VOL. XXVII. No. * 3 . I 
WHOLE No. 1‘ill*. > 
1 PRICE six CENTS i 
1 #2.50 PER YEAR. 
<<$lori(iuItui[itl. 
rKntcrod uccoi-JIuk to Act of Congress. In the yoar 1,373, by D. D. T. Mookk, in the olHce of the Librarian of ConsroM, at Washington.] 
Seed carefully and properly sown by hand, greatly assisted by the faster root, and 1 
in autumn, would have the same advantages believe that many kinds that are being ex- 
ODONTOGLOSSUM VEXILLARIUM. 
This Is the name of a new orchid which 
has created a great sensation in England this 
spring at the various exhibitions. Thu ac¬ 
companying Illustration is said, by the Jour¬ 
nal of Horticulture, to be a correct represent¬ 
ation of it. At one of the shows the plant is 
described as bearing four flowers on two 
spikes, and measuring 3inches long by 2% 
in breath ; the color is a beautiful lilac rose, 
with the base of the lip white and yellow. 
Poor David Bowman, says the Journal, who 
went out a few years ago as a botanical 
collector to South America, and, like so many 
others who have trodden the same path, 
perished in enriching our gardens, was the 
first to discover it on the Andes of New 
Granada. Subsequently Wallis and Roezl 
sent home plants, but they all died either 
before or shortly after arrival, and it was 
left, we behove, to a Mr. Chesterdon to 
have the honor of introducing last year the 
specimens that are now flourishing at Messrs. 
Veitch’s. This O dontoglosmm, oven in its 
present statu, is mugmlieent, and yet nearly 
all orchids on their first introduction give but 
a feeble idea of what they ultimately become. 
What, then, will this be ? Whut it is already 
we know; its blossoms are 
surpassingly lovely in color and 
enormous in size, while the 
plant is of free growth, succeed¬ 
ing with the same treatment as 
Odontogloesum p ha Icenopsis 
and 0. citroumum. 
HARDINESS OF FLOWER 
SEEDS. 
Every spring I look over my 
flower beds before spading, in 
order to ascertain what plants 
are coming up from self-sown 
seed of the previous autumn. 
For several years 1 have never 
failed of an abundant supply of 
Geraniums (Zonal) though gen¬ 
erally they do not flower until 
late in the fall, In one instance 
I had a Geranium flower in 
four months from seed j but 
this does uot huppen often. I 
am always sure to find a large 
supply of Petunias, Candytuft, 
Mignonette, Callippaie, Dianthus 
Ileddewigii, Delphiniums, Aqui- 
legias, Pyre-thrmus, Pansies and 
some others ; and this spring, 
for the first time, I find Bal¬ 
sams shooting forth from seed 
which has remained in the 
ground through the winter. 
Now this may be unusual, or 
it may uot; I cannot say, Yet 
it is a fact, and X believe it to 
be worthy of Borne considera¬ 
tion from those who sow seeds 
in the fall. 
I believe plants come earlier, 
grow faster, prove stronger, and 
every way better, from self- 
sown seed, because less checks 
are put upon them to retard 
their growth and development; 
and unless you are blest with 
a green-house, where you can 
force your plants along, there la 
certainly no way in which you 
can obtain an early bloom. 
Figure 1. 
as self-sown seed and undoubtedly would 
prove as successful. O. H. Peck. 
Melrose, Mass., May, 1873. 
I 
—— - - - - 
GRAFTING PELARGONIUMS. 
Three years ago you suggested that the 
weak-growing varieties of tricolors should 
be grafted on vigorous seedling stocks. I at 
once took the hint, and worked a considerable 
number. 1 find that the weak kinds are 
Figure 3. 
tinguished because of their lack of vigor 
might be kept if they were cultivated in tins 
manner. But we are fast being supplied 
with varieties possessing vigorous constitu¬ 
tions, and it is at once the simplest and most 
satisfactory mode of procedure to have them 
on their own roots, so that for ordinary pur¬ 
poses grafting may be allowed to pass into 
desuetude. 1 observe, in the Calendar of 
Operations in the of Ji 37tli, you 
remind us again at tin:-, it has 
occurred to me L^ drop a fine in prsi -e of it 
ODOTTTOG-LOSSUM 'VEXilX.LA.^tlTJTvI. 
for quickly producing standards. These make 
grand conservatory plants to group in the 
rear of dwarf palms and ferns, the tricolors, 
especially, having a lino ellect when thus 
lifted up ami shown in the aspect of trees 
with fine round heads rich with color. Your 
originul hint has been rarely taken, and I 
have no doubt many gentlemen’s gardeners 
and amateurs would follow it if they Haw 
the way clear to succeed. The piocess is 
extremely simple, and the two sketches 
which accompany this explain it fully. Take 
tall stocks of any kind—seedlings are to be 
preferred ; cut oil a considerable proportion, 
but not the whole, of their top branches, 
and, selecting a suitable part of the head, 
split it as in fig. 1. Prepare the graf t to tit 
the cleft ; let it be small, half ripe, and with 
three or four healthy leaves ; tie it. and clay 
it as in fig. 3, and keep it shut, close and 
warm, and it will unite almost immediately. 
As the graft takes the sap, remove the wild 
growth—that u to say, tun growth of toe 
stock by degrees, but be uot i.» haste ubout 
it ; and when the graft has made a fair stait 
untie thu bandage, and if the junction is 
good leave it uncovered, but put a &tiek to 
which the head must be tied for security. If 
the junction is not a good one Lie again with 
soft bast, but do not clay it. As for the rest, 
every one who can grow a pelargonium at 
all will know what to do to make these into 
handsome plants. — Gardeners’ 
Magazine. 
CHANGING THE COLORS OF 
FLOWbRS. 
The Gazette den Ca/mpagnes 
says that M. Uucuhe lias suc¬ 
ceeded m changing the common 
cowslip from its natural yellow 
to an intense purple by merely 
transplanti n g it into richer 
earth. The color of plants can 
be readily varied by mixing cer¬ 
tain substances with the soil. 
Wood charcoal will darkeu the 
hue of dahlias, petunias and hy¬ 
acinths. Carbonate of soda 
turns the last mentioned flow¬ 
ers red, and phosphate of soda 
alters greatly tne shades of 
many piauts. 
-- 
PLANTING SLIPS. 
The Gazette des Campagnes 
recommends to dip the extruin- 
ties of tue slip in collodion, con¬ 
taining twice as much cotton 
as the ordinary material used 
iu photography. Lot the first 
coat dry and then dip again. 
A fter planting the slip, the de¬ 
velopment of the roots will tuke 
place very promptly. This 
method is said to be particularly 
efficacious in woody slips, Gera¬ 
nium, Fuchsia and similar plants. 
— -- 
FERN CASE. 
We give, on page 3(54, an illus¬ 
tration of a fern case made of 
terra cotta, and which may he 
filled with the wood soil and 
planted with varieties of native 
ferns from our forests and fields. 
It may be made a beautiful 
feature of a living room. Our 
readers will know how to do it 
and how to get pleasure out of it. 
