December 26, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
260 
plants'to the accidental splashes and inevitable drip 
which is ruin to any Orchid. 
Syringing is supposed by some to be a means of 
keeping up a moist atmosphere, but as to the benefit to 
be derived from it in that capacity, in my experience it 
defeats itself by producing too much moisture at times, 
and too quickly alternating to a dry temperature to be 
any other than hurtful, for those who rely on its use 
in this respect generally neglect the means of supplying 
proper and equable moisture by the arrangement of the 
houses with that object in view. 
As a means of keeping down thrips the use of the 
syringe is often advanced, but whatever effect it might 
have had on our old enemy the common black tlirip, it 
has but little on the yellow one, which seems to be an 
amphibious creature evolved from it on purpose to stand 
the syringe, and I believe enjoy it in middle and old age, 
although it may be embarrassed by it in tender youth. 
To rely on the syringe to keep plants clean is a falla¬ 
cious notion, and as with most of the other objects 
for which it is employed, it prevents people from 
using the legitimate means to accomplish the end in 
view, until it has done much mischief; and besides 
this there are few waters so pure that a harmful deposit 
is not left when they are repeatedly used. 
But now the “syringists’ ” big gun must be fired. He 
says syringing is done in order to imitate nature. 
Good heavens ! What operation in nature is it sup¬ 
posed to imitate ? Is it rain ? If so, in the name of 
nature many outrages are committed, but few more 
clumsy than this. Nature, before rain descends, 
generally spreads a veil over the sun but he who 
syringes does it by the clock or by his own convenience, 
and I have seen lads to whom this—which should be 
a delicate operation—was entrusted, deluging every¬ 
thing in the house, with the sun so full on it that the 
leaves were quite hot. Nature sends rain down from 
above, falling on the upper sides of the leaves, while 
the plants under glass find it coming from above, 
from the earth upwards, and from all parts of the 
compass in a few minutes. I am afraid that what the 
operator imagines to be a thrill of delight is generally a 
tremor at the approaching crack of doom which the 
plants must think at hand. One of the first instructions 
a young gardener gets, is, “drive it well under the 
leaves.” How must those countless delicate stomata 
each with its wonderful apparatus, sensitive as the 
needle of the compass even to a passing cloud, which 
nature so closely guards, be shocked every time these 
instructions are carried out. 
Many Orchids rarely get rain but obtain much 
moisture by night dews, and humid vapours by day, 
and these are easily arranged for by moisture supplied 
for evaporation, but not dashed on the plant by day 
and by a lowering of the temperature by night, that 
being one of the cardinal points in Orchid culture. 
It will be seen that the syringe is advanced by some 
as a doer of several distinct operations at one and 
the same time, and I say that whatever part of each 
it effects is done in a slovenly manner, and with evil 
results in other directions. Success in Orchid culture 
depends on every operation being attended to distinctly, 
and so far as practicable every plant being grown with¬ 
out regard to what the others like, I therefore say if you 
want to clean a plant, clean it in the ordinary way, and 
if certain plants want water, water them, but do not 
subject those which do not want it to the infliction, in 
pursuit ot a bad practice. I am sorry to say that most 
writers shirk this subject, and while they say “We 
frequently see much mischief done with the syringe,” 
and such like phrases, they do not put their foot down 
on the matter, but give contradictory statements. For 
my part I know several collections in the best condition, 
in which ai^yriuge is never used, and I know some 
miserable ones which would spring into new life if their 
owners were to throw their syringes away, and look about 
them to supply a sweet, pure, moist atmosphere, without 
having recourse to such an errattic means. My object 
in making these remarks, is, to get all who use the 
syringe to think well what they are doing, and to re¬ 
strict its use as their own reasoning, by the light of 
these remarks warrant, and then 1 am sure they will do 
good, for the amateur Orchid grower is a man of strict 
perception as a rule. Uses may be found for the syringe 
without doing damage frequently, and my advice to 
all, is that when using it for a certain object and within 
a certain limit, they should make sure that they are 
not encroaching on something else not intended.— 
James O'Brien. 
Cypripedium insigne r violaceo punc- 
tatum. —An interesting set of C. insigne varieties 
leading up to this, the grandest of all of them, comes 
from Messrs. Wm. Thompson & Sons, of Clovensfords by 
Galashiels. There are two varieties of the true light 
coloured C. insigne albo-marginatum, with rather 
narrow dorsal sepal, tipped and edged with white ; 
a very superior form of the true old C. insigne, with 
a large dorsal sepal, exquisitely marked on a clear 
emerald green and yellow ground; and a couple of 
flowers of C. insigne Maulei, from Maul’s own stock. 
This is often confounded with C. insigne violaceo- 
punctatum, but by comparison with the pair of the true 
form of that variety sent by Messrs. Thomson, it is no¬ 
where. The flowers of C. insigne violaceo punctatum, 
they send beat everything in that way we have seen, 
the flowers being gigantic and seeming to have as much 
of the shiny looking villosum in them, as insigne. 
The dorsal sepals are very large, flat, and perfectly 
round, the blotching very rich, and the snowy white 
part which takes up fully one third of it, wonderfully 
blotched with bright dark mauve. 
Laelia anceps, -white varieties. —Some very 
fine masses of these, imported from western Mexico by 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., were included in the sale of 
rare Orchids at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’s Central 
Sale Rooms, Cheapside, on Friday, December 18th, 
when the bidding for them was well sustained. Much 
trouble was taken in importing them, in the hope of 
getting them over still in flower, but, although the 
pains taken were well bestowed on the plants, the buds 
perished. Nice healthy pieces went at prices well 
within the reach of ordinary buyers, but many of the 
best examples realised from five to five and twenty 
guineas each, the news of the flowering of good white 
varieties out of the previous importation, causing buyers 
to bid with confidence. Some wonderful masses of 
Oncidium Marshallianum with immense bulbs, were 
also sold, and fetched good prices. 
Orchids at Salisbury Green, Edinburgh. 
—In the select collection of Orchids belonging to Wm. 
Nelson, Esq., there is now in flower a fine plant of 
Yanda Sanderiana, the first I believe that has been 
flowered in Scotland. The plant is about 12 ins. high, 
and bears a spike of seven flowers, and as it is only a 
year since it was imported, it speaks highly of the care 
that has been bestowed on it by Mr. Laing the gardener. 
There are also many other good things in flower here, 
including a very fine variety of Angraecum sesquipedale, 
and the same of Dendrobium Wardianum ; the Cypri- 
pediums are in great variety, and the examples of C. 
Spicerianum are specially fine.— JR. C. F. 
-->*<—- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Roses for Forcing. —It will now be time to start a 
good batch of Tea-Roses for early spring flowering ; 
success will mainly depend upon having good strong 
well established plants that have been well ripened 
off. We like to allow the plants to become quite dry 
in the pots before pruning them, and they should be 
watered very sparingly until they are well started into 
growth. If the pots are well filled with roots, manure 
water may be used as soon as the plants are introduced 
into heat. In starting them, we do not like to give 
them too much heat; the main thing is to keep up a 
regular temperature, this is especially necessary after 
the plants begin to come into leaf. On all favourable 
occasions a little ventilation should be given, but in 
doing so, care should be taken to avoid a cold draught. 
Sulphur should be used to prevent mildew making its 
appearance, and if the house is thoroughly fumigated 
just before the plants begin to come into leaf, they will 
get through the most tender stage before it is necessary 
to fumigate again. 
Tree Carnations. —Where a large stock of these 
are required, it is advisable to commence propagating 
as soon as good cuttings can be obtained, and in the 
case of any sorts that do not branch out freely, a few 
plants should be stopped back, and if placed where 
there is a little extra warmth they will soon break out 
and give some good cuttings. So much has been 
written at different times on the culture of Tree Carna¬ 
tions that it is hardly necessary for us to say much on 
that point in this column. There is one point, however, 
that we would impress on all who hope to succeed in 
propagating Carnations, viz., that it is of the first 
importance that the cuttings should not be put in 
too deep, and that the base of the cuttings are brought 
in firm contact with the soil. We have often seen 
pointed dibbers used for putting in cuttings, and the 
consequence is, that a small cavity is left just where it 
is most necessary that the soil should be firm. In 
cases where cuttings root from any part of the stem 
this is not such a vital point, but with Carnations or 
any other plants that produce roots from the base of 
the cuttings only it is a very important matter. 
THE FRUIT HOUSES. 
Late Grates should, as recommended at pi. 204, be 
cut next week with a good length of wood attached for 
inserting in bottles nearly filled with water, and having 
a few pieces of charcoal in each to keep the water 
sweet; the bottles should be allowed a sufficient angle 
on the shelves in the Grape-room to prevent the 
weight of the individual bunches from over-balancing 
them, and the space between the neck of the bottles 
and the shoot to which the bunch of grapes is attached 
should be stopped with cotton-wool to prevent evapora¬ 
tion from taking place, and the vapour from settling on 
the berries. A dry atmospheric temperature of from 
45° to 50° should be aimed at in the Grape-room, and 
as soon as any of the berries show signs of being 
affected by damp or other causes, remove them forthwith 
with a sharp-pointed pair of scissors. The bottles, too, 
should have a little attention during the next four or 
five months, in the way of being re-filled with water 
once or twice during this period, so that the end of the 
wood attached to the bunch of Grapes shall be in 
contact with the water, and thereby prevent the berries 
from shrivelling. 
Pruning the Vines.— I never observe any hard 
and fast line in carrying out this operation ; I simply 
prune back to a good plump bud irrespective of its 
being the first or fourth one from the main stem ; if 
the latter bud is selected, the two immediately preceding 
it are cut clean away, leaving the one close to the rod 
to make bearing wood for another year, the long spurs 
being cut hard back at pruning time next year. The 
wounds, in order to prevent bleeding, should be dressed 
four or five hours after being pruned with Thompson’s 
Styptic ; this done, remove with the hand any loose 
bark that may be attached to the individual rods, and 
then wash the latter with soft-soapy water at the 
strength of 4 ozs. to the gallon, rubbing it well into 
the crevices round the spurs, &c., with a stiffish brush, 
taking care, however, not to injure the buds in doing 
so. Prior to washing the Vines the glass and wood¬ 
work should be thoroughly washed with soapy water 
(syringing the glass with clean water as the work of 
washing proceeds), and the brick and plaster work 
should be washed with hot lime. 
The Borders should next have attention. The 
loose surface soil to the depth of a few inches—indeed, 
down to the roots—should be removed and replaced 
with a compost consisting of good calcareous fibry loam, 
old lime rubble, and horse-droppings, at the rate of 
five cart-loads of loam, one load of lime rubble, one 
load of wood ashes, one load of liorse-droppings, and 
three or four barrowfuls of fresh soot, and about 3 
cwt. of Thomson’s Vine and Plant Manure, well mixed, 
following this with a surface-dressing of horse-drop¬ 
pings and a good soaking of tepid water, as well as a 
free circulation of fresh air, until the time of starting 
the respective houses arrives. 
Early Vines. —Pot and other early-started Vines 
should have all the superfluous shoots rubbed oil' as soon 
as it can be ascertained which are the best to leave on 
each Vine ; and all the bunches showing on the indi¬ 
vidual laterals but one should be removed as soon as 
they appear, the best, as a matter of course, being left; 
and these, after the berries are set, should be reduced 
in number to from seven to nine, according to the 
length and strength of each permanent Vine, and five 
bunches will be ample crop for each pot Vine to carry. 
As soon as the buds show signs of bursting, the night 
temperature should be raised to 55°, and 5° higher as 
soon as the bunches appear, and 5° more when they 
come into flower and until the berries are set, with a 
corresponding increase in the day temperature. The 
atmosphere in the house up to the time of the Grapes 
coming into flower should be moist rather than other¬ 
wise, and the reverse of this when the bunches are in 
flower, so as to secure a good set; and with this object 
in view, a camel’s-hair brush should be passed over the 
bunches about mid-day, when the pollen is dry.— 
H. W. Ward, Longford Castle. 
