588 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 14, 1887. 
nurserymen for them lately, and the quotation is from 
65 . to 21 s. per dozen. I have not heard of any being 
offered for less than 6 s. and this, I am sure, will be 
generally regarded as a high price for tubers, which 
can be raised from seed this year, and become ready 
for flower garden decoration the next. It would re¬ 
quire a hundred or more tubers to make a telling display 
in many flower gardens, but few would care to pay 50s. 
or 100s. for the tubers to secure it. Those who con¬ 
template using them to any extent ought to sow seed 
freely at once ; and I cannot help thinking that were I 
a nurseryman I would begin at once and raise them by 
the thousand, and offer them at 3 d. a bulb or 20 s. per 
100 , or something like that, next year ; and I am sure 
the return would be both copious and handsome.— 
J. Muir, Margavi. 
Omphalodes verna. —Although so late in the 
season it is pleasant to note the brilliant blue flowers 
of the hardy spring Boragewort, Omphalodes verna, 
peeping from under a carpet of green leaves and creeping 
stems. The flowers individually are small, but pro¬ 
duced in racemes, and attract attention by their lively 
colour. This is one of the numerous spring flowers now 
to be seen at Swarland Hall, Northumberland, the seat 
of H. Andrews, Esq., whose garden is now in the 
charge of Mr. G. Shotton. 
Primula denticulata. —Amongst the many 
fine hardy plants now flowering at Swarland Hall, 
Northumberland, Mr. S.hotton can reckon one of the 
most variable and beautiful of Himalayan Primroses. 
The atmosphere there is more suitable for many hardy 
plants, especially Alpines, than in the neighbourhood 
of London, from whence Mr. Shotton recently moved. 
The trusses of bloom are rather later than they are 
farther south, a statement that applies to several things 
now in flower, which might have been expected six 
weeks ago, many of them being in perfection in March. 
The moister atmosphere in those northern latitudes tells 
greatly in favour of Anemone (Hepatica) triloba, still 
flowering at Swarland Hall. 
■-- 
ORCHID NO TES AND GLEANINGS. 
Orchids at The Woodlands. —There is, at 
the present time, a very rich and varied display of 
Orchids here—gems that excite the admiration and 
envy of many who are privileged to visit this charming 
place. Mr. R. H. Measures must find in this bijou 
possession of his immense pleasure and a real enjoy¬ 
ment—shut out, as he is, from the busy, noisy city, 
and surrounded with an almost boundless wealth of 
beauty, both in and out of doors. 
The most charming and beautiful of the Cattleyas 
now in blossom is a variety of C. Mendelii, named 
Duchess of Marlborough. The broad, rosy, flesh- 
coloured petals are without the usual freckling, being 
uniform ; while the labellum is of an intense violet- 
crimson, yellow and rose colour. The matchless speci¬ 
mens of Cymbidium Lowianum are making grand 
progress. One gigantic specimen is now a beautiful 
object, having eleven flower-spikes, and, collectively, 
about three hundred blossoms. Turning to the next 
division, there is a show in itself of the lovely Odonto- 
glossum vexillarium, an Orchid which will be more and 
more sought after in the immediate future. For effect, 
nothing can excel a whole bench of well-grown plants 
in all the best varieties, from white through all the 
shades of rose, to deep purplish crimson. Many of the 
plants have three, and some four, spikes from one 
pseudo-bulb ; and in many instances the spikes bear 
nine and ten flowers. For a complete blaze of blossom 
this Orchid is unrivalled. Another great favourite at 
The Woodlands is the pendulous sweet-scented Odonto- 
glossum citrosmum. Of this there are certainly two 
hundred spikes—some pure white, some rose, others 
red, and many intermediate forms ; it is, indeed, a 
variable plant without any absolutely poor varieties. 
1 was delighted to meet with the rare and quaint 
Vanda cristata grandiflora, now seldom seen. There 
were many Cypripediums in flower ; indeed, this col¬ 
lection is one of the most famous, and possibly the 
most complete, collections to be found in our gardens. 
The rare C. Wallisii and the new C. elegans are striking 
kinds ; but the hosts of others are too numerous to 
detail in this short notice. The excellence and splendid 
condition of the whole collection impressed me much, 
and there can be no doubt but that they are thoroughly 
well handled by Mr. Fraser, and do him credit. I have 
never set my foot in any garden where everything is so 
scrupulously clean. The owner evidently has at heart 
the good old maxim that “Cleanliness is next to 
Godliness.”— Leo. Gordon. 
Orchids from Scotland. —A box containing a 
fine lot of Orchids has just reached us from Messrs. 
William Thomson & Sons, Clovenfords. A magnificent 
and well-coloured bloom of C. Mendelii, from Admiral 
Fairfax’s collection at Ravenswood, which had been 
expanded for a month, measured about 74 ins. across 
the petals. A twin-flowered peduncle of C. citrina 
exhibited blooms of fine size, and it came from a plant 
which bore three twin and three single-flowered 
peduncles. A magnificent spike of Cymbidium Low¬ 
ianum was noticeable for the whiteness of its labellum, 
which accordingly show T ed off the maroon or brownish 
purple lamina to advantage by contrast ; the labellum 
is more usually of a decided tinge of yellow. A flower 
of Cattleya Acklandke, measuring 4J ins. in diameter, 
was a grand sight ; the rich rose-coloured labellum and 
deeper-tinted huge column contrasted with the buff- 
coloured sepals and petals heavily blotched with intense 
rich chocolate-brown. The elegance of the rosy-like 
sepals and petals of C. amethystoglossa, spotted with rosy 
purple, was also very notable ; and the rich amethyst 
of the corrugated labellum offered a brilliant contrast 
to the delicacy of the other parts of the flower. 
Double-lipped Dendrobium Wardianum. 
—At first sight the inner labellum (which is only about 
half the length of the primary and normal one) appeared 
to be exactly opposite the latter ; but a closer in¬ 
spection of this accessory one revealed the fact that it 
really consists of two organs united for the greater part 
of their length by their contiguous edges. The tips are 
free, and each has a small purple spot as usual, and a 
deep brownish purple one at the base of each computed 
organ, together with the usual large orange blotch. 
The explanation of this phenomenon is that the two 
lateral anthers of the outer series of three stamens have 
become separated from the column and petaloid, uniting 
to form one piece simulating a second labellum. The 
line of union is distinctly visible ; while the rest of 
the flower is quite normal, and the tips of the sepals 
and petals are unusually high coloured for the species. 
It flowered in the collection of Messrs. John Laing & 
Co., Forest Hill.-— J. F. 
Masdevallia Veitchiana grandiflora.— 
The excellence of this fine variety is well exemplified 
in a specimen forwarded by Messrs. John Laing & Co., 
of Forest Hill. The flowers are perfect in form, 6 ins. 
in length, and 2 ins. in width ; in colour bright orange, 
the upper segment and the upper halves of the lower 
ones being covered with mauve-coloured papillae. 
Cattleya Mossiee, Sander’s Early-flower¬ 
ing. —A fine example of the ’85 importation of this is 
in flower in the collection of Sydney Courtauld, Esq., 
at Braintree, in the care of Mr. Alfred Wright. The 
flowers, which are 8 ins. across, have pearly white 
sepals margined with rose ; petals also white marbled 
with rose, after the manner of C. Trianse Massangeana ; 
lip white, marked with purple, stained with yellow in 
the throat, and crimped at the edge. 
-->*<-- 
FLORICULTURE. 
Messrs. Carter & Co.’s Cinerarias. — Great 
activity is now being displayed at the seed-raising 
establishment at Forest Hill, and although Cinerarias 
are the chief feature at present in flower, we cannot 
forbear being interested in the Stocks, Asters, and 
Chinese Primulas that are being raised in large quanti¬ 
ties to test the value of home-grown seeds. The latter are 
now ripening a fine lot of seeds which appeared plump, 
full and numerous in the capsules. All late flowers are 
sedulously picked off to induce perfect ripening of the 
first opened and carefully fertilized flowers. Tobacco 
seedlings are being raised in great numbers for another 
trial of Tobacco-growing this year ; judging from the 
seed beds, the seeds sown must have been exceptionally 
good, and the desired number of seedlings have been 
pricked off into boxes and stood in the open air. Last, 
but not least, must be noticed the immense number of 
annuals sown in pots to be planted out presently. The 
Californian and other American annuals for the 
American Exhibition at Earl’s Court, are to be supplied 
and planted out by Messrs, Carter & Co. 
The Cinerarias, also grown for the production of 
seed, are now at their best, and exhibit a great variety 
of lively colours, which in mixture must form an 
excellent strain, calculated to give either amateur or 
professional satisfaction who grow them for decorative 
purposes. It is said that Cinerarias are unpopular for 
cutting purposes, but for the decoration of greenhouse 
or conservatory they are unrivalled amongst their 
kind, while they emit an odour which, if not very 
powerful, is certainly by no means to be despised, 
especially during sunshine. 
As the collection consisted of unnamed seedlings, we 
cannot speak of varieties in that sense, but essay to 
describe some of the forms chiefly with regard to 
colour. The distribution and blending of two or more 
tints or colours make the colour description very often 
difficult to define ; but these undefinable colours often 
impart that novelty which one desires to see in garden 
flowers. From a houseful we can only particularise a 
few of the leading types. A carmine-magenta form 
might have been termed a self, except for a narrow 
white band at the base of the rays. Another dark 
crimson-flowered plant was also characterised by a 
narrow white ring or eye encircling the disk. The 
width of this white band affords distinctive marks, as 
well as variation in the tint of the deeper and more 
conspicuous colour. A seedling, with violet-purple 
flowers, had about an equal breadth of white. Most 
of the plants were of compact dwarf habit, but this 
was noticeable in a plant having lilac-purple flowers 
with white eyes. The blue seifs are very desirable 
plants ; and very often we noticed a violet tint in the 
flowers, which, moreover, seems to vary according to 
the standpoint of the beholder and the amount of sun¬ 
light on them. As a distinction to the latter, we 
noticed another coloured precisely similar, with the 
exception of a white eye. A deep magenta self was 
very conspicuous, as was a maroon-purple and a violet- 
purple of great substance with a white eye. 
Besides the purple, crimson and maroon colours 
which prevail in a great variety of shades, diversified 
by the extent of the ray florets occupied by white, there 
is an interesting gradation amongst the blue-flowered 
forms both as to the intensity and richness of the tints 
of the self-coloured varieties and the relative proportion 
of white and blue. Whether generally liked by growers 
or not, we cannot say, but noted a charming light blue 
self, and when others have expressed an opinion, they 
invariably spoke of the lively and novel effect produced 
by these clear blue flowers amongst a general collection. 
A brilliant blue self, with very large heads, was inter¬ 
mediate between the latter and another self-coloured 
form, intensified to bluish purple. Altogether a very 
lively and brilliant display is produced by an inter¬ 
mixture of the seifs with the white-banded forms ; but 
owing to the peculiar construction of the house and 
the high staging, visitors do not see the plants to 
advantage. This, however, is a matter of small im¬ 
portance, seeing that the plants are grown for seed and 
not for exhibition. 
-- 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
Royal Horticultural.— May 10th.— The large ■ 
collection of Daffodils now cut from the open ground 
still constitute a leading feature of the meetings ; and 
notwithstanding the penalty we are paying for their 
great popularity in the shape of numerous forms 
differing only in a shade of colour, there were some 
magnificent new forms certificated, that are recorded in 
another column. Roses and hardy flowers were also 
prominent; but a leading feature was the splendid 
collection of Cypripediums exhibited by R. J. Measures, 
Esq., Cambridge Lodge, Flodden Road, Camberwell. 
He was the successful competitor for the Yeltch 
Memorial Medal and the prize of £5. His collection 
included such fine things as Cypripedium caiulatum and 
its varieties roseum and Warscewiczii, C. Druryi, 
C. Stonei, C. callosum, C. callurum superbum, and 
C. Dautheri. The group contained over ninety plants 
in pots, and was arranged with Pteris and Maidenhair 
Ferns. F. G. Tautz, Esq., Studley House, Hammer¬ 
smith (gardener, Mr. Cowley), exhibited a much smaller 
collection, amongst which C. Peteri, C. Lowi, C. 
ciliolare, C. Boxalli atratum, and C. Sedeni candidulum 
were conspicuous. The very distinct yellow-flowered 
C. Druryi, and the fine-leaved C. Lawrenciana, added 
variety and interest to the collection. The same 
