April 25, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
333 
parent. From this cross came also Bedfont Rose, a coloured round; 
indeed it brought white and coloured rounds and white and coloured 
Sidneys. It was sent out about 1885. My brother described it as 
“ a first early long white round, very handsome, a great cropper, and of 
the finest quality ; a valuable garden Potato.” He has laboured hard 
to get a first class early white round and also an early white kidney 
that should be improvements upon the Early Ashleaf. I think he secured 
the first in Sunrise, and the second in Midsummer Kidney, which came 
(from a cross between the American Success and Woodstock Kidney, and 
it is quite as early as the Ashleaf and a much better cropper. Raisers of 
new Potatoes have now to contend with a great deal of prejudice. 
■So many new varieties are being announced, and so few come up to 
the great things predicted of them, that it is no wonder gardeners 
hesitate to buy. In order to make a new Potato a financial success a 
■3mall fortune must be spent on advertising it, and this can only be 
done by a seedsman having a large connection. But I am certain of 
■one thing, that Sunrise is well worth growing as an early variety, only 
; get it true, is my advice to buyers.—R. Dean, Ealing, IF. 
PHALA1NOPSES AT CHBSHUNT. 
The celebrated Pliakenopsis possessed by E. J. Partington, 
’Esq., Heaton House, Cheshunt, are worth travelling many miles to 
see. I doubt whether there is such a houseful of healthy plants 
anywhere else in the country. I have heard the collection highly 
spoken of, but until the other day I had not seen the plants. They 
■occupy a lean-to house having a south aspect, built against a wall 
where Peach trees were formerly grown, and I was told only a 
little of the surface soil was removed from the old border, in the 
place of which some loose gravel was spread, forming a wide path 
in the centre, and over this the smaller Phalsenopses are suspended. 
This idea appears to me to be much better than the ordinary paved 
paths, for not only is the moisture more natural, but quantities of 
water can be poured about without causing inconvenience or leav¬ 
ing pools behind, and liquid manure can be used freely without 
staining the floor or causing the objectionable smell which is the 
■case in some houses. I understood, too, that salt was occasionally 
freely spread on the gravel. 
There are benches along the front and back, and also on the 
sides of the house, covered with shingle ; it is there the large 
specimens are arranged. The plants, which are mostly in baskets, are 
placed on pots, the corners of the former resting on the rims of 
latter, and the roots have gone down, twisting about inside and 
outside of the pots in all directions, where they are apparently free 
from injury. I have seen many roots broken and bruised through 
the practice of steeping, from which the plants undoubtedly 
suffer; but Mr. Searing, the gardener, waters these Orchids in the 
same manner as ordinary plants—namely, from the spout of the 
water pot. I noticed that the baskets were well crocked, but only 
;a small amount of material is used on the surface, and that is clean 
fresh sphagnum. This is one of the secrets of success. The house 
is heated with five rows of 4-inch piping, and two others are pro¬ 
vided for use in very severe weather. A little air is always admitted 
through the front ventilators opposite the pipes. 
P. grandiflora is well represented in bloom, some of branching 
spikes carrying sixty blooms and buds. The leaves are thick, and 
form as many as a dozen on a plant, some measuring more than 
16 inches long by 4i inches across. Mr. Searing dryly remarked 
that the most he had been able to get on a plant at the same time 
was fifteen, and before the next was developed he managed to lose 
a lower one. T wo distinct varieties of P. speciosa, with three and 
four good spikes each, were in bloom, and the lovely white 
P. tetraspis and P. Luddemanniana was also in flower; several 
'Others of the genus are showing well, and many others have been cut 
and used for table decoration. 
Occasionally one meets with a stray specimen or two equal in 
size to the Cheshunt plants, but the scores of large healthy examples 
"testify that Air. Searing knows how to grow them, and he appears 
pleased to give any information he can to lead others to imitate his 
'treatment. 
EPIDENDRUM RHIZOPHORUM 
Is a tall growing species with long slender stems, and to induce 
it to flower it should be trained round some sticks and potted in 
■peat and sphagnum moss ; the flowers are very showy, of a bright 
•orange scarlet colour. I have seen it grown and bloomed in this 
Way at Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons’ nursery, Chelsea, and more re¬ 
cently in Mr. Partington’s garden, where a plant growing in a 
24-size pot has four spikes which have been blooming for six 
months, and judging from the number of buds yet to expand it 
will continue in beauty for another six months. It occupies the 
lightest corner of a house where Cypripediums, Miltonias, and 
Odontoglossums, such as O. Phalrenopsis, O. Roezli, 0. vexillarium, 
and 0. citrosmum, are grown and flowering well, together with 
splendid pieces of Vanda ccerulea successfully grown on racks with 
a little sphagnum laid on. Aerides japonica is flowering freely 
here, and is found to do much better with a little more heat than is 
generally recommended for it. 
EPIDENDRUM BICORNUTUM. 
A small plant of the above having six pseudo-bulbs is at the 
present time in bloom in the Heaton House collection. It has 
three flower spikes, and the handsome pure white flowers are 
2 inches across. This is grown close to the glass in the same house 
as Vandas, &c. It is also in bloom with J. C. Lanyon, Esq., 
Birdhurst, Croydon.— G-. W. C. 
ZYGOPETALUM COCHLEARE. 
Most of the Zygopetalums are fairly well known in Orchid col¬ 
lections, but that named above and illustrated in fig. 52 is by no 
means frequently seen. It is easily recognised by the flowers being 
produced singly and not in spikes or racemes, the prevailing 
character. The flowers are also individually distinct from other 
forms in the genus both in shape and colour. The bloom shown in 
the figure indicates the peculiarity of form, the sepalsand petals being 
white, of wax-like texture and gloss, and the large lip veined with 
rich bluish purple. The fragrance is powerful and pleasing, and, 
though the plant is not so effective as some of its congeners it well 
deserves attention. The usual flowering period is autumn, and the 
plant was obtained from Trinidad man}' years ago, but it is now 
rarely seen. 
Another somewhat rare species is Z. rostratum, which is one of 
the oldest forms in English gardens, as it was introduced a few 
years after Z. Mackayi. It is entitled to rank among the most showy 
and useful of the genus, as it flowers at two or three different 
periods, the blooms lasting in some instances for five weeks. 
A slightly higher temperature than that suited to the other 
species with proportionate moisture is beneficial to Z. rostratum, 
and it will then amply repay the cultivator. The sepals and petals 
are yellowish green, but the lip is very distinct, the ground colour 
being white streaked with rosy pink. 
DENDR0B1UM NOBILE HE ATHFIELDIANUM. 
A remarkably handsome plant of this peculiar Dendrobium 
was exhibited by T. Lange, Esq., Heatbfield Lodge, Gateshead-on- 
Tyne, at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society last 
Tuesday, and as the Orchid Committee substituted the name of 
Cooksonianum for that given above a few historical particulars may 
be interesting. The special character of the variety is in the petals 
being coloured precisely the same as the lip—namely, a rich velvety 
purple, the tint extending more than half the length. When the 
lip is bent back the flower appears to be in six divisions, the three 
outer (sepals) narrow and the three inner broader, and coloured 
(petals and lip) like regular flowers of the Lily and allied families. 
In August, 1887, when visiting Newcastle-on-Tyne, I called at 
Heatbfield House, Gateshead, the residence of Theodore Lange, 
Esq., and the gaidener. Mr. Methven, gave the following informa¬ 
tion respecting the origin of the plant It was raised at Heatbfield 
from seed obtained by crossing D. nobile with D. Falconeri, and the 
first plant flowered about 1881. In 1883 some plants were exchanged 
