February 24, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
140 
bench-room occupied by these Coelogynes does not exceed 150 square 
feet, so that even if the. flowers should be sold wholesale at 1 dollar per 
dozen, they would easily return a handsome profit. It is not probable 
that everyone can grow this Orchid as well as those above mentioned 
have been grown, but let no one be deterred by any supposed difficulty 
in undertaking its culture ; for, as before observed in these pages, its 
requirements are simple, and can be easily managed by inexperienced 
though careful growers.” 
AERIDES FIELDINGI. 
The illustration (fig. 24) has been engraved from a photograph of a 
plant grown by Mr. Murray, Culzean Castle Gardens. This beautiful 
specimen has never had any special treatment, being grown in a house of 
stove plants with other Orchids, such as Vandas, Ac., and the treatment 
received appears to suit it well. The compost which it has been grown 
in for years is composed mainly of good fibrous peat with a liberal 
mixture of fresh sphagnum and charcoal. Previous to its being shifted 
into the basket it now occupies it was grown in a common perforated 
Orchid pan, which the roots clung to with great tenacity, so that the pan 
was set almost whole into the basket and then filled with the compost. 
The plant is 3 feet high, and is fully 2 feet in diameter. Mr. Murray, 
who is justly proud of it, informs us that he was offered £30 for it ten 
Fig. 2L—Aerides Fie d Dgi 
years ago by a leading trade grower, and then it was but a small plant 
compared with what it is now, but at that time it was rather scarce. 
AERIDE3 LAWRENCE 
lx the February number of the “ Orchid Album ” Mr. B. S. Williams 
gives a superb coloured plate of this magnificent Orchid, which is the 
most handsome of its genus. We have seen several varieties of this 
Aerides, but that depicted in the plate referred to is far the best, and is 
one of the numerous fine Orchids included in the collection of the Comte 
de Germiny, Chfiteau de Gouville, Fontaine le Bourg, France. The 
flowers arc of great size for an Aerides, the sepals and petals broad, white 
heavily tipped with rich crimson, the lip similar in the centre, white at 
the sides, and the strong curved spur greenish at the tip. The flowers 
are borne in long massive racemes of a most imposing appearance. When 
first introduced four or five years ago this species caused a great sensation, 
especially when the first plant was sold for 235 guineas. It was named 
in honour of Lady Lawrence, and as the plant will undoubtedly be 
scarce for a long time to come it will continue amongst the most valuable 
Orchids that can only be seen in the collections of a few wealthy 
amateurs or nurserymen. It appears to be of easy culture, growing 
strongly in the East Indian house. 
ALNWICK SEEDLING AND CLIVE HOUSE SEEDLING 
GRAPES. 
Very few gardeners indeed will fail to admire the unique specimen 
f Grape culture (fig. 21, on page 127), but what I wish to ask Mr. 
Murray most particularly is which of the two varieties he grows— 
Alnwick or Clive House Seedling ? I was particularly impressed with 
the beauty of the Grapes Mr. Bell exhibited at the Crystal Palace, and 
had a Vine from him, also grafts of Alnwick. I have grown the two 
side by side, and cannot see or taste any material difference between 
them. The great fault with both is the peculiarity to produce split 
bunches, or the bunch and shoulder of the same size. They set equally 
well with brush or feathers, also with the dry hand rubbed down the 
bunch when well in bloom to remove the excessive nectar from the 
point of the pistil, and to deposit a few grains of pollen in its place ; 
but I cannot succeed with the syringe used either at high or low 
pressure. 
V e have grown this Grape without fire heat, but find the flavour too 
sprightly, bordering on sourness ; but when grown in heat it is every¬ 
thing we could desire. It is also one of the most rapid Grapes to colour. 
With us it is black in nine or ten days from its commencement to 
colour. We do not find it a late keeper, but capable of producing and 
finishing enormous crops of fine handsome Grapes, quite double the 
weight a Hamburgh would produce if expected to colour. It is conse¬ 
quently suitable for market, as it is so attractive.—J. II. Goodacre, 
Elvaston. 
[Alnwick Seedling and Clive House Seedling, which our correspon¬ 
dent appears to have expected to find distinct, have been determined 
synonymous by the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
and they are so classed by Dr. Hogg in the last edition of the “ Fruit 
Manual,” and by Mr. Barron in Vines and Vine Culture.”] 
THE FLORIST TULIP. 
C Continued from page 40-) 
Distinct as the florist Tulips in each main class are from those in 
another, it would nevertheless appear, on their own showing, that all 
have had one common origin. That at least is the evidence which 
seedlings seem to give, and they maj' be accepted as high authority 
in matters of family history. Gifted, like all other florist flowers, 
with boundless powers of variation from seed, they are by no 
means shy of repeating family failings, often of a far bygone day. 
I never saw, however, a seedling that reverted completely to the 
ancestral type, a flower of such unsteadiness and impurity of base 
colour, that we can well comprehend with what difficulty from this 
turbid source have been obtained, far down the stream of time, the 
unstained beauties of the florist Tulip, the clear decision of the 
ground colour, and the purity of base and stamens. 
A bed of seedlings, in their maiden bloom, is as a Tulip fancy 
dress ball, at which many costumes, long out of date, are worn 
again ; and in the humour of the moment, the shapes and fashions 
that are passed away come back in living illustration. It is the 
cause of much slaughter of young lives that many seedlings, to the 
constant disappointment of the raiser, attempt a mixture of colour 
at the base, or a combination of base and body colours that are out 
of harmony with each other’s final destiny as legitimate florist 
flowers. Such, when passing to their fixed character, produce what 
is known as the “ tricolor,” a gay name perhaps, but a mongrel 
withal ; once a half-tolerated class, but always an undecided 
flashy type of flower, in which the foundation colour was never 
sound. 
It is the colour of the base or eye of the Tulip, conjointly with 
that of the rest of the petal, that determines the class of tne 
rectified flower. If these be a discord, the tricolor is the result. 
Thus, a seedling with a yellow base is thus far a bizarre, and the 
bizarre base will carry a yellow ground colour into the flower recti¬ 
fied. If, however, this yellow base occur with a petal colour of 
lilac or purple, which belongs to the white ground class of the 
bybloemens, this will throw its innate white tendencies into the final 
ground colour, and the joint production will be a very common type 
of the tricolor, deriving a mixed or streaky ground colour of white 
and yellow from its base as a bizarre, and breeder colour as a 
bybloemen, while in feather or flame it will be the latter. 
A pod of seed from parents of the same class is competent to 
produce seedlings in all three, and a great number fail through 
falling between any two. Some are rarer combinations than 
others. Perhaps the ccmmonest form of the tricolor is that which 
I have just chosen as an illustration ; but I have never seen the 
converse of a bybloemen white base with the breeder colour of 
a bizarre. I cannot say it is impossible, but I think it would be 
phenomenal. A pink or rose breeder colour, combined with a 
yellow base, is another not unusual form of tricolor, the pink of 
the petal as a breeder throwing its cognate white into the yellow 
ground colour which the rectified flower will derive from its bizarre 
base of yellow. 
There is a very interesting instance of a narrow escape from 
being a tricolor in the case of a beautifully feathered rose Tulip 
called Modesty. In the feathered form she is a pure class flower of 
great beauty ; but Modesty, oddly enough, possesses the stigma of 
the bizarre—that is, the “ fur ” upon it is yellow instead of the 
