232 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 24,1887 
rockery, a few should be potted up and kept on a sunny shelf.—W. J. 
Murphy, C onmel. 
BARON SCHRODER’S ORCHIDS. 
So carefully has the celebrated collection of Orchids at The Dell 
been formed, and so well are they grown by Mr. Ballantine and his 
assistants, that a visitor may always rely upon finding some plants of 
special merit in flower, but just now there s a feast of choice flowers of 
quite an exceptional character, even in “the Baron’s” garden. Every 
house contains a number of beautiful plants, rare species, valuable 
hybrids, choice varieties, many unique, and all possessing merits of 
more than an ordinary character to obtain them a place in such a selec¬ 
tion. In the cool houses there are some superb Odontoglossums ; in the 
warmer houses, the Cattleyas, Vandas, and Dendrobiums provide abund¬ 
ance of flowers with countless others, the details of which would fill a 
volume ; but there is one plant of so remarkable a character that it at 
once commands attention—namely, Cypripedium Morganianum—and to 
this a special paragraph must be devoted. 
CYPRIPEDIUM MORGANIANUM. 
The plant of this magnificent hybrid Lady’s Slipper at The Dell 
is the finest in existence at the present time, and shows the distinctive 
characters of this Veitchian production to the best advantage. As indi¬ 
cated in fig. 42, prepared from a sketch of the plant, it has three 
scapes, one with three flowers and the others with two each. The petals 
are 4.^ inches long, three-quarters of an inch broad, boldly dotted with a 
purplish hue; the dorsal sepal is broad, white, evenly veined with dark 
crimson, the lower sepals being similar in colour, the lip 2\ inches long, 
evenly and beautifully formed of a delicate pale purplish mauve tint. 
The leaves are strong, faintly marbled with dark green, and the whole 
appearance of the plant proves that it is one of the most free and robust 
hybrid Cypripediums yet obtained. United with such habit are nearly 
all the charms of the famous C. Stonei platytoenium, and it is not, there¬ 
fore, surprising that C. Morganianum has taken a place amongst the most 
valued Orchids of the present day. 
C. Morganianum was the result of a cross between C. superbiens (or 
C. Veitchianam) and C. Stonei, the seed having been sown in April, 1872, 
and the first flowers were produced about 1880. Baron Schroder’s plant 
is a portion of the original specimen. Another fine example is in Mr. 
W. Lee’s collection at Downside, and a third large healthy plant with 
eight growths is included in Messrs. Veitch & Sons’ Chelsea Nursery. A 
fourth plant was that which was recently sold in the late Mrs. C. 
Morgan’s collection in New York, when it realised £150, though origin¬ 
ally presented to that lady when it was named in her honour. This has 
now, however, been divided into smaller plants to give the numerous 
wealthy Orchid amateurs an opportunity of including it in their col¬ 
lections. It is worthy of remark, as a proof that the cultural attention 
accorded this Cypripedium at The Dell is well adapted to its require¬ 
ments, that during the four years it has been in Baron Schroder’s posses¬ 
sion it has flowered three times. It is grown with the other tropical 
Cypripediums in a warm house, where it has a fairly high temperature 
of 60° to 70°, increased by sun heat, plenty of moisture, and a pure 
atmosphere. 
One of the parents of C. Morganianum is variously named C. super¬ 
biens and C. Veitchianum, which is thus explained. It appears that two 
plants were introduced, one by Rollissons from Java, which was subse¬ 
quently sold to Consul Schiller, and furnished the material upon which 
Professor Reichenbach founded his C. superbiens. The other was intro¬ 
duced by Messrs. Veitch & Sons, and named C. Veitchianum, but no 
botanical description was published under that title, so that the former 
is now accepted. C. Morganianum is the only result of the cross 
between C. superbiens and C. Stonei, but C. macropterum was obtained 
from C. Lowi and C. superbiens, and C. superciliare from C. barbatum 
and C. superbiens. Crosses between C. Stonei and C. barbatum produced 
C. euryandrum and C. hybridum, the latter of continental origin, but 
all the others are Sedenian productions in Messrs. Veitch’s collection. 
DENDROBIUM WARDIANUM. 
Passing for the present the many other choice Orchids at The Dell a 
few words must be said about the Dendrobiums, of which there is a good 
display in the stove. The plants are suspended from the roof, and as 
there are something like forty flowering growths, each 3 to 4 feet in 
length, and bearing a total of some hundreds of flowers, it can be 
imagined that the effect is unusually handsome. Especially notable is 
a plant of the supposed hybrid between D. erassinode and D. Wardi- 
anum, which on one fine pseudo-bulb, 3 feet long, has forty-seven large 
flowers, two of the spikes having four blooms each. The sepals and 
petals are white tipped with crimson, the lip with a gold centre, two 
maroon dots and a purple tip. It is an exceedingly beautiful form, so 
bright in colour and bold in form. Of the other I). Wardianums one in 
a 7-inch basket has seven growths, 3 to 4 feet long, with a total of 124 
flowers, extremely richly coloured, another fine variety having flowers 
41, inches in diameter. All these plants are wintered in the porch of the 
vinery where the temperature is frequently down to 40°, but being 
suspended near the glass the vigorous growths previously made are well 
matured, and in this seems to be the secret of the success. 
A VALUABLE ODONTOGLOSSUM. 
At Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’s Sale Rooms, Cheapside, last 
Friday, an exceedingly distinct and beautiful variety of Odontoglossum 
crispum caused a little excitement amongst the numerous orchidists 
present. The plant was a small one with three pseudo-bulbs in a small 
48-size pot, with one raceme of two flowers, but these were remarkably 
coloured. The sepals and petals were not so broad as in some of the 
O. crispum type, but well formed, and the general contour of the flower 
was pleasing. The colour—quite a new tint, that might almost be 
described as a bright red—was distributed in roundish spots and blotches 
over the sepals, petals, and lip, but forming a distinctly marked margin 
to the sepals and petals, giving a curious appearance suggestive of 
embroidery. As some of the leading Orchid amateurs were present it 
was anticipated that a smart competition would ensue, and this proved 
to be the ease. Starting at a bid of 30 guineas it rose rapidly to 80 
guineas, at which price it was sold to one of the largest purchasers. 
ZYGOPETALUM VEITCBT. 
In Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons’ nursery at Chelsea an interesting hybrid 
Orchid flowered last week, presenting another example of bigeneric 
crossing. It was raised from seed obtained by crossing Zvgopetalum 
criuitum with Colax jugosus, and sown in the autumn of 1882. Though 
partaking largely of the mother parent in habit and growth, the pseudo¬ 
bulbs are more ovoid and less tapering at the neck than is usual in that 
species. The flowers arc also those of a Zygopetalum, but neater and 
brighter than Z. crinitum, with a shorter rounder lip, in which the lines 
radiate from the base in a similar way, but the colour is different, being 
more of a violet hue, and the hairs, so prominent in the Zygopetalum, 
are reduced to a very fine pubescence. The flowers are 2 j- inches in 
diameter, the sepals and petals half an inch in diameter and i | inch long, 
the petals rather more acute than the sepals, both of a pale sulphury yellow 
with reddish mottling and round dots. The lip is just over 1 inch in 
diameter, rounded, white with fine violet-purple radiating hues. The 
whole appearance of the flower is singularly neat.—L. Castle. 
CCELOGYNE CRISTATA. 
Having had the pleasure of reading in your Journal the interesting 
remarks respecting the above useful winter-flowering Orchid, allow me 
to state that we have at present three plants in bloom, two in 12-inch 
pots, one in a 14-inch. One has sixty-five spikes of blooms with 365 
expanded flowers ; one sixty-three spikes with 346 blooms ; one sixty 
spikes with 350 blooms, bearing from five to ten blooms on a spike. 
The above have been grown in an intermediate temperature. I have no 
doubt Coelogynes may be grown in a cooler temperature, but I think it 
is doubtful if with such great success. The blooms are as large and 
fine as any that have come under my notice.—F. Rutland, Goodwood. 
DENDROBIUM NOBILE IN SMALL POTS. 
That the majority of epiphytal Orchids thrive better in propor¬ 
tionately small than in large pots is, I believe, the opinion of all, or 
nearly all, successful cultivators of these beautiful and interesting 
plants. Given suitable conditions of temperature, atmosphere, and 
light, the size of the receptacle in which they are placed is not a very 
material factor ; though the chemical and mechanical conditions of the 
material employed about their roots are very important. 
The mysteries of Orchid culture have nearly all evaporated under 
the combined influences of greater knowledge and common sense, as 
mists are dispelled by wind and sun. What was considered an example 
of extraordinary success a few years ago is now an everyday occurrence, 
and is attained by those claiming no special knowledge of the subject. 
But sometimes we meet with instances of more than common success, 
even for these days, being achieved by those possessing no special know¬ 
ledge of the subject ; and the other day I had the pleasure of seeing 
and noting an instance of this kind. In the drawing-room at Broom 
Leasoe, Whittington, near Lichfield (the residence of C. H. Inge, Esq.), 
I saw a very fine specimen of Dendrobium nobile in a pot only 6 inches 
in diameter. This plant was carrying seventy-two flowers nearly all in 
panicles of three—and in one instance of four—flowers, and fully up to 
the average in size and quality ; and one pseudo-bulb measured 30 inches 
in length, the others ranging down to 2 feet or so, there being about 
twelve in all. I believe that this example of success is uncommon, 
especially where there is no Orchid house, and where the lady and 
gentleman manage their greenhouses themselves in the intervals of pro¬ 
fessional and domestic duties ; and such success should stimulate others 
under similar circumstances to go and do likewise.—J. Udale, JSford, 
Tamworth. 
BORDER CARNATIONS. 
Now the time for spring planting has come, some of the first plants 
that deserve attention are border Carnations. Why is it that we hear so 
many complain that these beautiful flowers prove unsatisfactory ? The 
fault is due in the majority of cases to the planting being done too 
late, so that the plants do not have time to make proper growth, and 
this is often done under the mistaken idea that they are tender. I have 
for many years planted out large numbers of them, and my plan is to 
commence about the middle of February, and continue the work in 
