April 3, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
493 
most terrestrial evergreen Orchids’sueh' asJPhajus, and 
whereas bright sunlight stunts them ; a position in a 
shady part of a healthy warm house often causes them 
to grow to a large size. It is advisable from henceforth 
to keep the fires well in check, to give air freely, and 
to shade carefully when the sun is strong. 
The Temperatures for the Month of April 
should be :—Warm or East Indian house : 65° to 70° 
by day, 60° at night. Cattleya or Intermediate house: 
60° to 65° by day, 55° at night. Cool or Odonto- 
glossum house: 55° to 60° by day, 50° at night.— 
James O'Brien. 
Cattleya Trianse. —There is a variety of this now 
in flower at the Queen’s Road Nursery, Cheltenham, 
which is quite distinct from any C. Trianre I have seen. 
The flower is 7 ins. in diameter, sepals and petals 
almost white, the latter 2.V ins. wide, and at the ex¬ 
treme end they are blotched and streaked with rose in 
a very pleasing manner. The lip is well formed, being 
of a dark purple with the usual yellow throat. When 
I first saw the plant I doubted whether this colouring 
in the petals would remain constant ; but on looking at 
it more closely, I saw that the plant was well estab¬ 
lished or rooted, and the bulb bearing the two flowers 
coloured exactly alike was also strong and matured. 
Mr. Cypher’s large Cattleya-house seems to be answering 
admirably, as the well-grown plants therein show' for 
themselves. One very fine of specimen C. Mossiae with 
thirty-six flower-sheaths, still occupies a place although 
sold ; this plant, a year ago, was an imported piece. 
Lovers of Lycaste Skinneri would now 7 , at the same 
place, find numbers of very choice varieties ranging in 
colour from almost white to the deepest shade of red. 
— T. Simcoe. 
Dendrobium Wardianum.— A splendid va¬ 
riety of this grand Orchid is now in flow 7 er in the small 
but choice collection of A. Humphreys, Esq., Holly 
Mount, Hornsey Lane, Highgate. A small plant was 
purchased about two years ago, and it is now only in 
a 6-in. pot, but has made several fine bulbs, the one 
now in flower being 4 ft. in length, and bears thirty 
magnificent blooms. Mr. Reynold, the gardener in 
charge, believes this Orchid can be much better grown 
in small pots than large ones. 
Sale of Flowering Orchids.— A particularly 
choice lot of flowering Orchids w 7 ere brought together 
at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’s, 67 & 68, Cheapside, 
on Tuesday March 30th, and a good company as¬ 
sembled to compete for them. Among the most 
most rare were Dendrobium nobile pulcherrimum, with 
almost white flowers, and crimson throat to the la- 
bellum ; the pure white Lycaste Skinneri alba, with 
four fine flowers ; Odontoglossum nsevium majus (true), 
and O. Pescatorei Vervaetianum, which last brought 
forth a bid of 48 guineas. 
--- 
FLO RICULT URE. 
The Dahlia. —It is said, by those who propagate 
Dahlias largely, that many of the roots put into bottom- 
heat for the production of shoots from which to make 
cuttings are breaking up badly : and, further, that the 
losses of ground roots during the w'inter has been un¬ 
usually heavy. Probably the severe winter had some¬ 
thing to do with this ; but a fungus which developed 
itself last summer, and especially in the latter part of 
the season—more. 
It is thought that Dahlias will be in large demand 
in the spring, probably owing to losses through the 
frost. 
Amateurs w r ho have a few 7 Dahlia roots and want to 
get suie cuttings, should put them to work as soon as 
they can make up a hot-bed, if they have no pro¬ 
pagating house. Young growths will come much more 
quickly now than at an earlier period of the year, and 
as soon as they are from 3 ins. to 4 ins. long, they can 
be taken off and put into pots or light sandy soil, 
several in a pot, pressing the soil firmly about them, 
and then returning them to heat, where they will soon 
root; and afterwards should be potted off singly into 
thumb pots again put into heat until they have some¬ 
what established themselves, then they need to be 
hardened off. "What the propagator should particu¬ 
larly guard against, is drawing the young plants in 
excessive heat, for then they are apt to become spindly 
and weakly, and do not produce good flowers ; what he 
should aim at, is to have the plants stocky and sturdy : 
as hard and wiry as possible. 
Pot roots of Dahlias need not be started into growth 
so soon, they do not require so much heat as spring 
propagated plants, and will come on more gradually. 
All the plants that are to be planted out to flow r er, 
whether they be early struck cuttings or pot roots, 
should be potted on into larger pots during April, so 
that they may grow into strong specimens to put out the 
first w r eek in June, taking care to keep them dwarf, 
healthy, and clean. 
Seed of Dahlias can be sown now in a brisk bottom 
heat. If it is a hot-bed, care must be taken that the 
heat is. not too fierce. "YVe have known amateurs com¬ 
pletely roast up their seedlings by having them in too 
high a temperature. Prick off the seedlings into store- 
pots as soon as possible, pot them singly into thumb 
pots, and grow them on into size, as soon as possible, 
in order to have them strong for planting out to flower. 
— R. D. 
Auriculas. —The Auricula cultivator who is calcu¬ 
lating on being able to show a few plants on April "20th, 
is much more sanguine of his ability to do so than he 
was a fortnight ago. As soon as the weather mer¬ 
cifully changed, the Auriculas appeared to leap up 
responsive to it. They may be said to be galloping 
along ; but whether they can be had in bloom by the 
20th remains to be seen. I do not think I ever saw 
plants grow faster in so short a time, and they are very 
strong also : and it is wonderful what they will do in 
the way of development when their time comes, pro¬ 
vided, also, that is a kindly time—warm, sunny and 
genial. I think, unless during the early part of the 
month the plants had the advantage of a little artificial 
heat, some of the green edges will be late in developing, 
and only the best weather will help them. With me 
such sterling Auriculas as George Lightbody, Lanca¬ 
shire Hero, Alexander Meiklejohn, Richard Headly, and 
Acme will be late, and I fear they will not be in by 
the 20tli, and if attempts be made to hasten them by 
keeping them close, injury is done to the plants ; so 
it is best to let them have a free circulation of air, so 
long as it is soft and kindly, trusting to nature to do 
the rest Besides, keeping the plants close causes them 
to become drawn, and greatly helps the development 
of green-fly.— R. D. 
-- 
HORTICUL TURAL S OCIETIES. 
Crystal Palace.— March 26th and 27th. —The 
horticultural season at the Sydenham Palace was opened 
on Friday last with a spring show of bulbs and miscel¬ 
laneous plants, which occupied the whole of the centre 
transept, and were arranged in the usual way, namely, 
on high tables. The exhibits required less space than 
has been customary at this show ; but the season has 
had its effects upon indoor as well as outdoor plants, 
and the competition has not been very brisk at any of 
the London shows at present. The Hyacinths were 
good, but not of remarkable merit, for though the 
colours were clear and the bells well developed, the 
spikes were mostly rather deficient in size ; and Tulips, 
though bright, were somewhat weakly. Perhaps the 
most satisfactory exhibits in these classes were the 
Lilies of the Valley from Messrs. H. Williams & Sons, 
Finchley, which were some of the finest specimens that 
we have seen for sometime, the crowns had been care¬ 
fully selected, the spikes were long and stout with large 
pure white bells, and accompanied by sufficient foliage 
to give the plants a beautiful appearance. Auriculas 
were not represented, and Cinerarias were very poor, 
only one exhibitor staging a dozen plants, which were 
amply honoured with the second prize awarded for 
them. Mignonette was also rather scarce, the best 
being the standard tree Mignonette from Mr. A. Cuff, 
gardener to R. R. Hyatt, Esq., Leigham Court Road, 
Streatliam. Cyclamens came from the St. George’s 
Nursery Company, and Mr. W. Clay, Kingston, the 
plants being admirably grown, and flowering freely. 
Messrs. J. Laing & Co., Forest Hill, had a handsome 
group of miscellaneous plants comprising some choice 
Orchids, Imantophyllums, and foliage plants. Three 
were selected for certificates, namely, Cattleya Law- 
renciana, Imantophyllum Mrs. Laing, and Begonia 
Gloire de Sceaux, the two former have been noted at 
previous shows ; the Begonia has dark green leaves, and 
pink flowers very freely produced. A handsome group 
of Roses in pots from Messrs. Paul & Son, Chesnunt, 
were exceedingly attractive ; the foliage plants from 
Mr. F. Bause, South Norwood, and the Daffodils 
from Mr. T. S. Ware and Messrs. Barr & Son formed 
similarly attractive groups for all of which special 
prizes were awarded. There was a good attendance of 
visitors on the two days, especially on Saturday. 
Flower Show at the Royal Aquarium, 
Wesminster.— March 30 th and 31s£.—The first of 
the series of Floral Exhibitions arranged to be held here 
this season under the superintendence of Mr. Richard 
Dean, was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, and con¬ 
sidering the shortness of the notice given to exhibitors, 
the result was an entire success, and such as we may 
reasonably hope will lead to further developments in 
the same direction. The schedule was a model of 
simplicity, and well calculated to bring about the 
desired result —a pleasing display of spring flowers, 
composed in the main of bold effective groups, rather 
than small classes of a greater variety of subjects ; and 
the gorgeous'banks of Daffodils and Cyclamens, especi¬ 
ally with the Hyacinths, Tulips, Cinerarias, &c., as seen 
from the galleries, left little to be desired from a 
picturesque point of view. 
Without going too closely into detail, we may 
remark that from a cultural point of view the Cyclamens 
were the best things staged, and certainly the group of 
fifty large specimens from the St. George’s Nursery Co., 
were such as we have seldom seen surpassed. Mr. J. 
Wiggins’ first prize collection of twelve was also made 
up of first-rate examples. The class for fifty Hyacinths 
was also a good one, though the flowers had lost some 
of their lustre ; and here the first and second prizes 
respectively went to Mr. H. R. Wright, of Lee, and 
Messrs. H. Williams & Sons, Forters Green. The 
Tulips also lacked somewhat in brilliancy, and in this 
competition the last-named exhibitors changed places. 
The exhibitors of collections of cut Daffodils comprised 
such extensive glowers as Mr. T. S. Ware, Messrs. 
Barr & Son, and Messrs. Collins Brothers & Gabriel, and 
the last-named firm with an admirable group secured 
the first prize. The Narcissus classes were poor, owing 
to the bad weather, which also had such a damaging 
effect on the Hyacinths and Tulips. Messrs. H. 
Williams & Sons won a first prize for a capital 
group of market plants, and another for Lilies of the 
Valley of unusually fine quality. Messrs. James Carter 
& Co., easily took the first prize for fifty Cinerarias ; 
and among subjects of a miscellaneous character may 
be mentioned a pretty -little group of hardy spring 
flowers from Mr. A. Dean, Bedfont, and some cut 
blooms of single zonal Pelargoniums of inimitable 
quality from Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons. 
-- 
We regret to record the death, on March 26th, at 
Rough Bank, Sheffield, of Mr. John Simonite, inh is 
86th year. Air. Simonite, who was the father of Mr. 
Ben. Simonite, the well-known raiser and cultivator of 
florists’ flowers, and himself a raiser and cultivator 
more than half-a-eentury ago, caught a chill about 
three weeks ago, which brought on bronchitis, from 
which he never rallied. In florists’ flower circles much 
sympathy will be felt for Mr. Ben. Simonite, who had 
his father’s assistance in his garden up to the com¬ 
mencement of the illness, which resulted in his death. 
By the death of Mr. T. B. Cutts, which took place 
recently at his residence, Malvern House, Mapperley 
Road, Nottingham ; the Nottingham and Notts Horti- 
cultuial Society (of which he was president), and the 
St. Ann’s Floral and Horticultural Society, have lost 
a liberal and enthusiastic supporter. Mr. Cutts was 
an ardent lover of plants, and especially of Orchids, of 
which he possessed a fine collection, and took a warm 
interest in all local horticultural movements ; of a 
highly generous and benevolent disposition, and largely 
interested in the staple trade of lace manufacturing, he 
was universally respected by his fellow townsmen who, 
to the number of over 2,000, attended at his funeral. 
-- 
QUESTION'S AND ANSWEKS. 
Growth on Lawn. — J . D. : The unwelcome plant on your 
lawn is a lichen, often called Rags, Hazel Crottles or Lungwort; 
its name is Sticta pulmonaria. It generally grows on tree trunks 
or amongst roots of bushes. We know of no remedy against it. 
If there is not too much it might be removed with a small sharp 
knife and burnt.—W. G. S. 
Gourds. — L.M.: Sow the seeds this month in gentle heat, 
grow the young plants on near the glass until about the end of 
May, when late frosts may not be expected, and then plant them 
out-of-doors the same as Vegetable Marrows. If you have no 
heat, sow the seeds in May under a handlight. 
Shading Greenhouse. — L. M.: If you do not wish to go to 
the expense of blinds and rollers, the best plan would be to use 
Williams' Eureka Shading mixture, which is put on the glass 
outside with a brush, and will not come off unless rubbed off 
when wet. Being white, instead of pale green, it softens the 
light and answers admirably. 
Fumigation.- L . M .: Yes, to cleanse them of dead insects. 
If any are in flower, you must, of course, wet the blooms as 
little as possible. 
Amaryllis and Lilium.— L. M.: The Amaryllis are late 
generally this season, but should be showing signs of flowering 
now. Put them in a warm pit or greenhouse, water sparingly 
until the roots get active, and then more liberally. The flowers 
will be produced before the leaves. If the roots of the Lilium 
auratum are sound, they will come along naturally and in due 
time. There is nothing gained by hurrying them. 
Black Currant disease. — IF. H. M.: The disease is known 
as “Double-bud,” and its cause is a small mite. The only 
remedy is severe pruning, especially in the Autumn, taking care 
to burn all the affected shoots. 
Briars. — IF. H. H. : Leave them as they are, and bud on the 
original stock. If you adopt the other plan, you will not be 
able to bud them this season. 
