April 25, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
545 
to be planted elsewhere or rooted out, and the leas 
that can he done now is to cut them well back, so as to 
give more valuable shrubs all the room and daylight 
they require. Let the Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Lilacs, 
Weigelas, Berberises, Brooms, . Buddleias, Cherries, 
double and other Thoms, flowering Plums, Daphnes, 
Hydrangeas, Mock Oranges, Sumachs, flowering Cur¬ 
rants, Spirieas, Deutzias, Viburnums, and such-like 
spread to their full extent, not even preventing them 
from overlapping the edges; but keep down the rank 
growers, which are better adapted for forming game 
coverts. 
If fewer shrubs were planted in the first instance, far 
more pleasure would in many instances be derived from 
the shrubberies. In this case it would be possible and 
commendable to intersperse Hollyhocks, Foxgloves, 
Delphiniums, Sunflowers, masses of Sweet Peas, Liliums, 
herbaceous Asters, and many other flowering bulbous- 
rooted plants, perennials and annuals, among the 
shrubs, and there would then be something in the 
flowering line to admire, and, it may be, to cut from, 
all the year round.— Field. 
-- 
BEDDING CALCEOLARIAS. 
The chief secrets of success in the cultivation of 
bedding Calceolarias, according to the experience of 
most growers, are uniformly cool treatment, abun¬ 
dance of air on all favourable opportunities after the 
cuttings are rooted, and early planting out. For many 
years past I have been in the habit of planting out 
most of the stock from the middle of April to the 
middle of May, just as the weather suited the work. I 
planted Golden Gem and Camden Hero before the end 
of March, and although they we're checked by frost, 
they afterwards grew away with extra vigour, and 
yielded an abundance of bloom, thus affording ample 
proof, if such be required, of their great hardiness. 
In the south of Ayrshire, near the coast, I have 
known old plants which had been left out at the foot 
of a wall, survive the winter otherwise unprotected ; 
and a nurseryman remarked to me that, on one of his 
annual business tours to the Island of Islay, he had 
there seen Aurea floribunda flowering in November, 
after snow had fallen. 
When stocks of bedding Calceolarias have un¬ 
avoidably to be kept in structures to which fire heat 
has to be applied occasionally, it is not advisable to 
plant out so early as when they have been subjected to 
thoroughly cool treatment. The gradual hardening 
off they require will necessarily delay their planting 
out till late in the season. If these useful bedding 
plants are overcrowded, or allowed to suffer from want 
of moisture, they become leggy and stunted, and are 
consequently hardly worth the labour of planting out. 
—M., KB'. 
- -s&e* - 
THE MELON PEAR. 
This is a somewhat misleading name for au egg- 
shaped, soft fruit, something like a yellow Plum- 
Tomato. A couple of fruits -were before the Fruit 
Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society on the 
14th inst., and failed utterly to find approval from 
anyone. This is another illustration of the way 
doctors may differ, as whilst two gardeners gave the 
fruit a Certificate of Merit at Birmingham the other 
day, in London some twenty members of the Fruit 
Committee passed it by, after tasting with anything 
but pleasurable feelings. 
Perhaps the fruits were too ripe. In any case the 
flesh was soft, pulpy and objectionally flavourless. A 
good Tomato is eminently preferable. It is but right 
if it be published that this fruit received high honour 
at Birmingham from two judges to know that else¬ 
where it gained no such distinction. I hope no one 
will suppose that the Fruit Committee have any desire 
to contemn novelties ; so far from that being the case 
any really good new fruit would be most eagerly 
welcomed. The committee, however, constitute a 
somewhat cold-blooded body, and do not haste to give 
certificates to oblige friends ; the exhibit before that 
body must have real merit. 
Very eagerly would any new fruit be accepted should 
such come to the front. After all, our present stock of 
edible fruit is a limited one ; and we should be only 
too pleased to welcome any novelty that bade fair 
to deserve permanently the award of a Certificate 
of Merit. — X. __ 
Early Figs.—T he advantage of a low span-roofed 
house with plenty of light will be evident after such a 
dark winter as the past. Now that the fruits are 
approaching maturity as dry an atmosphere must be 
maintained as is consistent with the health of the 
plants at this stage. Expose the fruits as much as 
possible to full sunshine, in order to develop colour 
and flavour. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
-■*-- 
DENDROBIUM GRACILICAULE IMMACULATUM, Nov. var. 
The typical form of D. gracilicaule, as figured in the 
Botanical Magazine, t. 7042, has clear yellow flowers, 
more or less closely spotted with purple on the outer 
face of the sepals, and the petals are without spots. 
The specimen was received from a nurseryman at Kew, 
near Melbourne. Last week we received an in¬ 
florescence from Mr. W. Yea, gardener to Admiral 
Fairfax, Ravenswood, Melrose, and this had yellow 
sepals and petals without any spotting whatever, as 
the varietal name implies. The sepals may, however, 
exhibit a tinge of brown as they are fading. The 
petals were clear yellow. The side lobes of the lip 
were small, blunt, and pale, but there were a few 
brownish purple markings on the bright yellow, small, 
reniform, apiculate, terminal lobe ; the three median 
ridges running along the greater part of the lip were 
also spotted with brownish purple, and there was a 
blotch of the same colour at the foot of the pale yellow 
column. The species is similar in habit to D. 
Kingianum, and the stems (about 3 ins. to 6 ins. in 
height) bear a sub-terminal raceme of seven to ten 
flowers, about the size of the species named. Three to 
five oblong-lanceolate leaves are borne near the apex of 
the young stems, and though evergreen, the flowers 
are produced on the older stems, from which the leaves 
have fallen. It is a native of Moreton Bay, Queens¬ 
land, and the Macleay and Clarence rivers, New 
South Wales.— J. Fraser. 
L/elia Jongheana. 
Notwithstanding the popularity of Cattleyas and 
Lselias generally, there are always a few which from 
their rarity seldom appear on the exhibition table. 
One of these is L. Jongheana, which was exhibited by 
Baron Schroder at the Drill Hall on the 14th inst. 
The flowers are produced singly from the stems, seldom 
in pairs, and are 4 ins. to 5 ins. in diameter. The 
sepals and petals are of a soft rosy purple, and 
spread backwards in one plane something after the 
style of L. Perrinii, but altogether different in form. 
The sepals are lanceolate, but the petals are elliptic- 
oblong and much broader. The three-lobed lip is 
similar in colour, except the yellow disc and the white 
blotch in front of it. On the yellow disc are seven 
ridges, which at once attract attention, and serve to 
distinguish it from others, even those that exhibit.a 
crest, but of a different form. The flattened appearance 
of the flowers is another characteristic feature of the 
species. It was originally discovered in 1854 in 
Southern Brazil, and first made its appearance on the 
Continent, but has since been added to a few British 
collections. 
Cypripedium microchilum. 
Of the many hybrid Cypripediums now in cultivation, 
this is one of the most distinct. The seed parent was 
C. niveum, crossed with C. Druryi, and in the progeny 
we see the influence of both parents. The upper sepal 
is white with a claret midrib, and suffused with soft 
rosy purple on each side of this. The petals are 
broadly oval, and white with a purple midrib, and 
numerous small purple spots in lines along the nerves. 
The lip is remarkably small, laterally compressed, and 
white, reminding one somewhat of that of the small- 
flowered C. Godefroyre Laingi. The plant is of dwarf 
compact habit, and the leaves are beautifully tessellated 
with different shades of green. The hybrid was raised, 
iu the nursery of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, 
where we noted it recently in flower. 
Cymbidium ensifolium. 
Although one of the oldest introductions amongst 
Orchids, C. ensifolium is comparatively seldom seen in 
cultivation. It is a native of China and Japan, was 
introduced from the former place in 1780, and is 
figured in the Botanical Magazine, t. 1751. The 
leaves are ensiform, about 12 ins. to 18 ins. long, 
similar to those of C. eburneum, but of a lighter green, 
and thinner in texture. The flowers are produced in 
short erect racemes, and are of medium size. The 
prevailing colour is greenish yellow, but the species is 
liable to variation, and we noted a form in the gardens 
at Devonhurst, Chiswick, with paler almost white 
flowers ; the green and yellow tints have partly dis¬ 
appeared, and the fine lines running along the sepals 
are of a clearer purple than usual, but are also partly 
reduced. The petals are shorter and broader, but 
similar in hue to the sepals. The obscurely three-lobed 
lip is creamy white, edged and marked with numerous 
purple lines on the side lobes, and blotched with purple 
on the revolute middle lobe. Although but a few 
flowers only are produced on a scape, those of the 
variety above mentioned are pretty, and the gracefully 
arching leaves are elegant. 
Dendrobium undulatum. 
Australian Orchids are generally of small size, but 
the species under notice may be considered a giant, 
even amongst its congeners. The stems of specimens 
collected on a small island near Rockhampton, off the 
coast of Queensland, had stems 4 ft. to 8 ft. high, and 
rigid, leathery leaves 4 ins. long and 4J ins. broad. 
Specimens imported from the same country were 
flowered recently by Mr. J. Prewett, Swiss Nursery, 
Hammersmith. The stems were about a yard long, 
terete, or slightly compressed, and thickest just a little 
above the base. The leaves were evergreen, 2 ins. to 
3 ins. long, and \\ in. to 2 ins. broad. The racemose 
inflorescence was produced near the apex of the stem, 
and was about 12 ins. or 15 ins. in length. It took 
some considerable time to develop, and many of the 
lower buds were destroyed by fog. The remainder on 
expansion showed some affinity with D. Johannis. 
The sepals were lanceolate, undulate, yellow on the 
back and brown in front, with a yellow margin, and 
the lateral ones were broader at the base, and developed 
behind into a conical spur. The oblanceolate, undu¬ 
late petals on the contrary, were brown on both surfaces, 
with a yellow margin. The rounded, lateral lobes of 
the lip were yellow, and striated with purple ; the 
middle lobe was ovate, revolute, marbled with brownish 
purple, and having three median purple lines ; the 
crest consisted of three strong and two smaller ridges, 
all creamy yellow and edged with purple. The column 
was yellow, suffused and striated with brown on the 
back. The species is very rare in this country, and 
was originally introduced in 1838 from Manilla. 
Dendrobium Wardianum with Four Segments. 
A correspondent, Mr. T. Palmer, has obligingly sent 
us a curiosity which has occurred in his collection, in 
the shape of a flower of Dendrobium Wardianum 
having apparently only three sepals and a lip. It was 
easy to observe what had happened by an examination 
of the upper or dorsal sepal. The central portion 
consisted of the true sepal which was pale lilac and had 
a broad, white margin on either side. Now, the broad 
margins consisted of the petals which were wholly 
adnate to the dorsal sepal. This was evident from the 
difference in colour, but more forcibly from the fact 
that the white portions were on a slightly higher level 
than the lateral sepals and overlapped the latter, while 
the pale lilac portion was on a level with them. The 
flower appeared on a newly imported plant. 
Odontoglossum Cervantesii Morado. 
No doubt this beautiful variety comes nearest 0. C. 
roseum. The leaves and pseudo-bulbs are somewhat 
larger than those of the type, but the distinguishing 
mark of the variety is no doubt to be found in the lip, 
which is cordate, and as much smaller than that of the 
type as 0. C. decorum is larger. The sepals and 
petals, as well as the lip, are of a uniform soft rose, 
making the variety altogether a pleasing and attractive 
one. It has found its way into a number of collections, 
and we noted it the other week at Clare Lawn, East 
Sheen. The lateral sepals in some cases had united at 
the base, resembling what frequently occurs, and, in 
fact, is normal amongst the Oncidiums. 
Masdevallia leontoglossa. 
The flowers of this species present a very distinct and 
striking appearance ; they may be compared to those 
of M. coriacea as to form, but they are larger, pen¬ 
dulous, not erect, as in the last-named species, and the 
colours are different. The tube of the perianth is short 
and bell shaped ; the lateral sepals are broad, pu¬ 
bescent, and densely blotched with blackish purple on 
a white ground, and ending in tails about £ in. long ; 
the upper sepal is much smaller and yellowish, with a 
tail 17 ins. long. The stalked leaves are lanceolate, 
and of a curious deep, bronzy purple hue. A small plant 
of it in the collection of F. Wigan, Esq., Clare LawD, 
East Sheen, bears six fully expanded flowers. 
Dendrobium gratiosissimum. 
The habit of this Dendrobe is similar to that of D. 
Devdnianum, the erect stems being slender and slightly 
nodose. The flowers are produced in lateral clusters 
along the stems, and similar in size to those of D. 
crystallinum. The sepals are lanceolate, and of a blush- 
lilac ; and the petals only differ iu being twice as 
broad. The lip is cucullate, with a large golden yellow 
blotch at the base, around which there is a broad semi¬ 
circular band of white, and the apex is purple. There 
are also some purple markings at the base of the 
