143 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 11, 1860. 
class prize by book or by crook with model cut flowers 
without dressing, success is to be effected really by the 
hook or crook, and by no other means. No shoots are 
trained to get model flowers from; they all stand up¬ 
right that difficult point which brings a volunteer on 
to the centre of gravity, and makes a soldier of a bump¬ 
kin. The flower stands upright also at the top of the 
shoot, and the florets of incurved flowers incline up¬ 
wards to the centre of the flower from all the sides, 
but the weight of the florets themselves, the force of 
the wind against them, and the light of the sun when 
they get the chance, all conspire to rifle and confuse 
your model. But now take the hook or the crook, and 
with it bend down the top of the shoot until the centre of 
the then full-blown flower is turned right upside down: 
then the weight of the florets presses them close to the 
right position downwards to the very eye of the flower, 
the wind shuffles them better into their respective posi¬ 
tions, and the glare of the sun will not attract them to 
widen their distances apart—and the play of the sun’s 
rays being thus kept from their natural upper surfaces, 
the flower lasts ten days longer than it would do in its 
natural position, and it cuts from the stalk as no dresser 
could shape it. 
I shall conclude by asking a Christmas-box (from each 
of the great dons—from Mr. Salter, from Mr. Bird, and 
from Mr. Holmes—that is, each of them to give us, for 
Christmas, the names of twelve of the very best-looking 
Chrysanthemums which are naturally the latest in coming 
into bloom, of which the old Two-coloured Incurved and 
Fortune’s Two-coloured Incurved are the key-notes. 
D. Beaton. 
HOLLY DESTROYED BY CATERPILLARS. 
My attention was directed to a healthy young standard Holly 
three feet or four feet high, that seemed to have been broken off 
by force. Upon a closer inspection I found that the tree had 
been actually eaten for the space of four or five inches long, and 
in diameter nearly one-fourth of an inch. The insect which 
committed the damage presents a larva-like appearance, and 
exceeds an inch in length. It is of a yellow colour, with black 
spots running in lines from the head to the tail, and its head 
covered with a hard horny substance. Beneath this horny 
substance is situated the mouth, the antennae, and its biting 
apparatus (a pair of strong horny jaws). I am given to under¬ 
stand that there have been several of these destructive Cater¬ 
pillars found in the grounds of the Crystal Palace this season.— 
G. W. H., Sutton, Surrey. 
[The insect described in the preceding note is the Caterpillar 
of the Wood Leopard Moth (Zeuzera aesculi). It generally 
attacks young fruit trees. We have not heard before of its 
selecting the Holly.—W.] 
LONDON PRIDE AND OTHER SAXIFRAGES. 
When a boy my little garden was considered incomplete with¬ 
out a plant of London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa), and now it is 
a favourite with me, and is still the ornament of the cottage- 
garden border, where it has the preference before many a bedding 
favourite. It is seen in the greatest perfection in gardens 
attached to mountain homes. It there clings close to the earth 
and is beautiful. The variegated variety is not common in 
towns on account of the smoke ; but in a clear atmosphere is a 
good plant for the garden, yet it has a fault in not retaining its 
variegation. Where it is liable to run out it becomes no better 
than the common variety, yet in some situations it will do very 
well. There is another variety of the variegated form with 
leaves much larger than the preceding, the variegation is more 
marked, of a pure white, and, I am informed, it will retain its 
character in all seasons. This plant I have not grown, but can 
assure your readers that it is a plant well worthy of a’ place in 
the mixed border, and I have no doubt will be used as an 
edging plant. Those readers of The Cottage Gardener who 
grow this plant ought to try it as an edging and report the 
reiult. 
The S. geum (Kidney-leaved Mountain Saxifrage), will grow 
in smoky situations, and ought to be cultivated by those who 
grow S. umbrosa, as it will furnish a good variety. In a damp 
situation, with a little shade from trees, it grows to a lar^e size 
and the flower.-i are more attractive. I he above plants are 
easily increased by division. I am aware these common Saxi¬ 
frages are little noticed bv gardeners ; but the amateur and the 
curious keep them in their collections of hardy plants 
Will some one of the correspo"dents of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener who resides in Teesdale, have the kindness to tell us if 
the following Saxifrages grow with them now, or are they 
eradicated—S. hirculus, aizoides, granulata, tridactylites, hyp- 
noides, and stellaris ?— Rustic Robin. 
STOVE ORCHIDS. 
{Continued from page 92.) 
TERRESTRIAL SPECIES. 
Potting. —The earth-growing stove Orchids are found mostly 
in thickets and open glacles of forests in tropical regions, grow¬ 
ing in a continually increasing decomposing vegetable soil, 
rich, unctuous and moist. In order to succeed well we must 
imitate this soil. I can give an instance of successful culture 
of one of the most beautiful of terrestrial Orchids, I mean 
Calanthe vestita , which I saw in the stove at Summerfield, 
H. Micholls, Esq., near Manchester. This successful hit was 
achieved by Mr. T. Baines, the gardener there, a most zealous 
and persevering cultivator of Orchids. He grows this species in 
a rich, strong compost of fibrous lumps of loam, leaf mould not 
too much decayed, and flakes of dried, cakey cowdung, the whole 
mixed with small pieces of charcoal. He selects the strongest 
and nearly equal-sized pseudo-bulbs, eight or ten in number, 
wdien they are starting to grow, and plants them in his compost 
in a large pot, just covering the lower part of the bulbs. Very 
great was the success that attended this mode. They grew strong 
and flowered magnificently. The pseudo-bulbs were the largest 
I ever saw. The same method has been adopted for several years 
with the same success. The small tubers are potted in small 
pots and grown on till they are large enough to be put into a 
large pot to form a good specimen. There are several species that 
may be grown in the same way and in the same compost, but 
others will not bear so rich a compost. Cypripediums, for 
instance, thrive better in fibrous peat and leaf mould mixed with 
sand and charcoal. 
In potting there is this difference between epiphytal and 
terrestrial Orchids—whilst the first thrive best if raised on a 
small hillock in the centre of the pot, the latter should be potted 
like other plants, level or just below the rim of the pot. The 
same season for this work, however, is suitable for terrestrials— 
namely, the spring of the year, and also the same attention is 
requisite in having the fresh pots clean, and draining well, and 
in cleaning the leaves of such as are evergreen. In the grouped 
list below, the different composts for each genus are described. 
To that list I refer the reader. 
Basketing. — A considerable number of epiphytal, and a 
few terrestrial Orchids, require to be grown in baskets, inasmuch 
as they have the peculiarity of sending their flower-stems almost 
perpendicularly downwards, showing evidently that they either 
grow on branches of trees or in crevices of rocks. If such are 
grown in pots, it is evident that the flower-stem growing down¬ 
wards and being confined amongst the soil in i he pot must rot, 
and thus render the care and attention of the cultivator, so far 
as the blooms are concerned, abortive. To prevent this mis¬ 
fortune, the attentive growers long ago adopted baskets, or 
placed the plants that had this peculiar habit in piled-up square 
pieces of peat, through which some of the flower-stems pmhed 
and flowered well. 1 once had a large plant of Stanhopea 
oculata so grown, which produced no less than seventeen long 
flower-stems, with from six to seven large flowerp on each. This 
plant happened to bloom when there was an exhibition in the 
Botanic Gardens at Liverpool. I took it there and was awarded 
the first prize for it. Notwithstanding this success, I do not 
recommend the growing of Stanhopeas in pots ; because in such 
a case the water runs off the hillock, and, consequently, does not 
feed the plant sufficiently to keep it strong continually. 
The way to put these peculiar plants in baskets, and to renew 
the soil and basket as they require it. is as follows :—Having the 
baskets readymade of different sizes, then fix upon one of a suitable 
size in proportion to the size of the plant, and fine the bottom 
