Febrnaty 27, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
177 
A beautiful species sent to us, in 1882, from the Papuan 
Institute, in Torres Straits, by the Rev. S. M. Macfarlane, to whom 
it is dedicated by Professor Reichenbach. Its discoverer was the 
late Mr.^ Hartman, of Toowoomba, Queensland, to whom botany 
and horticulture are indebted for many plants gathered by him for 
the first time in North Australia, and in the south-east peninsula of 
New Guinea, the supposed habitat of this Dendrobe. Owing to 
the exhausted condition in which the few plants that survived the 
long journey reached us, none have yet flowered, but one derived 
from another source flowered in the autumn of 1880, in the 
collection of Mr. J. N. Hibbert, at Chalfont Park, near Slough. 
complete its growth, withholding water gradually while the period 
of leaf-falling advances ; afterwards they get no water during the 
winter, only what is deemed sufficient to prevent shrivelling. They 
remain in a warm greenhouse through the winter until the buds 
begin to swell, when they are shifted into the stove. A plant that 
a little over a year ago cost Is. Gd. furnishes us with 
eighteen of its distinctly pretty flowers this year.—W. S. 
Dendrobiums. 
Plants that have flowered must be watered with great care. 
Injury often results in their present stage from giving them too 
Fig. 2C.—DENDROBIUM MACFARLANEI, 
Dendrobium Parishi. 
For amateurs who cultivate Orchids under the mixed plant 
stove conditions the above plant has much to recommend it, inas¬ 
much as blooming is certain and culture easy when carefully 
attended with a due supply of water during the period of growth. 
It is of good constitution, and under generous treatment a good 
pseudo-bulb from 18 inches to 2 feet or more is available, that will 
give blooms from every joint without the risk of reverting to growth 
as is the case with many sorts, particularly D. nobile. The sepals 
and petals are of a dark lilac shade, having a crystallised surface 
sparkling in the sunshine. The lip is white, of a woolly nature, the 
edges ^recurving, giving it a distinctly striking appearance. It 
requires to be grown in a basket because the growth is strictly 
pendulous, and shows to greater advantage suspended from the 
roof when in flower. It grows well in fibrous peat, sphagnum 
moss, and charcoal or crocks, and shaded during the summer. In 
the autumn we place this Orchid with others in a greenhouse to 
much. The roots of many are still inactive, and if they are kept in 
a wet state numbers are certain to perish. The reason many Den¬ 
drobiums decline in health after the first or second season is 
frequently owing to keeping them in a saturated condition as soon 
as flowering is over and the plants commence growing. 
They need little water at first, a slight dewing with the syringe 
being ample in a moist atmosphere until the formation of new 
roots. As the roots and growth extend the supply of water should 
be increased. Plants would last longer and increase in strength if 
greater care was exercised during the early stages of growth, and 
again after the completion of growth. When D. nobile starts into 
growth it often pushes growths freely from the pseudo-bulbs. If 
these are not wanted for stock they should be removed, for they 
have a tendency to rob the growths that issue from the base. This 
old but very useful Orchid delights in a moist atmosphere. It 
refused to grow with us in a little house that is naturally dry, 
where D. crassinode, D. heterocarpum, D. chrysotoxum, D. suavis- 
