March M, 1SS9. J ' 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
213 
varieties to sell to beginners to form collections. I would advise 
beginners to try old varieties to begin with, not that they would 
have mueh chance in winning with them on the exhibition table, 
but that they might gain the experience of how to grow Auriculas 
at a less cost than by purchasing new varieties. 
Another mistake “ J. M. ” makes when he says the standard of 
excellence has been laid down a hundred years. In “ Maddock’s 
Florists’ Directory,” published in 1810, which I have before me, 
the tube was only one-sixth the diameter of the pip. which he will 
find is too small ; the standard now is one-third the diameter. 
Perhaps he also knows so much of the seedling raisers of 130 years 
ago. I shall be only too pleased if he would furnish us with a list 
of the flowers they grew and what part of the country they grew 
ihem in. It would, I have no doubt, be interesting reading.— 
Wm. Bolton, Warrington. 
THOUGH one of the small flowered and small growing species of 
Phalrenopsis, this elegant Orchid has found favour with the few 
•cultivators -who have yet had a chance of seeing or possessing it. 
The plant was found by Mr. F. W. Burbidge in the Sunda Isles, 
when he was travelling for Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons, and bears the 
name of the discoverer’s wife. An admirable coloured representation 
of it appeared in the second volume of the “ Orchid Album,” and 
Mr. B. S. Williams thus describes the habit and flowers of the 
plant“ The leaves are deflexed, distichous, ligulate, acute, glossy, 
and obscurely striate. The flowers grow in a lateral drooping 
raceme, and are about 1 j inch across ; the oblong bluntish sepals 
and the somewhat broader petals are white, each marked with 
about six transverse bars of chestnut brown, the basal blotches 
being amethyst ; the lip, which has the middle lobe obovate 
oblong apiculate, convex, and plane, not pilose, is of a rich deep 
magenta-purple margined with white.” 
dendrobium: undulatum. 
At the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on February 
12th last, G. C. Raphael, 
Esq., Castle Sill, Engle- 
field Green (gardener, Mr. 
Swan), exhibiteda raceme 
of this peculiarly distinct 
Australian Dendrobium. 
The sepals and petals are 
narrow, yellowish brown, 
much twisted and undu¬ 
lated at the margin, the 
lip yellowish, with a few 
darker veins and mauve 
edges in the centre. The 
species does not seem to 
be much known at present, 
for it does not appear in 
fig. 31.—dendrobium undulatum. Messrs. Yeitch’s mono¬ 
graph, recently published. 
It cannot be claimed as one of the most useful of the genus, but it 
as interesting as a curiosity. 
VINE CULTURE IN POTS. 
As the above subject is so rarely touched upon in the gardening 
papers a few hints may not be out of place if they only prove 
of interest to a few readers. To grow a good pot Yine in one 
season no time must be lost, especially at the beginning of the 
year. In saving wood to grow young Vines avoid strong coarse 
shoots. Choose rather the round and medium sized wood, with as 
little pith as possible. Eyes from early forced Vines are the best, 
not only because they are well ripened, but also the buds in the 
natural course of the season are more easily excited to start early. 
In cutting up the eyes, an inch or a little more is long enough, 
taking care to select the plump bud^ and also to discard those that 
have or had a strong lateral growth against the bud. The best 
time for potting, I think, is the middle of December, the soil to 
be used consisting of two kinds, half the pot filled with one kind 
and the remaining half with the other. The soil for the bottom 
half of the pot should be of fresh loam chopped small enough for 
4-inch pots, with a liberal admixture of sand and a little leaf soil. 
Be careful not to chop the loam too small, as large pieces can be 
pulled smaller by the potter at the time of potting. To fill the 
remaining half of the pot good sifted soil in equal quantities of loam, 
leaf soil, and sandis suitable. The bud should not be covered too deep, 
taking care not to make the bottom compost very hard. They should 
be plunged in cocoa-nut fibre in a bed with a gentle bottom heat of 
say 60° for the first week or so, and gradually increasing it to 75° 
or 80°, but not much more. Keep the soil moist with chilled water 
to enable them to break freely. Some Vines are always more diffi¬ 
cult to start than others, these are the late varieties Muscat of 
Alexandria and Alicante. Lady Downe’s starts very well, Gros 
Colman being rather deficient in foliage till 3 or 4 inches high, but 
breaks as soon as early varieties. It should always be a rule to give 
the late varieties the warmest end of the bed to keep them on a level 
with early varieties. This may not matter in private establishments, 
■where only a few are grown for use, but it has to be considered 
where over 2000 are grown annually. 
When the eyes begin to push through, which will be three or 
four weeks from the time of potting, 70° for the top temperature 
of the house with fire heat is enough, allowing it to fall 10° or 15° 
at night. When the plants are 6 inches high, they will have 
plenty of roots and can be transferred into 6-inch pots. The soil 
may consist of chopped loam with a good sprinkling of crushed 
bones and sand, prepared and warmed a little before using it, 
plunging them again, with 2 feet stakes to keep them upright. 
When they have grown to the top of the stakes they will be ready 
for their final potting into 11-inch pots, which ought to be in the 
beginning of April and not later. For the final potting the Vines 
should be placed in really good soil—some turf that has been 
stacked for six or seven months, with layers of horse and cow 
manure in it. Old stacks of turf, of one or two years’ standing, in 
my opinion is not so good for them, as it crumbles down too much. 
They like the soil as lumpy as is convenient for potting, so that in 
chopping the turf up the first time take care to have it in good 
sized pieces, as they get reduced by the mixing of other things, 
which should consist of 1 cwt. of crushed bones and 2 cwt. of sand 
to about a ton of the loam. Press the soil firmly, putting the largest 
lumps at the bottom of the poh Leaves are better for plunging 
them in this time, as they do not root into them like they do into 
cocoa nut fibre or tan. They will now have three or four good 
months before them for making headway, as they ought to attain 
the height of 8 feet by the end of July, when they should be 
stopped by pinching the leader. While they are growing so fast 
keep them regularly tied up to the stakes, allowing plenty of room 
for the canes to swell, pinching tendrils close up and the laterals 
back two joints ; three are better left at the top of the cane, as they 
are constantly growing when the leader is pinched. 
Ventilating must be done cautiously—at first only at the top— 
provided the wind be not too cold, when the thermometer rises 
