540 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 23, 1887. 
mens have been flowering for some time in the gardens 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick. 
Anemone ranunculoides. —The yellow 
flowers of this species are very distinct in their way, 
and forcibly suggest those of a Ranunculus or Butter¬ 
cup, as the specific name implies ; but the ternately 
and deeply cut foliage, and the absence of a corolla, 
determine it an Anemone. It is furthermore a rare 
British plant, furnishing an extremely uncommon 
colour in the genus. Year after year it may be seen 
unfolding its golden blooms in a cold pit, with a 
northern aspect, in the gardens of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, Chiswick. 
Hacquetia epipactis —The value of this plant 
lies in its hardiness, early flowering and singularity. 
The umbels are simple, with small, golden yellow, 
shortly-stalked flowers, surrounded by five or six large 
greenish yellow bracts, which give to the whole in¬ 
florescence the appearance of a composite, with rayed 
flower heads. It is a native of the Alps of Europe, 
and forms a neat Alpine, not much exceeding 2 ins. or 
3 ins. in height, suitable for rockwork in this country, 
which may now be seen on the rockery in the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s gardens, Chiswick. 
-- 
ORCHID NO TES AND GLEANINGS. 
Mr. Shuttle-worth's Odontoglossums.— 
Notwithstanding a recent sale, there are many fine 
things in the way of cool Odontoglots to be seen in the 
above collection, either in flower or fast approaching 
that condition. The healthy vigour of the pseudo¬ 
bulbs, leaves, and flower-spikes attest the treatment 
they receive, and the cool moist atmosphere they enjoy 
close to the glass of the low span-roofed houses. 
Numerous fine forms of 0. crispum are scattered 
through a house containing a valuable lot of established 
plants ; but the so-called natural hybrids at present in 
bloom far outnumber those of 0. crispum. Many of 
these are in the way of 0. Andersonianum, while the 
spotting and marking are both beautiful and varied. 
The excellent condition of the beautiful 0. niveum 
majus, and the number of flowers produced on an 
arching spike, add greatly to the value of a good 
variety. No one visiting the collection can fail to be 
delighted with the endless and beautiful variety of 
colours in 0. Rossi majus. The pale purple flowers of 
O. R. m. rubescens afford a charming contrast to 0. R. 
Humeanum, a supposed hybrid between 0. Rossii and 
0. cordatum. The ordinary spotting of the former 
occupies a yellow ground-colour that pervades sepals, 
petals, and labellum alike. A striking amount of 
colour variation also exists in 0. Cervantesi, numerous 
plants of which are hung up close to the glass. Several 
plants have a purple band along the back of the sepals ; 
but the finest of all is a variety named 0. C. decorum, 
with unusually large flowers, the labellum of which is 
blotched with purple. The usual transverse bars on 
the sepals, but especially the petals, are broken up 
into spots or small blotches, giving the flowers a very 
distinct appearance. There are also some finely and 
deeply-marked forms of 0. triumphans, which some 
consider as the best of all the yellow-ground coloured 
Odontoglots. The curious deep violet-coloured 0. 
Edwardi, with its panicled inflorescence bearing 
numerous flowers, also obtains a place, and should be 
in every collection. A white-lipped 0. Halli, with 
numerous deep chocolate blotches on the labellum, is 
also noteworthy as amongst the finest of its section. 
The quaint sweet-scented 0. pulchellum majus, with 
white flowers, and a reversed labellum bearing a large 
yellow blotch, must not be forgotten ; nor the useful 
0. Pescatorei, which keeps company with 0. Lindley- 
anum and 0. triumphans in its native wilds. 
Numerous others made up the collection, and altogether 
we were delighted with the visit of inspection. 
Odontoglossum crispum with Three 
Spikes. —Seeing in the notice of the Devonhurst col¬ 
lection, on p. 504, a reference to O. crispum carrying 
three spikes in the axils of the leaves of a bulb, I should 
like to know how many bulbs and leads the plant has, 
and how long it has been in England, as one of my 
plants, bought at auction on March 15, 1886, has now 
three spikes in the axils of the leaves of the first growth 
made here. The plant has six bulbs. The spikes have 
eight, seven and five flowers respectively, the eight and 
five being on one side of the bulb. I have also an 
0. Rossii (plant of five bulbs bought in 1885) that 
produced a fourteen-bloomed spike, and now carries 
eleven in full bloom (three having damped off), having 
three, two and three on branches .—Be B. Crawshay. 
Odontoglossum Cervantesii. — This beau¬ 
tiful Odontoglot is well done in Mr. Peacock’s grand 
collection at Sudbury House, Hammersmith, where a 
great quantity of it has flowered from time to time for 
many weeks. Its cultivation is not particularly 
difficult when the pots or pans in which it is grown 
are hung up near the glass so as to receive a maximum 
amount of light. Cold treatment, such as that 
accorded to Odontoglots generally meets its require¬ 
ments admirably. The flowers are white, and singu¬ 
larly, though beautifully, marked with transverse 
chocolate-red bands at the base of the sepals and petals. 
The labellum is also curiously jagged at the margin, 
another characteristic of this pretty species. 
Odontoglossum phalasnopsis. —The more 
advanced botanists have now agreed to consider this 
fine Orchid as a species of Miltonia—namely, M. 
phalaenopsis ; but owing to the conservatism in garden 
nomenclature, it will probably retain the name of 
Odontoglossum for many years to come amongst 
gardeners. It is now flowering finely at Devonhurst, 
Chiswick, where Mr. Wright nurses little bits into 
vigorous health and beauty. The slender, arching, 
grassy leaves set off the graceful spikes of white, 
purple-blotched flowers to the best advantage. 
Brassia bracliiata. —A very distinct form of 
this handsome Orchid is in flower with Mr. F. W. 
Moore, the Curator at the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Glasnevin, Dublin. It forms a very striking object 
with its sprays of curious flowers, which in the extension 
of their narrow sepals give a measurement of 12 ins. 
each. The flowers are yellowish blotched with brown, 
the broadly expanded lip having slightly raised olive- 
green blotches in the upper half. The petals are only 
half the length of the sepals, and have smaller spots 
on them. It came out of Messrs. Shuttleworth, 
Carder & Co.’s importation. 
Brassia Keiliana var. tristis is also in flower 
at Glasnevin. In form, and in the shape of the long 
navicular bracts, it is as in the type, but whereas the 
ordinary B. Keiliana has yellow sepals with reddish 
brown markings, the variety tristis has sepals and petals 
almost wholly dark chocolate, the tail-like points, the 
margins, and the bases of the petals only showing the 
yellow colour. The lip is white changing to yellow, 
and has a few brown dots at the base. This variety is 
very fragrant. 
Cattleya Lawrenciana alba.— We have re¬ 
ceived, along with a bloom of the ordinary form, a 
white variety from Mr. W. Swan, gardener to E. G. 
Wrigley, Esq., Howick House, Preston. The sepals 
and petals are pure white, and with the exception of a 
pale purple blotch on the labellum, that is also white. 
We congratulate Mr. Wrigley on the possession of so 
distinct a variety occurring in a variable species, in 
which we expect in a few years to see numerous distinct, 
beautiful and well-defined forms. 
-- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Chrysanthemums. —Attention must now be paid to 
shifting on of the stock of Chrysanthemums. After 
starting in the genial heat in which they were placed 
after the first potting, they were removed to cold pits 
and placed on ashes, and the points of all were pinched 
out to induce numerous breaks for the formation of the 
necessary stool ; they are now breaking freely, and will 
be potted in a sound compost consisting principally of 
loam, and transferred from 60’s to 6-in pots. As soon as 
they have fairly taken to the new compost, which will 
be apparent by the fresh growth made, they will be 
removed from the frame, and placed on an ash border 
out-of-doors, where the growth made will be more sturdy 
than if kept under glass. 
Plants that have been Forced. — With the 
present frosty weather great care must be exercised in 
the placing out-of-doors any plant whatever, which 
may have been kept growing, or permanent injury 
will be done. We have been compelled through 
want of room to move a quantity of Persian Lilacs and 
other things from the Fig house, which, of course, is 
now being kept too warm for them, and also to give 
more space to Camellias and Azaleas to make their 
growth ; but we have placed them in a sheltered position, 
and under some Yew trees which afford ample pro¬ 
tection. I ought to add also, that watering of all 
outdoor plants must be done in the morning, so that 
they may become quite dry overhead before night. 
Bedding Plants. —We had pricked out some 
hundreds of Golden Feverfew on a warm south border, 
but they are anything but satisfactory, the cold easterly 
winds and frosty nights rendering it impossible for 
transplanted stuff to establish itself, unless under cover. 
Still, endeavour to find room for the pricking out of 
such things as Beet (for flower-garden work), Dianthus 
Heddewigii, Scabious, Phlox Drummondii, and many 
others of this class, so necessary to furnish a supply of 
cut flowers during August and September, when variety 
is not, as a rule, too abundant. Especially would I 
direct attention to the different varieties of annual 
Chrysanthemums, which are at all times most welcome 
in the flower-baskets, and can be used so effectively. 
So soon as the weather is favourable ours will be pricked 
out into permanent quarters, and in this way they do 
much better than if transplanted later on. A few 
Spruce boughs thrust amongst them after being pricked 
out will be found of much benefit in preventing undue 
flagging. 
Calceolarias. —We have planted out on a firm ash 
border our stock of bedding Calceolarias, and the frame 
will be used for pricking out some of the more tender 
annuals. Neapolitan Violets being now over in the 
pits, will be at once divided and planted out in a 
specially-prepared border, where they will make good 
plants for next season’s work ; neglect with them now 
will surely result in failure as the flowering season 
comes round : the frame occupied by these can also be 
utilised in a similar manner. 
THE FRUIT HOUSES. 
Vineries. —We have kept the Lady Downes’ vinery 
quite cold up to the present; but the sun is now of 
sufficient power to start them into action. Conse¬ 
quently, we have closed the house, and it is now 
treated as a “ started ” vinery. The rods are syringed 
morning and afternoon, closing with a good amount of 
sun-heat, and so doing away with night firing as much 
as possible. As the Vines advance, they will succeed 
far better if given a higher temperature and more 
generous treatment than most other varieties ; in fact, 
we find the lines generally laid down with Muscats 
suit them admirably until the stoning period is reached, 
when an abundance of air must be admitted, par¬ 
ticularly early in the day, or scalding will certainly 
more or less prevail, which is a great drawback to this 
the best of all late-keeping Grapes. We have not yet 
used all our last season’s crop, and most valuable we 
find them for the dessert table, used with us after 
Easter for the first time in conjunction with Easter 
Beurre Pears. 
Melons. —We have planted out the second sowing 
of Melons, using a slight shading towards mid-day 
until the plants take hold of the new soil, when they 
will be freely ventilated, and encouraged to make as 
sturdy a growth as possible. A soft sappy growth is 
not conducive to fruitfulness, and should be avoided. 
The disbudding of the late Peach-house is almost com¬ 
pleted. There was a slight appearance of green fly, one 
fumigation being sufficient to destroy it; but to make 
sure it will be repeated within a few days. 
Cucumbers. —Pay due attention to the stopping and 
training of the Cucumber plants, or they will speedily 
become entangled. For general purposes, Cook's 
Ne Plus Ultra stands unrivalled, and by far surpasses 
anything we have previously grown. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Grass Walks. —We have now almost completed the 
edging of all walks ; our kitchen-garden walks being 
all of Grass, gives us an extra amount of work in this 
respect. Unless this work is done annually it is next 
to impossible to obtain a clear edge during the summer; 
and where long lengths prevail this is of the utmost 
moment when putting all in trim. 
Peas. —We have dressed and dug the square for 
succession al sowings of Peas ; but sowing is quite out 
of the question until rain falls, as the ground bakes 
terribly. The severe frost (9°) of the 14th inst. has 
done us a lot of harm, having destroyed the greater 
part of the early sowing of seeds of Brussels Sprouts, 
