August 27 ,1887. THE GARDENING WORLD. 821 
THE COW-HORN ORCHID. 
The hollow stems, or pseudo-bulbs, of Schomburgkia 
tibicinis give rise to the popular name, from the fact 
that the native children of Honduras, after cutting off 
the extremites of the stems, use them as trumpets. 
Swarms of ants also take up their abode in the hollow 
stems. The flowers are borne in a terminal raceme or 
panicle, and have undulated or wavy sepals and petals 
of a mauve-purple colour suffused with crimson ; the 
labellum is white, with the exception of the lateral 
lobes, which are rose-coloured. It does not flower very 
frequently in this country, being by some considered 
difficult to manage. Mr. F. Ross, Pendell Court, 
Bletchingley, who supplied us with the specimen from 
which our illustration was prepared, succeeds very well 
with it, by suspending it in a basket of peat and 
sphagnum, near the glass in the Lily-house. Heat, 
moisture and full exposure to the sun, are the three 
essential requirements in the flowering of this Orchid. 
-- 
CONIFERS AT DROPMORE. 
In passing through the extensive forest-like woods 
surrounding the residence of Lady Fortescue, at Drop- 
more, Buckinghamshire, the visitor who sees the 
magnificent old trees for the first time cannot fail to be 
struck with their healthy and sturdy appearance. 
This is especially the case with those 
who have been accustomed to see the 
same kinds in the vicinity of the 
metropolis, where the evergreen kinds 
especially have always a dull, begrimed, 
and sooty appearance. The pollarded 
specimens at Burnham Beeches, with 
their old, massive, decaying trunks 
and historical associations, may possess 
a fascination of their own ; but who 
that possesses a love for trees, and has 
any pretensions to taste, can ignore the 
natural beauty of untrained, unpruned, 
well-grown trees of stately dimensions, 
such as are to be seen here in all direc¬ 
tions ? The public are privileged, we 
believe, under certain restrictions, to 
pass through the grounds of Dropmore 
by a beautiful drive on the way to 
Burnham Beeches ; and the fine speci¬ 
mens—even including the Pines, with 
their stately trunks and sombre-tinted 
heads—that greet the traveller at every 
turn of the road must be a fresh sur¬ 
prise, and productive of much quiet 
enjoyment. 
Firmly rooted in the ground, with 
few exceptions, no amount of drought 
to which our climate is liable seems 
to appreciably affect the health of 
the trees. The most notable ex¬ 
ception to this rule was in the case of some grand 
old specimens of the White Lime (Tilia alba), 
whose long umbrageous arms extend across the 
roadway by which visitors or travellers on their 
way to Burnham Beeches must pass. They were just 
in bloom and sweetly-scented, too, at the time of our 
visit ; but the leaves in the shade were turning yellow 
and dropping about, while those fully exposed were 
more or less curled or folded so as show their underside. 
Very different was the case with a noble specimen of 
Araucaria imbricata, said to be the finest in the 
country. Great summer-heat and cold in winter is 
said to be the lot of this tree in its native country; and 
certainly this experience of an English summer must he 
highly conducive to its welfare. The tree is a male, 
as the numerous cylindrical, pendent, brown cones 
about 4 ins. to 6 ins. in length testified; it is about 
50 ft. in height, and handsomely furnished with massive 
branches to the very ground. The trunk, some 3 ft. 
above the ground, is 8 ft. in circumference and close 
upon 3 ft. in diameter ; being planted on an artificial 
mound of good soil, its roots enjoy perfect drainage, 
hut are supposed to descend and draw supplies from 
a pond close by. The height of the tree is not 
great, but its proportions are grand and striking, and 
to the eye of the beholder detracts somewhat from the 
actual height. There are several other specimens in 
the grounds hearing both male and female cones, but 
none assume the dimensions of the tree just mentioned; 
which, being planted in 1830, is now fifty-seven years 
old. A more historical tree at Dropmore is a magni¬ 
ficent and pyramidal specimen of Pseudotsuga (Abies) 
Douglasii, towering to the height of 120 ft., with a 
straight trunk furnished to the ground with branches, 
the deep glaucous green foliage of which testifies to 
the health of the tree. The leader is still intact, so 
that the maximum height has not yet been attained. 
The trunk some distance from the ground measures 
about 11 ft. 6 ins. in circumference ; while the spread 
of the branches has a diameter of 20 yds. to 21 yds. ; 
and a circumference of 66 yds. It is certainly a giant 
of its kind in this country, and is now fifty-seven years 
old, having been planted about four years after its 
introduction originally into Britain. In relating the 
history of this tree, it was the proud boast of the late 
Mr. Frost when speaking about it to visitors, that he 
carried the seed in his waistcoat pocket for some time 
before committing to the soil what has now grown to 
be a veritable monarch of the woods. There are few 
gardeners peradventure in this country, who could lay 
claim to a similar statement. Time has now felled the 
planter to the ground, but not before he had lived to 
see and deplore the loss of some of the upper branches 
of his favourite old tree, by the destructive snowstorm 
that occurred the day after Christmas last. 
The two trees just mentioned are the grandest 
specimens of their kind in the grounds ; but others of 
the same or different species occur at various points of 
The Cow-horn Orchid (Schomburgkia tibicinis). 
vantage, which, if less interesting, are none the less 
ornamental, and constitute objects of which the owner 
may justly feel proud. What is known as the Cedar- 
walk is skirted on each side by a close line of Cedrus 
Libani—broad, massive, and fine, with their huge, far- 
spreading, horizontal arms, very characteristic of this 
tree as seen in many an old English park. There are 
also fine pyramidal specimens of C. Deodara, about 
60 ft. or 70 ft. in height, a species that can always be 
recognised from the other two forms in cultivation by 
its longer, paler green leaves, decidedly-drooping leader, 
and tips of the branches. C. atlantica, at different 
stages of its growth, is very similar to C. Libani of the 
same age, and can with difficulty be distinguished 
from the latter by its pyramidal habit, ascending 
branches, more or less distinctly-glaucous foliage, and 
by its leaves, which are shorter and denser than those 
of its better-known rival. The finest specimen is now 
about 80 ft. or more in height, and assuming the 
horizontal habit peculiar to the Cedars after attaining 
some considerable age. 
We frequently have to deplore the improvident 
shortsightedness of planters in placing favourite, 
popular or beautiful trees so close to houses or other 
objects, or in planting so thickly that they either have 
to be uprooted after a few years, on account of their 
being in inconvenient situations, or they inevitably 
spoil one another by mutual crowding. Mr. Frost, 
however knew his business, and allowed ample space 
for the development of his favourites. These remarks 
apply chiefly to Sequoia gigantea and Araucaria 
imbricata, and were brought forcibly home to us on 
seeing the fine specimens at this place standing out in 
relief by themselves, and nearly always on mounds of 
good loam, old potting material, &c., placed on the 
top of the natural soil. Sequoia (syn. Wellingtonia) 
gigantea, of a quarter of a century’s standing, is now 
about 60 ft. in height, a perfect pyramid of beauty, 
and feathered to the ground. The Californian Red¬ 
wood or Bastard Cedar is equally good, and about 
10 ft. higher ; but the date of planting this we did not 
ascertain. The Japan Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica)— 
planted in an open position by the side of a pond, 
round the margins of which Lythrum Salicaria, 
Lysimachia vulgaris and other native weeds were 
flowering in profusion—towered to the height of 60 ft. 
or 70 ft., heavily laden with its curious green cones. 
Close by the deciduous Cypress, Taxodium distichum, 
with its pale green, feathery and delicate foliage, rose 
to the height of 50 ft. This specimen was a fine one, 
although it had not grown very rapidly, seeing that it 
had been planted in 1843—a year in which a great 
proportion of the ornamental trees had been planted, 
as we ascertained from the durable iron labels bearing 
the name and record of the date. Thuya gigantea, 
so frequently mismanaged in small “ choke-muddle ” 
shrubberies, rises here to the height of 60 ft., forming 
a pyramidal and highly ornamental tree. In its native 
country it varies from 50 ft. to 150 ft.— 
a fact which should be borne in mind 
by home planters and landscape gar¬ 
deners. 
In passing through the grounds, 
numerous specimens of the Hemlock 
Spruce, Tsuga canadensis, present 
themselves, and bear a strong resem¬ 
blance to the Californian Hemlock, 
T. Mertensiana; but the latter is 
naturally a much stronger and more 
rapidly growing species, a fact which 
is borne out by the specimens at 
Dropmore, which have a beautifully 
pyramidal outline, while the trees of 
the Canadian species have a broad 
spreading head with numerous branches 
more resembling a huge bush. The 
Californian species is known here as 
T. Alberti, a name under which it is 
generally disseminated in gardens. 
The Himalayan species, T. Brunon- 
iana, a tree of which we noticed about 
35 ft. in height, with abroad spreading 
head, was heavily laden with its tiny 
but singular-looking and pretty cones. 
It was planted in 1847, and although 
it bears a superficial resemblance to 
the Canadian species, on a close in¬ 
spection it proves very distinct, 
with long, linear, slightly tapering 
leaves, of a beautiful silvery or milky mealy-white 
colour underneath. A singular tree, Cunninghamia 
sinensis, which is very abundant in China, its native 
home, we seldom have the pleasure of inspecting 
in this country, owing, probably, to its not being 
able to resist the exceptionally severe winters we 
experience. The young shoots of one specimen 
planted in a very dry situation were showing un- 
mistakeable signs of distress for the want of moisture ; 
but another tree about 40 ft. in height, and, probably, 
the largest specimen in the country, was more favourably 
situated within the precincts of the kitchen garden. 
The trunk is about 12 ins. to 15 ins. in diameter, and 
the long densely arranged leaves, and tasselled-like 
branches, give the tree at a distance the appearance of 
some species of Araucaria, or other unfamiliar kind of 
vegetation. 
Ficea Smithiana, or P. Morinda, known also under a 
host of names, is a Himalayan species of Spruce that 
has taken kindly to our climate, no other proof of 
which we require than a sight of the specimens planted 
in different positions through the woods. One tree 
particularly, planted by the side of the main drive or 
road through the grounds, we could not fail to admire, 
being a perfect model of its kind ; but, unfortunately, 
the storm of last Christmas wrenched off a number of 
branches, causing a considerable disfigurement on one 
side, which, happily, is invisible from the road. It 
was planted in 1843, and the healthy dark green 
appearance of the foliage on the pendent branches cha¬ 
racterises this as a striking and handsome tree. Other 
