September 22, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
487 
4. Orchis fdsca. —This is the most splendid of the whole 
tribe, but it is difficult to describe it accurately in words. It 
reaches two feet in height, and its dark-brown calyx, and 
brown-spotted corolla, together with the immense mass of 
flowers on the stem, combine to make it a most beautiful 
object. I had forgotten, too, the large, plain, broad, shining 
leaves, which are by no means to be overlooked. O.fusca 
loves the shade, and generally is found in a thicket of under- 
i wood (not growing too close to keep out the sun entirely) 
and on a chalky soil. It lias several varieties, and two of 
them, O. mililaris and O. lephrosanthos, have been favoured 
: with distinct names. It requires a slope, 
l 4. Ophrys muscifera.—“ The Fly Orchis.” This is too well 
i known to require description. Give it a hot, dry, chalky 
| slope, with a little thin grass growing on it. Sir J. Smith 
j talks of 12 inches as its extreme height; but it is found in 
; this neighbourhood about half as high again. 
f>. Aceras anthropophora. —A curious-looking, yellow- 
: flowered Orchis, which is always to be found on any chalky 
j slope. Baxter, in his “ Flowering Plants,” marks it “ very 
i rare;” though what makes it so I cannot conceive. This, 
j and the two preceding Orchises, flower at the same time as 
Orchis Morio. 
0. Orchis latifolia.— A short, thick-set, purple Orchis, 
which grows in swampy meadows. It grows often in the 
same field with Orchis maculata, and hybridizes with it. 
The hybrid is taller than O. latifolia, has more colour than 
O. maculata, and neither has the hollow stalk of O. latifolia, 
nor the solid stem of O. maculata; but a solid stalk, with a 
little gimlet-hole through it. 
7. II arenaria bikolia. — Plain, broad leaves; flower 
white, and erect; the stem apparently very stiff, as the 
flower of the old year frequently remains standing till the 
bulb of the new year has grown to some height. It has a 
smaller variety, found on heaths, and called H. chlorantha. 
It appears to grow anywhere, as Captain Ingleiield, the 
Arctic voyager, found it blooming in the Polar regions ! 
Having now described half the Orchises, I must not 
trespass on your space any longer, as I am afraid that I 
have already exceeded the bounds.—W. 1’. 
[We should readily have given up double the space. You 
will oblige many readers by giving any information about 
■ the best time of transplanting and treating each species.— 
Ed. C. G.] 
THE GAPES. 
I have read with interest the different modes of treat¬ 
ment detailed in The Cottage Gardener for the cure j 
of chickens attacked with this “ pest of the poultry-yard.” 
The plan adopted by your correspondent, Mr. Lort, is 
good, but the patient must be operated upon with great care, 
for the delicate formation of the windpipe renders it diffi¬ 
cult to insert a feather into that organ without injuring it; 
unless performed by an experienced hand, the attempted 
cure proves as bad as the disease. 
In a recent number (’•218), Mr. Tegetmeier states, that 
“ the old plan was to nearly suffocate the chickens with i 
tobacco; but this was only partially successful.” Now I 
feel unwilling to doubt such an authority as Mr. T., and, j 
had I not proved the efficacy of tobacco-smoke as a cure 
for the gapes, should have at once coincided with him. The 
old plan alluded to, was, I judge, to confine the chicken in 
a box with burning tobacco, causing it to inhale the vapour. 
This mode might have been only partially successful; but, 
if properly administered, it is equally successful as turpen¬ 
tine, either applied with a feather, or inhaled by the patient. 
The following plan I can recommend to the readers of The 
j Cottage Gardener, judging that many of them are not 
i averse to the smoke of that fragrant weed, Nicoliana taba- 
cum ; even if they should be, the gardener, or poultry 
I attendant, will require but slight persuasion to aid, fitted 
by the experience he has gained in this fashionable accom¬ 
plishment. Let a pipe be prepared as usual for smoking ; 
when lighted, take the chicken, and holding the mouth 
open let a current of smoke be blown into it and the nos¬ 
trils ; after being repeated three or four times in quick 
succession, the chick will become insensible, and show but 
slight signs of life ; it will, however, after the lapse of a few 
minutes, recover, and will rarely require to be fumigated a 
second time.—11. L. 
EXPERIMENTS IN POTATO PLANTING. 
I promised to send you the result of my experiments in 
Potato planting. I divided a piece of ground into three 
equal parts; in the first, the Potatoes were planted in rows 
a yard apart, and about nine inches from set to set; in the 
second, the same distance from row to row, but single sets, 
a yard apart in the row; in the third, with four sets in a 
clump, a yard apart from centre to centre of the clumps; 
all were covered with burnt earth. On taking them up, I 
find that those planted in the last manner are much 
superior to the others, in size and quantity, being, at least, 
in the proportion of five to four. 
They are all remarkably free from disease, considering 
the season. All the other Potatoes which I have dug, and 
which were covered with burnt earth, from weeds and 
rubbish, are also a very fair crop, considering, as I have said, 
the season. 
And now, Sir, when every one is trying to find out a 
remedy against this disease, allow me to suggest an idea 
which has struck me, and on which I should wish for your 
opinion. I see it stated in your Magazine, that it is now 
generally considered that the disease arises from a fungus 
attached to the potato; and, I have thought, that if we were 
to dip our potatoes in some pickle before planting, just as 
we do for wheat, it would be a good plan. I should recom¬ 
mend the following:—Have a cask of brine with strength 
enough to float an egg, in this let the potatoes be dipped for 
a certain time, and when planted, covered with superphos¬ 
phate of lime. Now, if you see nothing to object to in this 
plan, nothing that is at all likely to do injury, I shall adopt 
it if I plant potatoes again. 
Pray let me know your opinion on the subject. 
Clericus R 
[We believe the experiment of putting the sets into a brine 
before planting has been tried unsuccessfully—but this need 
not discourage others from repeating the experiment. We 
are not sanguine in hoping that it may be beneficial, because 
if it be admitted that the murrain is caused by a fungus, 
still the spores of that fungus may be in the soil, just as 
a similar parasite is thence communicated to wheat. 
Our own observations, and the facts communicated to us, 
all agree in favouring the opinion that the potato murrain 
appears with a new phase this year. We mean, that although 
the haulm decayed eai'lier, and more virulently than it did 
even in the worst of former years, yet the tubers have not 
decayed in the same proportion. This, probably, arose from 
early-ripening varieties having their tubers advanced to a 
stage of ripeness that is safe from the infection.—E d. C.G.] 
MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL AGRICUL¬ 
TURAL SOCIETY. 
The second annual exhibition of poultry, connected with 
this Society, was held at Warrington, September 7th, and 
from the crowded state of the tent in which the pens were 
arranged, it was evident how great was the interest which 
the poultry excited. 
A convenient tent was pitched in a field close to the Rail¬ 
way Station, and great praise is due to the Secretary for the 
manner in which the poultry were there arranged. Would 
that we could add more, but here, we regret to say, our 
encomiums must end. 
Nothing could be worse than the manner in which the 
proceedings, as far as the judging was concerned, were 
carried out. Had the regulation been adhered to, which 
decided that all stock should be in the yard by eight o’clock, 
the judges might have proceeded at once to their duties, 
and by ten o’clock, at which hour the public was admitted, 
the prizes would all have been apportioned ; instead of which, 
at half-past twelve, in a crowded tent, the judges were still 
occupied. This, of course, gave room for dissatisfaction 
i 
