42 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September IS, 1886. 
in gardens were completely abolished, nature would 
assert herself in the free and bounteous growth of 
vegetation, and an abundant harvest of benefits for the 
sustenance and comfort and spiritual help of man ; for 
as compared with any one tree that is pruned in a 
reasonable manner ten thousand are mangled into ugly 
barrenness, and their owners cry out that gardening is 
unprofitable. When Naaman was told to wash seven 
times he became an emblem of man in conflict with 
nature. The simple course prescribed for his cure was 
too simple, for it meant that cleanliness is our best 
protection against disease. He “thought,” he said, 
the prophet would engage in an elaborate performance 
to effect a cure, but the washing w T as a despicable pro¬ 
ceeding ; it was a too direct appeal to the renewing 
powers of nature. 
An illustration, both of the failure to forecast 
results and the tendency to attempt impossibilities, 
is seen in many gardens where the fruit trees over¬ 
top the walls. The essence of the case is that the 
walls are not tall enough for the trees, and the knife 
is freely used to effect a balance between them. For 
a time the balance is very poorly maintained by the 
cruel employment of coercion ; the best growth the 
trees make being systematically shortened back to 
elfeet the accommodation. But this is for a time only. 
If the trees thrive they will endeavour to assert them¬ 
selves ; in place of clean rods, rising direct towards the 
sky, they will throw up a thicket of spray along tho 
top line of the wall, and look over to see if there is any 
help at hand. While this goes on, the growth on the 
top line being periodically harried by the gardener’s 
knife, the trees will be found to bear less and less fruit, 
and to cast off occasionally the best placed of their 
lower branches. There are many miles of respectable 
garden walls, or walls that might be respectable, in 
this plight, the consequence simply of injudicious 
planting, as though by the word of command a tall 
Grenadier could roll himself up within a lady’s reticule. 
It comes to nothing to say that walls cost money, 
because to make bad use of them for the butchery 
of trees that would be useful if reasonably treated is 
simply to waste the money expended, or, at least, 
to waste the opportunity for employing them 
usefully. Walls that are too short for Plums and 
Pears may be tall enough for Nectarines and Morello 
Cherries. Walls that are too short for these last may 
still be tall enough for Gooseberries, Currants, and 
Tomatos. And walls that are too short for these last 
may pay their rent by sheltering early Potatos. Let 
us have proportion in gardening, and avoid complaining 
loudly of failures we have invited. The last man who 
should complain of having lost his head is he who 
willingly placed it in the lion’s mouth. 
The pivot on which we seem to turn in this kind of 
blundering is the notion that the knife is a remedial 
agent. Generally speaking, it is an exasperating 
agent, making bad worse, thwarting rather than 
suppressing nature, and effectual only in whittling 
away the foundation of our prosperity in gardening. 
Wall trees are of necessity systematically pruned, and 
more or less severely trained ; and because of this, all 
the natural growth that can be allowed consistently 
with the proper working out of the system, should be 
not only allowed but encouraged. In a great garden 
where the walls suffice for the needs of the trees, we 
see them, generally speaking, grandly developed, in 
the best of health, and wondrously fruitful. It is in 
the garden where false economy requires a short wall 
to do the work of one thrice the height, that wo find 
trees that grow too much at top and too little at bottom; 
and that not only produce little fruit, but are vex- 
atiously prolific in the production of vermin. 
Having mentioned vermin, I am reminded of tho 
plagues of Egypt, all of them consequent on Pharaoh’s 
hardness of heart. It often appears to me that Pharaoh 
has been fished out of the Red Sea, and galvanised into 
an amateur gardener, for this interesting gentleman 
governs the Land of Goshen much as Pharaoh did, with 
great ability and spirit ; and yet he so often tempts 
Providence that the plagues follow and endeavour to 
consume him. He plants Roses and Hollyhocks amidst 
overshading trees, and in places so sheltered and snug 
that no unkind breath can reach them. The result is 
that a garden intended for flowers becomes a sort of 
hotbed for mildew, and the sulphur merchant is applied 
to in aid of plants that are simply perishing for want 
of air. I am satisfied, by years of critical observation, 
that the plagues of our garden are in a great measure 
the proper consequences of our practises ; and we are 
convicted of inconsistency and inhospitality in that we 
are so mean as to curse the guests whom we have taken 
pains to invite. Many of the casualties with which we 
have to reckon are beyond our control, and are true 
calamities, no doubt; but air and water are needed in 
vastly greater proportions by plants than our customary 
economy acknowledges, and sure I am that Roses and 
Hollyhocks have been, and are very badly treated in 
respect of these primary necessities. The moulds and 
mildews and the insect enemies, in great measure, are 
favoured by processes of starving and suffocating within 
doors and without, and if you will make a few com¬ 
parisons between gardens that are clean and gardens 
that are dirty you will find that the differences chiefly 
consist in the proportions of air and water. You will 
say we cannot take our close town gardens into the 
breezy country, and to that I must respond in the 
affirmative. But I may add that the more unfavourable 
the circumstances, the greater the need for forethought 
and for the observance of proportion. We see in 
gardens of smallish dimensions all kinds of things doing 
badly on the boundary borders that would thrive 
joyously if planted in the very centre of the ground to 
obtain a maximum of air and sunshine, and a fair share 
of every falling shower. “ We want the centre for our 
games,” you say. Yes, but that does not necessitate 
crowding the borders with plants that can never prosper 
except in the fullest light, and all the heavenly breezes 
playing about them. 
Mistakes in gardening will occur so long as the art 
is known to man, and the ablest gardeners will make 
mistakes, and will often learn from them more than 
they learn from their successes. But, for all that, 
successes are much to be desired, and if they do not 
bring material advantage, they gratify the mind and 
confirm the wisdom of the adage that what is worth 
doing is worth doing well.— Gardeners Magazine. 
-- 
ORCHIDS “AT HOME.” 
On the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes. 
Who will climb the mountains with us and see the 
Orchids “at home?” Let us mount our mules, and 
leaving the mosquito-plagued river Magdalena, direct 
our course towards the Eastern Cordillera of the mighty 
Andes, towering on high in the blue distance. The 
forests through which we are passing, such as clothe 
the banks of nearly all great tropical rivers, contain 
but few Orchids. The lofty Palms and heavy-foliaged 
trees obstruct the light, and render the place unfit for 
Orchid life ; but in this rough piece of open ground to 
which we are coming we may expect to find something. 
Look, there is the. first, Oncidium ampliatum without 
doubt, and beside it is a Brassavola. Do you see that 
almost leafless tree standing by itself over there ? 
Something is in flower on it; let us go and see. Ah ! 
do you not recognise the scent ?—Epidendrum macro- 
chilum. Notice how the plant revels in the sun ; you 
will never find it except in the most exposed situations. 
Do you wonder now why we fail to flower it at home ? 
Here, too, if we are lucky we may see a small form of 
E. bicornutum, which is also fond of roasting itself in 
the sun. Hot! Well, rather; the thermometer 
seldom if ever falls below 7 50° Fahr. Now it is 85°, 
and the day is still young. Let us push on and try 
and reach the shade of the hills before the sun is able 
to pour his whole strength on our devoted heads, these 
plains contain nothing more of interest—at least, to 
the Orchidist. By-the-bye, did you notice the leaves 
of that tree on which E. macrochilum was growing, 
they are quite rough, and the people use them for 
sandpaper ! 
These little streams we are continually passing might 
give us some trouble. Now the water barely reaches 
our stirrups, but half an hour’s rain would transform 
them into raging torrents, and we might have to wait, 
perhaps, hours for them to subside. At last, thank 
goodness, we are beginning the ascent, and shall soon 
be out of this sweltering valley and stifling heat ; the 
mules, too, poor beasts, will not be sorry. 
About 2,000 ft. up we shall reach a decent house; 
the owner knows me, and will give us some breakfast. 
There is nothing here but a wealth of Ferns, the Adi- 
antum family, perhaps, the most beautiful. Here we 
are! Let us take a short walk, and so get away from 
the horrors of the dirty kitchen. If we follow this 
path into the forest it will be better walking. Just 
here I can show you a magnificent 0. hastilabium, as 
it should be grown ; but mind, this is a pet plant of 
mine, and I won’t have it disturbed. Is not that a 
sight ? How different to our little bits at home. That 
mass is nearly a yard across, and has seven flower- 
spikes, each 6 ft. or 7 ft. long. What do you say—you 
won’t grow yours cold any more ? Right, and if you 
will take my advice you will give them a richer soil. 
See these roots running all along the ground, and 
covered with decaying vegetable matter. Anguloa 
Clowesii is here in plenty too. 
There is Warseewiczella velata, and yonder is a plant 
not nearly so much esteemed as it should he, Warrea 
cyanea ; this, too, should be grown in stronger soil. 
On the rocks in this gully, are plenty of Cypripedium 
Sclilimii. Look at them on the bottom, with their 
roots almost in the water,—very little sunlight reaches 
them. All these plants we shall meet again higher 
up, certainly for another 1,000 ft. Let us go back to 
breakfast. Ah ! that white flower in the grass on the 
hillside, Sobralia alba, heaps of it. Suppose we pick 
one. That one. Stop ! Not another step for your 
life ! Don’t you hear that rattlesnake. No, your 
stick is not long enough to kill it, better leave it alone. 
Breakfast is ready. Not much to look at, is it ? but 
hunger is a fine sauce. Shall we start again ? We have 
a long ascent before us. Do you want to see Cattleya 
Mendelii ? If so, let us go a short distance up the 
rocky bed of one of these streams. No luck. Well 
we shall have other chances as it grows up the 
mountain to at least 5,000 ft. Unless a new locality 
is shortly found, it stands a good chance of being 
exterminated, as no less than five collectors were 
gathering it this season. 
Look at that grand fellow 50 ft. below us down there ; 
it is an Epistephium, 10 ft. high at least. This plant 
always seems to me like a patriarch, its long stems stand¬ 
ing as they do above the other vegetation, and their 
tops laden with graceful flower spikes waving majestic¬ 
ally slowly backwards and forwards in the breeze. That 
last was a steep pull. Suppose we give the mules a 
few moments rest while we take a stroll into the copse 
on yonder knoll. We are about 4,000 ft. now, and 
the whole place is teeming with Orchid life ; that old 
tree, for instance, is literally covered with Restrepias, 
Octomerias and the like. There is the “dancing doll ” 
Comparettia falcata suspended in mid-air by a single 
thread-like root of Liana. Here, too, is the home of 
Burlingtonia granatensis and that rare beauty, On¬ 
cidium globuliferum, and a little more in the open are 
Uropedium Lindeni and the scarlet Neottia with its 
Tillandsia-like flower spike. 
Before we mount I want to show you another scene — 
Odontoglossum blandum at home. Follow me dow-n 
this valley ; how laden with moisture is the air ? How 
wet and sloppy the ground ? How dank and dark the 
whole place ? Look at the trees, their branches every¬ 
where inches thick in long moss and filmy and other 
Ferns. Here we see the “ little spotted one,” and side 
by side with it the blue and white LTtricularias. How 
truly lovely are their flowers peeping out from their 
beds of dark green moss. Here, too, are Maxillarias 
in any quantity. Gather a blandum and see what a 
lot of water you can squeeze out from the moss you 
pull out with it. 
Forwards, we must push on. The sun is sinking, 
and we have still some distance to go ere we reach the 
only house in which we can get a bed. unless, indeed, 
you do not mind the soft side of a board. We shall 
sleep to-night just below the Odontoglots, and about 
5,000 ft. above the sea. Here is our ranch—not much 
to look at, is it ? Let us see after the beasts, and then 
for dinner and bed. Rub yourself with this Agua- 
diente (white rum) ; there is nothing like it for taking 
the stiffness out of one’s joints. Good night! 
While they are making our chocolate for breakfast, just 
take a turn in the garden, and look at some plants I left 
here a year ago. On the same tree you will see C. Mendelii 
and several Odontoglots, all grooving well. You seo we 
are just above the home of the former, and below that 
of the latter, and both thrive here with a little atten¬ 
tion. To-day we must climb on foot if you want to 
see Masdevallias. The road does not reach nearly such 
an elevated position as they occupy, and we must not 
let the grass grow under our feet, or night will be upon 
us ere we get back ; we havo 4,000 ft. to ascend to¬ 
day. There are many Orchids about here which we 
might find had we time to hunt for them, such as two 
or three kinds of Mormodes, Eriopsis rutidobulbon a 
little lower down, two Trichopilias, several Epiden- 
drums, and others too numerous to mention. It is 
curious to observe, as we pass them, how nearly all tha 
