470 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 26, 1887. 
The Wimbledon and District Horticultural 
and Cottage Garden Society will hold its fifteenth 
annual exhibition on July 6th, in the grounds of the 
president, Laundy Walters, Esq., Woodhays. 
The annual exhibition of the Luton Horticultural 
Society is fixed for Wednesday, August 10th, and it is 
one of unusual interest, because the competition is con¬ 
fined mainly to bona fide amateurs. 
We have received from Mr. F. W. Moore, Curator 
of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, a list of 
seeds for exchange. Judging from the classification 
and general arrangement of the names of the seeds 
offered, the list is meant mostly for exchange with 
other botanic gardens. The species have the initials 
or an abbreviation of the names of authorities ap¬ 
pended, and are arranged alphabetically under their 
respective natural orders. These, again, are classed 
under Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. 
Mr. E. F. Loof, who for the past twenty-eight years 
has filled the office of secretary to the Tunbridge Wells 
Horticultural Society, has recently retired, and is 
succeeded by Mr. Cornwell. It is given to but few men 
to be officially connected with a society so long, and in 
regard to the number of years Mr. Loof was the able 
and painstaking secretary, he is about equalled, if not 
slightly exceeded by Mr. John Wilson, the secretary of 
the York Floral Fete ; and closely following in his 
wake are Mr. James Huntley, the secretary of the 
Trowbridge Society, and- Mr. J. Stollard, secretary at 
Clay Cross. Such long and honourable services deserve 
to be suitably recognised when they come to a close. 
To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Mr. 
Ferdinand Bergman’s service as gardener at Ferrieres, 
his friends propose to present him with a work of art, 
with the date and object of the presentation engraved 
thereon, and albums containing the cartes-de-visite and 
names of the donors to the presentation fund. The 
presentation is to be made at a complimentary banquet 
to be given in May in Paris, during the meeting of the 
orticultural Congress. A committee has been formed 
to carry out the proposal, with M. Duchartre as presi¬ 
dent, M. Paul Lebceuf, Secretary, and M. Chouveroux, 
84, Rue de Grenelle St. Germain, Paris, treasurer. 
At the meeting of the Belgian Syndical Chamber of 
Horticulture, held at Ghent, on March 14th, Certificates 
of Merit were awarded to Messrs. Blancqueert and 
Y ermeiren, for Himantophyllum miniatum, var. 
Chevalier Heynderick; to Mr. B. Spie, for H. miniatum, 
var. Madame Bernard Spin ; to Mr. Jules Hye-Leysen, 
for Cypripedium insigne Fostermani ; and to Messrs. 
Yervaet & Co. for Odontoglossum Sehillerianum and 
Cattleya Trianse, Popayan var. 
Mr. William Colchester, of Ipswich, offers for 
competition this year, at the exhibitions of seventy-two 
horticultural societies in London and the provinces, 
100 guineas in prizes for flowers, fruit and vegetables 
grown with Pure Ichthemic Guano. 
The programme arranged for the current year by 
the Royal Horticultural Society has just been 
issued. The society offers no prizes itself, but during 
the season the exhibitions of the National Auricula 
Society, the National Rose Society and the National 
Carnation and Picotee Society, will be held at South 
Kensington under its auspices. The Yeitch Memorial 
Trustees offer a Memorial Medal and £5 for the best 
collection of Cypripediums ; and on various dates, 
anging from June to October, liberal prizes are offered 
for competition by Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Messrs. 
James Carter & Co., Messrs. E. Webb & Sons, Mr. 
C. Fidler and Mr. H. Deverill. Other special prizes 
are offered for Daffodils by Mr. W. B. Hartland, Cork; 
and for Hollyhocks, by Mr. W. Roupell. 
Replying, in the House of Commons on March 17th, 
to a question put by Mr. E. Robertson, the First 
Commissioner of H. M. Office of Works said, “ A 
minute record is kept of everything received in the 
several departments of Kew Gardens. Mainly owing to 
the protracted illness of the late curator, the work of 
compiling the annual reports has fallen into arrear, but 
materials for the series 1883 to 18S6 are in hand, and 
it is hoped to issue them all this year. In response to 
the demands for the publication more speedily than in 
the annual report of information received from abroad, 
I have sanctioned the publication of a monthly bulletin, 
which can be purchased for a small sum.” Will Mr. 
Robertson, in the public interest, push his enquiries a 
little further into the management of Kew Gardens, and 
ask if a minute record is also kept of everything sent 
out from the several departments, Also, if it is true 
that two of the young men recently employed in the 
gardens have been discharged at short notice, and if so, 
the cause of their dismissal. 
Mr. Benjamin Field, who now carries on the 
business so long and so successfully conducted by his 
father-in-law, Mr. John Kennard, has opened a Central 
Sales Room in the City, which will doubtless be found 
of great convenience to those of his supporters who come 
citywards. The new establishment is at 93, Queen 
Victoria Street, near to the Mansion House Station. 
Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons, invite their friends 
and patrons to inspect their annual exhibition of 
popular flowers, to be held from March to July in¬ 
clusive. These will consist of such things as Orchids, 
Hyacinths, Tulips, Amaryllis, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, 
Roses, greenhouse plants, Gloxinias, Nepenthes, Car¬ 
nations, foliage plants, Pelargoniums, cut flowers of 
hardy herbaceous plauts and others. 
A very fine example of quite a new type of 
Odontoglossum was sold at Messrs. Protheroe & 
Morris’s rooms on Friday last. In form and sub¬ 
stance the flowers were much like a good dark 0. 
Ruckerianum, but in size equal to a good but rather 
narrow-petalled O. crispum. The colour was creamy 
white, tinged with crimson, and profusely blotched with 
dark blood-red or crimson. The lip, which was peculiarly 
broad and short, was tinged with yellow and marked 
with crimson. The plant realised 80 guineas. 
We regret to hear that there is a possibility of The 
Crystal Palace being shortly closed, through the 
inability of the directors to meet their engagements. 
On every hand those who take an interest in Sir 
Joseph Paxton’s great glass house at Sydenham have 
been congratulating the management on the prospect 
opened up to it this year. The directors have put 
forward an attractive Jubilee programme, which it was 
hoped would greatly help to resuscitate its fallen 
fortunes ; but it seems that they have counted without 
their host—the five per cent, debenture holders, who 
are squabbling among themselves, and with dogged 
obstinacy are opposing the propositions of the directors 
for re-organising the entire business. It will be a 
thousand pities if one of the early glories of Her 
Majesty’s reign is allowed to disappear at a time when 
such enormous efforts are being made to lighten the 
nation’s purse for the sake of an Imperial Institute, the 
very meaning of -which is scarcely understood by the 
multitude. 
-- 
GARDENERS’ ORPHAN FUND. 
On Tuesday afternoon a meeting was held in the 
conservatory of the Ro 3 *al Horticultural Society, South 
Kensington, to discuss the proposals that have been 
made with reference to the founding of a gardeners’ 
orphanage. There were present Dr. Masters, Mr. 
G. Deal, Mr. Penny, Mr. Barron, Mr. B. S. Williams, 
Mr. R. Dean, Mr. W. Denning, Mr. Hudson, Mr. 
Hill, Mr. Wright, Mr. Roberts, Mr. J. Smith, Mr. 
J. Matthews, Mr. W. Richards, Mr. Roberts, Mr. G. 
Stevens, Mr. W. Roupell, Mr. G. T. Miles, Mr. W. 
Holmes, Mr. W. G. Head, Mr. J. Burnett, Mr. Wood- 
bridge, Mr. G. Bunyard, Mr. Todman, and others. 
Mr. George Deal was called upon to take the chair, 
and quickly elicited the sense of the meeting that it 
was not desirable, whatever fund may be raised, to 
spend any money in bricks and mortar ; and so the 
idea of founding an orphanage was at once and unani¬ 
mously declared out of the question. 
After a brief discussion, it was proposed by Mr. J. 
Wright and seconded by Mr. Roberts, Gunnersbury, 
“That in the opinion of this meeting it is desirable to 
establish a fund to be called The Gardeners’ Orphan 
Fund.” This resolution being carried unanimously, it 
was proposed by Mr. R. Dean and seconded by Mr. J. 
Matthews, Weston-Super-Mare, “That a provisional 
committee be appointed to prepare a scheme to lay 
before a future meeting, and that such committee con¬ 
sist of Dr. Masters, Mr. Shirley Hibberd, Mr. G. Deal, 
Mr. J. Douglas, Mr. J. Fraser, Mr. C. Penny, Mr. C. 
H. Sharman, Mr. Harry J. Yeitch, Mr. J. Roberts, 
Mr. J. Woodbridge, Mr. R. Dean, Mr. J. Matthews 
and Mr. B. S. Williams. 
It was then proposed, seconded and carried unani¬ 
mously, that Mr. William Richards be appointed 
treasurer, and Mr. J. Wright, Mr. B. Wynne and Mr. 
A. F. Barron, honorary secretaries, pro. tem. The 
first meeting of the committee was fixed for last 
(Friday) evening ; and a cordial vote of thanks to the 
chairman brought the proceedings to a close. 
CALANTHE CULTURE. 
As potting time is now upon us, the first thing 
demanding special attention is the material in which 
to pot them. Now, the Calanthe is not very par¬ 
ticular about soil ; but having proved the following 
mixture to bring about satisfactory results, I still use 
it: Loam, leaf-soil, peat, sphagnum, cow-dung, dust 
of charcoal, sand, and crocks for drainage make up the 
compost. What sort of loam is used, let us ask ? We 
cut up some turf from old pastures every year and 
stack it, and when this is about half decayed, we use it 
for potting various things. In the month of February 
we pot up our bedding Pelargoniums and other 
plants of a like nature requiring loam ; therefore, a 
quantity is cut down and taken to the potting- 
bench. Now, as one pair of hands does all the potting, 
the materials most suitable for any particular purpose 
are put aside for special use. Thus, while preparing 
the compost for the Pelargoniums, all the best fibry 
lumps are broken into small pieces, and put by for the 
Calanthes and some other plants. This is the sort of 
loam that I use, and it forms about two-thirds of the 
whole compost. The peat is the less fibry pieces, or 
that which is not good enough for Cattleyas. My 
reasons for selecting this are that the Calanthes are 
shaken out of the compost and re-potted annually, and 
such peat will answer very well for one year. 
Again, good peat is as dear and difficult to obtain 
here now, as it is in London. We used to get good peat 
brought in at five shillings per ton, now we have to pay 
twenty-eight, so all must be used for the purpose to 
which it is most suitable. But I find a little peat only 
is required in this case, and that chiefly for packing or 
finishing off when potting. The leaf-soil is from a heap 
which was collected a j^ear or more ago, and is now 
about half rotten. This is passed through the hands 
and properly prepared, but only a little is used. The 
cow-dung is collected in the pasture some four or six 
weeks before potting time, always looking out for thin 
cakey sort of stuff. This is laid away in a dry place till 
required, when it is broken into rather small pieces. 
The sphagnum moss is cut up with a knife, and shaken 
amongst the other compost as the mix ing goes on. 
Sharp sand and charcoal are added in the same way ; 
but I find it a good plan not to mix much sand, but 
rather add it as the potting goes on. One can thus 
reserve it for the more lumpy soil, as the case may 
require. Clean and dry crocks and pots are prepared 
for Calanthes, as for all other Orchids. 
These details lead me up to the next process—namely, 
potting up the bulbs and the time and manner of doing 
it. I like the plants to get a few weeks’ perfect rest 
after the blooming period, if possible ; but the duration 
of that period depends upon whether the spikes of 
bloom are cut away for other purposes or left to fade on 
the plants. In both cases, as a rule, the bulbs will 
push out new growths about the first week in March. 
My practice is to leave them till these young growths 
are just pushing roots, or, perhaps, I should say when 
there is an indication of their breaking. Some growths 
will be in advance of others, so I generally pot them up 
in two or more batches at intervals of a week or ten 
days apart. This system is convenient, because the 
earliest potted up are the first to bloom next autumn, 
while the later ones mature their growths at another 
time, and therefore prolong the blooming season up to 
potting time next spring. This is the fact in our case 
every year. 
The manner of potting being so well known, I should 
not describe it but for the fact that some amateurs, in 
their cultivation, may read these notes and feel disap¬ 
pointed at the omission. Well, here is a pot of C. 
Veitchii justjready ; the young growths are nearly 1 in. 
in length, and the roots will soon appear at the base. 
We turn the mass out on the bench, shake and pick 
away all the old soil, cut away all the old dead roots, 
also carefully cut the old pseudo-bulbs from the new, 
putting the old ones on one side for the present. Now, 
on examining the new one—that is, the pseudo-bulb 
from which the flower-spikes have been cut—I find it 
has two breaks at the base, one on each side. It is a 
strong specimen, II ins. long and stout in proportion, 
so we shall get two fine pseudo-bulbs from it next year. 
I take a pot, No. 24—64 ins. across from rim to rim— 
for such a pseudo-bulb as this. 
Sometimes I put two such specimens in a No. 16 or 
7^-in. pot; but I never put more than two in a pot 
unless the bulbs are very small, for I find, as a rule, 
they produce finer growths, spikes and flowers when 
