201 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 26, 1860. 
rains. It is safest to house before there is any frost, as the small 
roots are apt to be injured when the pots are exposed. After 
being housed they should be kept as cool and airy as possible to 
be safe, and no more water given than will be sufficient to keep 
the ball moist, not wet. Under such circumstances many of the 
older loaves will fall; but that is of no consequence, the com¬ 
parative freedom from growth is all in favour of the flower- 
buds swelling freely. When you either want for the advancing 
strength of the sun to effect that object, or by gentle degrees, give 
them more and more artificial excitement. R. Fi&h. 
LILY OF THE VALLEY CULTURE. 
Will you describe the favourite aspect and treatment of the 
Lily of the Valley ? It is capricious or untrue to its name, as 
I have tried shade as well as sunshine unsuccessfully as regards 
ilowers; but have succeeded in obtaining abundance of leaves.— 
N. B. 
[Where the ground suits the Lily of the Valley, it grows 
equally well on every aspect of the compass, in shade, and full in 
the sun. It is one of the most capricious plants in cultivation, 
and where the natural soil does not suit it, no one that wo know 
of has ever yet made it do well. With us it will bloom abun¬ 
dantly and (orcc, and has forced in the same pots for the last five 
winters, in common black sandy soil ; but tor fifteen years pre¬ 
viously wo were baffled by it on other soils.] 
CULTURE OF T1IE GENUS ANCECTOCHILUS. 
attached to it in early spring, treating it exactly in the same 
manner as described above, when repotting established plants. 
These plants require a rattier high temperature — in summer 
from 70° to 60°; and in winter from 60 ° to 70°. Tlio lower 
temperature for night, and the higher Inal for day A moist 
atmosphere is necessary to keep them in health. Some cultivators 
grow them in boxes covered with large, long, (quarts of gla-s, 
but the bell-glasses nre to be preferred. With the above treat¬ 
ment. carefully followed, and repotting every spring, I lit se lovely 
plants may be successfully cultivated. 
The following arc now cultivated in this country Anterio- 
ehilus argentcus, A. orgcntcua piotus, A. El Dorado, A. Lobbii, 
A. Lowii, A. Lowii virescens, A. rubra venia, A. Roxburgliii, 
A. setaceus, A. selaccus cord j) us, A. set act. us inteimedius, 
A. striatus, A. Vcitchii, A. xanthophyllus. 
( SHOOTS OF DEODAR DYING—PINE APPLES 
DECAYED IN THE CENTRE. 
I have a line Ceclrus deodara about seventeen years old, and 
this year, without any apparent cause, several small branches 
have died suddenly. They are at the top of the tree, but not nil 
together, as healthy and dead branches are mixed, and the rest ot 
the tree is quite healthy. The soil is gravelly. I shall be very 
glad if any one can tell me what to do for the tree. 
Can you also loll me lire reason for Pine Apphs getting black 
in the centre, and any way of preventing it ? 1s it a good plan 
1 to pick out (as some do) the centre of the crown ot Pines, to 
1 prevent the crowns growing large?—M. II. 
In answer to “ An Ikish Subscriber,” we may state, that in 
early numbers of The Cottage Gardener, Mr. Appleby, 
amongst other Orchids, gives full directions liow to gruw the 
genus Ancectochilus. As, however, our correspondent may not 
have these numbers, we will now give the information wished 
for. There is no work of moderate cost that gives a good account 
of them excepting the one named above. 
The Ancectochils are not easy to grow, the best cultivators And 
them very uncertain and capricious in their habits. For a year 
or two they flourish admirably, then fall oil' and die away most 
unaccountably. No doubt there is a cause for this failure, though 
that cause lias not been satisfactorily found out as yet. We take 
it for granted that there is a hothouse to grow them iu. 
Now is a good season to repot the plants. Procure a quantity 
of sphagnum or bog white moss, chop it small, also some turiy 
peat as full of fibry roots us you can get if. Chop this also into 
moderjte-sized pieces, and sift out all the fine dust. Also, pro¬ 
cure some charcoal, and break it into pieces the Bize of Walnuts, 
and some a little less. Mix these altogether, and add a small 
quantity of silver sand. Have ready also the requisite number 
of clean pots,—of sizes proportionate to the size of your plants. 
If fresh from the pottery, put them in cold water for a few hours, 
and set them to dry in a warm room or shed. Also, make ready 
a sufficient quantity of broken pots, a few large pieces to lay over 
the holes at the bottom of the pots, a larger quantity of lesser 
pieces to lay upon the first size, and a still larger quantity of small 
pieces to cover them with. These are for drainage. Effectual 
drainage is very necessary, for stagnant water is death to these 
tender plants. > 
Having these materials all ready and ]diced in soma place 
where they may become moderately warm, then proceed to repot 
your plants. Turn them out of Cite pots very carefully, so as not 
to injure or bruise a single leaf; pick away very carefully all the 
old soil from each plant. Fill a pot with the drainage half full; 
then place a portion of the compost upon the drainage, sufficient 
to raise the plant level with' the rim of the pot. Do careful not 
to overpot them; keep the plant in the centre of the pot, and 
gradually fill in the compost round tire plant till the pot is full, 
pressing it down as the process goes on, and finish the operation 
neatly, leaving the leaves just above the compost. Then give a 
gentle watering with milkwarm water, and place the plant in the 
stove for a night to allow the surface of iho compost to become 
rather dry. Then cover every plrnf with a clean bell-glass, and 
shade from bright sun with white paper. Wipe the glasses every 
morning if the least moisture is observable. In summer, give a 
little air daily, by tilting the glasses with a small piece of wood 
or broken pots. Keep the compost moist during the growing 
season, but very moderately so in winter. 
You may propagate them by dividing off a sucker with roots 
[The frost hurt the tender tops of that Deodara last autumn, 
but until the growth of this season began they did not show the 
j injury. You can do nothing now to help it, but it will soon right 
| itself. We cannot say what ails the centre of the Pines. Surely 
no one in these days of enlightened gardening injured them by 
operating on the crowns—a most unscientific idea. Gardeners 
grow Pines purposely with small crowns to show' their skill, but 
if they attempted to stop the crowns artificially, it must end, as 
we think, in doing no good at all, and be liable to do injury.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Work on Fi.owkr Coi.tuui: (G hjxinia ).—We know of none so cheap, or 
that contains so much in a smalt compass, as “The Garden Manual,” 
published at our ciftcc, and which you may have sent post free for twenty 
penny postage stamps. 
Mauyki, or Peru — Hydrangeas Yei.i.ow-leavkI) — Crossing Times 
( J, V.)-— The botmical name of jour Marvel of Peru is M‘rubiU* ,/a/njjn. 
It is a native of the West Indies. It grows two feet high, forms a den.-u 
hush, and lias v.iiious-cotoured flowers two or three inches long, and 
shaped like, a trumpet. You have so far treated your plants correctly, 
and mav now plant them out in a bed in rather rich, light soil in a sheltered 
part of your garden; or if you choose you may grow some in pots nine 
inches wide in rich soil, and keep them to bloom ill the greenhouse dmiug 
summer. They die down iu tlio autumn ; but they have long, fleshy toots, 
something like a Carrot. If you like you may cut off the decayed tops, 
ami put the roots, packed in sand, iu a warm shed through Uieumtir, 
and then plant them out again in April. The second year they flower 
much stronger than the first. The cause of your_ Hydrangeas hiring 
yellow leaves, is your soil being too light, and jour drainage impel teet. fake 
<ff as much soil as you can and replace it with strong loam n ixed with 
very rotten eowtlung. The leaves wi.l then turn gre en enough, and soon 
make tine bushy plants, provided you give them plenty of petition.. By the 
time you see tills it will be too late to impregnate your Tulips, unit as your 
blooms are very bite. There is but little mystery about this. In the 
centre there is the female part of the flower called the stigma. Around n. 
are the males, which are called stamens. These open, and there appears 
a the t inside. This dust should be gathered, and throw n upon ihe stigma, 
thereby eausing seed to be produced. I)o this and you will have plenty 
u l seed'. Gather it when ripe, save it till March, and sow it in boxes or 
shadow pans placed under glass—a pit or frame will do. Keep the young 
bulbs ill the pins or boxes two years; then plant them out in beds m 
November; taking them up when the leaves decay, and replanting 
annually. In seven years they will flower. 
ri anting Trees Fott Shelter (//.).—It is very difficult to advi. e with¬ 
out being on the spot. One might ruin the effect of the view by halfn 
dozen trees, even when on tlte spot, without on eje which could ini the 
future for fifty wars to come: wo would rather be txcu-ed froiutli.it 
responsibility, if you like to plain trees lo shelter you from that quarter, 
the fastest-growing Toplars sue the very best you can use. ine Black 
Italian is ttic best of them, and is called Pojwlmvsotiilifrra. fuel hints 
should be fi oni six feet to ten feet long, and tbe end of October is the best 
time for planting them. But we would do nothing of that kind for our¬ 
selves iu such a situnl on ; we would rather chance all storms and winds, 
lb rhaps we shall not have such another windy season in our lilelime. 
Gaiduk at Kensington Gore (7>. i.).-It will not bo a botanical but 
., horticultural gnroen. You may obtain full particulars by willing lo tlio 
Secretary, Horticultural Society, 8, St. Martin’s ITuce, London. 
