Jnne 13, 189?. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
475 
deep orange and crimson lip. I have seen this species in 3-inch pans 
with three or four pseudo-bulbs from 9 inches to 15 inches long, 
each carrying from fifteen to eighteen flowers, most of which were 
upwards of 2 inches across, and quite small plants can be made to 
produce a few flowers. The plants succeed well in baskets, but 
apparently are happier in quite small pots or Orchid pans. They 
require to be suspended near the glass in a brisk temperature when 
growing, and a baking or severe ripening process is advisable in the 
autumn, the flowers being produced on leafless thoroughly ripened 
growths only. I hold this to be quite a gem among Orchids, and 
•anyone who has seen the grand collection of Mr. Cypher would 
perforce endorse my opinion. 
EPIDENDRUM VITELLINUM MAJUA 
The old E. vitellinum is very pretty, but is much inferior to 
E. vitellinum majus. A good stock of the latter ought to prove of 
the greatest service in many private gardens, especially where choice 
cut flowers are in demand from May to August inclusive. Well 
grown plants throw up spikes from the centre of the bulbs formed 
the previous season, varying from 9 inches to 12 inches in length, 
and a good portion of these are closely furnished with flowers of 
great substance and of a rich orange scarlet colour. These spikes 
of flowers are very elegant and durable, and keep, either cut or on 
the plants, many weeks. It is classed as a cool house Orchid, but 
Inexperienced cultivators may easily err in keeping it in a cool and 
airy house too long. We find it succeeds best in an intermediate 
temperature or at the warmest end of a greenhouse where no cold 
or drying winds are admitted. Perforated pots or rather deep pans 
and a mixture of the best peat, charcoal, crocks, and sphagnum 
moss suit it well, and the plants may be grown on a light bench 
not far from the glass. During the growing season the plants 
•should be kept well supplied with water and free of thrips, and 
after the sheaths are formed on the pseudo-bulbs water must be 
given very sparingly in order to induce a rest.—I. M. H. 
EVENING NOTES. 
Habdy Foliage Plants. —Amongst those mentioned in a recent 
list of hardy foliaged plants I do not find the richly laced golden 
Valerian, one of the most effective of all golden-leaved plants in the 
spring. This has a season of about three months, the stronger the 
-clumps of foliage the longer the duration of the bright yellow tint. 
The leaves are of good form, graceful in pose, and spring up from 
■the plant liberally during the winter, for the Valerian is of herba¬ 
ceous habit. I know of nothing more effective as an early border 
•foliage plant than is Valeriana Phu aurea. Even when it runs off to 
flower in June, although the bloom is white and inconspicuous, it emits 
a delightful perfume, which is well worth having in a garden. Then I 
did not observe mention of the large-leaved Pulmonaria saccharata, 
the finest flowering and most marbled-leaved of all the family. The 
foliage all through the summer nearly resembles that of a good marbled 
Dieffenbachia, and the plants make a noble and very effective edging to 
a large bed, such as of Dahlias, Cannas, &c. I might almost include in 
hardy ornamental foliage plants many of the Hellebores, but especially 
the fine-leaved H. colchicus. Big clumps of these plants have really 
grand'leafage, of course in no way variegated, but there is plenty of 
rich green leafage, which is ornamental as well as is that which is 
variegated. Aquilegias during the winter also give handsome tufts of 
leafage, which are very ornamental, so that these plants are effective 
throughout the season. There is much beauty also in the finely cut 
leafage of the white Mallow (Malva moschata alba), especially when the 
plants become strong. Whilst clumps of leafage are very striking during 
-the winter, the white flowers of the plants are beautiful in the summer. 
—A. D. 
Mtosotises.— I am sorry to see that your correspondent (page 458) 
■does not succeed with M. dissitiflora to his satisfaction, as I consider it, 
-when well managed, the gem of the whole family. This season I have 
had eight beds of it as a carpet for white, yellow, and scarlet Tulips, 
and flowered profusely till their room was required for the summer 
occupants. There are two successful ways of growing them ; the first 
by seed sown as soon as ripe, the second by inserting cuttings in a 
-shady place ; at this season of the year I put mine in boxes as I 
-should put in Geranium cuttings, but there must be no coddling to. let 
-them get drawn. Keep them sturdy and dwarf, and in the winter do 
mot let them get smothered with tree leaves, as it causes them to decay. 
Plant them in their flowering quarters as soon as frost has destroyed the 
beauty of the summer flowers, and do not forget to pot a few dozens to 
flower in a cool light house. If so treated I do not think your corre¬ 
spondent will be inquiring about other varieties of Forget-me-nots.— 
It. Maheb, Yattendon Court, Newbury. 
Gaeden Allotments. —Like Mr. W. R. Raillem I hope Mr. 
Wright’s paper on this subject will be issued in the form of a pamphlet, 
and so place it within the reach of all. Every young gardener in the 
three kingdoms should possess it as well as allotment holders ; it contains 
many “ wrinkles,” which I venture to predict even some old gardeners 
were not previously acquainted with. 
Shbubs not Flowebing. — Rhododendrons, for which we are 
famous, are flowering very indifferently. This year hundreds will not 
flower at all, and those that are flowering are not nearly so good as 
usual. Hawthorns and Azaleas are in the same state. Lilacs were, 
however, very fine, as was the White Broom, Cytisus albus. The common 
Laburnum is most beautiful now. Some fine specimen trees of Cerasus 
Padus had but a few flowers, this being generally a mass of white. I 
attribute the non-flowering of shrubs, &c., to the wet sunless season of 
“ the year of eights,” the wood being badly ripened. Everything is 
fully a fortnight later this year.— Handy Andy. 
GARRYA ELLIPTIC A FCEMINA. 
Mr. Thomas Smith, The Gardens, Henbury Hill, Westbury-on-Trym, 
sends us fruiting sprays of the above shrub, and desirts us to ask our 
readers to report on any bearing examples that may be known to 
them, as he has been informed the plant is very scarce. These sprays 
are the first that have been sent to us, hence we figure one of them. 
Some of the seeds were quite firm, and if sown would no doubt ger¬ 
minate. The shrub from which they were taken is growing in the 
garden of Charles Hill, Esq., Clevedon Hall, Somerset. 
RENOVATING OLD VINES. 
It is now some ten years since I detailed my experence in the 
Journal of renovating old Vines, and subsequent experience still con¬ 
firms what I then stated. As a visitor aptly remarked the other day, 
Vines never need be old if means are taken to renovate them from time 
to time. It does not matter what general treatment Vines receive in 
their top management, if the roots are wrong it is useless to expect 
good results. In the case of Muscats, bad setting and shrivelling are the 
