284 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 2 , 1886. 
was tlie dwelling. They were flowering freely. One 
was the white variety, Boule de Neige, and the other a 
bright-coloured one, probably one of the more recently 
improved varieties of A. striatum. I knew Abutilon 
striatum over thirty years ago as a continuous bloomer 
growing in a roomy border trained up the back wall of 
a large lean-to Vinery. Its large shiny leaves were 
used in winter for dishing-up fruit. This species is a 
native of Brazil, and was introduced into this country 
about fifty years ago.— T. JV. 
Stephanotis floribunda, Fruiting.—I have 
read with interest all that has been written upon this 
subject, and I well remember seeing its egg-shaped 
fruit hanging on a plant trained over a balloon-shaped 
trellis in a plant-stove at Ash Grove, Flintshire, about 
the year 1850. It would be interesting to know 
whether it fruits freely in its native country of Mada¬ 
gascar, and if any use is made of them. It was intro¬ 
duced into this country about the year 1839.— T. IV. 
Vines Bleeding. —Having tried a great many 
so-called remedies for preventing Vines from bleeding, 
such as Thomson’s styptic, wax, &c., and found them 
of no use when once the Vines started bleeding, it may 
be useful to others to know of a cheaper and simpler 
method. It is to take a Kidney Potato, cut it in two, 
and press it over the cut. I tried it the other day, and 
it proved effectual at once. If any of your readers will 
try this plan they will soon prove its efficacy .—John 
Fraser, Geddes Gardens , Nairn. 
Asparagus plumosus.— This elegant South 
African evergreen climber may be seen in all itsgrandeur 
in the large conservatory at Clifton Hall, Nottingham. 
Mr. Anderson, the able gardener there, procured the 
original plant six years ago, and after gowing it in a 
pot for about two years, decided to make up a border 
for it at the bottom of the back wall of the conservatory. 
The border is composed principally of lumpy sandy 
loam, a little peat, leaf soil, and a dash of sand. This 
exceedingly handsome specimen seems to thoroughly 
enjoy this compost, aswellas the.shady position itoccupies 
behind or partly under large specimen palms and tree 
ferns, etc. As a matter of curiosity, 1 ran the tape 
round it about one foot from the ground, and found it 
to measure 6 ft. in circumference, and about 30 ft. high 
by 12 ft. wide, trained up the back wall to the top of 
the house, and its pretty feathery growths are not only 
ornamental to the conservatory but most useful to cut 
for table decoration. Mr. Anderson does not go in for 
handfulls but generally for a bushel basket full at a 
time, and to fully prove its lasting qualities ; I 
enclose a specimen which 1 have had in a cold room 
for the last three weeks without water. I have omitted 
to say there are two of those fine plants in the conser¬ 
vator}', which is a fair sized house, measuring 127 ft. 
long by about 40 ft. wide, and both plants seem to enjoy 
their positions immensely.— J. D. 
Rhus Cotinus. —I first saw this most uncommon 
plant last August in the beautiful grounds surrounding 
Gun ton Hall, Norfolk. It was planted—or was 
growing in the centre of a bed of other shrubs, in an 
open situation, and I felt livetted to the spot when 
first I beheld the most peculiar inflorescence borne in 
profusion all over the plant. After seeing this speci¬ 
men, I can quite realise all your correspondent “R.D.” 
said about it in your issue for December 26. — T. IV. 
-- 
FLORICULTURAL LORE. 
At p. 252, for “Miss Putt” read “ Miss Patt,’’ this 
error was not observed by your correspondent, 
Mr. J. Knight, or I have no doubt he would 
have corrected it. I visited the Battle Nursery 
in September last, but the Dahlia is not cultivated 
there now as in the days of auld lang syne, at which 
time Mr. J. Knight says, if he mistakes not, that there 
was but one gardening paper, and in this he is quite 
correct, as the first number of the first gardening news¬ 
paper was published on the 7th of January, 1837, and I 
became a subscriber in the following autumn. I well 
remember the rigorous winter that followed, known 
perhaps to some of your readers as “Murphy's winter,” 
he having predicted the coldest night, I think the 10th 
of January, 1838, when the Boyal Exchange was 
burnt, and thousands of shrubs were killed to the 
ground, and many absolutely destroyed. 
The paper was called the Gardeners' Gazette, and it 
was edited by the late George Glenny, a man who, in 
my opinion, was one of the pioneers of floriculture, and 
a leading promoter of Horticultural societies; and of 
whom I may almost say with the poet, that “even his 
failings leaned to virtue’s side,” for I am convinced 
that the good he did, in a variety of ways, to the cause 
of floriculture was immensely in excess of his failings 
in other respects. I knew him well, few perhaps who 
have survived him knew him better for a long series 
of years, and I often recall to mind the time between 
1840 and 1850, when I never failed to attend his anni¬ 
versary dinners, mostly at the “Crown and Anchor,” 
Strand. It was at these gatherings that Dahlia growers 
were met from almost every county in England ; and, 
although, never an exhibitor of the Dahlia, from at¬ 
tending most of the shows, I became acquainted with 
nearly all the raisers of seedlings and growers for com¬ 
petition, and was on friendly terms with a great many 
of them. Alas ! for the most part, they have quitted 
the stage for ever, leaving an undisputable legacy 
behind them, viz., the present race of improved Dahlias 
and other florist flowers. 
I cultivated the Dahlia as a decorative garden plant, 
and I give you a list of those so grown by ipe in early 
days, 1839. I have, as a matter of course, substituted 
improved varieties from time to time as circumstances 
necessitated :—Battle Rival (Knight) golden yellow ; 
Beauty of Dulwich (Fleming), fine yellow, spotted ; 
Beauty of Lullingstone (Salter), fine dark ; Bride of 
Abydos (Elpliinstone), white, spotted ; Conqueror 
(Harris), fine scarlet; Criterion (Douglas), white tinged 
with lilac, fine ; Dodd’s Mary (Dodd), white shaded 
with lilac, fine round petals ; Cedo Nullii (Widnall’s), 
yellow and red ; Calypso (Willmer’s), pink blush ; 
Hon. Mrs. Harris (Squibb’s), carmine, white, and 
purple; King Otho (Dickenson), fine bright rosy 
crimson ; Lilac Perfection (Harding’s), deep lilac ; 
Lovely Anne (Dickenson), fine blush ; Paris (Widnall), 
light purple ; Perfection (Widnall), rosy crimson ; 
Picta formossissima (Chandler), orange striped with 
scarlet ; Sir H. Fletcher (Richardson’s), rosy purple, 
fine; Solomon (AVells), yellow; Springfield Rival 
(Inwood’s), deep rosy crimson ; Sulphurea elegans 
(Jones), pale yellow, fine ; Calliope (Spencer), scarlet, 
beautifully cupped ; Granta (Widnall), claret cupped 
petals ; Rival Queen (Barnes), blush tipped lilac, good 
form ; Star (Brown’s), bright scarlet; Suffolk Hero 
(Gilding’s), maroon, habit equal to Springfield Rival, 
and took 1st prize at Twickenham, October 8th, 1835, 
and four prizes 1836 ; Lewisham Rival, Meade (white), 
Hope and Neville (rose). 
I do not for one moment attempt to lay claim to the 
possession of much personal Dahlia lore ; the thousands 
of seedlings that have been named and passed into ob¬ 
livion in my time being almost beyond calculation, let 
alone remembrance. Doubtless this is as it should be, 
we must keep going on ahead, we cannot stop, because we 
have succeeded in obtaining one good thing, we must 
be ever trying to get a better ; thus is kept up a healthy 
action, mentally, physically, and commercially con¬ 
sidered, all conducing to infuse new life into those 
that take pleasure in the cultivation of lovely flowers, 
be they what they may. Happy are those that so 
seek enjoyment; and I esteem it no mean privilege to 
be able to take upwards of half a century’s retrospective 
survey of the products of the earth of which anon we 
shall form a part.— George Fry, Lewisham. 
-->X<-- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
Lselia anoeps varieties : Establishing 
Imported. Plants. —The arrival of the good impor¬ 
tations of white and other varieties mentioned in the 
last issue, reminds me that imported pieces of these 
plants are not always so well managed as they might 
be, and that a few remarks on their management may 
be a help to some. The present is the flowering, and 
so far as the growth is concerned, the inactive season 
with the varieties of L. aneeps, and therefore the 
proper and safe method is to trim over, remove the dead 
pieces, and crock the plants as soon as received either 
into baskets or pots, and place them in a good light 
situation in the coolest and airiest part of the interme¬ 
diate house, where sufficient water should be given 
them to keep them in a plump condition. The 
advantage of crocking up over potting, when the 
fresh imported plants are in a resting state is obvious, 
as when in crocks only, water may be given frequently 
without any risk as it drains quickly away ; whereas, 
if peat and sphagnum is used, the stagnant moisture 
around the plants, which are not furnished with im¬ 
bibing roots, cannot fail to be harmful. 
Being placed in crocks, or crocks and charcoal only, 
until the plants start to grow and root freely, also 
provides that the new roots, when they come, shall 
have fresh stuff to run into, whereas, if potted up long 
before the starting time, the material becomes stale, as 
well as doing mischief before the plants start to grow. 
Fresh sweet stuff is eagerly laid hold of by new Orchid 
roots, but they often get crippled by coming into contact 
with bad. With fresh imported plants, in any stage of 
growth or rest, my plan is always to place them in 
crocks, if only for a fortnight, until they get acclima¬ 
tised to the house, as I generally find, that when first 
received and placed for treatment, a kind of sweat 
comes over them, which is freqnently followed by 
fungus in those parts from which the air is excluded 
when potted up at once, but which either does not 
appear, or, if it does, can easily be seen and dealt with 
when the plants are in crocks. 
With the varieties of Lselia aneeps, fresh imported, 
good results may be obtained in getting them to break 
freely by simply placing them, without pots, between 
the other plants on the stages, and this course is 
infinitely preferable to potting them up at once ; but 
as each plant is worthy of its place, it is better crocked 
up at once, as when so arranged it is more under the 
eye. A pure air, but not too moist, plenty of light 
and even sun, and a free supply of rain-water when 
growing, are the chief essentials for the good culture of 
L. aneeps varieties. They are by no means tender, I 
have frequently had them do well in a house as cold as 
the ordinary Odontoglossum-house, but not so moist, 
and fine specimens are often met with in vineries and 
mixed plant houses in many old gardens ; but iu 
general practice their place is in the coolest and lightest 
part of the intermediate-house, and there well up to 
the glass. I should advise all who have fresh impor¬ 
tations to pot them, and wait until the strong growth 
and coming root tells that they are ready for potting 
or basketing permanently. Baskets or half-pots suit 
them well, and if in baskets they need not be suspended 
if not convenient to do so. For potting material a good 
fibry peat of Fern root alone is best. 
Some excellent illustrations and descriptions of fine 
varieties, taken by the kindness of Baron Schroder 
from specimens grown at The Dell, Egham, appeared 
in The Gardening World, vol i., pp. 47, 501, 533. 
The Temperatures for the Month of January 
should be:—Warm-house: 65° to 70° by day, 60° at 
night. East India, Cattleya, or intermediate-house : 
60° to 65° by day, 55° at night. Cool or Odonto¬ 
glossum-house: 50° to 55° by day, 45° at night.— 
James O'Brien. 
Syringing Orchids. — I think much may be said 
for and against the use of the syringe amongst Orchi¬ 
daceous plants. 1 first learnt to value the judicious 
use of it some seventeen years agn, at Pendlebury House, 
Manchester, under the late Mr. Geo. Toll, who was a 
very successful cultivator of Orchids in his day. For 
instance, Vandas and ASrides, 6 ft. high, feathered to 
the pot with healthy foliage, would compare favourably 
with any that are grown now a-days. Well, those 
plants had their lower leaves syringed frequently more 
or less throughout the year, even in winter they were 
“touched up” when hard firing was necessary to keep 
up the desired temperature. Mr. Toll always used a 
jet in syringing, not a rose, and he could handle it so 
cleverly as to distribute the water at right angles from 
the syringe in the form of a fine spray, upon all blocks 
that were suspended from the roof, so that any water 
which fell upon plants “not intended,” was more like 
a natural dew and not sufficient to do any harm. Rain 
water was invariably used. 
Now I come to my own practice here for the past 
eight years, and I think if I had no other water to use 
than that of a hard limy nature (which disfigures and 
coats over every leaf it comes in contact with, almost 
enough to stop up all the pores and respiratory organs, 
which is not easily sponged off) I should discontinue 
syringing altogether and be content with smaller bulbs 
of Dendrobiums, and battle with red spider and thrips 
as best I could with sponge, brush, and tobacco smoke. 
But with a good supply of rain water I should be sorry 
to give up syringing some Orchids overhead. That 
horrible pest yellow thrip is not killed by water, but is 
certainly kept in check. In the growing season wo 
