June 11, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
651 
Grange, Hackbridge, Carslialton, stand erect close to 
the branches. This character may not be constant, 
but is certainly very noticeable. The numerous rosy 
red flowers are even more conspicuous and attractive 
than those of the white-flowered species, and recom¬ 
mend it to the attention of growers. No special 
treatment is required beyond what is given to Aus¬ 
tralian shrubs generally. 
Gloxinias. —Having read with some attention a 
small paragraph in The Gardening World of 
April 16th, about Gloxinias blooming six months from 
the time of sowing the seed, I thought some of the 
readers would be interested in hearing that some seed I 
sowed early in February last, have produced strong 
young plants, some of which were already in bloom by 
June 3rd. The plants have only had ordinary stove 
treatment, and the weather has been anything but 
favourable, owing to the lack of sunshine. The seed 
was obtained from Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea.— K.M.S. 
Canna Ehemanni. —The large deep blood-red 
or crimson flowers of this hybrid Canna always com¬ 
mand the attention and good-will of cultivators who 
have tried it. Hike one of its parents, namely, C. 
iridifolia, it produces several spikes from a spathe, so 
that when one series of flowers decays, it is a mistake 
to cut down the stem. If allowed to remain, Mr. 
Hudson, of Gunnersbury House, Acton, finds that it 
will produce about 200 in the course of a single season. 
When one branch of the inflorescence has finished 
flowering, it is succeeded by others from time to time 
all through the summer season, before the stem pro¬ 
ducing them has become exhausted. For decorative 
and flowering purposes this is one of the best of all the 
Cannas. 
Golden Madame Desgrange Chrysan¬ 
themum. —-Very few cultivators at present grow 
Chrysanthemums so as to have them in bloom at this 
season, we therefore give all the more welcome to a fine 
spray of the above variety, sent by Mr. Alex. Grigor, 
The Gardens, Fairfield, Aberdeen, who is able to supply 
his master with Chrysanthemum blooms throughout the 
year. The spray bore two fully expanded flowers 
between 4 ins. and 5 ins. in diameter, and several others 
in bud or partly expanded. The flowers were of a clear 
clean-looking, deep canary-yellow, and very handsome ; 
they were also possessed of a moderately strong but 
not disagreeable odour, which would doubtless find 
favour with some Chrysanthemum fanciers. The foliage 
accompanying the spray was of good substance, and of 
the deepest green. 
Maule’s Quince (Pyrus Maulei). — The 
Quinces have numerous seeds in each cell of the fruit, 
while a true Pyrus has only two. Maule’s Quince re¬ 
sembles P. japonica, but is smaller in all its parts. It 
is a much more recent introduction, and for small 
gardens more suitable in several respects. It flowers in 
April and May, producing bright orange-red flowers in 
clusters along the previous summer’s wood. It pro¬ 
duces fruit in great abundance—a quality which cannot 
be said of the Japan Quince, and this is smaller, deep 
yellow, and possessed of a very powerful odour which 
it emits for months, a few of them pervading the whole 
room in which they are kept. Both flowers and fruit 
are very ornamental. A specimen of this Quince may 
be seen at Chiswick in the Gardens of the Eoyal 
Horticultural Society. 
Yellow Portugal Broom.— The typical and 
white form is known in every garden, and admired for 
the great profusion of its flowers in the early part of 
summer. Botanically the white or Portugal Broom is 
Cytisus albus, but the above-mentioned form is most 
frequently cultivated in gardens under the name of 
Genista prsecox. There is a fine specimen on the 
rockery in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens 
at Chiswick, which now and every summer is a mass 
of flowers of a pale canary-yellow colour. The small 
leaves are never very conspicuous, but the green, 
twiggy, much-ramified branches always compensate 
for this deficiency whether in summer or winter. It 
also ripens fruit abundantly. 
Pavetta montana. —The Pavettas closely re¬ 
semble the Ixoras in structure, but differ in the longly- 
exserted style and stamens ; and the flowers being 
white, the general appearance of the plants is very 
distinct from Ixoras for horticultural purposes. The 
subject under notice is grown at Gunnersbury Park, 
Acton, where it is subjected to the same cultural treat¬ 
ment as the Ixoras, which are also well grown there. 
It forms a low bush or shrub, with large, oblong 
elliptic, bright green leaves and broad umbellate cymes 
of white flowers ; these are very pure while kept dry, 
but they dislike wetting, which blackens them in a 
short time, and should, consequently, not be syringed. 
ORCHID RO TES AND GLEANINGS. 
Orchid Growers’ Calendar. — Catasetums, 
Cycnoches and Mormodes are among the most beautiful, 
curious in structure and varied in form, of any class of 
Orchids, and yet they are very rarely to be found doing 
well in collections. The failures with these, however, 
as in most other cases where plants are not done w T ell, 
may rather be traced to a misconception of their habits 
and requirements, than to any real difficulty in growing 
them ; the fact is, the whole of these things require a 
distinct period of growth, with a liberal supply of rain¬ 
water at the roots from now and throughout the 
summer, and a well-defined period of rest in a cool 
and dry atmosphere after the leaves have turned 
yellow ; in fact, all who regard them in precisely the 
same light as the deciduous Dendrobiums, and treat 
them in the same manner, cannot fail to get good 
results with the Catasetums, Cycnoches and Mormodes, 
whose wonderful flowers are certainly well worth any 
trouble one can take to obtain them. 
Moreover, these plants when not properly grown are 
superlatively miserable in appearance, and those who 
have them should give them the attention they deserve 
or get rid of them. Good fibry peat, with or without 
a little sphagnum moss added, suits these plants well, 
and when properly managed as to periods of growth 
and rest, they succeed equally well in either pots or 
baskets. In the growing season they will stand a good 
amount of heat and a very liberal supply of water at 
the roots (not overhead), but in the winter or resting 
season a shelf in an airy position in a temperature 
ranging between 50° and 55° is all that is necessary, 
and there they will pass a long period without a drop 
of water being given to them, and come out in great 
vigour when the season of growth arrives. Several 
articles on this subject with enumerations of all the 
best species, appeared in vol. i, p. 812, vol. ii, p. 12, 
with an illustration of Cycnoches chlorochilon, and p. 
28 .—James O'Brien. 
The Moth Orchid of Sumatra. —Last year a 
fine coloured variety of Phakenopsis Sumatrana flowered 
at Kew, but w'hen shown alongside of another now in 
flower, contrast makes it evident that the colours- of 
this form are much more intensified. The flowers are 
large, with a glossy-shining look about them, and the 
sepals and petals are heavily barred transversely with 
reddish brown on a white or yellowish white ground. 
The terminal lobe of the labellum is heavily bearded 
with white hairs, the economy of which is not very 
evident. The oblong-leathery leaves are bright green, 
similar to those of P. violacea, P. Luddemanniana and 
P. speciosa, with which it compares very favourably. 
Both the above-mentioned specimens may be seen in 
the stove. 
The Mossy Masdevallia. —On superficial ob¬ 
servation there is nothing very striking in Masdevallia 
muscosa, except that the flower-stalks are covered with 
coarse, rough short hairs, that give them a mossy 
appearance, and in all probability suggested the specific 
name. The flowers resemble, in general appearance, 
those of M. xantliina, but are larger and much the 
same in colour, whilst the sepals are prolonged into 
tails about 1 in. long and reflexed. The most remark¬ 
able and interesting fact concerning this Orchid is, 
that the labellum is highly sensitive. It is spathulate, 
cut short at the apex, and yellow with a purple blotch 
at the tip. When a small insect or other object touches 
the labellum but lightly, the latter commences to move 
upward slowly, then all at once it closes with a jerk, 
making a prisoner of the insect, excluding possibility 
of escape except in the case of a very small one, which 
might crawl out between the apex of the petals and 
the anther. Possibly this is the design of the con¬ 
trivance to secure fertilisation.-— J. F. 
Scuticaria Hadweni. —In gardens, this is 
occasionally grown as a species of Bifrenaria. The two 
known species have long, pendent, thong-like leaves, 
similar to those of Oncidium Jonesianum, but generally 
much longer, as in S. Steeli, attaining a length of 3 ft. 
to 4 ft., presenting a striking contrast to the general 
run of Orchids. The flowers also possess great merit, 
both from their size and colour, and are produced 
singly on very short peduncles, so that when the plants 
attached to blocks are hung up to the light the flowers 
are near the eye. They are about 4 ins. in diameter, 
with chocolate-brown sepals and petals, much darker 
than usual and banded with yellow at the base. The 
labellum is spotted with brown and purple on a white 
and yellow ground. It is flowering in the collection at 
Sudbury House, Hammersmith. 
The Fox-brush Aerides. —An Orchid so w r ell 
known as to be grown almost universally in collections 
seems to call for no special comment, but branching 
spikes are more the exception than the rule. Indeed, 
from general experience one 'would naturally say 
that M. Fieldingi naturally produces simple racemes 
only, but a well-flowered plant at Pendell Court, 
Bletcliingley, the English residence of Sir George 
Macleay, bears at the present time four good-sized 
lateral branches on a long primary raceme, besides two 
other racemes on the same plant. Mr. Boss, the 
gardener, may be congratulated on his success with 
this as with several other Orchids more difficult 
generally to flower successfully. 
Brassavola Digbyana. —Cultivators as a rule 
succeed with this noble species rather indifferently. 
Mr. Ross, at Pendell Court, Bletcliingley, has flowered 
it consecutively for the last three years, apparently 
without any special treatment, beyond keeping the 
plant somewhat drier after the annual growths have 
been made. The specimen in question is a large one, 
with many pseudo-bulbs grown in a well-drained pot of 
the ordinary kind. Last year, and previously to that, 
the plant was located in the Lily house, but after 
re-potting was removed to another stove with a cooler 
temperature, where the watering would be more under 
control and personal supervision. It is now flowering 
again, and one never fails to be interested in its noble 
and extremely curious flowers, whose sepals and petals 
expand with a pale greenish hue, but afterwards become 
nearly white. The great deeply lacerated or fringed 
labellum is pure white, and is no less interesting than 
the tube of the perianth, which elongates from 4 ins. 
to 6 ins. above the ovary. 
->X<- 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Balsams. —The first batch of Balsams should now 
receive their final shift ; generally speaking, a 12-in. 
pot will be found large enough, unless extra fine 
specimens are desired, and then, of course, larger may 
be used. Once again let me mention, that pressing of 
the soil should be avoided. The compost cannot be too 
rich ; at the same time it should be light and porous, 
or success cannot be attained. Remember, that a 
Balsam, when perfectly grown, should retain its seed 
lobes until flowering is over, no matter how large the 
specimen may be : one seldom sees such plants as Air. 
Green, of Lower Cheam, used to stage. Useful plants 
for staging purposes can be obtained by growing them 
out of doors during the summer months ; but being 
grown in a moist warm temperature, freely ventilated, 
is the way to fully develop them. Stopping must not 
be resorted to, as the symmetry of the plant is spoiled 
by such treatment. To have a good show of them, the 
earlier flowers must be removed as they become large 
enough, and the lateral growths should be tied out to 
the sides of the pots ; they quickly regain a per¬ 
pendicular position, but to assure thorough furnishing 
of each plant, they must be kept turned at least twice 
a week. The great enemy of the plant is red-spider, 
therefore, until the flowers commence to open, a free 
use of the syringe must at all times be made use of. 
The earliest Camellias should now have com¬ 
pleted their growth, and, consequently, be ready for 
removal to some partially-shaded position out of doors. 
When I say partially, I mean placed where the sun 
does not reach them, say from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., 
otherwise the foliage is apt to become scorched. The 
placing them out of doors answers a double purpose— 
that of freeing them from scale, which they are much 
subject to ; and also of giving extra substance to the 
foliage. Care must be taken that the pots or tubs 
stand upon a cool bottom, and if not of coal-ash let 
bricks or tiles be placed under each, that worms may 
not enter the soil. An occasional dose of soot-water 
will be found of the greatest benefit to these plants. 
In the Stoves the syringe should be freely used, 
and the houses frequently damped down during the 
day ; of course, avoiding as much as possible the wet¬ 
ting of Orchid flowers, and also of Gloxinias. The 
earliest batch of these are now in full beaut} 7 , and 
placed at equal distances along the stages add greatly 
to the beauty of the house ; the later batches, includ¬ 
ing this season’s seedlings, are on the shelves near to 
the glass, where they make a much more sturdy growth 
than if they are kept on the stages, and flower more pro¬ 
fusely. Having, within the last few days, been treated 
to a greater amount of sun, the houses in this depart¬ 
ment must be more freely ventilated, and extra shading 
afforded to any of the more tender occupants. 
