860 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 6, 1892. 
with the flowers of sulphur, when the fungus is 
killed immediately and changes from a dark yellow 
to a maroon tint, and thereafter dries up to a state 
of powder. 
CAREX TRISTACHYS. 
The green form of this Sedge is much more exten¬ 
sively cultivated than the variegated one, but there 
can be no doubt that C. t. variegata is very ornamen¬ 
tal when well grown. Like most variegated subjects 
however it seems to show its peculiar colour best 
when grown in a stove or some other moist warm 
house. This applies to Pteris cretica Mayi, Aspi¬ 
distra lurida variegata, Chlorophytum elatum medio- 
pictum, Ophiopogon Jaburan variegatus and others 
of that type. Unless rapid increase is wanted, the 
green form should not be grown in a high tempe¬ 
rature, otherwise the foliage will be thin and unable 
to withstand the effects of a dry atmosphere when 
used for decorative purposes. It will stand full ex¬ 
posure to sunlight, but retains a brighter green when 
accorded a slight amount of shade from bright sun¬ 
shine. The leaves are narrower, longer and much 
more graceful than those of C. Morovii, which was 
used to some extent for decorative purposes a few 
years ago, but now seems to be generally discarded 
by those who have much furnishing work to do. 
ACACIA LINEATA. 
Amongst the dwarfer species of Acacia that may be 
conveniently grown in a greenhouse of moderate 
size, that under notice is worthy of attention from 
its close and twiggy habit, small leaves, and numer¬ 
ous globular clusters of yellow flowers. The clusters 
are generally developed in pairs from the axils of 
each leaf, so that well grown plants are very profuse 
in flowering. If desired to flower in a greenhouse at 
this period of the year, a temperature of 45° or 50° 
must be maintained at night, with a rise by day, and 
judicious ventilation, which must accompany all 
good cultivation. 
■» j- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
The Orchid Grower's Calendar. 
Cattleya House, etc.— Where Orchids are grown 
in quantity no time should be lost in getting on with 
the potting and re-basketing of the same. Laelia 
elegans, L. e. Turnerii, L.~ anceps, and Cattleya 
Gaskelliana will be repotted, using good fibrous peat 
and sphagnum moss, with bits of broken potsherds 
and silver sand to keep it open. The peat should be 
neither too wet nor too dry, but should have that 
elasticity of touch which growers like in all com¬ 
posts. Not often does it come to hand in a fit state 
for immediate use, and generally it is too dry. We 
then soak the turves and put them where they will 
soon become dry enough for use. This is a much 
better plan than damping after it is in lumps ready 
for use. The moss must be in about the same con¬ 
dition when used, and much of the future well-being 
of the plants depends on this seemingly unimportant 
advice. The pots and crocks should be thoroughly 
clean and dry; where there is a scarcity of crocks 
clinkers might be used as a substitute. Overpotting 
should always be avoided. We grow a great many 
of our L. anceps in baskets, which, unless where the 
plants have overgrown them, will only have the old 
material picked out and as many of the crocks as 
possible, and replaced with clean crocks and fresh 
compost. 
Vandas growing in this house are beginning to 
push their spikes, so that no time should be lost in 
affording fresh material where required. When 
grown in pots, nothing but fresh sphagnum with 
silver sand is used, but when grown in baskets we 
use peat as well. We have a plant growing in a 
basket that stands 7 ft. high with leaves down to the 
basket. Although much water will not be required, 
yet they must not know the want of it, or they will 
resent the treatment by droping their leaves later on. 
These do well with us when grown with the Cattleyas, 
where the shade given during summer is very 
slight. 
Odontoglossum Harryanum.— We grow this in 
the cool house during summer and winter it in the 
Cattleya house suspended close to the glass. Grown 
under these conditions large growths and strong 
spikes are plentiful. The forward plants are just 
now making up their grpwths fast, and receive at 
intervals of a week weak guano water. It is well to 
remember in growing Orchids, as other plants under 
glass, that no ammonia arises from the hot-water 
pipes, as from the decaying leaves in their native 
habitats. 
Cool House. —Any plants of Odontoglossum 
crispum, &c., that may have been left over when the 
bulk was repotted in September, should be repotted 
at once so as to allow them to get established before 
the sun gets powerful. This house will require to be 
damped down twice daily, first thing in the morning 
and early in the afternoon ; of course that will depend 
upon the kind of house, as some dry up much 
quicker than others. When such is the case more 
damping may be required. 
East India House. —Continue to keep a nice 
even temperature, but there must not be too much 
moisture in the air yet, or it will cause the foliage of 
Saccolabiums to spot. They dislike anything like a 
moist stuffy atmosphere. Phalsenopsis also spot 
through being kept too wet with a fluctuating 
temperature. I saw a lot last year which were 
grown in cylinders, the base of which were placed in 
shallow pans filled with water—a great mistake. 
They had evidently done well for a time, but the 
sphagnum had become sour, the water in the pans 
green, and as a natural consequence the dreaded spot 
had made its appearance. 
Temperatures.— There is no necessity to raise 
these yet. East India house, 650 at night, 70° by 
day; Cattleya house, 55 0 at night, 6o° by day ; cool 
house, 45 0 at night, 50° by day. Should the 
weather keep mild, a few degrees higher with the 
bottom ventilators open will do no harm.— C. 
Mormodes buccinator aurantiacum. 
The original or typical form of Mormodes bucci¬ 
nator was described by Lindley in 1840, and had sepals 
and petals of a pale green colour with the lip of an 
ivory whiteness, and having the side lobes rolled 
round behind in the form of a trumpet ; hence the 
specific name, which means'" the trumpeter." The 
species is variable both as to form and colour, as 
testified by the late Professor Reichenbach some 
years ago. One variety introduced later on had 
orange flowers tinted with brown, another was pale 
reddish-brown covered with dark points, a third was 
pale yellow, a fourth whitish rose, several washed 
with a darker shading, one sombre yellow, and at last 
the form under notice, having the sepals and petals 
of a rich orange colour and a clear yellow lip. This 
latter was imported from Peru by Messrs. Linden, 
Parc Leopold, Brussels, and is represented by a 
coloured illustration in L' Illustration Horticcle, 
fl. 144. 
Oncidium cheirophorum. 
The neat habit and floriferous character of this little 
Orchid will always find admirers amongst those who 
can see beauty outside of the larger and more gaudy 
flowers that are popular at the present day. The 
pseudo-bulbs are small and compactly arranged with 
short leaves, from amongst which the arching pani¬ 
cles of small but fragrant yellow flowers arise. 
Different pieces come into bloom at various times 
during the autumn and winter months, when Orchids 
are by no means too plentiful. Owing to its small 
size it may be hung up near the glass in small 
baskets, where it can easily be accommodated and 
prove ornamental. It has been flowering for some 
time past at 213, Park Road, Clapham. 
Variability of Odontoglossum Humeanum. 
As fresh importations of this Odontoglot continue 
to be made, the flowers of different individuals are 
seen to vary to a considerable extent from the origi¬ 
nally described type, some being dark and others 
lighter in hue. We noted three pieces in bloom the 
other week in the nursery of Messrs. Charlesworth, 
Shuttleworth & Co., at Park Road, Clapham, and 
all three were perfectly distinct from one another, 
yet belonged evidently to O. Humeanum, which by 
Reichenbach was considered to be a natural hybrid 
between O. Rossii and O. maculatum, judging from 
the form of the segments and the colours which are 
somewhat different from those of O. Rossii. The 
finest variety of the three plants at Clapham had 
yellow sepals heavily blotched with a tawny brown, 
while the petals were of a beautiful primrose colour 
blotched with deep brown on the lower half. The 
triangular or heart-shaped lip was sulphur yellow with 
a deep yellow crest. Another had the lower third only 
of the petals of a sulphur hue with one or two brown 
blotches at the base.of the claw, while the lip was 
white, Between those two extremes was a third 
plant with sulphur yellow petals spotted with tawny 
brown on the lower half and having a creamy-white 
lip. All were beautiful, but the Orchid lover and 
connoisseur would give preference to the first on 
account of the more decided and darker yellow hue3 
especially of the petals and lip. 
Cypripedium Lathamianum. 
The seedlings of this hybrid which have been raised 
and flowered are now very numerous, and vary 
considerably in the different shades of colour. All 
the plants in cultivation have not been raised by one 
hybridist consequently there may have been some 
amount of variation in the parents themselves, 
A plant in the Orchid Nurseries at Park Road, 
Clapham, was raised by Mr. Hill, of Nottingham. It 
is a strong grower with leaves about 12 in. long. 
The upper sepal is white with a dark purple midrib. 
The petals are of a deep brown on the upper longi¬ 
tudinal half and pale greenish yellow on the corres¬ 
ponding half. The lip is shaded with pale brown 
on a greenish yellow ground. C. Lathamianum has 
gained considerably in interest since it first made its 
appearance before the public. 
Laelia anceps Stella. 
We have received a fine bloom of this variety from 
Mr. Robert Twiss, Birdhill House, Birdhill, 
Limerick, Ireland. He tells us it is the first flower 
of that variety which has opened .with him this 
season, and all we can say is that he has lost nothing 
by waiting, more especially if he has had visitations 
of fog, like such as prevailed on this side of St. 
George's Channel about Christmas. Judging how¬ 
ever from the size, great substance, and appearance 
of the flower, it has been grown and bloomed in a 
pure atmosphere, far removed from the killing in¬ 
fluences of smoke. The sepals and petals are white 
and very broad, the latter being ovate or sub-rhom¬ 
boid and overlapping the sepals, The lip is also 
white while with exception of the raised yellow disc, 
clear bright purple lines on the interior of the side 
lobes, and the faintest tint of purple on the terminal 
lobe. Altogether the variety is a fine one, and has 
evidently received the best of treatment. 
WHAT TO DO IN_THE GARDEN. 
Palms.— The time for repotting Palms has again 
come round, and it will be well to remember to guard 
against overpotting. They can be kept in a healthier 
state, both with regard to the health of the roots 
and the appearance of the foliage, in relatively small 
pots, provided plenty of water is given during the 
summer months, with supplies of weak liquid manure 
about two or three times a week. This will bring 
about the desired results in a more satisfactory way 
than if large pots were used. 
Repotting Stove Plants.— If preparations have 
been made, as previously advised, for the repotting 
of those stove subjects which require it, the soil or 
compost should now be ready to hand, and the opera¬ 
tion may be commenced immediately. Plants that 
have attained as large a size as is desirable, and 
those that are hard cut back every autumn and win¬ 
ter, will not require larger pots. The old ball should 
be somewhat reduced and the plant put in the same 
sized pot—the reduction of the ball will allow of a 
sufficient amount of fresh compost to be placed at 
the disposal of the roots. Young stuff intended to be 
grown on to larger size will require larger pots, 
relatively to the rapidity of growth of the subject in 
hand and the kind. 
Watering of newly-potted Plants. —This is an 
operation that requires some skill and judgment to 
carry it out properly. Such things as Allamandas, 
Dipladenias, and Clerodendrons should receive a 
watering to settle the soil about the roots when 
newly repotted. As a rule the buds will have started 
at the time of repotting, but little water will be re¬ 
quired after the first has been given, until they com¬ 
mence to grow away strongly, when they will enjoy an 
increased amount. 
Crotons. —If the potting loam is of a sound and 
fibrous nature it may be used for Crotons at the 
rate of more than half the bulk of the peat incorpo¬ 
rated with it, together with plenty of clean silver 
sand to keep the whole porous and open. Pot the 
plants very firmly in order to secure short-jointed 
wood and closely-arranged leaves. If the soil is put 
loosely about the roots, coarse growth will be the 
