692 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 3, 1886. 
Early in February the plants show flower, and 
are, as required, removed into a warmer house 
to produce them. 
Mr. Prinsep added, “ Whoever can give them 
such treatment may rely on good plants from 
pruned D. nobile; but if they grow the plants 
cool, or in the ordinary way, they would pro¬ 
bably not come to much.” bio one denies that 
it may so be done; but in general practice, and 
with rare plants, it would be a wasteful practice. 
Who, for example, would think of serving I), 
nobile nobilius in such a way ? If we knew we 
should much like to get the chips. So much 
for legitimate pruners ; but now we have a class 
wrongfully laying claim to the name, and calling 
their practice pruning when it is only an ex¬ 
tension of the old practice of removing useless 
or damaged portions, and that, too, an extension, 
which is wasteful and mischievous if carried too 
far. Of this class, let us take, for example, the 
neat and well-flowered plant of Ltelia anceps 
exhibited. So far as it went, it was good and 
creditable, and certainly none the worse for 
the removal of the old leafless pseudo-bulbs ; 
but let us suppose that the plant, when com¬ 
menced to be operated on some ten years ago, 
had been L. a. Dawsoni, and that a precisely 
similar plant had been placed into the hands of 
an old grower with an eye to business instead 
of experimenting, and who did his pruning by 
removing the old black bulbs, two or three 
together when ready, blocking them up and 
making stock of them, I venture to say that the 
plant grown on the old plan would be much the 
larger and more valuable, and its grower have, 
perhaps, ten or a dozen healthy young qflants 
out of that which the so-called pruner would 
have thrown away, if we understand the process. 
Turning to nature, we find that imported 
plants often bear the whole of the growth made 
for many years, Cattleyas and Laelias of flowering 
size often still having good the first year’s 
seedling growth. However, under cultivation, 
not having the changes and rigours of their 
natural climate to contend against, many Orchids 
bear foliage with us long after they would have 
fallen, in the ordinary course of events, in a 
ivild state, and that the leaving of such foliage 
on the plants after it has become disfigured and 
neither of use nor ornament, gives an air of 
shabbiness to many a houseful of Orchids which 
would be in a fairly presentable condition if the 
damaged leaves were removed. Masdevallias 
offer good examples of this. Frequently one 
sees fine large plants of them densely crowded 
with leaves, many of which are spotted and dis¬ 
figured, giving the plants a very bad appearance. 
Examine such plants, and it will invariably be 
found that the unsightly leaves are the old ones, 
which can well be spared; cut them out and 
you have a perfect plant. Oncidiums, too, often 
keep the leaves for years ; but after a time the 
old ones become tipped and spotted. Recently, 
we found in a collection a grand mass of On- 
cidium incurvum, which the owner told us 
always looked so shabby that he often thought 
of throwing it away. We asked permission to 
operate on it, and in five minutes cut out all 
but the healthy leaves borne on the two last 
made bulbs on each lead, after which it would 
have taken a good sum to buy the plant, for it 
was a favourite. 
Often, in small collections, one could go over 
the plants and remove a barrowful of useless, 
unsightly, and insect-breeding stuff, and put 
cent, per cent, in value on the appearance of 
the plants. How so many neglect so simple 
and orderly a matter it is not easy to say. We 
therefore advise that all old, decaying, or 
damaged pseudo-bulbs and leaves with’ the 
slightest defect in them should be removed, 
and in cutting the leaves off care should be 
taken to make the cut just above the joint at 
which they fall off when passing naturally, so 
that the small remaining portion may die back 
to the joint and then fall. In many things, 
such as Cattleyas, the joint is at the juncture 
of the leaf and bulb, and plainly visible ; but 
in such things as Masdevallias and others not 
bearing pseudo-bulbs the joint is not so pro¬ 
minent, and care is required not to cut below 
it, or in the case of sappy plants, if cut too low 
the piece remaining may die to the base and 
carry injury with it. 
-->33o- 
GARDENING MISCELLANY. 
Meetings for Next Week . — Tuesday. Royal 
Horticultural Society’s Fruit and Floral Committees 
meet at South Kensington, National Rose Society’s 
Exhibition. TV ednesday : Rose Shows at Oxford, 
Cardiff, and Sutton, Ealing Acton, and Hanwell Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Exhibition. Thursday .- Bath Floral 
Fete, Flower Show at Ipswich, Hitchin Rose Show. 
Friday: Maidstone and Hereford Rose Shows. Satur¬ 
day : TV irral Rose Society’s Show at Birkenhead, Cray 
Valley and Sidcup Horticultural Society’s Exhibition. 
To our Readers. —It may interest our many per¬ 
sonal friends among the readers of The Gardening 
"World to know that nearly the whole of the report of 
the Royal Horticultural Society’s Show at Liverpool, as 
it appears in our present issue, was dispatched from 
Liverpool on Tuesday evening, printed in London, and 
delivered ready for sale in the show ground on Wednes¬ 
day morning, twenty-four hours before any other 
gardening paper had a report out. 
Foreign Visitors. —Mr. Charles Parmentier, of 
Brussels, is organising a horticultural excursion to 
England, a la Cook, and announces in a circular letter 
before us that the party will start from Antwerp on the 
15th instant. The programme, which has been drawn 
up with the personal assistance of “ l'honorable sir 
Robert Hogg,” includes four days sight seeing in Lon¬ 
don, and visits to Chiswick, Kew, Windsor, Syon 
House, Cliveden, Dropmore, and the Nurseries of 
Messrs. Rivers & Son at Sawbridgeworth, Messrs. Paul 
& Son, Cheshunt, Messrs. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, 
and Mr. Phillip Ladds, Bexley. The 20th and four 
following days are to be devoted to visiting Rangemore, 
Burton-on-Trent, Elvaston Castle, Chatsworth, Liver¬ 
pool, Croxteth Park, Knowsley, and the “ Vineries de 
Meredith,” and returning through Chester, visit Eaton 
Hall, and the Nurseries of Messrs. F. & A. Dickson & 
Sons. The last day, July 24th, the party will visit 
Trentham and Mentmore, and leave London at 8 p.m. 
for Antwerp. 
The Dangers of Coke Breeze.— 1 This material, 
is now being very commonly employed for paths in 
plant-houses, or for shelves in Orchid-houses, and harm¬ 
less as it might appear, there is a danger attending its 
use which needs a little consideration and care, or un¬ 
pleasant and sometimes serious results occur. We 
recently saw a house of Odontoglossums in a rather 
serious condition, the leaves brown as though scorched, 
and the plants having a sickly aspect that was alarming. 
This had been produced quite suddenly by the em¬ 
ployment of coke breeze fresh from the gas works. It 
was placed rather liberally on the paths and shelves 
one afternoon, and these were sprinkled in the usual 
way. A strong gas-like smell was noticed at the time, 
and the next morning the Odontoglossums were affected 
in the manner described. The greater portion of the 
material was immediately cleared out, and exposed for 
some days in an open place before it was used again. 
The plants are strong, and are now gradually recovering, 
but it will be some time before they are in good health. 
The Orchid Nomenclature Conference. 
—The meeting for the discussion of this subject was 
held in the Show Ground, at Liverpool, on Tuesday, 
proceedings being commenced by the President, Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Bart., delivering a very pleasant and 
instructive address ; the president remarked on what 
had been done and what still remained to do, stating 
that it was the principal object of the meeting to 
ascertain the views of others on the subject. The 
chairman then called on Mr. Ridley, the secretary of 
the committee, who stated his views on the proper 
arrangement of Orchid names, recommending for such 
things as garden varieties, crosses between two genera, 
such as Lielia and Cattleya ; the adoption of names 
compounded of the two, such as in the examples, Phila- 
geria and Sei'icobonia. Dr. Masters followed, recom¬ 
mending the botanists to stick to the species, and 
the gardeners to the varieties, naming the species with 
botanical and the varieties with fancy names ; a matter 
on which Mr. E. Harvey, Professor Michal Foster and 
the other speakers seemed to agree. Mr. Shirley 
Hibberd recommended making a clean sweep of this 
unauthoritatively named varieties, and utterly ignoring 
them, which sentiment the president and others did 
not agree. Mr. Goldring took exception to the whole¬ 
sale classing of such things as the great majority of the 
large-flowered Cattleyas under the one species, C. 
labiata ; and, after other remarks, the president closed 
the meeting with a few appropriate observations. 
-->:£<-- 
ORNAMENTAL FOLIAGE TREES 
AND SHRUBS. 
It seems that a little more attention is being paid to 
variegated forms of hardy trees and shrubs, and new 
varieties appear nearly every year. There is no diffi¬ 
culty now in obtaining a good collection, and the present 
is the best time for noting desirable varieties to add to 
shrubberries in the autumn or winter. A few plants 
of the most distinct considerably improve this portion 
of the garden, and if some judgment is exercised in their 
arrangement, they will constitute an important addition. 
To some of the most striking we may commence with 
the golden-leaved Oak, Quercus Concordia, which, when 
it attains a moderate size, is one of the most beautiful 
trees in a garden. 
The golden Chestnut, though not nearly so bright, is 
a handsome tree. Then in direct contrast we have the 
purple Hazel, Corylus Avellana purpurea, which is re¬ 
markable for the dark purple almost black hue of the 
foliage. Prunus Pissardi, which was brought into 
notice a few years back, improves on farther acquaint¬ 
ance, and can be strongly recommended as one of the 
brightest shrubs with reddish coloured leaves. Of 
several other golden-leaved varieties, Ulmus plumosa 
aurea, Philadelphus aurea, Ulmus Van Houttei, Spiraea 
opulifolia lutea, Ulmus TYioti aurea, and the golden 
Horse Chestnut are worthy of mention. The variegated 
Dogwood, Cornus mas variegata, with the leaves neatly 
margined with white, is also pretty, and as it is a free- 
growing plant, should certainly have a place with the 
others. — TV. 
-- 
“DISTINCT.” 
I have just received a schedule of prizes in which 
appears a class for “twelve bunches of cut flowers, 
distinct,” and a note is appended to the effect, that 
“the word ‘distinct’ is to be understood as meaning that 
different colours of the same flower may be put into a 
bunch.” Now, some judges that I have met with, 
men who appear to be fond of setting up hard and fast 
lines and arbitrary interpretations, would, no doubt, be 
prepared to say that by the wording of this class is 
meant distinct varieties,‘and that the introduction of 
more than one variety in a bunch ought to disqualify. 
I am in the habit of attending some country shows, 
and it is frequently found that there appeal's in the 
schedule, a class for “twelve bunches of cut-flowers, 
distinct varieties,” and yet exhibitors do the very 
thing that they are enabled to do under the note given 
above. Sometimes it reads a little more emphatically, 
“ twelve varieties of cut flowers, distinct,” and yet the 
same thing appears, several varieties of one flower, such' 
as Indian Pink, Antirrhinum, Petunia, &c., are put 
into one bunch. A dogmatic judge might desire to 
disqualify, I prefer to ask what has been the practice 
hitherto, and if I am told this is it, I award the prizes 
and pass on to the next class, but I never allow the 
opportunity to pass, without pointing out that a much 
more effective stand can be made by bunches of one 
variety than when several varieties are mixed together. 
I am sometimes linked to a brother judge who has a 
perfect passion for disqualifying, and on what I regard as 
frivolous pretexts. A man so predisposed to act, seems 
to me to be a man bent on giving the countrymen some 
illustrations of his superior knowledge. But I have 
known a good deal of harm done from acting in this 
spirit. I never disqualify if I can possibly avoid it, 
for I always give the exhibitor the benefit of any doubt 
that may arise, and the most generous course is 
invariably the most common-sense one. 
I was at a Flower Show last year where there was a 
competition in a class for “six dishes of Fruits, distinct 
kinds.” One exhibitor put up an excellent lot, 
including white and black varieties of Grapes. This 
collection was protested against by another exhibitor 
on the ground that “kind” really meant one distinct 
