506 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
April 9, 1887. 
been said for and against its use in the pages of The 
Gardening 'World with much interest, and especially 
what your very able correspondent, Mr. O’Brien, has 
written ; but all the information thus obtained leaves 
me still following my old method. However, I beg 
leave to say that the thanks of many an Orchid grower 
are due to Mr. O’Brien and others for pointing out so 
forcibly the dangers of an indiscriminate use of the 
syringe. I never use it till the growths are welladvanced, 
the foliage expanded, and the weather become hot and 
dry. Then I find the syringe once or twice a day very 
useful ; hut as growth advances, and the bulbs swell 
up, I syringe them five or six times a day if the weather 
is very trying. This practice may be ruinous in other 
places where the surrounding conditions may be very 
different ; but having proved it to be very helpful here, 
I still follow it. As the autumn draws near with its 
dull days and longer colder nights, syringing is dis¬ 
continued, for, by this time, the plants require a drier 
atmosphere. 
I need scarcely say that the pots must be set wider 
apart as the foliage develops and spreads, so that the 
light may exercise its influence upon every leaf. A 
thin shading is also rolled down over the glass for a 
few hours during very bright sunshine, all through the 
season, but only for a few hours each day, for the 
Calanthe delights in abundance of light, but cannot 
withstand the sun on the glass without shading. As 
the season advances, and the bulbs attain their normal 
size, I remove the plants to the shelves at the back of 
the house. Here they get more air, less syringing, but 
a little feeding with manure-water, as before mentioned. 
The secret of success is very closely linked with the 
treatment they receive at this period. A low tem¬ 
perature, moist atmosphere, cold draughts, and too 
much water at the roots will soon end the matter, for 
spots will then appear on the foliage, and soon on the 
bulbs. Decay having set in, it would be difficult to 
restore health again ; therefore, I am very careful to 
avoid all these detrimental influences, and aim at the 
thorough maturation of the bulbs. This is effected by 
a drier atmosphere, rather less water at the roots, more 
air, and more light. 
It is a real pleasure to an interested individual to see 
the plants gradually finishing up, at the same time 
throwing out their flower-spikes, one or two from the 
base, and with Yeitchii very often one appears about 
half-way up the bulb or from the very top of it. Our 
most forward specimens generally commence blooming 
about the third week of October ; unfortunately just 
about this time the foliage naturally begins to decay. 
When this occurs, water must be gradually withheld, 
though a soaking may be given at long intervals till 
the blooming period is nearly over, when they are kept 
perfectly dry in some convenient place where the tem¬ 
perature is never much below 50°, till potting time 
comes round again. 
To avoid the unsightly appearance of plants after 
losing their foliage, I sometimes lay a few fronds of 
Ferns on the pots just after the first watering in the 
spring, and by the autumn there will be a few young 
Ferns, which helps to compensate for this defect for a 
short time. These generally die, however, for want of 
water before the plants have done blooming. The 
plants will keep good in a temperature of 50° if in a 
dry place when in bloom ; but 60° suits them better, as 
the whole of the blooms will then expand. Ours have 
a range from 55° to 65° all through the winter months. 
If other growers are successful in following other 
methods, I advise them not to change.— -N. Blandford, 
gardener to Mrs. Haselfoot, Moor Hill. 
-- 
TOXIOOPHLiEA SPECTABILIS. 
I have just had sent me, from the Botanical Gardens, 
Edgbaston, Birmingham, a flowering branch of this 
valuable South African stove evergreen, reminding one 
of the white corymbs of an Ixora produced in the axils 
of the leaves. The shoot sent is nearly 1 ft. in length, 
densely furnished with flowers which are deliciously 
fragrant, and soon fill a room with the richly-scented 
perfume. The sprig of blossom was cut from a large 
plant Mr. W. B. Latham has in the Botanical Garden, 
which is fully 5 ft. in height, and is literally laden with 
flowers. It was sent to Mr. Latham from a private 
garden, where it could not be induced to bloom. Mr. 
Latham cut it back, when it put forth vigorous growths. 
These were duly matured, and the result is a wonderful 
crop of flowers in late winter and early spring. This 
appears to be the treatment it requires ; and, indeed, 
with j udicious management, it could probably be had 
in flower from spring to autumn. 
It is now nearly twenty years ago since I saw this 
plant for the first time in the gardens of Farmleigh, at 
Castlenock, Dublin, the residence of Captain Coote. 
Mr. Davis, then gardener at Farmleigh, had received 
this plant from abroad, and had bloomed it at the end 
of August. When I visited Farmleigh it was flowering 
on two or three-year-old wood, and some of the flowering 
stems were 2i ft. in length. It was new, both to Mr. 
Davis and myself, and I think that was the first time 
the plant had flowered in this country. It was eventu¬ 
ally purchased by Mr. B. S. "Williams, of Holloway, 
and distributed by him. 
Mr. Baines, in his new book on greenhouse and stove 
plants, regards it as a “very distinct and desirable 
stove plant. Its habit is bushy ; the branches partially 
erect, but not very stout ; leaves pale green, tough and 
leathery. It is a remarkably free bloomer ; the flowers 
are tubular, five-lobed, and in general aspect indi¬ 
vidually not unlike those of a medium-sized Bouvardia. 
They are white, deliciously fragrant, and produced in 
corymbs at the extremities of the shoots, and also at 
the axils of the leaves, so as to form sprays of in¬ 
florescence.”— E. Dean. 
-->a:<-- 
GRAPES : GROS COLMAR v. LADY 
DOWNES. 
On p. 379 I drew attention to a case ■wherein Gros 
Colmar proved itself superior to Lady Downes, grown 
under the same conditions, and I laid stress upon those 
conditions by citing another instance of improved 
flavour of Mrs. Pince, grown under similar circum¬ 
stances. The question I have frequently asked myself, 
and which at the time of writing I indirectly asked 
of, and suggested to your readers, was whether the fact 
that the vineries were heated by flues had any direct 
bearing upon the case ? Mr. Fading, in his zeal for the 
defence of Lady Downes Seedling, entirely misses the 
point of the article, jumps to erroneous conclusions as to 
my meaning, and finally (p. 456), credits me with 
saying or implying a thing of which I had not thought. 
Before proceeding, it is not only right that I should 
thank your correspondent for the full and lucid manner 
in which he has answered three of my four questions, 
and regret very much that he should deem my fourth 
question to be unanswerable, especially so because I 
think he has given your readers the right to expect 
that he would he able to answer a question, which he 
says is “very simple.” 
In entering upon a criticism or debate of any kind, it 
is a good plan to read very carefully the subject matter 
in hand, not only for the purpose of avoiding mistakes 
and possible pitfalls, but courtesy to an opponent 
requires it. Further, a correspondent should be slow 
to enter into a discussion, unless he is sure of being 
able to refer, at the moment of writing, to all that 
either side has already written upon the subject. I 
have made this deviation because I observe that 
(p. 456) after expressing the opinion “that Mr. Udale 
has altered the face of his former communication,” 
Mr. Hiding makes use of the expression, “ So far as I 
remember, he gave us to understand, &c., &c.” My 
statement was this, “Muscats are planted at the 
hottest and driest end of the house ; next to these are 
two Vines of Gros Colmar, then comes four or five 
Vines of Lady Downes Seedling.” How anyone with 
a general knowledge, as I feel sure Mr. Hiding has, of 
Vines and Vineries, could construe that statement intc 
“a Muscat house,” passes my comprehension ! The 
first part of the sentence itself shows that the house 
was not a Muscat house in the strict sense of the term, 
because the “Muscats are planted at the hottest and 
driest end of the house.” Furthermore, the presence 
of two Gros Colmars and four or five Lady Downes 
indicated of themselves that the vinery was a late one. 
As I have stated, I thought the discussion would have 
been in a totally different direction, and I did not think 
it necessary to the issue to give the actual number and 
variety of Vines in the house ; but I will now do so. 
There are twelve Vines, which comprise two Muscats 
of Alexandria, one Bowood Muscat, two Gros Colmars, 
six Lady Downes, and one Black Hamburgh. 
Now to answer Mr. Riding’s last communication in 
detail, and like him, I do not wish to be dogmatical, 
but simply to state my views on the subject now at 
issue. Mr. Riding’s reply to my first question fails to 
satisfy me that really good Lady Downes cannot be 
grown in a house mainly devoted to Muscats, or to use 
his own words, “would not be in favourable company 
with Muscats,” and it is a very common thing to see 
Muscats and Lady Downes in the same house ; nor are 
they so widely divergent in their common requirements 
as would appear by the reasons given. I readily admit 
the proneness of Lady Downes to “ scalding, ” but I 
deny that the little ventilation requisite to prevent that 
occurring would necessarily be prejudicial to the well¬ 
being of the Muscats. At colouring time I have again 
the same objection to the reasons given. The third 
and fourth reasons are taken first, because they again 
resolve themselves in the first and second reasons given. 
I deny the first reason, and affirm that Lady Downes 
requires as long a season in which to finish and ripen, 
as do Muscats, with the exception, perhaps, of Mrs. 
Pince’s Black Muscat. The second reason given is 
founded on the common idea that all Muscats require a 
considerably higher average temperature than other 
Grapes. I respectfully affirm that this idea is erroneous, 
.and that a maximum amount of diffused solar light is 
a much more important factor in the production of first- 
class White Muscats, than is a few degrees of heat applied 
for a limited period. 
I think, in Mr. Riding’s reply to my second question, 
we get at “the kernel of the nut.” In his reasons given 
in reply to the first query, he shows a dread of allowing 
his Muscats to have “ fresh air ”—an absolute necessity 
for the well-being of plants and animals alike—but 
plainly indicates that he is not afraid of allowing 
plenty of heat. He admits an improvement in 
the flavour of Gros Colmar under these circumstances, 
but confesses the flavour is not satisfactory, and I 
should be surprised if it was. I am still unable to see 
the relevancy of the word “ revel ” in this case, and ask 
you, Mr. Editor, if you can explain it to me ; for it is 
difficult to understand how a plant can “revel” in a 
medium, and yet prove unsatisfactory. As I under¬ 
stand the word in regard to horticulture, to “ revel ” is 
to do uncommonly well. [To revel, as applied to 
plants, generally means to grow vigorously, which 
Vines could do without producing well-flavoured 
Grapes, and this is what Mr. Riding probably means.] 
The reply to my third question is not more satis¬ 
factory than the preceding, and is simply a general 
answer admitting or requiring no comment. 
I have stated that I think your readers have a right 
to expect Mr. Riding to be able to answer my fourth 
question ; but instead of doing so, he says it is “ very 
simple, but unanswerable,” and gets away from the 
question as quickly as he can with due decorum, just as 
though it was something that would bite him if he 
attempted to handle it. As a matter of fact, it is 
nothing else than the three preceding questions resolved 
into one, having a generally applicable and practical 
bearing. Beautiful theories are knocked on the head, 
and we stand face to face with hard facts. Your 
correspondent confidently tells us where to grow 
Lady Downes that shall “ carry off the palm ” against 
Gros Colmar grown in the house he thinks most 
suitable for that variety, the Muscat house ; and dis¬ 
tinctly says, “Lady Downes would not be in favourable 
company with the Muscats.” Yet, when asked to give 
the reason for Gros Colmar proving superior to Lady 
Downes under conditions specially adapted to the 
latter variety—owing to the house containing twice as 
many plants of Lady Downes than other kinds—and in 
the same kind of house that he recommends for enabling 
Lady Downes to “ carry off the palm,” he tells us the 
question is unanswerable. I submit, Mr. Editor, that 
if your correspondent is unable to answer what he 
admits to be such a simple question, neither is he com¬ 
petent to demonstrate the superiority of Lady Downes 
over Gros Colmar when the latter is grown under 
suitable conditions and produced in its best form. 
There _is nothing singular in the fact of the best con¬ 
ditions suitable for Lady Downes being also the best 
suitable conditions for Gros Colmar, although Mr. 
Riding would have us think differently. Both varieties 
require a long period for growth and maturity ; and a 
full share of heat and air is necessary, combined with 
moderate cropping and good thinning, to bring them 
to their highest degree of excellence. 
The points of quality of the Gros Colmar at Clarendon 
Park, mentioned by Mr. Horsefield (p. 411), are equally 
applicable to the Gros Colmars mentioned by me ; nor 
are the Lady Downes, in matter of appearance, one 
point behind them. The Gros Colmars are full of juice, 
crisp and crackling to the palate, and very refreshing ; 
