1881 . ] 
THE GARDENIA.-VANDA CCERCLEA. 
pruning is an institution at St. Peter’s, Droit- 
witch. It is only where such has been re¬ 
quired that the practice of root-lifting or 
pruning them has been adopted. Where the 
trees do well without manipulation of this 
kind, and have a fair amount of room to ex¬ 
tend their growth, the practice is avoided, 
encouragement from the surface being pre¬ 
ferred. When there is good, healthy fibre 
within reach of solar heat, and equal attention 
in other respects is given, healthy, clean- 
skinned, fruit-bearing trees are certain. Where 
soil naturally suits such conditions, we have 
always considered it unwise to waste labour, and 
maybe do mischief, by the use of knife or saw 
in cutting away what would be a real benefit to 
the trees. The cordons at St. Peter’s I do not 
suppose have had any root-cutting; and re¬ 
striction practised judiciously with the top- 
growth of these, is depended on more than any 
underground work. 
The same may be said of Dr. Roden’s hand¬ 
some pyramids at Kidderminster, where pinch¬ 
ing is a practice strictly adhered to, and top- 
growth restricted. I am told they have—as 
often before—carried splendid crops this year. 
We never had better Pears than this season, 
when the knife has hardly been used.—M. 
Temple, Impney. 
THE GARDENIA. 
HO does not love the Gardenia ? Its 
purity and fragrance, its adaptability 
to any and every purpose for which 
flowers can be used, at once make the Gardenia 
a universal favourite. In our young days, this 
plant was grown only in pots, kept in the 
greenhouse all the winter, and introduced into 
heat in the spring, when it yielded a crop of 
blossoms, and there the matter ended till the 
next spring. Of late years, however, in many 
places, the planting-out plan has been adopted, 
and right well does the Gardenia repay one for 
the trouble and house-room. Some three or 
four years ago, we had occasion to do away 
with the pines in one of the houses here. 
I thought this a favourable opportunity to 
fill the bed with turfy peat and sand, 
and in this bed 1 planted out G. For - 
tuuei, G. intermedia , and G. radicans major; 
they grew and flowered admirably, and every 
year since have improved. I am unwilling to set 
107 
down anything like the number we gather in a 
season, for it is simply incredible; every day, 
for nine or ten months in the year, there are 
plenty to cut. It is the favourite house in 
the garden. Still we gather, and still they 
come ; even this very week (October 14th) we 
have gathered over sixty blossoms—fine, large, 
fat fellows, some of the flowers of G. Fovtunei 
being as large as a small Camellia. I dose the 
plants well with liquid manure. 
We all know what a dreadful pest the mealy¬ 
bug is among this class of plants, but a can of 
soft water (four gallons) and a wine-glass of 
paraffine, mixed, and kept mixed, while syringing, 
keeps the bug and scale down, so that the old 
way of sponging is entirely dispensed with. I 
may mention that there is a fine plant of 
StepJianotis also planted out in the bed and 
trained over the roof, which also gives us 
heaps of blossom, and the partial shade proves 
to be beneficial. —J. Rust, Fridge Castle. 
VANDA CCERULEA. 
HIS fine Vanda is so little seen in collec- 
. tions even where Orchids are extensively 
cultivated, that I am induced to offer 
these remarks on its cultivation, from having 
grown and bloomed it successfully for several 
years, having had as many as fifty-four expanded 
blooms on a plant at one time. I believe, 
from my own experience, it is generally sub¬ 
jected to too high a temperature. The usual way 
of potting Vandas is this :—About five-sixths 
of the pot is filled with broken crocks, and on 
the top of this a mixture of sphagnum, crocks, 
and charcoal is placed, so as to form a de* 
pressed cone around the stem of the plant. 
February is a good time for this operation. 
As soon as this is done, the plant should be 
placed in an ordinary stove temperature, or in 
an early vinery, and syringed morning and 
afternoon. In the course of two or three weeks, 
new roots will begin to make their appearance. 
The same treatment must be continued until 
the end of June, when the plant should be 
subjected to a drier atmosphere, with a con¬ 
stant circulation of air night and day—in fact, 
treated in the manner a vinery is treated at 
that time of year, to keep ripe grapes in good 
condition. In the course of from two to five 
weeks, flower-spikes will most probably make 
their appearance. In this position, let the 
