4 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Octobeb 2, 1860. 
virgin cream and honey of the breed of Natalensis, alias 
badly as Gandavensis, the richest of these races. 
Bernice, rosy-salmon, marked with orange-red. 
Canary, a clean clear yellow, marked with rose. 
Hebe, salmon, striped with carmine. 
Madame Binder, aforesaid. 
Pegasus, carnation, mottled with red. 
Princess Clotilde, a delicate rosy salmon, with large 
violet spots on a white ground in front. 
If I live to be old enough I shall possess all these and 
Cardinalis, and cross every one of them that is above a 
rose or rosy salmon with the pollen of Cardinalis, to see 
if I can take the shine out of Garibaldi and Samuel 
Way mouth; the latter a schoolmaster of eminence, and 
most probably one who claims his share in “ Our baby.” 
D. Beaton. 
MEANS TO PEE SEE YE CUT FLOWEES. 
Most people like to preserve bouquets of natural flowers 
Many methods have been recommended, but they fall shoit of 
the object to be attained. In short, the water becomes putrid, 
and is obliged to be renewed at least once a-day, without checking 
the alteration of the flowers, which commences soon after their 
separation from the plant. The following method, which has 
completely succeeded, consists in introducing a spoonful, more or 
less, of powdered charcoal in the water contained in the vessel, 
and immersing the lower extremity of the stems of the flowers 
in the charcoal. By this proceeding the most beautiful results 
are obtained, as the flowers are preserved without sensible 
alteration, at least as long time as in their natural condition, 
without it being necessary to renew either the water or the 
charcoal, or by giving them any other attention. The water is 
preserved quite clear in the vessel. 
THE SEASON AND ITS EFFECTS ON 
VEGETATION IN SOUTH DUEHAM. 
The last winter and spring were the wettest on record. Snow 
lay on the ground, more or less, twenty-two weeks. Warm 
weather never appeared before the 4th of May, when the ther¬ 
mometer rose to 76°, and continued fine till the lltli, after 
which cold wet weather returned, and the thermometer never 
reached 76° again till September the 12th. 
Fruits. —Apples, crop heavy; fruit in most instances very 
small. Pears very abundant, and very small; few, if any, of 
the late kinds will ripen. Plums very abundant, do not ripen, 
and no flavour. Cherries, crop large, quality bad. Gooseberries 
abundant and bad. Currants (Red, White, and Black), crop 
large, very sour. Raspberries very fine and abundant; the 
Northumberland Fillbasket decidedly ths best. Strawberries, 
crop good, fruit large ; some early kinds good. Nevin’s Prncess 
Frederick William is a great acquisition, by far the earliest, 
good flavour, high aroma, great bearer, mediunusized fruit, and 
excellent for forcing. No garden should be without it; it 
will banish the Black Prince. 
Vegetables. —Peas, crop very good in the early part of the 
season; much taller than usual, late crops have not filled ; still 
flowering abundantly. Potatoes not an average crop, quality 
bad. The disease is as bad, if not worse, than in any previous 
year. Beans well corned, very tail. Onions, plenty of bulbs, 
but small. French Beans, as bad as possible. Scarlet Rur ners, 
plants weak, crop thin. Carrots, middling crop. Cabbages and 
Cauliflowers, the numerous wood-pigeons destroyed what the 
frost left in early spring; the spring-sown pretty good. Celery 
late and grows slow. 
Flower Garden. —Calceolarias have done well though late, 
particularly Prince of Orange and Rugosa. Verbenas, very irre¬ 
gular. Purple King and 11 Trovatore have done very well, as 
well as Moonlight and Etoile de Vaise. All others failures. 
Lobelias, on the whole, good; particularly those raised from 
cuttings. Geraniums, variegated—Flower of the Day, Golden 
Chain, Countess of Warwick, and Mountain of Light, have done 
well; Mangles’ Silver Stripe very robust; Brilliant less va¬ 
riegated than usual. Scarlet Geraniums—Crystal Palace and 
Attraction the best; Tom Thumb, robust, full of leaf, and no 
flowers; Cerise Unique, few of the flowers opened well, being 
deformed; Model Nosegay, very fine; Imperial Crimson, very 
strong, but few flowers; and the Old Queen as good as any ot 
them ; Baron Hugel, much diseased. 
Miscellaneous Plants. —Petunias bad. Perilla Nankinensis 
better than I ever saw it. Alyssum variegatum, very good. 
Cerastium tomentosum, good. Gazania splendens, one of the best 
beds in the garden. Dahlias bad. Hollyhocks like hop-poles, 
few flowers opening. Phloxes vigorous, but poor flowers. Roses 
very good. Salvia patens very full of bloom. Sanvitalia pro- 
cumbens, as bad as possible, and Saponaria calabrica little better. 
The ground temperature has been much below the average. 
At one foot deep the thermometer has stood at 54° for the last 
five weeks. On the whole there has been less wind than usual; 
but in May, as soon as the leaves of the Beech were fully deve¬ 
loped, we had a gale for a few hours, which injured the leaves 
very much, particularly on the west side, which has given them 
an autumnal hue all the summer. 
Variegated Begonias have barely held their ground, and Cala- 
dium marmorata and C. argyrites disappeared some months 
back. Myosotidium nobile planted out in a south border doubled 
its size, and is far larger than those kept in pots. Aquilegia glan- 
dulosa has been particularly strong and fine.— Thomas Shortt, 
liabij Castle. 
STOVE OECHIDS. 
Good collections of Orchids requiring stove treatment are 
now very numerous in this country, and such is their beauty 
that the number of cultivators is annually increasing. The skill 
necessary to grow them displayed by English gardeners, shows 
to no small extent what perseverance can accomplish in over¬ 
coming difficulties that at first seemed almost insuperable. Fifty 
years ago exotic Orchids in this country were almost unknown 
to gardeners, and it was only by studying their native habitats 
and peculiar circumstances as to their mode of growing in exotic 
climes, that has led to their successful cidture. If any plant is 
brought from foreign climes, where it grows in a dense, moist 
forest, and is potted in any chance soil that may be handy, and 
placed on a shelf in a dry stove exposed to the burning summer’s 
sun, it must soon languish and die. Such, no doubt, was the fate of 
many of the orcliideous plants collected and sent home without, 
perhaps, a line to say under what peculiarities of climate or soil 
it enjoyed in its native wild. However, some few flowered, and 
their extreme elegance, curious forms, and singular appearance, 
led to inquiries, which, when given faitlifully by collectors, soon 
led to a different mode of culture, and, finally, to that perfection 
we now see displayed in our stoves and exhibitions. This success 
has been the cause of a greater demand for them; so much so, 
that hundreds of species have been introduced, and the numbers 
are increasing annually. 
As a natural consequence, information on their management 
is in request, and one or two manuals have been published on 
the subject. The first was published by T. C. Lyons, Esq., a 
zealous amateur and grower, at Ladiston, in Ireland. He first 
wrote a small book on the subject, printed it, and bound the first 
edition with his own hands, and generously gave the first edition 
away to his friends, and all the cultivators of Orchids that he 
knew of. That small work was so well thought of, that he was 
induced to write a considerably enlarged edition, much improved 
both in form and matter. This was published in 1845, in 
London, by Mr. J. Ridgway, and by Messrs. Hodge and Smith, 
of Dublin, and is now, I believe, out of print. Another some¬ 
what larger work on the culture of these lovely plants is from 
the pen of Mr. B. Williams, formerly gardener to J. Warner, 
Esq., of Broxbourne, Herts. I may venture to mention also, 
that I -wrote a few essays on their culture in the earlier volumes 
of The Cottage Gardener. Notwithstanding all these pub¬ 
lications, it seems that a few concise instructions in a simpler 
form and in less compass arc needed, and will be useful to young 
gardeners, amateurs, and others, that may be desirous of growing 
Orchids, and wish to know the best way to set about their culture. 
On each point of culture I shall endeavour to give plain in¬ 
structions in such language that the veriest tyro can understand ; 
and if he will, or can, put them in practice as far as his means 
extend, I have no doubt by careful attention he will succeed in 
growing his plants in a satisfactory manner. 
The Orchid-house. —Let not the amateur be alarmed about 
the expense of a house suitable for Orchids. If his collection at 
first is small, any kind or form of house, if sufficiently heated, 
will, with judicious care, grow them on till a larger house is 
needed; but where expense is no object, then a proper house 
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