouped with other decorative plants their noble spikes of bloom 
are most conspicuous. 
CAL AN TEES. 
These are often seriously injured in their last stages of growth 
hy withholding water suddenly and ripening their foliage pre¬ 
maturely. The foliage certainly looks unsightly for a time, but 
this cannot be avoided, and is no reason for removing it in an un¬ 
natural manner. The supply of water must be gradually decreased 
•until the whole of the foliage has turned yellow, when it can be 
removed and water withheld altogether. Weak stimulants may be 
■given until the foliage has advanced to maturity. Those for late 
flowering are still growing freely, and should have a light warm 
•position near the glass. They will do well on a shelf in a tempera¬ 
ture of 65° now that the soil will not dry so rapidly. We have 
Tound that they do better, consequent on becoming better ripened 
-in this position than when arranged together on a bed or stage. In 
the latter they shade one another and prevent full light penetrating 
to their pseudo-bulbs, while on a shelf they are fully exposed. 
DENDR03IUM: WARDIANUM. 
A few flowers are always acceptable for buttonholes, bouquets, 
and small glasses, and therefore we prefer to have a few plants in 
flower to maintain a succession in preference to a large number of 
plants flowering at the same time. Some that flowered early last 
;year are already starting into growth in a cool structure. The 
flower buds are also very prominent. A few of the most forward 
•are being placed in an intermediate temperature, and will be 
allowed to come into flower. The plants should be watered with 
great care, giving them no more than is really necessary to keep 
Them fresh and plump until the new growths commence forming 
Toots, when the supply must be gradually increased. Keep plants 
-slowly moving from the time they start into growth, but it is un¬ 
wise to hurry them, or they will make their growth and have to 
-ripen it in spring instead of summer. A few small specimens of 
T). nobile may also be started in the same manner. For this 
•purpose young plants in from 5 to 7-inch pots are decidedly the 
f)est. With a little care and forethought the flowering season of 
These Dendrobes may be considerably extended. 
DENDROBIUM DEVONIANTTM. 
For a few years after this variety is imported it appeal’s to grow 
freely and do well. It then appears to dwindle and annually 
become weaker. Frequently the plants are seriously injured by 
allowing them to flower before they are established. Strong 
imported plants usually flower profusely, and when the flowers are 
Temoved almost directly they make their appearance they grow 
more strongly than when allowed to flower. The plants at first also 
produce growths on the stem freely, and if these are removed and 
•growth induced from the base they all the sooner become 
established, and often do better than those that are allowed to 
'become a mass of small growths. This Orchid needs the most 
•careful treatment in ripening its pseudo-bulbs. Water must be 
given carefully and the plants allowed time to ripen thoroughly up 
To their ends. The best results follow thorough ripening in the 
‘house in which they have made their growth before removal to 
•cooler quarters. —Okciiid Grower. 
THE BULBOPHYLLEMS. 
Though at least 100 species of Bulbophyllums have been de¬ 
scribed by botanists few are known to cultivators, and those rank 
•chiefly as varieties. Some are extremely interesting structurally, 
and prominent amongst these is B. barbigerum, which has been 
thus described by Bindley :—“ The lip is one of the most extra¬ 
ordinary organs known, even amongst Orchidaceous plants. It is a 
long, narrow, flexuose, sharp-pointed body, closely covered with a 
yellow felt ; just within its point is a deep purple beard of exceed¬ 
ingly fine hairs ; on the under side, at a little distance from the 
point of the lip, is another such beard ; and besides these there is, 
tat the end of the lip, a brush, consisting of very long purple 
Threads, so exceedingly delicate that the slightest disturbance of 
the air sets them in motion, when they wave gently to and fro, 
like a tuft of threads cut from a spider’s web. Some are of the 
same thickness throughout, others terminate in an oblong club, so 
that when the hairs are waving in the air (and I do not know that 
they are ever entirely at rest) a part floats gracefully and slowly, 
while others are compelled by the weight of the glandular extremi¬ 
ties to a more rapid oscillation. Nor is this all. The lip itself is 
articulated with the column by such a very slight joint that to 
breathe upon it is sufficient to produce a rocking movement so 
conspicuous and protracted that one is really tempted to believe 
FIG. 42.— BULBOPHl'LLUM UIIBELLATUII. 
that there must be something of an animal nature infused into this 
most unplant-like production.” 
Most of the species have small flowers, but B. siamense is 
an exception to this, as its flowers are nearly 3 inches in 
diameter, pale yellow striped with purplish brown. B. Lobbi also 
has large flowers, deep yellow, spotted at the back with purple. 
B. reticulatum is also attractive both for its foliage and flowers, the 
former beautifully veined with a dark green on a lighter ground, 
the flowers white striped and spotted with purple. B. umbellatum 
(fig. 42) is also worth a place with the others, the colour being 
