588 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 12, 1888. 
Warscewiczella discolor. 
The genus to which this belongs, as well as a number 
of its allies, are now classed under Zygopetalum, 
although it will take a long time, probabty, to effect 
this change in gardens where conservatism in nomen¬ 
clature is and has always been strong. The species 
belonging to this particular group bear a single flower 
only on a scape, but that is always (at least in the 
cultivated species) of good average size, and both 
exceedingly interesting and pretty. The segments are 
white or straw-coloured, tinged with violet-purple at 
the base ; and the upper ones arch over the column, 
forming a hood, while the lip is even more highly 
coloured than the rest of the flower, and is furnished 
with a curiously ridged crest, which is a prominent 
feature of the bloom. “We noticed it the other day in 
Mr. William Bull’s show-house at King’s Road, 
Chelsea. 
ANDERSON’S CYRTOPODIUM. 
A finely flowered spray of this magnificent Orchid 
has been sent us by a Sheffield correspondent, who 
states that it was taken from a plant carrying 200 
blooms, and that the flower stem was 5 ft. in height 
and the pseudo-bulbs 3 ft. The pseudo-bulbs, however, 
sometimes attain a height of 5 ft., and considering the 
number of flowers produced from a plant of this stature, 
it may readily be granted to be a magnificent object. 
Botanically it is Cyrtopodium Andersoni, a plant 
originally introduced from Tropical America, in 1804. 
Probably the great size of the plant militates against 
its being grown by the many; but those privileged few 
who manage it are certainly fortunate. The sepals and 
petals are yellow, slightly tinted with green, while the 
outer surface of the latter is somewhat suffused with 
brown. The curious three-lobed lip, however, is a 
bright golden yellow, with an orange blotch at its very 
base. The bracts under the pedicels are large, leafy, 
and coloured similarly to the sepals, and add materially 
to the general effect of the inflorescence. 
Oncidium leucochilum. 
This beautiful cool-house Orchid of Mexico and 
Guatemala, which is now flowering in several places, 
is by no means common. Its finely formed flowers, 
with yellowish sepals and petals, blotched with shining 
brown, and pure white lip, constitute it a pleasing 
change from the yellow flowers, which are so plentiful 
in the genus of Oncidium. Years ago it rose to be a 
very telling plant at flower shows, and exhibitors 
would do well to look it up again. —J. O'B. 
Cattleya citrina, 
A fine lot of these constitute an attractive feature at 
present in Messrs. Shuttleworth, Carder & Co.’s nursery, 
at Park Road, Clapham. A large number of the flowers 
have the apex tipped with pure white, which adds 
materially to their beauty. The pendent habit of this 
plant—both pseudo-bulbs, flowers, and foliage—recom¬ 
mends it to those whose space is limited, as it can and 
should be hung up near the glass. The waxy con¬ 
sistence of the flowers themselves, their glossy appear¬ 
ance and delicious fragrance, always make their presence 
felt in a house. 
Erratic Dendrobium nobile. 
As a rule, this Orchid flowers from those stems that 
have lost their leaves, although flowers and leaves may 
occasionally be contemporaneous. In some cases lateral 
growths are developed from the pseudo-bulbs, and 
which, being truly branches, would be expected to 
plump up and become mature before flowering in the 
ordinary way. “We noticed a lateral shoot of this 
nature the other day at Stile Hal], Chiswick, where 
leaves and flower-buds were contemporaneous. Instead 
of the flower-bud pushing through the sheath of 
the leaf at the nodes of the stem, the flower with its 
pedicel emerged from the sheath parallel with the stem, 
a id the flower, having its lip uppermost, there was an 
indentation on the young growing branch, caused by 
the projection or mentum forming the base of the sepals 
and lip. 
Odontoglossum Carderi. 
There seems practically no limit to the variations to 
be found in the supposed natural hybrid Odonto- 
glossums, so admirably adapted for the decoration of 
the cool houses. The ground-colour of the sepals and 
petals are pale yellow, changing to a creamy yellow, 
almost white, and blotched with brown about the 
middle of each segment. The lip is very long, auricled 
at the base, and having a few large blotches. Altogether 
the spike presented a light and graceful appearance. 
It has been flowering for some time with Messrs. 
Shuttleworth, Carder & Co., at Park Road, Clapham. 
A Fine Odontoglossum. 
A striking and distinct form of 0. crispum has been sent 
us by Mr. Stevens, Walton, Stone, Staffordshire. The 
portion of the scape bearing the blooms did not exceed 
6 ins. in length, but bore ten flowers of large size, 
densely arranged in two rows, one on each side of 
the scape. Owing to their close arrrangement the 
flowers were necessarily much imbricated or overlapping 
so that the whole constituted a ready-made floral 
wreath. The sepals and petals were all broad and 
greatly overlapping one another, and of an almost 
uniform soft rose colour. The lip was white, with 
occasionally a few large brown blotches. The effect of 
the column to the general aspect of the flower was also 
considerable, owing to the broad upper part of it being 
beautifully variegated with purple, yellow, and white. 
-- 
fiHE fpEE-flEEPER. 
Selection of Hives. 
One of the most important questions the bee-keeper 
has to decide is what kind of hive he shall use. Much 
depends on the conclusion he comes to in this matter. 
Indeed, it is often the difference between success and 
failure in bee-keeping, so that great care must be 
taken in the selection of the hive for future use. The 
days of the straw hives are past, and a more humane 
system of management, with improved hives, has 
taken its place. How, instead of destroying the bees 
when we want their stores, we can have the honey and 
save the bees. There is yet a considerable number of 
straw hives in use throughout the country, and for this 
there may be a few reasons. The first would be the 
difference in price. This will always, I am afraid, be 
a consideration with the cottager ; but with a few plain 
instructions, I see no reason why he should not be 
able to make his own hives. 
The great drawback to the cheap hives sold now to 
cottagers is the want of room outside the bar-frames for 
winter protection. Here is the only advantage the 
straw hive has over the wooden bar-frame ones ; they 
afford a better means of ventilation in the hands of the 
inexperienced, and the moisture does not condense on 
the straw so readily as on the wood, but finds its way 
out through it. This is sometimes taken advantage of 
by having the sides of the bar-frame made of straw. I 
would strongly recommend anyone starting bee-keeping, 
or who has already commenced, to adopt the bar-frame 
hive, and one that takes the standard bar-frame, if he 
has not already done so. It has been found by 
experience that a somewhat shallow comb has many 
advantages in handling, &c. ; therefore, the standard 
bar-frame is shallow in proportion to its breadth, viz., 
14 ins. long by ins. deep (outside measurement). 
By adopting this standard frame its advantages will 
be found. If at any time we have a weak stock which 
we desire to strengthen, all we have to do is to remove 
two or three bars from a strong hive, or from different 
hives with brood, and insert them in the weak hives. 
The frames being interchangeable can be moved from 
one hive to another. After considerable experience 
with different kinds of hives, a description of one I have 
adopted may be of some interest to bee-keepers. The 
stand which forms stand and floor-board combined is 
15 ins. high ; the legs are well spread out to keep the 
hive steady in windy weather. The width of the floor¬ 
board is 20 ins. wide by 26 ins. long, and made of 1 -in. 
yellow deal. The alighting-board is 6 in. wide, and 
slopes downwards. This is a great help to the bees 
returning home in windy weather, when they are apt 
to get blown to the ground, and should the weather be 
cold, they get chilled and die. 
The outside cover is 20 ins. square, made of f-in. 
match-boarding, and in three divisions. Round the 
base of each division, and overlapping for 1 in., is a 
strip of board 2 ins. wide, which fits over the pieces 
below and prevents draught entering. On the front 
part of the lower tier is a porch to keep the alighting- 
board dry. This has a groove along the lower edge to 
run the water off, and under this porch are arranged the 
sliding doors for regulating the width of entrance, 
which may be opened to 8 ins., or closed to allow only 
one bee to enter or leave at a time. The top, which 
slopes to each side, is covered with zinc, which keeps 
them thoroughly dry in wet weather. 
The inner box, or hive proper, is made to take ten 
standard bar frames, 14 ins. long by 8 ^ ins. deep. The 
top bar projects 1 in. at each end, and rests on a 
strip of zinc fastened along each end and rising J in. 
above the wood. This arrangement keeps the bees 
from fixing the frames with propolis, and no difficulty 
will be found at any time in moving the frames. The 
thickness of the top bars are \ in., the sides 4 in., and 
the bottom J in., and 1 in. wide. "When the frames are 
arranged in the hive, each bar frame will occupy I 5 ins. 
To keep the frames at this distance apart, I nail a piece 
of wood £ in. square across each top corner, but the 
pieces on each side of the frame keep them the requisite 
distance apart, and also strengthen the frames. One 
great advantage of this hive over any I have seen is 
the better accommodation for winter packing. Most 
of the covers open at the same level as the top of the 
hive proper, whereas I have an opening in my cover 
of about 4 ins. above the top of the hive, which space 
can be used for packing with protecting material during 
the winter, and in no way interferes with any operations 
to be carried on. This hive I am now using in my 
apiary in preference to any other.— A. Wright. 
-oE&e-- 
The Gard eners 1 C alendar. 
THE STOVE. 
Calanthes. —Before these make so many roots that 
the process of re-potting is rendered difficult without 
breaking them, they should have their annual shift. 
Shake the old soil clean away, and assort the pseudo¬ 
bulbs, using 7 -inch pots for the larger ones, which 
should all be potted singly. The smaller pseudo-bulbs 
should all be put into pots proportionate to their size, 
as some of them will produce a fresh one strong enough 
to flower next winter. The long-necked pseudo-bulbs 
of C. Yeitchii may be cut in two at the constriction, 
inserting the more slender upper part, for when under 
good cultural treatment a strong flowering pseudo-bulb 
will be developed from it. A good compost would 
consist of fibrous loam, peat and leaf-soil broken up 
roughly, to which a little dried cow-manure, with some 
charcoal and silver-sand, may also be added, so that 
the material may be loose, open and rich. In potting 
these terrestrial Orchids they should not be elevated 
above the rim of-the pot, but below it, as they require 
a large supply of water during the growing season. 
See also that the drainage is perfect. They should be 
placed in a moist warm stove while making their 
growth, but after that removed to cooler quarters. 
Balsams. —The early sowing will by this time 
require a good shift, and should be potted deeply, so as 
to get rid of the leggy stems. After being potted, place 
them in a stove close to the glass where they will get 
an abundance of light, which will keep them dwarf and 
sturdy, inducing a free development of side branches, 
without which plants of this class are poor and in¬ 
different subjects for decorative purposes. As the 
temperature rises during fine days, give an increasing 
quantity of air, which imparts further strength and 
vigour to the stems and leaves. 
THE GREENHOUSE. 
Forced Plants. —Astilbes (Spiraea), Lily of the Valley 
and Dielytra spectabilis may now be divided, and 
planted out in nursery quarters in rich soil. The 
Astilbes require a liberal supply of moisture while they 
are making their growth, and should they be planted in 
light soil they will enjoy being flooded several times 
during the course of the summer. Large plants of 
Deutzia gracilis should be re potted if that is absolutely 
necessary; but if the condition at the roots with regard 
to drainage is good and the pots are already of large 
size, liberal supplies of manure water during the period 
of growth will obviate the necessity of re-potting. Cut 
awaj’ weak and useless shoots so as to admit plenty of air 
and light to the young growth, which should receive 
every encouragement, as they furnish the largest 
flowers. After allowing them to complete their growth 
in a greenhouse, stand in the open air in a sheltered 
but fully exposed place to thoroughly mature their 
wood. 
Cyclamens. —The finer plants should be marked 
during their period of flowering, and retained for 
blooming another season ; and if it is intended to save 
seeds, mark the very best and sow immediately after 
they are perfectly ripe. They may be rested in a cold 
frame by partly withholding water, but never dry them 
off like bulbs, as that effete system is now not only 
pronounced as fallacious, but mischievous. 
Bedding Plants. —Well-established Pelargoniums 
may now be stood out of doors in some sheltered place 
where they can readily be covered over at night with 
mats in the event of frost, as it is well known that they 
are more tender in spring than in autumn. This wil 
