556 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 1, 1886. 
The flowers are not so large as some others we have, 
but the colour is unique, a fine blue-purple, the former 
tint iDredominating and giving the flower a very novel 
appearance. It is, of course, in the style of its parent, 
Scott Wilson, which is the best of its kind ; but around 
the yellow eye there is a slight ring of reddish crimson 
that serves to show up the blue shade of the other 
portion still more, though it is not sufficient to be con¬ 
spicuous itself. In company with the common Primrose 
or some of the nearly white varieties, like Harbinger, 
we should think this lovely Alice Wilson would look 
uncommonly well. 
Peas not Vegetating. —I have been very much 
annoyed this season by Peas not vegetating, and on 
mentioning the circumstance to a nurseryman, he said 
that he had sold hundreds of packets of British Lion 
and Alfred the Great, and I was the only man who had 
found any fault. This to me looks curious, because 
not one seed in ten came up. Another firm supplied 
me with Stratagem, which are anything but satis¬ 
factory ; and yet another with Ne Plus Ultra, of which 
not one plant has ever appeared ; whilst my own-saved 
Peas, William I., Evolution and Webb’s Wordsley 
Wonder, are all perfectly satisfactory. I should like 
to know if any other of your readers have had a like 
experience.— It. Gilbert, Burghley. 
■ --- 
ORCHID NO TES AND GLEANINGS. 
The Orchid Growers’ Calendar.— How that 
we have really genial weather, let not the free venti¬ 
lation of the houses be neglected, for pure air is life to 
the plants. In really fine weather it is a good plan to 
open wide the doors even of the hothouses for a short 
time during the middle of the day, as such a course 
causes the air to be changed in every part of the house, 
not even the most out-of-the-way crannies escaping. 
Every portion of the houses under the stages must be 
kept moist, and in order to economise the rain-water 
stored in the house, and with which it is so important to 
w r ater the plants, water for damping-down or cleansing 
the houses should be brought from some other source. 
It is better to think of this in time, as the supply of 
rain-water soon runs out in dry weather if used for all 
purposes. Any of the plants which have not been re¬ 
potted, and which, by their growth and pushing root, 
show that they are ready, should be re-potted or 
basketed at once, and such plants should above all be 
protected from the sun’s rays. 
Any unshaded houses in exposed situations should at 
once be fitted with roller-blinds of a material adapted 
to the plants beneath. Nothing pays better or tends 
more to simplify Orchid culture than careful shading, 
even the Mexican Lrelias, Barkerias, &e., being easier 
to grow under a thin shading in summer, unless a house 
can be found for them where the sun’s rays are broken 
by overhanging trees, in which case they require no 
blind. The fire-heat in the cold houses should be dis¬ 
continued for the season, and reduced to the lowest 
possible limit in the other houses. 
The Temperatures fop. the Month of May 
should be—Warm or East Indian house, 70° to 75° by 
day, 65° at night; Cattleya or Intermediate house, 
65° to 70° by day, 60° at night; Cool or Odontoglossum 
house, 60° to 65° by day, 55° at night.— James O'Brien. 
Orchid Nomenclature. —In consequence of a 
communication from the Council of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, it was resolved, by the Scientific 
Committee, on Tuesday, that a sub-committee be 
formed to co-operate “with the Society’s Provincial 
Show Committee, with a view to the holding of a 
conference on the nomenclature of Orchids during the 
Show to be held at Liverpool. ” The following gentle¬ 
men were selected from the Scientific Committee for 
the above purpose :—Sir J. D. Hooker, Messrs. Ridley, 
J. O’Brien, and A. H. Smee. It was suggested that 
Mr. Harry Yeitch should be requested to form one of 
the Committee. 
Fumigating Orchid Houses (see p. 509).— 
The best way of filling an Orchid house with nicotine 
vapour is to put a brick in the fire, and when it is red- 
hot to drop it into an old saucepan in which has been 
placed a pint of Tobacco juice. In about three or four 
minutes a small house will be filled with Tobacco 
vapour, which will kill all your insects without in the 
least injuring any plant, flower, or bud. This is the 
way we now treat our houses.— Otto Ballif, Argentev.il, 
[With the preceding note from M. Ballif, who has charge 
of M. Godefroy-Lebeufs collection of Orchids, we re¬ 
ceived a copy of a recent number of the Moniteur d'Hor- 
culture, in which our correspondent, after mentioning 
the various plans adopted for raising vapour in the 
houses, all of which were objectionable in some way or 
other, states that he was recommended to try the red- 
hot brick by an old practitioner in the neighboul’hood of 
Paris, and it succeeded marvellously.—E d.] 
The Lovatt Collection. —At the first day’s sale 
of this collection, which took place at Stevens’ Rooms 
on Wednesday, first-rate prices were obtained for the 
choicer lots. The highest bid made during the afternoon 
was £78 15s. for a plant with 13 leads of Cattleya 
Warneri, “extra fine, large dark variety.’’ A grand 
specimen of C'ymbidium Lowianum realised £73 10s. ; 
and an extra fine broad petalled variety of Ltelia pur- 
purata, with about 50 leaves, fetched £56 14s. Other 
notable prices obtained were 10 guineas for Epidendrum 
prismatocarpum ; £4i 2s. for Cattleya Mendeli; 15 
guineas for Dendrobium Ainswortlii ; £10 for Mas- 
devallia Harryana; 17 guineas for Oneidium ma- 
cranthum ; £11 for Brassia Lawrenceana ; 19 guineas for 
Ccelogyne cristata, Chatsworth variety ; and 12 guineas 
for Cattleya crispa majus. 
A NEW SPRAY PUMP. 
To facilitate 'the distribution of that admirable 
insecticide, Fir Tree Oil, in large houses, Mr. E. 
Griffiths Hughes, of Victoria Street, Manchester, has 
recently introduced a new form of spray pump, which 
Hughes’ Spray Pump. 
having had an opportunity of testing, rve can heartily 
recommend as a good article, not alone useful as an 
effective and economical distributor of insecticides, but 
for ordinary syringing purposes. With the exception 
of the two pieces of flexible tubing, the pump is made 
of brass and neatly finished, and the arrangement of 
the handle is such as to give the operator much greater 
power over the pressure than was the case with the 
older forms of pumps of this character, and the adjust¬ 
ment of the jet and nozzle is so nicely arranged that 
the spray is perfect. 
--—- 
SOME CHOICE SPRING 
FLOWERS. 
I AM afraid that the number and glorious auriferous 
glare of the Daffodils at a late meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society served to put in the shade the 
pretentions to notice put in by many charming hardy 
plants scattered up and down the tables. One saw 
little else but gold and yellow, from the splendid 
specimen of Oneidium Marshallianum, shown by Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, down to the humblest Daffodil that 
appeared among the many thousands of blossoms. It 
was a day of Daffodil worship ; if a visitor attempted 
to look at anything else he was instantly buttonholed 
by an enthusiastic member of the Daffodil Committee, 
and asked if he believed that the group of Daffodils 
comprehended in the Magnicoronata of Baker are 
identical with the Ajax of Haworth, and the Pseudo- 
Narcissus of Parkinson, or whether the Swan’s Neck 
Daffodil was properly called Peter Barr, seeing that 
he, worthy fellow that he is, by no means sports a 
masher’s style of collar. 
Take the beautiful Anemones, A. coronata, several 
groups of which were shown. Why are they called 
Wind Flowers ? Pliny tells us the Anemone was so 
named because it never opens but when the wind is 
blowing. Another authority states that the English 
name of Wind Flower seems to have been given to the 
Anemone because some of the species flourish in open 
places exposed to the wind, before the blasts of which 
they shiver and tremble in the early spring. There is 
a curious myth attaching to the Anemone. It is said 
by Brow to have sprung from the tears that Venus 
wept over the body of Adonis, a story that seems to 
suggest that the tears of that frail and loving goddess 
were soon blown away. All sorts of fancy names are 
now given to these Anemones—Poppy Anemones, French 
Anemones, &c.—but they are still the Wind Flower, of 
half century ago, and well deserving a place in the 
garden. 
Great quantities of Anemones are grown in Holland, 
double and single, and they come to this country in 
the form of dry roots in autumn with the other Dutch 
bulbs. Some really good varieties can be obtained in 
this W'ay, and if seeds are saved of some of the best of 
them, the foundations of a fine collection are soon 
raised. Seeds can be sown in spring, in a shallow box 
or Iran, using a light sandy soil, and be placed in a cold 
frame or any suitable place where it can be shaded from 
the sun by day and kept fairly moist, The seeds will 
soon germinate, and w T hen the plants are strong enough 
they can be planted out of doors in a prepared bed, and 
if carefully looked after, many of them will flower next 
spring. The beautiful scarlet Wind Flower was very 
attractive. It is the richest scarlet, and the most 
beautiful and graceful of all winter and spring-flowering 
plants. This is so cheap as to be within the reach of 
all, and as the roots can be had in September, if planted 
early the flow'ers may be gathered from Christmas, and 
by successional plantings from August until May, a 
continued display can be made, but such a prolongation 
of bloom is only within the reach of those who have a 
large collection. A. blanda, the winter Wind Flower, 
was very pretty also ; it has deep lilac-blue flowers, and 
it blooms in the very dawn of earliest spring. A. 
pavonina, the Peacock Wind Flower, was also to be 
seen. The flowers are smaller than those of the common 
garden Anemone, but usually very double from the 
great number of narrow-pointed petals filling up the 
centre of each. Sometimes the central petals are green 
Its usual time of flowering is in May. 
Some pretty species of Fritillaria were also present, 
among them F. Thunbergi and F. tristis, a curious 
species with small elegant black flowers and slender 
stem. There was Ophrys arunifera and O. arachnites, 
representing the Bee-Orchis, curious and interesting 
plants. Sisyrinchium grandiflorum was there, with its 
large purple bells springing from grassy tufts in early 
spring, and its white variety, album. Others were 
Gladiolus Watsonianus, crimson ; Orchis longiflorum 
aud O. pauciflora, the rose-coloured giant Dog's-tooth 
Violet, Grape Hyacinths in variety, Trillium ovatum, 
Tulipa Clusiana and T. Greigii, Triteleia uniflora, and 
the beautiful Freesias, F. Leichtlini and F. refracta 
alba. 
I did not take down the names of all the species and 
varieties, but simply those which appeared to be the 
pick of them. Would that they were more grown ; 
but most of them are not everybody’s flowers, and in 
these days the tendency generally is to grow subjects 
of easy culture and which cause the least trouble.—)?. 
-- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar, 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
By this time tho Alocasias which were placed in heat 
will have started well into growth, sufficiently so to 
select those of the Macliroriza variegata var. for potting 
on ; in doing this, and where good variegation is 
desired combined with a good specimen plant, care 
must be exercised. If the third leaf is more than 
half variegated, it will be a rather difficult matter to 
grow it successfully, but if rather under half variegated 
a good plant is certain to follow ordinary treatment 
These plants when well grown are very valuable for 
staging in conservatory groups during the summer, and 
the pleasing green of their bold foliage is a great relief 
to Palms and Ferns. 
Poinsettias must be looked to, and brought into some 
position where they can be syringed to excite them into 
r 
