THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, November 18, 1856. 109 
which struck me as being quite new to the eye or very 
pretty to look at, and I here give a “ list ” of them:— 
Ferns very new, very good, or very curious.— 
Adiantum macrophyllum, A. pentadactylon, A. alatum. 
A. caudatum; AspleniumBelangeri; CibotiumBarometz, 
C. Shiedei; Cheilanthes viscosa; Dictyoglossum (rather 
Hyinenodium) crinitum; Diplazium giganteum; Gli- 
chenia microphylla, a duck of a Fern ; Gymnogramma 
chrysophylla vera, much better than the common G. 
pulchella; Platycerimn stemmaria, fine; Polystichum 
mucronatum, new and very rare. 
Orchids I can discuss at breakfast, luncheon, dinner, 
and supper any day in the week; but the most out-of- 
the-way thing which struck me here was to meet with 
an Orchid to which I gave the first gold medal not 
many years back, and which I knew had been knocked 
down since, by the relentless hammer of Mr. Stevens, for 
seventy-eight guineas. After that his head was cut off— 
not Mr. Stevens’s head, for we cannot do without him 
anyhow—but the head of the plant; and now for one 
hoad “off” there are four heads “on”—remarkably 
clear, clean, intelligent heads they are too. The kind is 
Aerides Schrcederi. 
As you enter this house the centre of the middle stage 
is before you, which is a level slate stage, covering over 
tanks and hot pipes. Here the entire end of the stage 
from right to left, and several rows deep, is occupied 
with Aerides and Saccolabiums in large pots, and in the 
most healthy order; Aerides crispum, three feet high, 
and several varieties of it; Fox-brush, very stout, 
eighteen inches high ; Flavidum, an extreme variety, 
thirty inches long, and in the utmost health. This kind 
is said to have actually flower-spikes two feet long, fox- 
brushed, with flowers as close as in the Fox-brusli 
variety. The colour of the flowers is nearly white, like 
most of them, and the lip is a ci'eamy yellow. One 
plant of A. crispum put out a long, horizontal, stout, 
fleshy root as an axil to numerous smaller roots, so 
grown as to form an exact model for a hay-making 
machine. What a pity that Orchids did not flourish 
when poetry did ! 
Several specimens of the different kinds of A. affine, 
with four, five, and six long shoots. A. nobile, a rare 
kind from Loddiges’ sale. The flower-spikes of this 
noble plant are said to be pretty nigh two feet long, and 
the flowers much after Jiavidum. A fine specimen plant 
of Ansellia Africana, with strong shoots, four feet long, 
showing for blossom ; Saccolabium curvifolium, a close¬ 
growing kind, with a dozen and a half of leaves on 
each side of a stem, which is not yet much over twelve 
or fifteen inches in length. The flowers of this kind are 
of an orange colour, on long, spreading spikes. Over¬ 
head, in cradle-baskets made of rods, were several rows 
of the finest kinds; also, in large specimens, such as 
Saccolabium guttatum, Blumei, and Blumei major; Aerides 
virens, odoratum, major, superba, and affine rosea; also, 
Camarotis purpurea; Burlingtonia Candida, frag runs, 
venusta, and decora, the latter in bloom, and puts one in 
mind of some Barlceria. The body of the flower is of 
a light colour, speckled all over with purple spots, after 
the manner of a spotted egg, and the lip advances far 
in front, is very large for the family, and of snow 
whiteness—a real gem. A good stock of Cattleya 
Aclandice, gowing more freely than is usual, hanging 
close to the glass ; the rare Vanda Jenkinsii; and three 
kinds of very curious Bulbophyllum, from Molmein, 
with cone-like spikes of purple and yellow flowers. They 
are part of a cargo which was brought home this season, 
among which was the rare Fern called Drynaria querci- 
folia, which has the barren leaves spread out like the 
Elk-horn Fern, now called Platycerimn alcicorne. This 
Fern is quite at home here ; also, four Amherstia nobilis, 
quite dead, but worth mentioning, as being the first of 
their kind, I believe, that were shipped from so far east¬ 
wards as Molmein, and other plants from thence of which 
little is known yet. The Dusty Miller Fern, which 
pricked up the ears of Fern growers at the last Crystal 
Palace Show, and found in this house under the name 
of Gymnogramma Peruviana farinosa ; also, the Straw¬ 
berry Fern, Adiantum caudatum; —the end of the leafy 
branch runs out, tail fashion, like the runner of a Straw¬ 
berry-plant, and there makes a new plant, and so on, 
and yet it is rare and high priced ;—together with fine 
specimens of Platycerium grande, a most appropriate 
name. 
No. 4.—This is another large house of Orchids and 
Ferns, called the Mexican-house, a span-roof, with a 
centre path, a broad flat stage on each side, and a very 
broad shelf overhead. On the latter, all the Besneriads and 
allied families of bulbous and tuberous-rooted plants 
are dry wintered, the tops not being interfered with till 
they are completely dried up—a good example to follow 
by such as find it difficult to keep their Gloxinias over | 
the winter. The heat is from 55° to 60° in winter, I 
unless it be during a very hard frost, when 50° may 
safely be the highest point. Here are immense quanti¬ 
ties of Cattleyas in large lumps, as they were recently 
imported, “ breaking well,” or beginning to sprout 
freely. Formerly every newly-imported Orchid was put 
into the hottest place; but I broke through that rule also 
twenty years since, and Sir W. Hooker backed me in 
the Botanical Magazine so earnestly, that the practice 
“ took” at once, and now no one puts a dried-up Orchid 
to the collar at first. A great number of Mexican 
useful kinds are here. Among them Cattleya citrina, 
generally a very strong grower, is up and doing, close to 
the glass, just as well as any of them. The secret is 
out at last; it must have no more water than enough to 
keep it from shrivelling, and, during the winter, the air 
of the house is sufficient to do that. Lcelia autumnalis 
and majalis coming into bloom, anceps also. Fine plants 
of Trichopilia suavis and the so-called coccinea, which 
ought to have been called fuscatum; but, through that 
courtesy for which he seldom gets credit, Dr. Lindley 
adopted this fuscate name into his magazine called 
“ Paxton’s Flower Garden,” from a foreign collector. 
Cycnoches, Gatasetums, and the allied tribes of hob¬ 
goblins peculiar to Venezuela, and all that sea-board 
which one sees when seated on the Saddle of Caraccas, 
are also here, and the best British-made bulbs of An- 
guloas I ever saw. Dendrobes in all stages, up to the 
flowering of Chrysanthum — not Chrysanthemum, re¬ 
collect; Oncids, ditto, from the bird’s beak ( ornitho- 
rhynchum), through the sections to the jlexuosum section, 
of which oblongatum, now in bloom, is one of the best. 
Barkerias, of which melanocaulon is the rarest, doing 
well in a cork saddle, dangling from the roof; Epiden- 
drum vitellinum in good bloom; Warrea Lindeniana 
coming into bloom ; Odontoglossum hastatum fuscum, or 
fuscatum, with along flower-stem well furnished with side 
branches; Cymbidium Masterii coming up; Oncidium 
divaricatum, Dendrobhnn moniliforme, Calanthe sciatica, 
a grey, violet flower, but not much, all in bloom, with | 
fine blocks of Dendrobium Jenkinsii and D. Falconeri, \ 
the newest of them all, and one of the most lovely- | 
looking flowers among the Air-plants; very long shoots, 
very slender ditto, very short-jointed, and gouty at the 
joints, very easy to propagate from side offsets, not bad 
to gi'ow, and easy to bloom. It was introduced from 
Bhootan last spring, and sold by Mr. Stevens. 
No. 5 is a span-roofed house, full of Chinese Azaleas 
for trade orders, and Daphne Indica rubra and hybrida, 
all in good bud for immediate forcing. No. 6 is also 
a span-roofed house, full of young Camellias quite as full 
in bloom-buds. 
No. 7 is a lean-to and dry propagating-house. The 
damp propagatory is opposite to this. In this dry house 
at this moment is the most extraordinary plant in 
