THE FLORIST AND POJIOLOGIST. 
[Octoher, 
154 
in the true form, some deep yellow, some pale 
yellow or straw-coloured, some quite dark. 
A few single ones are certain to put in an 
appearance, but all are so useful for cutting 
from, besides producing so many flowers, that 
there is really little room for finding fault. 
Those who have not hitherto included Gail- 
lardia Lorenziana in their flower seed orders, 
should do so without delay. They will not 
regret giving it a place in their gardens.— 
R. D. 
TREE MIGNONETTE FOR WINTER. 
f NE of the most useful things for cutting 
from in the winter is the Mignonette ; 
and for this purpose, we generally 
grow about a dozen plants on wire 
trellises. We sow the seed about the first 
week in April, in three-inch pots, filled with 
sifted loam and leaf mould, with a little sand 
to make it free, sprinkling a few seeds in the 
centre of the pot, covering with some fine soil, 
and placing them in a cold frame till large 
enough to handle. We then thin them out, 
leaving only the strongest plant. As soon as 
the plants are about three inches high, a thin 
stake, about two feet long, is placed to each, 
and pushed down to the bottom of the pot, 
the plant being tied loosely to the stake. By 
the time it reaches the top of the stake it 
will be ready for a shift into a six-inch pot. 
The side shoots have to be carefully pinched 
off, and when the principal stems have reached 
the proper height for the trellises we pinch out 
the top a few days before putting them into 
their flowering pots, ten-inch pots being the 
size used. We then stand them out of doors, 
at the back of one of the ranges of houses 
facing north. We syringe them twice a day, 
and keep them carefully pinched and tied 
in. We leave them out till the appearance of 
frost, and then we place them in a cool green¬ 
house, and let them flower. In this way we 
get plenty to supply our wants—which are 
great, as cut flowers are very freely used here 
for table decoration. The soil used is good 
rough loam, and rotten manure, with a free 
sprinkling of lime rubbish or broken crocks, to 
keep the soil porous. The sort grown is 
Miles’ New Spiral, and a very good variety it 
is for this purpose.—T. Copper, Thoreshy 
Gardens. 
COOL ORCHIDS. 
T would no doubt interest a large class of 
the readers of the Florist and Pomolo- 
GiST to know how many kinds of Orchids 
may be successfully grown in a green¬ 
house where heat would only be applied 
during frosty weather. 
I have a very healthy plant of Cypripedium 
insUjne, which has stood two winters under 
greenhouse treatment, and is now making 
three healthy growths. It made one growth 
the first year and produced one flow^;r, two 
growths the second year and produced two 
flowers, and I quite expect three flowers next 
year from this plant. I remember many years 
ago Mr. Dodds, then living at Stockwell, try¬ 
ing several kinds under greenhouse treatment, 
but I never heard with what result. Messrs. 
Backhouse & Son, of York, also tried many 
kinds out of doors during summer, and when 
I saw them they appeared quite healthy, and 
seemed to enjoy their position; no doubt they 
have also tried them under greenhouse treat¬ 
ment, and if so it would be very interesting to 
know with what results. 
The late Mr. Green, when gardener to Sir 
Edward 'Antrobus, Bart., Lower Cheam, as¬ 
tonished the Orchid world by producing a fine 
specimen of Dendrohiurn nohile at the Ms y show 
of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, and 
this was accomplished by keeping the plant 
in a cool greenhouse all the winter, and so 
preventing its flowering at the usual time. 
The beautiful Lycaste SJcinmri wrs never 
properly grown until subjected to cool treat¬ 
ment, and the Pleione Wallichiana may be 
mentioned as another example of an Orchid 
which was never seen in perfection until 
removed from the stove to the cool-house. I 
have no doubt many other examples of a 
similar character are known to cultivators. 
These beautiful plants could only be ob¬ 
tained some few years back by the wealthy; 
now we see them advertised at prices within 
reach of most people who can afford to indulge 
in the luxury of a small greenhouse, and hence 
it becomes an interesting question as to how 
many of them may be grown successfully under 
the circumstances named. 
I do not suppose for one moment that all 
the varieties set down for cool treatment in 
our trade catalogues would be suitable, but 
