748 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 24, 1886. 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
The conservatory or show house will now need a 
thorough turn out, cleaning, and re-arranging ; if the 
roof and pillars should be covered with creepers before 
staging is done, let these be neatly tied in, not bunching 
them up like faggots, but allowing them to retain a 
graceful appearance, pruning out the strongest of the 
wood. Habrothamnus may be severely dealt with, 
and will, if in a healthy state, make a good growth and 
flower freely in the autumn ; the last named frequently 
becomes infested with green-fly, and in such a case, 
fumigation, if possible, should be resorted to, giving a 
good washing with the syringe on the following 
morning. In the pruning of Tea Roses, only the 
weakest portions should be cut away, in fact avoid 
using the knife to these as much as possible, except 
to keep them in bounds. Take care that the borders in 
which they are growing are not neglected in the way 
of watering; a good dose of liquid manure may be 
applied with advantage, and help to keep them in a 
thoroughly healthy condition. Where the old Cloth 
of Gold rose is grown, it will be found much the best 
plan (whether in or out of doors), to cut it well back, 
laying in the young growths, and from these good 
blooms will appear ; whereas, if left in the ordinary 
way, one seldom sees a flower ; when well done it is 
indeed a beautiful variety, the growths on. ours on a 
south wall are now from 8 ft. to 10 ft. long and pro¬ 
portionately strong. 
The first batch of Celosias will now be ready for 
staging, and if carefully looked to will last a long time. 
C. Huttoui is valuable for its foliage, aud the habit 
too is good. The later batch now require a shift into 
6-in. pots, as they are making a good growth, and will 
be most useful to succeed the early lot. Keep them in 
the pits, and as near the glass as possible, for if they 
become drawn they are quite useless. The Gomphrenas, 
when well grown, are very pretty for staging, and 
always admired. The Fuchsias should now be bloom¬ 
ing freely, and will be greatly benefitted by liquid 
manure ; if this cannot be applied, give a sprinkling 
of Clay’s Fertilizer occasionally. In the case of young 
plants this is not necessary; a light dewing overhead 
with the syringe in the evening will greatly help to 
preserve all flowers while the weather is so hot and 
parching. 
The spring bedding stuff has been removed to a fully 
exposed position, and will in a few days be pricked out 
on a prepared border. Now will be a good time to put 
in a good batch of all the scented Geraniums ; they 
will make nice stuff in 5-in. pots by autumn if grown 
on, and the old lot (which, if kept too long, become 
very straggling) thrown away. The variety, Lady 
Mary Fox, is extremely useful in a small state, and its 
bright scarlet flowers are produced in great abundance. 
A packet of herbaceous Calceolaria should now be sown 
if the plants are required to flower early in the spring. 
This must not, however, interfere with the general 
sowing, which may be made about the middle of next 
month. Keep a sharp look-out for all insect pests in 
the stoves, and devote as much time as possible, that 
they may be kept clean. 
THE FRUIT HOUSES. 
The crop in the Lady Downe’s house is now generally 
colouring, and as the weather has been rather change¬ 
able, we have warmed the pipes morning and evening, 
allowing a free circulation of air throughout the whole 
of the day in the hope of warding off spider, which, 
however, has made its appearance slightly, and sulphur¬ 
ing the pipes must be resorted to without delay. The 
second Yinery is nearly ripe, and to prevent a too rapid 
evaporation, the border outside has been given an extra 
mulching ; and also the early Yinery. With these 
heavy mulchings, and an abundance of air admitted 
always, no damping of the houses will be necessary, 
and the Yines can be kept perfectly clean, added to 
which the damage to the crop by rubbing is avoided. 
After once the crop is removed, a thorough good soak¬ 
ing of water must be given, or next year’s crop will in 
all probability suffer. 
Remember, also, the pruning of the Peach trees so 
soon as the crop is removed, aud if, as with us, by a too 
gentle syringing spider should make its appearance, 
mix paraffin oil at the rate of a wine-glassful to a gallon 
and a half of water for syringing with at night, repeat¬ 
ing the dose again if not eradicated in a few days. 
SVhere the fruit in succession-houses is approaching 
ripening, syringing must be discontinued, or cracking 
of the fruit is apt to follow, more particularly of Nec¬ 
tarines, the variety Lord Napier is particularly liable. 
Damp-down the house heavily and frequently, and by 
admitting an abundance of air, the trees are kept in a 
healthy condition. The fruit is also of much higher 
flavour ; in fact, good fruits cannot be grown without 
such treatment is followed. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
We have to day experienced a most refreshing rain, 
and the crops will be greatly benefitted thereby, more 
particularly the late Potatos, which had begun to hold 
out signals of distress ; but with the haulm thoroughly 
covering the ground, we may now reasonaby hope for a 
full yield should the dreaded disease not make its 
appearance ; a short time longer and, as far as our 
experience goes, ^danger will be past with the advent of 
the month of August. The rain will also be of the 
greatest benefit to the newly sown 'seeds (and this 
reminds me I ought to have added a sowing of Parsley 
in my last week’s notes, as made on a very sheltered 
border or at the foot of the Peach and Apricot walls 
alternately), and the winter greens of kinds. 
A good sowing of Endive should now without further 
delay be made, if sown in drills, a mode we always 
adopt for all kinds of seeds, a plant may be left where 
the seed was sown, which will come in earlier than 
those transplanted, nevertheless, transplanting of both 
Endive and Lettuce is absolutely necessary when good 
produce is required. Shallots are now ready for lifting, 
and before storing, should be laid out thinly on a hard 
surface and fully exposed to the sun for a week or ten 
days, they will be found to keep much better than if 
stored when lifted. We are now going through our 
beds of Carrots, Onions, &c., removing by hand all 
weeds, after which the Dutch hoes will be carefully run 
between the rows, and we do not anticipate any further 
trouble with them until they are safely stored. — Walter 
Child, Croome Court. 
-- 
ORCHID NO TES AND GLEANINGS. 
Manures for Orchids.— The question of the 
advisability of using Manures for Orchids is not a new 
one. In practice the matter has received some atten¬ 
tion in most of the collections from the earliest days of 
Orchid growing ; writers on Orchids, however, have 
been very reticent on the subject. It seems to be 
generally conceded that Calanthes especially and many 
other terrestrial Orchids are better and flower stronger 
when some kind of manure is used on them, and of 
late years it has been proved by practice that even 
some epiphytal Orchids may be induced to make very 
strong growths by similar treatment. For my own 
part, as the result of experiments made over several 
years, I have come to the conclusion that all Orchids, 
when properly managed, may be'grown to perfection 
without any stimulant; that manuring them, un¬ 
less systematically carried out, the times, proportions, 
and nature of the stimulant being arranged by one and 
the same person in each case, is positively injurious ; 
but that when properly carried out, all terrestrial 
Orchids are benefitted, and some epiphytal ones seem 
to be improved by the careful use of some trustworthy 
manure, either liquid or otherwise, and I am convinced 
that the practice of giving such help is much more ex¬ 
tensive than it is generally supposed to be. How far 
the practitioners who seem to benefit by it in the 
present may have to pay for it in the future remains to 
be seen. It is, however, the great duty of the public 
press to gather information from successful innovators 
for the benefit of the public, and as there must be 
much on this subject to tell, let us hope that some of 
your correspondents will give us the benefit of their 
practical experience, and confine themselves to that, 
as everyone can supply his own theorj'. 
In my experience manures may be used on Orchids, 
especially terrestrial ones, subject to the following con¬ 
ditions:—That whatever manure is used should be of 
uniform strength, and on account of the impossibility 
of determining this I am much against the drainings 
from stables or manure heaps being used, as often when 
there are rains it is weak and cold, and at other times it is 
acrid and burning. Cow-manure is, in my experience, 
the safest of all for making liquid manure, and a good 
tub of this, with a peck of soot in a bag sunk in it, is a 
capital thing to have for mixing a little with the rain¬ 
water used for Calanthes or any other plants which 
anyone in his wisdom and discretion may deem it 
advisible to give a little to. I have had good results 
with Dendrobes by occasionally giving them a little 
while growing. 
The next condition is that liquid manure be given to 
the plants only when they are growing and rooting 
well, and at no other time, the supply being discon¬ 
tinued as soon as the growths are fully made up, as on 
this everything depends. With Orchids treated with 
manures I have found that the smaller the pots or 
baskets in which they are, and the less quantity of 
stuff there is about them in reason the better, and that 
Cattleyas and Laelias on which manures are used may, 
and I think should be, grown in crocks, charcoal, or 
ballast, with only the thinnest surface of peat, or none 
at all, a great quantity of water being given them while 
growing. 
There are now also several manures of proved excel¬ 
lence for mixing with the potting material for terrestrial 
Orchids, and (it is sail) for sprinkling over the surface 
of the pots of the epiphytes. These are of unif orm 
strength, and are not open to the objection urged 
against liquid manures, and also against that horrible 
compound called rotten dung, which should in no case 
be used, or the houses will stand a chance of teeming 
with everything that is vile in the way of weeds and 
insects. Opinions differ among gardeners on the point 
of manures, some liking one and some another ; there 
is, however, more in the man knowing the nature of 
the things he uses, and the proper method of applying 
them than in anything else. 
As Mr. Alfred Borwick said, in his paper on the sub¬ 
ject at the Orchid Conference, the notion of applying 
manure to Orchids seems to be repugnant; but we live 
to learn. TVhat we want to know is the rights of the 
case as proved by practice, and as Mr. Borwick has 
practised on his Orchids in this way for some time, a 
note from him on the subject would be of service to 
your readers. I must say that the Cymbidium Lowi- 
anum which I saw, and which he treated with manure, 
was a marvel of vigorous growth and bloom. 
In pursuing this subject, however, let me advise all 
beginners to proceed very warily, and not to overdo 
their experiments because a new idea comes to them.— 
James O'Brien. 
Disa grandifiora.— A grand spike of this, bear¬ 
ing eight fine scarlet flowers, each 4 ins. across, and all 
open together, comes to us from the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Glasnevin, where the plant grows luxuriantly 
and in quantity. Of it Mr. F. TV. Moore says :—“It 
is, with one exception, the best I have seen, as you can 
see the foliage was quite perfect to the pot. ” It is, 
indeed, a glowing specimen, and many would like to 
be able to get their plants to do likewise. At Glas¬ 
nevin they are grown in quite a cold house, where they 
are kept moist and airy. 
Galeandra nivalis, a very pretty and rare 
Orchid, with a showy tubular white and yellow lip, with 
violet spot, accompanies the Dublin Disa. 
Disa sag'ittata. —I do not think, in my pre¬ 
vious notes to you, I mentioned this charming plant. 
I saw some good specimens in bloom in November, and 
the more I see of it the better I like it, as there is 
something very superior about it. It produces white 
flowers, often with a faint streak of lilac, on dense 
spikes about 10 ins. in height, and is so free-flowering 
here that every little bulb produces a spray. The 
leaves are very like those of D. grandiflora, but the 
plant is distinctly different in choice of situation. D. 
sagittata is found at a considerable elevation on rocks 
where 3 ins. or 4 ins. of soil of a peaty nature finds a 
lodgement, always on the shady side, and also more or 
less shaded by bush or overhanging rock. In this 
position it gets the benefit of the rains from the west 
and south-east. I find its charming flowers very good 
for lasting when cut, either in or out of water, and are 
capital for evening wear.— James Hall, Port Elizabeth. 
Cattleya Gaskelliana. —Avery fine specimen 
of this showy Cattleya—said, indeed, to be the finest 
piece in the country—and well flowered, was put up 
for sale in Protheroe k SI orris’s Rooms on the 16 th 
inst., and knocked down to a bid for 100 guineas. The 
plant goes into a well-known nobleman’s collection. 
