165 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
GENTLEMAN, December 15, 1857. 
From these few remarks, perhaps, you think I would ad¬ 
vise a plain workhouse furniture: that would be utility un¬ 
adorned, in the plain sense of the word. But I advocate no 
such thing. My room is, I flatter myself, as comfortable as 
any one’s ; utility and comfort being combined artistically. 
Have flowers, Ferns, rockeries, and statues by all means ; 
I but what I want is, to keep them in their proper places j and 
not turn my ewer out of the basin to form a gold-fish-pond 
and aquarium; nor my shirts out of the drawers to form 
receptacles for rockeries : nor to construct u hanging gardens” 
to my clothes hooks, as a substitute for the fly-catchers. 
In fact, I simply ask to bo allowed conservatism in my 
bedroom decoration; but “ye gods ” forbid that I should have 
conservatory decorations instead.—I n Statu Quo. 
OjNCIDIUM tenue. 
Received from G. U. Skinner, Esq., in 
April, 1849, from Guatemala. 
Tliis has so very much the structure of On- 
cidium tenue , that it can only be regarded as a 
variety; but it is one of greater beauty than the 
original. The panicle is much more branched; 
the flowers are larger, paler, with two distinct 
triangular spots at the base of the lip instead 
of broken blotches. The wings of the column 
are, moreover, strongly toothed; and the base of 
the lip is wider. The singular thinness of the 
pseudo-bulbs, and the short, broad, thin leaves, 
render the species among the easiest to recognise. 
In the accompanying figure, a represents the 
plant reduced in size, b the back, and c the 
front of a flower of the natural size, and d a cross 
section of a pseudo-bulb to show its tliinness. 
It requires to be potted in fibry peat, and 
with a small portion of half-decayed leaves ; 
must be perfectly drained, and kept in the 
coldest part of the stove. It is increased in 
the usual way, when the plant is large enough 
for that purpose. It flowers in April and May. 
It is one of the best of the small kinds of On~ 
cidium, remaining rather long in bloom.— 
{Horticultural Society's Journal .) 
ACROCLINIUM EOSEUM AND 
ITS CULTURE. 
There have appeared in several of the late 
numbers of The Cottage Gardener, ques¬ 
tions relative to this plant; and not seeing the 
same answered, I think the following will be 
acceptable to those, at least, who asked the 
question, and perhaps to many more. 
The plant I have had flowering with me 
through the last part of the summer and 
autumn, from seeds sown last spring; and I 
think it a plant so deserving, that it ought to 
bo in every collection where there is convenience 
to have it. It appears to be an annual, for 
most of my plants have ripened their seeds and 
died down level with the soil ; but some of 
them are as fresh as ever. The seeds were 
sown late in the spring, in pots, just covered 
with light soil, watered and placed upon a shelf 
in a warm house, in a temperature ranging from 
65° to 75°. The seed had not been sown more 
than a few days, when the seedlings made their 
appearance above the soil; and ha as short a 
time after, were sufficiently large to pot off, 
which I did, throe in a small 60-pot, watered 
them gently, and placed them again on the same 
shelf to encourage them a little: but they had 
not remained long in this place, before I saw 
that they must be moved to a cooler house, or pit, or they 
would all be drawn and spoiled. This was done ; and in a 
few days they quite delighted in all the fresh air they could 
have, and required a shift, which they received from the small 
sixties into forty-eights. I used the same compost as they were 
then growing in, namely, two parts loam and one of leaf- 
mould, and thorougldy-decayed dung in equal proportions. 
The plants grew amazingly; and in a few weeks those of 
them that were kept in-doors were showing flower. Some were 
Oncitlium Tenue. 
turned into the ground in the open air as soon as they began 
to get established in the forty-eights ; and these, although they 
did not flower quite so soon, yet they grew rapidly, and repaid 
for the lost time. I must tell you, that I kept them together 
in threes, as I first potted. But, of course, this is optional; 
and those in pots were not shifted again, but flowered in the 
forty-eights with the assistance of a little liquid manure now 
and then. 
The flowers are produced at the ends of the shoots— 
