NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 131 
^ mirably for gentlemen gardeners, and amateur cultivators, who look more to the quantity than the 
quality of their jiiiirchases. The criteria of a good trained tree, to procure from the nurseries, 
are that the stems should be clean and short, the branches equally balanced on each side as to 
size and quantity, the joints short, the wood firm and hard, and the main roots moderate in 
size, and thickly covered with fibres. Avoid, by all means, strong and unequally balanced 
trees; rather plant small ones, as we have no doubt they will be found more satisfactory. 
From the preceding remarks it will be seen that the first thing in the cultivation of the 
Peach, after procuring good trees, is the preparation of the border. Therefore, as a first step, 
see that it is deeply and thoroughly drained, and if the sub-soil is clay, make the bottom of 
the border to slope from the wall to the drain, and cover the entire surface with concrete to 
the depth of three inches. We are quite aware that impervious bottoms to borders are objected 
to by some excellent cultivators, contending, as they do, that concreting is contrary to nature, 
and that it intercepts the flow of terrestrial heat. We, for our part, see no objection of the 
kind; on the contrary, we look upon the impervious bottomed and walled in border, as a large 
flower-pot filled with suitable compost, and where the roots of the plants cannot get into bad 
soil, but are always under the control of the cultivator. Such an arrangement, even under 
tolerably favourable circumstances, must be preferable to allowing trees, calculated when pro¬ 
perly planted to stand for half a century, to rim into soil where they must soon become useless, 
and have to be replaced. Over the concrete six or nine inches of drainage must be placed, and 
the soil should not be less than two feet six inches in depth. Of soil for Peach trees, a good 
hazel loam from an old pasture or common, cut from four to six inches deep, according to the 
quality of the under soil, liberally intermixed with road scrapings from hard roads, is the 
best. These, if the soil is heavy, may be used in equal proportions, but if the loam is light one- 
third of the road sand will be sufficient. Two years back we planted a quantity of stone fruits 
in a compost of this kind, and we never saw trees produce such an abundance of first-rate roots, 
indeed they were so numerous that it was found impossible to get the soil away from them at 
the time of transplanting. Compost so prepared should be mixed a few months before plant¬ 
ing, but this is not indispensable. 
As the Stanwick Nectarine is found to ripen so far north as Darlington, it, no doubt, will 
prove a first-rate fruit in the southern counties of England. We shall recur to the subject of 
Peach culture in a future article.—A. 
Mm imi lira pants. 
Dendrobitjm crepidatldi, Lindleij. Latehet-lipped Dendrobe ( Paxt . FI. Gard., i., 63).—Nat. Ord., Or- 
chidace® § Malaxeae-Dendrobidse.—A beautiful and distinct stove epiphyte, with erect slender terete stems ; leaves 
undescribed. The flowers grow in pairs, and are about an inch across ; they are of a very firm texture, white 
tipped with delicate pink, deep yellow in the middle of the lip, which is described as being very much like those 
old-fashioned slippers, which without a hollow for the foot were merely latched round the instep ; the sepals and 
petals are oblong obtuse. Prom the Indian Archipelago. Introduced about 1849. Flowers in March. II. S. 
Holford, Esq. 
Tradescantia velutina Kunth and Bouche. Velvety Spider-wort {Ann. de Gand., v. 185).—Nat. Ord., Com- 
melynace®.—A cool stove herbaceous perennial, with tuberous fasciculate roots, fleshy branching stems, softly 
and densely pubescent; the leaves sessile, ovate-lanceolate, cordate, amplexicaul, soft on both sides; and the 
flowers in many flowered axillary and terminal umbels, violet-coloured, paler outside, the filaments violet, and 
the anthers yellow. From Guatemala. Introduced to Berlin by M. Warczewitz. Flowers in November. 
Colquhoitnia coccinea, Wallich. Scarlet-flowered Colquhounia {Bot. Mag., t. 4514).—Nat. Ord., Labiace® 
§ Stache®.—A tall-growing sub-scandent half-hardy shrub, the branches obscurely tetragonal, and bearing large 
opposite ovate leaves, from the axils of which spring the pseudo-whorls of flowers, which are two-lipped, the 
upper lip, back of the tube of the corolla, and margin of the lower lip red, the rest yellow. From Nepal. Intro¬ 
duced about 1840. Flowers towards autumn. Royal Botanic Garden, Ivew. 
Acontias variegatus, Kunth. Variegated Acontias {Ann. de Gand., v., 185).—Nat. Ord., Arace® § Caladie®. 
—A herbaceous stove plant, stemless, with pedatifid leaves, the seven segments subfalciform-lanceolate, sharply 
pointed, wavy at the margins. The spathe is oval-oblong acuminate, borne on a scape eight or ten inches long, 
and is convolute below, ventricose, and obscurely angled ; the spadix is fragrant. From Caraccas. Introduced 
to Berlin, in 1847, by M. Moritz. Flowers in July. 
Ruhssia pubescexs, Karsten. Pubescent Ruhssia {Ann. de Gand., v. 382).—Nat. Ord., Asclepiadace® § 
