September 6, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
11 
A. melanoxylon, A. retinodes, A. saligna, and others. 
At present the farmers are advised to plant only 
A. pycnantha, the South Australian Broad-leaved 
Wattle ; A, decurrens, the Sydney Black Wattle ; and 
A. molissima, the Tasmanian and Victorian Black 
Wattle. Instruction is given as to the cultivation of 
Wattles, in the matter of soil, moisture, sowing and 
germination of seed, commerce in Wattle seeds, prun¬ 
ing and thinning, and the profits to he derived from 
Wattle cultivation. The four best months for stripping 
the trees are September, October, November and 
December. There is most tannin in the bark during 
this period, notwithstanding the fact that the work is 
carried on by some at all times of the year. The sap is 
in full flow during the four latter months of the year, 
and the bark may be easily removed then. Stripping 
should not be commenced until the tree is at least 
five years old, while some good farmers do not 
commence till the sixth or seventh year. The stem of 
the tree should at least be 5 ins. thick. The per¬ 
centage of tannic acid varies greatly in different species. 
A. decurrens yields from 15'08 to 36'3 per cent, of 
tannic acid ; A. molissima from 24 99 to 36’3 ; A. 
pycnantha from 16'24 to 38’5 ; A. binervata from 19'3 
to 30 ' 4 , and so on. Wattle-barks of medium value 
yield from 2 54 to 25 ' 9 , while those of inferior value 
give only from 2 32 to 10'66 per cent, of acid. 
-- 
ORCHID ROT ES AND G LEANINGS. 
The Orchid Growers’ Calendar. 
Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, and cool Oneidiums, 
are now just in that state of growth which indicates 
that they are ready to be repotted, now that the 
right season is at hand, for though it may be true that 
many of them have only just gone out of flower, it will 
be found that by far the greater number are com¬ 
mencing to grow freely, and the cooler nights we are 
now having give the plants a chance of getting well 
hold of the new compost, and thereby becoming 
strengthened before any application of fire heat is 
necessary in the cool house. I am convinced that 
the cool house occupants enjoy September and October 
more than any other two months of the year, and 
where a considerable quantity of plants are in need of 
shifting into larger pots, or breaking up and dividing, 
no time should now be lost in making a start. 
The compost we use is good tough brown fibrous 
peat, two parts, and one part of short sphagnum, 
washed clean and free from slugs. The sphagnum is 
chopped up and mixed with the peat. The pots are 
half full of crocks, on the top of which is a layer of 
sphagnum to keep the drainage clear. Enough com¬ 
post is then put in, so that the plant when in position 
shall have its centre about an inch above the rim of the 
pot, for undue mounding up is not necessary if the 
plants are watered carefully, neither does it take so 
long to attend to their requirements in that respect. 
I am of opinion that Odontoglossums are not greatly 
benefited by being in a soddened condition all the year 
round, and after repotting require carefully watering 
for a few weeks, allowing plenty of night air instead, 
unless there is a probability of the temperature going 
down below 48 ° or 50 °. The winter-flowering Masde- 
vallia tovarense, M. ignea, and M. coccinea are best 
potted in spring. 
The grand old Laelia purpurata now pushing young 
growths freely, dislikes remaining for any length of 
time in rotten material, and repays the grower for 
generous treatment and a good position. It is now a 
good time to repot this plant, which enjoys a little 
more root room than some of the Cattleyas in order to 
get real good stout bulbs. 
As the days shorten it is necessary to avoid keeping 
the houses too moist, and to regulate the damping 
do wn so that the inmates may have a chance of 
maturing the growths and bulbs already made, there¬ 
fore a somewhat drier and lighter atmosphere will be 
needed than when the bulk of the plants were in 
active growth. Temperatures for September, East 
Indian house, 75 ° to 80 ° day, 70 ° night; Cattleya 
house, 10 day, 65 ° night ; Odontoglossum house, 60 ° 
day, 55 ° night.— W. P. 
Dendrobium chrysanthum. 
Amongst late-flowering Orchids this Dendrobe is cer¬ 
tainly one of the best ; and although so common as to 
create no excitement or sensation, its showy flowers are 
not to be disregarded in that respect. They are of a 
brilliant orange-yellow, with two blackish maroon 
blotches near the base of the lip. The latter organ is 
fringed in the typical form, although not so con¬ 
spicuously as in D. fimbriatum. One of its chief 
recommendations is that it flowers on the young wood 
in autumn before the leaves of the current season have 
fallen. The flowers are produced in lateral clusters of 
three to six along the pendent leafy stems. We noted 
a plant of it in a basket suspended from the roof of one 
of the Orchid houses in the nursery of Messrs. J. Laing 
& Sons, Forest Hill. The stems were 3 ft. or 4 ft. 
long, and bore a great quantity of flowers resembling 
sprays of flowers and leaves mixed. 
Odontoglossum Harryanum. 
When this species was sent out, it was predicted that 
it would be a valuable addition to the cool house, as 
soon as it got well established, and now it is pretty 
evident to all who grow or know it, that its charms 
were by no means overrated, as unfortunately many 
new things are. I came across a batch in robust 
health a few days ago in Mr. Watt’s collection, at 
Chislehurst, the best variety carrying ten fine flowers 
to the spike, which are only marred by the tendency 
the petals always have to incurve. — W. P. 
Odontoglossum Youngii. 
The habit of this plant closely resembles O. Rossii, but 
the shape and general appearance of the flowers, judging 
from a fine coloured plate in the Orchid Album, pi. 406 , 
are altogether different. The sepals are lanceolate, and 
heavily barred or blotched with dark chocolate-brown 
on a yellow ground. The petals are much broader, and 
of a paler yellow, richly spotted or blotched with 
deep chocolate-brown all over the surface. The lip 
differs more widely from O. Rossii than perhaps any 
other organ. It is transversely reniform, crenate at 
the apex, and white, closely lined with reddish brown, 
having two very characteristic chocolate-brown blotches 
in the centre. The fleshy, yellow crest, streaked with 
brown, conforms pretty closely to that of 0 . Rossii. 
The pseudo-bulbs and leaves also agree with the latter 
species. It first flowered in the collection of R. Young, 
Esq., Linnet Lane, Liverpool, who seems to possess the 
only known specimen of it. 
Oncidium Larkinianum. 
The flowers of this new Brazilian Oncidium appear 
intermediate between 0 . Gardneri and 0 . Marshal- 
lianum. The rich colouring of the sepals and petals 
resembles that of the former, and the lip is comparable 
to that of the latter. The somewhat four-lobed 
character of the lip also reminds one of what occurs in 
O. varicosum and its variety 0 . v. Rogorsi. The 
petals are obovate, notched at the apex, and of a rich 
chestnut-brown in the centre, with a golden yellow 
margin, interrupted by the^lobed and streaked outline 
of the chestnut-brown colouring. The plant produces 
its large and showy flowers in simple racemes or a 
branched panicle, according to the vigour of the plant. 
It first flowered in the collection of J. LarkiD, Esq., at 
Highbury New Park, in March of the present year. 
There is an excellent coloured plate of it in the Orchid 
Album, pi. 405 . 
: 
(ARDENING MISCELLANY. 
The Cardinal Flower. 
In your notice of this, the most showy of our native 
plants, Lobelia cardinalis, on p. 764 . You say, “Like 
the other kinds, it is more safely wintered in a cold 
frame, either in pots or planted out.” It strikes me 
this trouble is quite unnecessary, as it is one of our 
most hardy plants, growing in marshy places where the 
frost goes down to a depth of 2 to 3 ft. in our extreme 
winters. Certainly in your climate it should grow any¬ 
where without the slightest protection, and judging 
from the fact of its thriving finely in any ground, if in 
a shaded situation, for instance, on the north side of 
the house, it ought to thrive luxuriantly in your moist 
soils. It is now just coming into flower, and a more 
beautiful display than a few acres of this plant makes, 
when in full flower, cannot well be imagined, and such 
sights are frequent in many parts of our country.— 
< 7 . L. Allen, Floral Parle, New York. 
Primula obconica, Poisonous. 
Condy’s Fluid as an Antidote. 
That the stinging properties of this plant are of a skin 
poisoning character, I think now there cannot be the 
least doubt, a good deal has been written in reference 
to it, and I know of more than one case where young 
men suffered very’ severely from being stung by this 
plant, and were under the doctor’s care for weeks. In 
the Birmingham district, Primula obconica is very 
much grown, and deservedly so, for it is a very free 
blooming and pretty plant, and it being also so popular 
generally, a few words as to a simple and ready cure for 
any irritation to the hands and arms from handling 
this plant may be useful to many. At Messrs. 
Thomsons’, Sparkhill Nurseries, P. obconica is a 
favourite, and one of the journeymen had recently to 
clean the plants over, and in doing so his arms were 
stung, and next morning were thickly covered with red 
spots and seemed inflamed, and there was excessive 
irritation. Mrs. Herbert, on hearing of it, at once 
prepared a lotion by mixing two teaspoonfuls of 
Condy’s fluid with half a pint of warm water, and 
applied with a sponge, and after four or five appli¬ 
cations, allowing it to dry on, no symptoms remained 
twenty-four hours after ; but the lotion should be used 
at once to produce quick results.— W. D. 
Passiflora Constance Elliott. 
In a contemporary, a correspondent gives what appears 
to be the pedigree of this fine Passion Flower. The 
story, however, is not quite complete as it stands. 
While the writer referred to traces its origin, casually, 
to “a man named Fuller,”—who, I may parenthetically 
remark, is a very decent “man,” and a very good 
nurseryman of long standing at Newton Abbot—he 
then goes on to say that a lady residing in the same 
neighbourhood as Mr. Fuller—a Miss Morns—also 
claims to have unearthed it. Permit me to add another 
link to the chain of its history by saying that at the 
time it was “ discovered ” in Mr. Fuller’s nursery at 
Newton Abbot, my friend Mr. Nanscawen, gardener to 
the Dowager Countess of Morley, at Whiteway, about 
six miles from Newton Abbot, had quite a stock of it, 
having been growing it for about two years before from 
a plant given to him by Mr. Fuller. This fact was 
well known to Messrs. Lucombe, Pince & Co. when 
they sent out their Passion Flower. Mare’s nests are 
still to be found in the gardening world—not your 
particular World, Mr. Editor, but among the blue- 
aproned fraternity.— Devoniensis. 
Sharpe’s Queen Pea. 
We have received a sample of this variety from Messrs. 
Charles Sharpe & Co., Sleaford. The seed was sown in 
the second week of May, and the Peas are still fit for 
use. It is, therefore, suitable for late work, for by 
sowing later, a supply could be obtained till frost cuts 
them down, or puts a stop to growth. Sown at the 
same time as Prince of Wales, it immediately succeeds 
that variety. The pods are of a dark green, more or 
less suffused with a glaucous bloom in the young state, 
straight or slightly curved at the tips of the longer 
ones, laterally flattened, and 3 to 4 £ ins. long. They 
are not in any way inflated, so that any given quantity 
would bulk well when shelled. Each contains from 
seven to ten peas of large size and closely packed, the 
tip only being sometimes a little attenuated and empty ; 
but when we say that nine peas were about an average 
in the pods sent us, some idea may be gleaned of the 
size and fulness of the pods. Some of the pods were a 
few days too old, but the quality of the pea could be 
judged of from the younger'ones, which were rich and 
sweet. 
A Slow Germinating Palm. 
Seeds of Phytelephas macrocarpa sown in one of 
Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son’s hothouses at Upper 
Holloway took four years to germinate. The seeds are 
considerably larger, or almost twice the size of a pigeon’s 
egg, and so excessively hard as to be known under the 
name of vegetable ivory. The interior is as pure white 
as ivory, and is utilised for various ornamental and 
economical purposes after being shaped, fashioned, or 
turned according to the use to which it is to be put. The 
leaves of the seedlings raised at Upper Holloway are 
now 2 ft. to 2J ft. long, and light green with long 
linear pinnae. After being planted out in a large stove 
or warm conservatory for a number of years, the leaves 
attain a length of 10 ft. or 12 ft. or more, and 3 ft. to 
5 ft. broad. In New Grenada, its native country, the 
leaves vary from 15 ft. to 20 ft. long, with a beautifully 
arching habit, and very long dark green pinnae. 
Notes from Heatherbank and Wisley. 
My gardener at Heatherbank made a bed of Tuberoses 
on the lawn, and they have better blossoms than any 
he grew under glass. This may be not new but I think 
is worth a note. Montbretias are beautiful at Wisley, 
some of Lemoine’s newer introductions, especially a 
yellow one with bronzy leaves named Solfaterre ; they 
look well in a clump, but show their graceful growth 
