March 10,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
189 
pel)id3 
dozen fine flowers which are spotted with rich shining chestnut, the lip 
CYPRIPEDIUM INSIGNE. 
The above Orchid is most useful for growing in 5 or 6-inch pots for 
general decorative purposes, and where such plants are required a good 
proportion of this Cypripedium should be grown, as they well repay for 
the little care and attention required. The blooms last several weeks 
upon the plants, and even when used in a cut state I know of no flower 
that will keep fresh for a longer period ; and coming into bloom at a 
season when flowers of the choicer kind are not too plentiful makes it 
doubly valuable. I find them succeed most satisfactorily with much 
less care and attention than they are sometimes subjected to, as we often 
see them coddled in the Orchid house proper or in the stove. They do 
not require a high temperature, but if a rapid increase of stock is 
required, that can be accomplished much more quickly in a stove tem¬ 
perature than with cool treatment, but in a general way I find the heat 
of a vinery most suitable for them to make their growth in. 
Anyone having large, plants they wish to divide for growing in the 
above-size pots may take them in hand at once. They will bear division 
with impunity. When dividing, carefully shake away the compost they, 
have been growing in, select about four crowns and sever them with a 
knife. Four crowns with the roots attached are about as many as can 
be placed in a 6-inch pot. When the dividing is completed, cut away 
any dead or bruised roots, and place them in clean pots that have about 
one-fourth their depth filled with clean drainage, the top layer of which 
should be fine, to prevent the soil getting down among the larger portion 
and so preventing the speedy egress of water. The soil I find them to 
succeed in is composed of strong turfy loam with a few pieces of charcoal, 
coarse sand, and a little dried cow manure pressed moderately firm 
in the pots. The centre of the plants should be raised slightly above the 
pot, and some of the roughest of the soil placed on the surface to allow 
the water passage through the ball. If the soil is moderately moist 
they will not require water for a few days if kept regularly syringed ; but 
when they start into free growth and are making roots they require to be 
kept moist, but not sufficient to saturate the soil, which would soon 
cause it to be sour, and if such takes place it is very much against the 
plants making good progress, but after they have been in the pots 
one season there is little fear of their receiving too much water ■when in 
a free-growing state_, for the mass of thick fleshy roots will allow the 
water to pass through the pots freely. 
When they have completed their growth, remove them to a cooler 
temperature to harden a little, and then place them out in a cold frame, 
with just sufficient shade to prevent the sun turning them brown. 
Through the summer and autumn months I usually grow them with the 
Primulas in cold frames. When they are housed for the winter they can 
be kept cool, or a portion of the stock placed in an intermediate tem¬ 
perature will give an early bloom, while the remainder will come in for 
a succession. In the months of November, December, and January they 
are most useful, as after that time there is a plentiful supply of bulbs, 
&c., to come on for display.—W. Simpson, Knmvsley. 
ORCHIDS AT CHELTENHAM. 
At any time during the winter months few plants are more admired 
than the choicer Orchids when in bloom. Of this fact I was forcibly 
reminded a short time since when calling at Mr. Cypher’s now celebrated 
plant-growing establishment at Cheltenham. The methodical and at 
the same time highly practical system adopted by Mr. Cypher has 
insulted in their highly successful culture. One of the most remarkable 
instances of this high class culture may be found in Dendrobium 
Ainsworthi, which everywhere is singularly happy, having stout 
growths from 12 to 16 inches long. While speaking of this valuable 
Dendrobium I am reminded that at the time of my visit the rose- 
coloured form was producing flowers from the current season’s growth, 
a rather unusual occurrence, I believe. Another Dendrobium which 
promises to be equally at home is D. nobile pulcherrima. Others there are 
in numbers, such as D. Wardianum, D. Findleyanum, D. heterocarpum, 
and the ever welcome and enduring D. Dearei, which, on account of its 
lasting properties, makes it among the most valuable of Orchids when 
in bloom. Another Orchid grown in quantity here is Odontoglossum 
Rossi, a very pleasing and attractive plant at this time and of easy 
culture. The forms were many, but all were beautiful and cheering at 
this dull period of the year. One pseudo-bulb of this had a spike with five 
flowers upon it, an experience quite new to Mr. Cypher. O. Rossi 
album was also in flower, one plant of this latter being somewhat novel 
in appearance, owing to the sepals being spotted with green. 
Lycastes were here in great force, and contained some exceedingly 
handsome and richly coloured forms. Vigorous, too, they were beyond 
a doubt, as the freedom with which they were producing flowers will 
amply illustrate. From one pseudo-bulb alone came a spike with fourteen 
flowers, another had eleven, and so on, and as there were no excep¬ 
tions it may fairly be assumed that the Lycastes are in good hands 
a [ui perfectly at home. The ever welcome Vanda tricolor and 
V. tricolor suaveolens were well in flower, the latter bearing about a 
being pale violet. 
Coelogynes were flowering well, but owing to the great demand for 
their chaste and lovely blossoms for wedding and other bouquets, and, 
indeed, in all choice floral arrangements, it can hardly be expected in 
an establishment of this kind to meet their flowers in quantity ; still the 
expanding flowers were fairly abundant, and one and all were wanted 
as soon as they were ready for use. Among them the Chatswortli variety 
figured conspicuously, and should be found in all collections of choice 
and useful winter-flowering Orchids. I was rather too late to sec 
Masdevallia tovarensis at its best. This highly useful plant is grown 
extensively, and coming at so useful a time renders it doubly valuable, 
since its glistening white flowers never seem out of place in any choice 
floral arrangement. The singular M. bella was also flowering. Phalm- 
nopsis Schilleriana was represented by flowering specimens, and among 
Cypripediums were C. hirsutissimum, very distinct in its densely 
clothed and deeply coloured stems. C. Boxalli was producing twin 
flowers from the same scape ; numerous others were either in flower or 
showing, and the Cattleyas promised an abundant supply later on.—J. 
ORCHIDS AT BLENHEIM. 
“ Orchid culture is only in its infancy here,” was the remark made 
to me by Mr. Bethell, the Duke of Marlborough’s able gardener, one day 
last week. It is only two or three years since Orchids were made a 
specialty of at Blenheim, but at the present time there are fifteen 
houses full of them. Most of the houses are large and very convenient, 
but more are required, and are already under the course of erection. To 
accommodate all the plants the vineries are used for some, and the stove, 
in addition to a fine collection of foliage and other plants, has to find 
shelter for many, including fine pieces of Dendrobium Dearei, Calanthes 
of sorts, notably C. vestita gigantea ; while the Rose and Gardenia 
houses have hundreds of baskets suspended from the roof. In the 
former of these are several large specimens of Vanda teres mounted well 
up to the light, and along the front within a few inches of the glass in 
pans and baskets are Barkerias, dwarf-growing Lfelias, Odontoglossum 
Oerstedti, Oncidium cheirophorum, with many others thriving admirably. 
The Gardenia house is in two divisions. The Gardenias and Stephanotis 
are remarkably healthy and showing well for a quantity of bloom, while 
the Dendrobiums growing above these evidently enjoy the ammonia 
from the manure given the plants below. Some of the growths of 
D. Wardianum are already 18 inches in length. 
The first houses that I entered were four low span-roofed ones about 
40 feet long. No. 1 contains Phalfenopsis grown in the same manner as 
those of Mr. F. A. Philbrick’s, Bickley, and described some time ago in 
the Journal. Angraecum Leonis is represented by 120 healthy plants. 
A. Sanderianum and A. Scottianum are also doing well. No. 2 contains 
quantities of Odontoglossum Roezli, 0. vexillarium, and Masdevallia 
tovarensis. The whole are very clean and free from any attacks of 
yellow thrips, which too often disfigure fine plants in some of the best 
collections. On one side of this house are scores of imported Cypri¬ 
pediums, such as C. Godefroy® and C. niveum. The system adopted in 
establishing these is very successful and worth practising in other places. 
Clean crocks are laid on the border, and on these are placed the 
imported plants ; then a layer of moss covers the whole of the roots, 
which is kept moist. Some of the old roots are now as fresh as though 
they were made in this country. In No. 3 are some established Odonto¬ 
glossum blandum with several growths each. Of O. Rossi majus there 
are 300 or 400 plants altogether, and many fine varieties are in bloom. 
O. Cervantesi decorum and some good forms of O. Alexandras, in fact the 
very best varieties of the cooler-growing section are placed in this house 
while in flower. No. 4 contains imported plants. The O. Alexandras 
are planted in the borders close together similar to the Cypripediums, 
only instead of moss fine peat is used, and the plants remain so until 
sufficient root is made for potting. 
The fifth house, a long north structure, contains the cooler-growing 
Cypripediums ; also large plants of Ada aurantiaca just showing bloom, 
Ccelogyne cristata, large pans of Disa grandiflora with 200 or more 
flowering growths each, and in baskets hanging from the roof are num¬ 
bers of Epidendrum vitellinum majus. The next is a span-roofed house, 
about 70 feet by 22 feet, with side stages and a centre one arranged in 
tiers of shelves, and is filled chiefly with Odontoglossum Alexandra;, 
which would compare favourably, as regards health, with any I have 
before seen. Some of the occupants of this house were subjected to a 
sojourn in the open air last summer, and the results are very gratifying, 
notably with Sophronitis grandiflora, which made good growth, and the 
colour of the blooms is brighter than any I have seen grown under the 
ordinary treatment. Blenheim is favoured with a capital cool, shady, 
and moist place in the grounds for the experiment. A very convenient 
method is adopted for damping down most of the houses by having an 
inch pipe fixed on to the main and carried just under the edge of the 
stages, with a brass jet fitted in at every 4 feet or 5 feet, and a valve at 
one end enables a man to damp down in two minutes, the work being 
done thoroughly, as the fine streams from the jets beat on the under side 
of the stages and fall lightly on the path and beds beneath, while a 
very fine spray scarcely noticeable falls on and among the foliage. Fine 
pieces of Oncidium Cavendishianum, O. ampliatum, O. Lanceanum, O. 
sarcodes, many Aerides, Cypripedium Lawrenceanum, Maxillaria San- 
deriana, and others occupy another house. The next bouse contains 
Cattleya and Lfelias of sorts, L. elegans and L. purpurata having 
numerous large sheaths. There is here also a large specimen of Cattle j a 
Wagneri in a basket. 
