394 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 18, 1888. 
adoption is given in the following legend, which is 
related by Mr. R. Folkard in his interesting book on 
Plant Lore : — 
“A Count of Walstheim was betrothed to Amelia 
Yon Nordburg, a very young and beautiful heiress, 
whose poor cousin Charlotte, an amiable girl of no 
particular personal charms, had been brought up 
with her from infancy. Returning one evening from a 
charitable visit, the humble dependent found her 
aunt’s saloon full of guests, the ladies busily occupied 
in selecting flowers, for which their admirers were 
expected to improvise mottoes. Charlotte was invited 
to follow the example of her betters. Amelia Yon 
Nordburg had selected the Rose as her emblem, and 
her companions had naturally chosen such popular 
flowers as were best calculated to elicit gallant com¬ 
pliments. 
“ Thus most of the floral favourites had been appro¬ 
priated, so Charlotte placed a modest spray of Mignonette 
in her dress. Noticing as she did so that her coquettish 
cousin was neglecting the Count of Walstheim for the 
fascinations of a gallant colonel, and anxious to recall 
the thoughtless heiress to her lover’s side, Charlotte 
asked the Count what motto he had ready for the Rose. 
Taking out his pencil, he wrote: ‘ Elle ne vit qu’un 
jour, et ne plait qu’nn moment,’ and then presented 
her with this motto for her own Mignonette : 1 Ses 
qualities surpassent ses charmes.’ His wilful fiancee 
took offence at the Count’s discrimination, and revenged 
herself by treating him with studied coldness and 
neglect, the result being that the Count transferred his 
affections to the dependent Charlotte, whom he soon 
afterwards married, and to celebrate the event, added 
a spray of Mignonette to the ancient arms of his 
family.” 
The odour which this little flower exhales is thought 
by some to be too powerful for the house ; but even 
those persons must be delighted with the fragrance 
which it throws from the balconies where it is grown, 
into the streets. This is an experience not at all un¬ 
common ; but I cannot quite accept the statement of 
one writer, who remarks that “We have frequently 
found the perfume of the Mignonette so powerful in 
some of the better streets, that we have considered it 
sufficient to protect the inhabitants from those effluvia 
that bring disorder with them in the air.’’ This is, 
perhaps, carrying admiration for the Mignonette a little 
too far. I may add that the generic name—Reseda— 
was given by the ancients, from rese dare —to assuage 
—because some of the species were esteemed good for 
mitigating pain. 
Of varieties of the Mignonette there are now many, 
white, golden and red. Many names are given to 
selections, of which the reader can take his choice. The 
Mignonette is an annual in its native home, and, 
therefore, naturally decays when it has matured its 
seeds. This is as good a definition of an annual as any 
I can give. But it has been observed that very fine 
plants are obtained when the seeds are sown in autumn. 
I have known very fine plants spring from self- 
sown seeds, better than any raised from seeds sown 
in spring. 
Those who grow Mignonette in pots for market, 
generally sow the seeds about the first day of Septem¬ 
ber, placing ten or a dozen seeds in a 48-sized pot filled 
with suitable soil, and then thinning out to live or so 
plants. The pots are kept in frames all the winter 
where a little heat can be applied in severe weather, and 
the plants placed as near the glass as possible. 
But it is possible to transform the annual Mignonette 
into a perennial shrub. A young plant should first 
be grown on in a pot, with a stick about 18 ins. high 
placed by its side to tie the stem up to ; and as it 
advances in height the leaves and the young branches 
must be kept stripped from the lower part, so as to 
form a naked stem to the height required. This stem 
will become sufficiently hard and woody to endure the 
winter by being placed in a greenhouse or in the 
window of a sitting-room, and, indeed, may be pre¬ 
served for several years if air be given when the weather 
will allow, so that the growth is kept robust. What is 
to be avoided is that the young branches do not become 
too delicate. 
As soon as the seed vessels form they should be 
pinched off, which causes the plant to put forth fresh 
shoots and fresh flowers. The plants must not be 
permitted to mature the seeds ; what is to be sought 
for is fresh growths and other blossoms. I have 
seen very fine plants grown in this way, that last for 
three or four years or more, and by means of careful 
shifts into good soil are made objects of great beauty in 
the conservatory or greenhouse.— P. D. 
ORCHID NOT ES ADD GLEANINGS. 
Orchid Growers’ Calendar. 
The Use of Insecticides in Plant Cleaning.— 
To see that no insect pests infest the plants at all 
seasons, is a very important matter in the Orchid 
houses, but more especially now, and I am tempted to 
make a few remarks on the necessity for using some 
reliable insecticide for sponging the plants with, and 
this I do the more particularly, because of late I have 
heard more than one grower affirm that they used only 
plain water for the purpose, and considered insecticides 
unnecessary. Such remarks show that the life-history 
of scales has not been studied by those who make them, 
or they would know that unless some means are taken 
to destroy the eggs and minute larvae, which the very 
act of removing the mature insects have released, they 
prepare a fine crop for a future day, unless by sponging 
with some safe insecticide they be destroyed. In the 
very young state by this means the eggs or larvae and 
almost invisible young scales are easily destroyed, and 
I care not what insecticide is used—Fir Tree Oil, 
Fowler’s Insecticide, and Gishurst Compound, all are 
equal to the purpose, and safe if mixed according to 
instructions ; but it must be borne in mind that plain 
water does not answer the desired end, sufficient stock 
recovering from a simple wetting to give plenty of 
work and more mischief in the future. Some of the 
tropical varieties of scales now to be found in our hot¬ 
houses evidently produce more than one crop in the 
year, while with mealy-bugs there is continuous 
generation. These latter, however, are seldom met 
with in Orchids, unless where they are grown with 
other plants.— James O’Brien. 
A Batch of Rare Odontoglossums. 
The opening spring frequently brings flowers of hjb.id 
Odontoglossums for my opinion, and lately my eyes 
have been gladdened by some exceptionally fine ones. 
First—- 
Odontoglossum EXCELLENS, from Messrs. Hugh 
Low & Co., of Clapton, the lucky introducers of the 
first plant of this variety. The present one has the 
same bright citron-yellow flowers, the sepals with a 
few chestnut-brown spots, the petals unspotted, all the 
segments having a white ray at the base, the lip being 
white tinged with yellow on the front, and having a 
few dark spots in the median portion. From Mr. Geo. 
Russell, The Gardens, Redlands, Hillhead, comes a fine 
inflorescence of the same thing, except that in this case 
the petals have one to three large crimson blotches. 
0. exeellens occupies the same position to 0. Pescatorei 
that 0. Andersonianum or 0. Wilckeanum does to 
0. crispum ; and although few of it have yet flowered, 
it is easily to be seen that it is equally variable in one 
or two instances. I have met with poor forms of it, 
named 0. Vuylstekeanum. 
Odontoglossum, New Hybrid. —From Messrs. 
Wm. Thomson & Sons, Tweed Vineyards, Clovenfords, 
comes a lovely medium-sized variety, which I can only 
name as above ; it is a charming neat flower, with rich 
chocolate - crimson markings on the segments and 
labellum, which suggests a cross with 0. blandum. 
Of it more anon. 
Odontoglossum prasxitens (true). —The last term 
is necessary for this extremely rare introduction of 
Messrs. James Veitch & Sons. It is often supplied by 
forms of 0. luteo-purpureum sceptrum, from which it 
is quite distinct. It may be a hybrid of 0. triumphans, 
as it has all the rich colouring and fine form of that 
species, but with a fringed labellum, and more like 
that of 0. Pescatorei. It is a handsome, very rare, and 
valuable variety, and is in the possession of Mr. Lees, of 
South View, Oldham, where it flowered out of an 
importation of the Liverpool Horticultural Company. 
The specimen is far the best of the kind I have seen. 
Odontoglossum tentaculatUM. — From Messrs. 
Hugh Low & Co., of Clapton, comes flowers of a grand 
form of this. It is like a richly coloured form of 0. 
mulus, with more the elegant form of 0. elegans, the 
lip especially being elongated, and terminating in a 
sharp spur. The flowers, which are very fragrant, are 
yellow, showily blotched with reddish brown. In is 
probably a cross between 0. luteo-purpureum and 0. 
odoratum, the same as 0. mulus and 0. cuspidatum, 
the difference which is so marked in each being brought 
about by the variable character of the parents. 
Odontoglossum Lindleyanum speciosum. —From 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co. At last a Lindleyanum which 
no one will turn his nose up at and call a weed as they 
do the type ! The present has really large handsome 
flowers quite twice the size of the original, wax-like in 
texture, yellow, with one or two large reddish blotches 
on the segments, and a pure white column and base to 
the lip. Mho will be lucky enough to secure this 
phenomenon ? 
Odontoglossum Schillerianum. —From Mr. D. 
Wilson, The Gardens, Westmouut, Hillhead, comes this 
rare and lovely Odontoglossum whose markings are so 
exquisite, although so neat. Mr. Wilson’s variety has 
flowers nearly 2 ins. across ; the sepals and petals are 
lemon-yellow, white at the base, 'each segment having 
about forty brown spots equally distributed over it, 
and numerous purple dots on the white portion next 
the column ; the column and base of the labellum 
are also pure white profusely dotted with similar 
purple spots. The woolly labellum is finely serrated, 
and has one large irregular brown blotch in front of 
the pure white callus, and some smaller spots forming 
a pattern round the edge. It has a little of 0. blandum, 
some of 0. constrictum, and an air of a good true 0. 
odoratum about it. It is an introduction of Mr. 
Sander, of St. Albans, and flowers from him represent 
it as sometimes much darker and always variable, but 
ever handsome. It will be rare for a long time, for no 
importation has yet been got over.— James O'Brien. 
Hardy Cypripediums in Pots. 
“Arthur,” who inquires (at p. 381) whether he can 
grow hardy Orchids in pots, need not hesitate to start 
with the hardy Cypripediums—all beautiful plants, 
that may be grown to perfection in pots with the pro¬ 
tection of an ordinary garden frame. C. spectabile, 
the species he mentions, is the finest of all the hardy 
Lady’s Slipper Orchids, and has few rivals even among 
tropical kinds. He should purchase a few strong 
roots of it. They much resemble those of Lily of the 
Valley, and as in the case of the latter, the largest and 
plumpest crowns or eyes being selected as likely to 
produce the finest blooms, so it is with the Cypripedes. 
The roots should be obtained at once from a reliable 
source, as they will soon be commencing active growth. 
Most likely they will be out of the soil, so that it will 
be necessary to pot them. One of the finest roots is 
sufficient for a 6-in. pot, as the fleshy ones spread out 
widely. The pot should be well drained, as the plant 
requires a deal of water when in full growth. The soil 
should be fibry peat broken roughly, with chopped 
sphagnum moss, and sufficient white sand to keep the 
compost free and open. The tops of the crowns should 
be on a level with the surface of the soil ; in other 
respects the potting is the same as with ordinary plants. 
After the latter operation is completed, put the plants 
into a cold pit, keeping them moist but not wet. In 
April the eyes will begin to push leaves, and later on 
the floiver-stem will appear if the crowns be strong. 
The large and beautiful rose-tinted flowers will well 
repay any trouble taken., Similar treatment will suit 
other hardy Cypripediums, the best of which are 
C. pubescens, C. parviflorum, C. maeranthum, and 
C. candidum. C. calceolus does best in a stiffer soil 
than that used for the others—in fact, it will thrive in 
pure loam. These are by far the most satisfactory 
hardy Orchids to grow in frames and to place in 
windows when in bloom ; but I should recommend 
“Arthur” not to attempt the culture of the so-called 
“cool Orchids” unless he has had some experience 
of them, and a more suitable place to grow them in 
than a frame or window. — G. 
-*»T<->- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE GREENHOUSE. 
Cannas and Hedychiums. —Plants of this class should 
now be re-potted or divided and potted up in the case 
of Cannas that are to be employed in the sub-tropical 
garden during summer. The latter are so nearly hardy 
that they can be wintered in any cool house, and 
generally they commence showing some signs of starting 
about this time if the temperature is not too low. In 
any case the strong fleshy rhizomes should be divided 
and potted into 32 sized pots or larger, according as 
the size of the pieces require it, and stood in a warm 
pit to start them freely into growth. Hedychiums 
may be grown successfully either in pots or planted 
out. In the latter case a top-dressing will sometimes 
suffice if there is plenty of root room, and the soil is 
not exhausted, otherwise lift the entire mass, and 
renew the soil with a compost of substantial fibrous 
loam, leaf-soil, and sand. In potting allow ample 
room for the rhizomes to increase before reaching 
the sides of the pot; and in doing so, the young 
