the cottage gardener. 
did there could be no harm. Those who object to the 
Heliotrope l'or a bed, might try this plan. The helio¬ 
trope will overrun the verbena in such a way that its 
shoots and leaves can hardly be seen, but the verbena’s 
flower-stalks will push up regularly all over the bed. 
D. Heaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
It is no uncommon tiling to meet with people whose 
philosophy, in relation to many of what are to them 
uncomeatable desirables, is merely a borrowed feature 
| from the contracted wisdom of the fox, whose only con¬ 
solation was to pronounce the luscious grapes “sour as 
i crabs,” after he had looked long and lingeringly 
; and made many an unsuccessful leap to obtain the 
goodly prize. It' there be one reader of The Cottage 
Gardener who owns such a spirit, one thing is certain, 
it has not been obtained from its pages. In common 
with hundreds more, I have derived great pleasure from 
the luminous papers of Mr. Appleby on the culture of 
orchids; and if a grain of something like impatient 
foxism nightmared my cranium, it had its origin neither 
from undervaluing the splendour of the objects them¬ 
selves—for to see them is to admire them—nor for de¬ 
preciating the talent with which they were and are in¬ 
troduced to our notice, because that is above our criti¬ 
cism, but from a painful regret that owing to our 
comparative ignorance of the groups, we were unable to 
gain that benefit from such lucid instructions that we 
otherwise would have done. 
Several circumstances have convinced me that a kin¬ 
dred, and so far a favourable, sentiment (for to know 
our ignorance is rather a good omen) is felt by many of 
our friends, who may only have a small greenhouse, as 
well as by those who, by divisions, are endeavouring to 
concentrate several climates under one roof of no great 
dimensions. Without, therefore, intruding upon our 
friend Mr. Appleby’s domains, v/e should like to tell 
our many readers, who 1 1 are neither orchid-house nor 
plant-stove, how they may grace their conservatory, 
greenhouse, or window, with a beautiful terrestrial 
orchid for several weeks every season, provided they can 
manage to give it a higher temperature than the green¬ 
house for two or three months in the year, either in a 
vinery or any other convenience, such as a pit at work. 
The Bletia TanJeervillice, or Pliaius grand ifolius (for it 
is known by both names), is a native of China; is gene¬ 
rally described as a stove plant, and has been a denizen 
of our hothouses for three-parts of a century. Its green 
broad lanceolate leaves, with its flowering stems, termi¬ 
nating in a beautiful spike, towering above them, render 
the plant very striking at this season of the year, when 
contrasted with the generality of plants in the green¬ 
house. l’or want of a better, it will furnish a good typo 
of the orchidaceous family. The flower is whitish brown. 
The upper part consists of what appears to be five 
sepals, or petals—being generally described as three 
sepals and two petals. The lower part of the flower 
looks like a tubular monopetalous corolla, somewhat 
similar to a foxglove; but it is not tubular, but plain; 
though its being curved up gives it that appearance; it 
is merely the petal, called the lip, or the labellum , the 
wondrous development of which, in many other genera, 
gives to the whole order such a striking and wonderful 
i appearance. Opposite this labellum petal is tho front of 
i the central column, in which the filaments of the sta¬ 
mens and the styles of the pistil are all joined together. 
The pollen masses are always opposite this labellum. In 
the present case you see nothing either of anthers or 
stigma; but, near the top of the column, you will ob- 
I serve a slit-like valve; insert tho poiut of a line pen¬ 
[ April 18. i 
knife, and turn up the cowl-like covering, and you will 
expose the polleu masses, lying over a viscid hollow 
tube, that answers the purpose of a stigma, if that is not 
more especially done by a small protuberance on which i 
the upper part of the valve rested, called the rostellum. ! 
With many and great diversities as to the pollen masses, j 
the appearance of the column, the form of the labellum, 
and the apparent number of sepals and petals in other 
genera, the Bletia forms no bad type of the orchid I 
groups. Some woodcuts of some of the more striking of 
these, under Mr. Appleby’s supervision, would at some 
future day constitute an additional reason for the grati- j 
tude of the subscribers, and render his dissertations ' 
more universally interesting. 
From eacli bulbous-looking tuber now supporting its 
fine green leaves, and from one tp several flower spikes, i 
there will be seen sucker-like appendages issuing from 1 
the base in number generally proportionate to the size 
and strength of the tuber. As soon as the bloom is over, j 
these must constitute the object of our attention, as we i 
have got all in the way of bloom from the old tuber that 
we are ever likely to obtain. They are not, however, as 
yet useless, as the stored-up matter in the tuber assists \ 
tlie development of the suckers; and even the leaves j 
should be retained as long as they keep green. In ob- J 
taining a plant, therefore, be not content with a little 
sucker, but insist upon having the old tuber along with ! 
it. Now, the common treatment of such a plant in a 
stove would enable you to get it fully grown before the 
middle of autumn; and then by keeping it cooler and 
drier, and re-introducing it to heat and moisture, the 
flower-stems would appear in mid-winter. Were you to 
keep your plant after flowering in the cool airy atmos¬ 
phere of the greenhouse, growth would be too languid; 
and your plants, by the end of autumn, would neither 
be so strong nor so well matured as to warrant the ex¬ 
pectation of fine flower stems the following season. 
Hence the importance of moving the plants when done ! 
flowering into a higher temperature aud a closer atrnos- ! 
phere ; such as will be found in a vinery, or forcing pit, j 
or even a close cold pit, keeping them partially shaded 
for a time, but gradually exposing them to light and air; 
until, by July or August, they may be transferred to the 
greenhouse, cold pit, or even for a time to a sheltered 
place, full in the sun, out of doors; so that maturation 
may be thoroughly effected before tlie end of autumn, 
taking care to have them properly secured from early 
frosts. When growing they will relish a temperature of 
from 05° to 75° when gradually inured to it; and a little 
bottom heat they will also thank you for. Though the 
plants would thrive very well in the greenhouse during 
the winter, yet as there is nothing vastly attractive in 
them when out of bloom, we prefer transferring them to 
a vinery, which serves the purpose of an omnium \ 
gatherum, where gesneras, gloxinias, &c., are kept in a 
dormant state, the temperature being seldom below J8° j 
or above TV. Here they get scarcely any water at the 
roots, but the leaves are kept green by giving them a 
dash from the syringe on a sunny day, which so far ! 
checks evaporation. In the course of February the tem¬ 
perature is raised to start tlie vines, and when 00° be- , 
comes the medium temperature, the plants are top- 
dressed, and water given to the roots somewhat freely, 
and ere long tlie flower shoots begin to show themselves; 
and when they are expanding they are transferred at 
first to a warm corner in the greenhouse, to be placed 
in any desirable position after a few days. Those who ! 
have no vinery may give the increased temperature de- j 
sirable for starting into growth, aud starting into flower 
by means of a frame or pit. 
Propagation. —Now, as to the time and the mode 
of potting or dividing the roots, upon principles which 
have previously been several times explained, it will be 
desirable to allow this to remain in abeyance until the i 
