September 20, 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
275 
the plants until they fade, thus weakening them and making 
healthy growth impossible. They are also sometimes grown in 
too much heal, with insufficient ventilation provided. Coming 
as they do from Guatemala and the higher parts of Mexico they 
will not thrive alongside plants from the warmer and more inland 
parts of South America. An intermediate temperature, such as 
best suits Odontoglossum grande, will be also suitable for Barkerias. 
They do not lise much compost about their roots, and should, if 
possible, be first established on small pieces of teak or Apple 
wood, and these placed in as small sized baskets as convenient, 
filling up with a little sphagnum and charcoal. The plants should 
sepals and petals are greenish yellow with red spots, the side lobes 
of the lips are white, folding over the column, the frontal portion 
dark rose. The variety Leopold! is far superior to the type, being 
very richly coloured. '1 he sepals and petals are chocolate, velvety ia 
appearance, and profusely spotted with dark crimson ; the labellum 
is also deeper in colour than that of the type. This is now 
generally known as C. Leopold!. C. guttata and its varieties thrive 
in a compost consisting of equal parts of peat fibre and sphagnum, 
with a little charcoal and potsherds added. Care is necessary that 
no water lodges in the apex of the young growth or about the bases 
of the pseudo-bulbs in the spring. 
Fig. 40.—CATTLEYA GIGAS COUNTESS OF DERBY. 
be frequently immersed in water while growing, so as to thoroughly 
wet every particle of the compost and also the foliage. This 
latter is of a deciduous character, and after it has fallen the plants 
should be kept quite dry in a cool house until new growth 
commences. The flowers of all the species are large compared 
with the growth. In B. Lindleyana they are purple, with a darker 
blotch on the lip. B. Skinneri and B. spectabilis are bright rose, 
the peculiar shaped lip of the latter species being profusely 
spotted with crimson. They usually flower during the late 
summer and autumn months. 
Cattleya guttata. 
Although the individual flowers of this species lack the size of 
the various Cattleyas of the labiata section, they are neverthe¬ 
less very useful and beautiful. It is one of the taller growing 
species, frequently attaining a height of 2 feet or more, strong and 
vigorous in habit, and one of the easiest of Cattleyas to manage. 
The pseudo-bulbs bear a pair of thick, dark green leaves, and from 
the apices of these the flower spikes are produced. Strong spikes 
bear eight or ten flowers, each about 4 inches in diameter ; the 
Cytripedium Spicerianum. 
The variability of prices of Orchids has long been remarked 
on, and owing to the exertions of collectors many fine species 
that within the last decade sold at remarkably high prices may now 
be procurable at a very cheap rate. Cypripedium Spicerianum is 
an example of this, as it ia now one of the most popular in the 
genus, whereas it was a rare plant even in the best collections ten 
years ago. It is an easily grown winter blooming Orchid of great 
value. The leaves are pale green, 6 inches in length, and about 
IJ inch in width. The blossoms are usually produced singly 
on the spikes, and last five or six weeks in good condition. 
The most striking part of the flower is the dorsal sepal, which is 
broad, folding inwards, white with a stripe of purple from the 
apex downwards, and a green blotch at the base. The petals are 
wavy, light green spotted with purple, the pouch dull purplish 
brown. C. Spicerianum grows most freely in a warm moist house 
during the summer, in winter it may be rested in a cooler tempera¬ 
ture. A good proportion of sound fibry loam should be used in 
the compost, which should be open, and the pots clean and well 
drained.—II. R. R. 
