54 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
mkrodon, a cross between Aspleniurii marinutn and 
Aspleniumlanceolatum ; and third, Asplenium germa- 
nicum, a possible cross between Asplenium Euta- 
muraria and Asplenium septenirionale. The author 
has failed to raise spores from any of these, and is 
not aware of any one else succeeding, whilst in a 
wild state the two so-called parents appear always 
to be growing together where the third form is found. 
There are plenty of good-looking spores on Lastrca 
remota, yet they will not germinate. For the last ten 
years several pans of spores from this fern have been 
sown yearly, without a single plant having been 
raised.” 
A NEW HYBKID DENDEOBE. 
ENDEOBIUM SPLENDIDISSIMUM is 
tlie latest—that is, one of the latest— 
of novelties in Messrs. Veitch’s Chel¬ 
sea Nursery, and such a lovely thing generally, 
that it deserves something more than a passing 
notice. When Mr. Mitchell, with fatherly 
care, exhibited D. Ainswortldi at South Ken¬ 
sington, it was much admired ; afterwards it 
improved—there came a rosy-tinted form of it, 
and it was held to be the finest of all hybrid 
Dendi’obes. Now comes this “ most splendid ” 
hybrid of Mr. Seden’s, the result of a lucky 
cross between the violet-scented D. hetero- 
carpum and a good variety of D. {coendescens) 
nohiU. The port of the plant is vigorous, the 
widely-expanded flowers being borne in pairs 
towards the extremities of stout, sub-pendent, 
greyish bulbs, 2ft. in length. In colour the flowers 
are creamy-white, the sepals and broader petals, 
being glossy, and delicately tinted with rosy 
purple towards their apices. The bold lip is 
yellowish, rvith a dark reddish-purple blotch 
in the centre, and indications of hairy lines 
through the body-colour of the blotch, as in 
I), heterocarpuin; the apex is also obliquely 
revolute, another characteristic of the last- 
named species. The larger habit of growth, 
the colour especially, the dainty dash of rose- 
purple on the petals, are evidences of the 
D. Jiohile —the noble—blood in its veins. The 
semi-pendulous habit may be derived from 
D. lieterocarpuni^ but this is a secondary and 
immaterial matter altogether. The plant was 
shown to me as B. AinsiL-oi'thii roseum, but I 
could not reconcile myself to the name, 
although I had it from a good source. The 
bold, richly-blotched flowers, each three inches 
across, suggested those of D. Ward/ainm 
when newly open, an illusion which the broad, 
glistening petals, with their purple-laved 
tips, aided materially ; and taken altogether. 
the thing had a presence and porte- 
einpressement which convinced me it was not 
B. Ainsivortliii^ in any of its rather vary¬ 
ing form's, but rather a genuine new hybrid 
altogether. This view Professor H. G. Eeichen- 
bach has corroborated. I must say that I am 
afraid there is no possibility of B. macropJiyl- 
luin having been one of its parents. There is 
no good evidence of this, as has been pointed 
out by Eeichenbach, in bis description of the 
new beauty (see Gardeners’ Chronicle, March 
8th, 1879, p. 298). That cross—that is to 
say, the results of it—are yet to come ; nor is 
there much reason to hope that it may prove 
lovelier than the really “ splendid ” novelty 
just described, and of which hE’. Seden may 
feel pretty proud. For the sake of future refer¬ 
ence, these B. heterocarpo-nohile hybrids may 
be thus tabulated :— 
D. lieterocarpo-nobile—Ainswortliii. 
D. „ „ —Ainsworthii roseum. 
D. „ „ —splendidis.simiim. 
A “ little bird ” sang of a still finer form of the 
last named, which may one day be forthcoming; 
and if so, I am sure its lucky possessor will not 
readily be induced to part with it—no, not for 
many shekels! —F. W. Buebidge. 
BOTTLING GEAPES. 
AVING been one of the first to make 
trial of the plan of bottling late Grapes, 
and that on a large scale, I must state 
that I have found the system to possess 
great advantages, especially from being enabled 
by its means to get the vines pruned and 
dressed at the proper season. At one time, 
I tried the plan of cutting off bunches of 
Lady Downe’s and the Eoyal Vineyard—the 
latest-keeping white Grape—and sealing the 
cut ends of the shoots with wax ; I also in¬ 
serted some in mangold-wurzel roots or turnips, 
but the berries shrivelled very much before 
April was out. Now, when bottled, I can 
keep Lady Downe’s in good condition until 
June. 
As to the flavour of the berries in the bottled 
Grapes being deteriorated, I have never found 
this to be the case to any great extent, where 
the water in the bottles was kept clear and sweet 
by means of small pieces of charcoal placed in 
it. Another effective means of keeping bottled 
Grapes from losing their flavour, is to have a 
proper room or place to hang the bottles in. 
