310 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 16, 1886. 
Oclontoglossums, and finish repotting the cool house 
with the odd plants, and by that time the operation 
may be carried into another department. Many notes 
likely to be useful to those potting Orchids occur in 
Yol. I. of The Gardening World, and particularly 
at p. 140, Nov. 1st, 18S4, and at p. 300, Jan. 10th, 
1885.— James O'Brien. 
A group of Orchids. —With snow all around 
(Jan. 11th) the only relief to the eye being the partially 
disclosed but sombre tinted leafage of the Fines and other 
shrubs at Weybridge Heath, a pleasant thing it is to 
behold a group of Orchids in flower like those at 
Heatherbank, the residence of G. F. Y ilson, Esq., the 
genial chairman of the Floral Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. On stepping inside the principal 
Orchid house, at a glance we see several fine specimens 
of Odontoglossum Alexandras and Pescatorei, arranged 
with a grand mass of Ada aurantiaca, with a dozen spikes 
of its bright orange flowers ; an equally good mass of 
Odontoglossum roseuin with many spikes of magenta 
flowers ; a fine piece of Odontoglossum Hallii ; some 
extraordinary forms of 0. Lindleyanum; a few Masde- 
vallias; and some grand specimens of the best varieties 
of Cypripedium insigne covered with bloom ; these 
last named consist of the true O. Maulei, the best 
form of the old C., insigne, and one which appears 
to be intermediate between C. insigne Maulei and 
C. insigne albo-marginatum, in which the dorsal 
sepals are more than half snow-white with a few violet 
spots. In the warmer house, Phajus tuberculosis, 
for the culture of which Mr. Wilson is famed, 
again bears two spikes of eleven and twelve beau¬ 
tiful flowers. Mr. Wilson does not pretend to be a 
great Orchid grower, but the vigour of all the plants 
he has, tells plainly that he is capable of competing 
with the very best in point of culture. 
While on this subject it may be well to say that 
not alone in our foggy Isle are the beauties of the 
Orchids so prominent in the dull season, but they 
come in with equal advantage in more sunny climes. 
H. J. Ross, Esq., of Castagnolo, Lastra a Signa, 
Italy, says:—“Our winter has been very severe. 
The frost came suddenly after many weeks of warm 
soft weather, and fell like a blight upon even the 
hardiest subjects. The Orchids alone in their comfort¬ 
able houses were able to defy the bitter frost. My 
collection now contains between 750 and 800 species, so 
that the whole year round I am never without bloom.” 
Pruning Orchids. —It may be of interest to 
some of your readers to know the result of our first 
attempt at cutting away all the leafless bulbs of Den- 
drobium nobile. Having seen the splendid plant ex¬ 
hibited at the Orchid conference, by Mr. Prinsep, we 
selected a Dendrobium nobile growing in a 10-incli 
teak basket, which had annually made growths from 
12 in. to 15 in. long, and on May 16 we cut away all 
the bulbs that were destitute of leaves, leaving only the 
second growths of the preceding season and the young 
growths then a few inches long. After the removal of 
the old bulbs the young growths made rapid progress, 
and when completed without being subjected to more 
than ordinary heat, averaged 22 in. long, when they 
started new growths which by the end of September 
were 14 in. in length, and the plant was then removed 
to a vinery, where it remained till early in December ; 
at this time it was returned to the East Indian house, 
and is now in bloom, the early growths producing an 
average of 20 flowers each and clothed with leaves to 
the bottom. The late growths of the preceding year 
are also blooming freely, and certainly the plant is not 
only much more vigorous than before, but presents a 
far better appearance when well furnished with healthy 
green leaves amongst the flowers, and there are no old 
unsightly bulbs to mar the effect. The unfavourable 
weather prevented the plant from being exhibited at 
the floral committee meeting at South Kensington on 
Tuesday last. — William Parks, Gardener to H. M 
Pollett, Esq., Fernside, Bickley. 
Odontoglossum Alexandras. —My experience, 
with good and bad varieties, of this plant exactly tallies 
with Mr. W. Thomson’s (p. 300), and his summing up— 
“ I maintain that if the first spike made in this country 
is a good one, that it will come so again; but if the first 
spike is of a narrow petalled form no amount of culti¬ 
vation will ever alter it —is perfect, so tar as my 
observation goes. A known finely-formed flower, even 
after its second flowering, may again flower with narrow 
petalled blooms, and particularly if it assumes the 
branched spike, but once known to be a fine variety no 
temporary exhibition of eccentricity should cause the 
plant to get a bad name. Seeing that many fine 
varieties often come poor the second time, the better 
way is to cut the second spikes oft.— J‘ O'B. 
Odontoglossum Alexandra. — May I ask in 
reference to “Orchids at Oswald Road, Edinburgh, 
on page 299, how many spikes bore the “140 flowers 
on an O. Alexandra there mentioned; also the variety, 
if it was “ thin or full form,” and if branched or not; 
also the size of and time of growing in Europe. We 
hear of such immense spikes in Scotland.— Be B. 
Crawshay. 
Lselia anceps. —What a grand Orchid this is, 
and apparently as prolific in varieties as it is beautiful! 
It is, moreover, a very useful Orchid, and flowers at a 
season of the year—the dull dreariness of which seems 
to lend it additional charms. With the exception of 
L. anceps Dawsoni and L. anceps alba the varieties 
are easily procurable ; but I know of no one who has 
re-discovered the natural habitats of these two varieties, 
and they are in consequence extremely rare. L. anceps 
alba grows at a higher elevation than usual, where the 
cold in winter is sometimes intense—the trees being 
clothed with icicles 2 ft. to 3 ft. long. L. anceps 
Dawsoni is without a rival, the white sepals and broad 
petals forming a rich and marvellously beautiful con¬ 
trast. L. anceps Measuresiana improves on acquaint¬ 
ance, and will rank among the best of the late intro¬ 
ductions. It is beautifully in flower now at The 
Woodlands, Streatliam Hill, as also L. anceps Dawsoni, 
and many other varieties ; and for this dull season ot 
the year there is a grand and varied display of good 
Orchids in blossom, conspicuous among them being 
Cattleya Trianse nobilissima, one of the _ very finest 
coloured varieties—not one of the brightest—the 
colours being soft and subdued ; the flower is very 
large and the shape quite perfect.— L. G. 
-- 
ODONTOGLOSSUM ROSSII 
MAJUS. 
There is no better cool Orchid for an amateur 
utterly ignorant of Orchid management, to commence 
with than the pretty little Mexican Odontoglossum 
Rossii. It is cheap, grows freely, is almost hardy, and 
flowers freely in the winter months, lasting a long time 
in perfection. O. Rossii once successfully flowered by 
the tyro, sets him longing for the greatly improved 
variety O. Rossii majus, which can be equally as easily 
managed ; and should he buy imported plants, and be 
so fortunate as to get amongst them a bit of that much 
better variety still, rubescens, then will his cup of pleasure 
for a time be full. O. Rossii majus rubescens is a gem, 
and by no means a plentiful one either. The variety 
which we illustrate to-day is a very fine one, in the 
possession of H. M. Pollett, Esq., Fernside, Bickley, 
and is a part of the original plant which belonged to 
John Day, Esq., Tottenham, and which is remarkable 
for the depth of the purple blotches and the fine rose tint 
of the petals and labellum. 
SYRINGING ORCHIDS. 
I have read with much interest the able arguments 
for and against the use of this implement in Orchid 
houses. So far as I can see the weight of evidence is 
in favour of its careful employment, and against its 
use altogether in unskilful hands. All practical Orchid 
growers are agreed, however, on this point, and there 
the subject will remain ; indeed, one might as well 
banish the hoe or spade from the hardy flower garden, 
because injury may and does follow their unskilful or 
careless use also ! I have a great respect for the 
opinions of my friend, Mr. O’Brien, but a general con¬ 
demnation of syringing in the culture of Orchids is, as 
I think, like striking on Charybdis in our anxiety to 
keep clear of Scylla ! I still think that Mr. O'Brien 
was too intolerant in his paper on “Orchid Culture," 
read at the conference last May ; although I am firmly 
convinced that this was the result of his leaning to the 
safer side. 
That lecture was read before the elite of Orchid 
growers, and this is an important fact to bear in 
mind in connection with this discussion. Fancy, 
telling men like Seden and Dominy and Ballantine, 
and many Others, to avoid the syringe in their practice. 
A syringe skilfully used is one of the most important 
mechanical aids to Orchid culture that I know of, and 
if syringing was stopped in our gardens to-morrow, so 
much the worse would it be for plant culture, Used 
with the fore finger over the nosle pipe, a skilful man 
can be-dew his plants without the chance of a drop ot 
water trickling down into sheaths on the membranous 
envelopes of the tenderest of pseudo bulbs. Y herever 
Odontoglots and Masdevallias are grown in dry, airy 
houses nightly dewing with a syringe is most beneficial. 
No one but a fool would syringe under hot sunshine ! 
I am fully convinced that the nightly use of the 
syringe in gardens generally will lead to the simple 
culture of many plants now extremely difficult to grow. 
I do not say that it is most proper to imitate nature 
in all things in our glasshouse gardens, it is not so, 
surrounding circumstances being different; but it is a 
suggestive fact that in nature, especially in the tropics, 
the bulk of the rainfall and all the heavy dews fall at 
night ! The value of the syringe skilfully used with 
the nosle pipe and forefinger is, that enough 
moisture can be applied to the leaves to damp them and 
no more ; whereas from the finest rosed water pot this 
cannot be so certainly and efficiently done. A syringe 
is like a rifle—most useful for certain purposes in skilful 
hands, and most harmful in thoughtless or foolish ones. 
Many practical Orchid growers know how thin- 
leaved Dendrobiums like D. Falconeri, D. Devonianum, 
and many others, literally revel in growth when 
syringed morning and evening. anda Cathcartii and 
Disa grandiflora do the same, and one might extend 
the list indefinitely. Cattleyas, Lielias, and mail) 
other thick hard-leaved Orchids resent syringing of 
course; but the fact remains that Mr. O’Brien was just 
