664 
.THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 18, 1892. 
the buds of Gooseberries, Currants, Primroses, &c., 
in winter and early spring, but in all this he is only 
obeying a natural instinct in making a living when 
other natural food is scarce. With the precautions 
usually recommended, however, the gardener can 
protect himself. The sparrow is in many ways an 
undoubted friend of the gardener and farmer, and if 
his foraging instincts in winter and spring, bring him 
under the law as a thief and a rogue, it must be 
remembered that food is as necessary then as at any 
other time, and if at any time of the year the 
sparrow may be considered a benefactor surely he 
deserves a bill of fare. 
E. V. B. would like to verify the theory that 
" Sparrows feed their young, after the first week, 
upon Peas and young Wheat.” I have watched the 
sparrows in a suburban garden, for a considerable 
length of time, amongst young Peas, and I failed to 
see them peck at a single leaf, and although the Peas 
in question are at least 8 in. high, not a leaf has been 
eaten by anything. No attentive observer can fail 
to see what business the sparrow has amongst the 
Peas, simply from his behaviour ; I ought to say she 
as well as he, for cock-sparrows and hen-sparrows 
alike are extremely active in catching insects for 
their young. The Pea quarter merely forms a happy 
hunting ground ; and it is interesting to note the 
activity they display amongst and around the stems 
and foliage, and the rapidity with which they go for 
an insect shows that no inanimate object would 
require such hot haste to catch it. The sides, eaves, 
and crevices of brick walls are also searched in the 
same way, the sparrows often hovering on the wing 
■while catching their prey. Each stay amongst the 
Peas is very short, but the number of times they 
come there during the course of a day is amply 
testified by the trodden down state of the ground. 
The soil had been drawn to the Peas forming a 
sharp-edged ridge on each side, but in a few days 
these ridges had been trodden down by the sparrows 
till they were perfectly rounded on the top. 
Newly-planted and tender Lettuces do, however, 
come in for a little share of attention, but whether 
for the old sparrow's themselves or to feed their 
young I have not yet determined. A line or two of 
black thread stretched about 3 in. or 4 in. above the 
soil affords ample protection, and that being the 
case the suburban or town dweller has little cause 
to complain. If other evidence were wanted of the 
insectivorous nature of the sparrow at this season of 
the year, it was furnished by the action of some 
boys, who, w'hether from motives of cruelty or 
inquisitiveness, I will not say science, had robbed a 
nest of young and had cut open the maws of the 
young birds, disclosing a mass of insect vermin, both 
of a creeping and flying kind.— J. Fraser. 
-■*—- 
THE NEW CITY FRUIT 
AND VEGETABLE MARKET. 
The new Central Fruit, Vegetable and Flower 
Market, recently erected by the Grand Markets 
Committee of the City Corporation, was opened at 
one o'clock on Monday by the Lord Mayor, in the 
presence of a large number of citizens and members 
of the ancient Corporation. 
The building, the foundation-stone of which was 
laid in October last by the then Lord Mayor, com¬ 
pletes the series of markets erected under the Act 
of Parliament of 1875 by the Corporation of the 
City of London, at an expenditure of about 
£1,794,000. It is situated at the junction of Charter- 
house Street and Farringdon Road, and has a 
frontage to the former thoroughfare of about 370 
feet, and to the latter of some 184 feet. Of this area, 
representing about 54,000 feet, the building now 
erected occupies 30,000 feet super, thus leaving 
ample room for extension when required. The 
total cost of the works beyond the value of the site 
(£50,000), which is the property of the Corporation, 
has been about £70,000, made up generally as 
follows : For the substructure and basement works, 
under agreement with the Great Northern Railway 
Company, £41,000 ; for the superstructure, £22,000 ; 
other expenses, £7,000. The building, which, 
although light in appearance, is thoroughly substan¬ 
tial, is designed of iron and glass, and rises to an 
extreme height of 46 ft. One most important 
feature in its construction, is the manner in which 
all the goods consigned to the market will be 
delivered direct to the salesman from the railway. 
It must be understood that the basement under this 
and the adjoining markets, an area of about 100,000 
feet, will be occupied by the Great Northern Rail¬ 
way Company, whose lines of rail and platforms will 
traverse the entire length from Charles Street to 
Snow Hill. Large hydraulic lifts are designed to 
raise the produce brought by the railway to the 
markets above, while inclined roadways for horse 
traffic are provided as means of access from the 
basement to the street level. 
It was explained, by the Chairman of the Grand 
Markets Committee, for the benefit and encourage¬ 
ment of those traders who desired stalls, that the 
rent of standings, as provided by the bye-laws and 
approved by the Board of Trade, would be ijd. per 
foot super per week ; but that by a special order of 
the Corporation a rebate would be allowed for the 
first year of one-half, and for the second year one- 
third of that sum ; so that the full rental named 
would not come into operation until the commence¬ 
ment of the third year of occupation. The Corpora¬ 
tion were obliged to levy tolls, but although the 
committee had purposely made them very light, 
some persons had been found, who, although anxious 
to set up stalls, demurred to having to pay any such 
dues at all, but there is no justification for such a 
contention, unless those persons expect the Corpora¬ 
tion to find them offices and appliances with which 
to carry on their businesses for nothing, which of 
course is out of the question. 
The Lord Mayor pointed out that the capital sum 
expended by the City of London in markets 
amounted to something like £3,300,000. That this 
expenditure was required for providing means of 
distributing the enormous and ever-increasing food 
supply of London he showed by figures. At the 
Central Market the number of tons of meat delivered 
during the past year was roughly 307,500; at 
Billingsgate the total number of tons of fish was 
127,700 ; at the Metropolitan Market something ap¬ 
proaching 1,000,000 animals were disposed of ; while 
at the Foreign Meat Market the number of animals 
reached 350,000. The average daily delivery into the 
Central Markets during the year had been 1,005 tons, 
and reached on one day the maximum yet attained of 
2,936 tons. While congratulating Londoners on the 
acquisition of a new means of distributing such 
immensely important supplies as fruit, vegetables, 
and flowers, he felt bound to say that their thanks 
were due to the City of London in providing it. He 
further expressed the opinion that if it had been 
brought into being simply for the purpose of intro¬ 
ducing new markets, that would in itself have been 
quite sufficient to justify the raison d'etre of the 
Corporation. As it was, that body had many other 
important duties, and by the way it carried them 
out showed that it was by no means standing still, 
but was always ready and willing to meet the grow¬ 
ing requirements of the community generally. He 
then declared the market open, an announcement 
which was received with loud cheers. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
The Orchid Growers' Calendar. 
Cool Houses.— The sudden fall in temperature on 
Saturday .accompanied by rain on Sunday .necessitated 
the use of fire heat in these divisions to keep the 
minimum up to 50° during the night. It is said that 
the temperature at night where Odontoglossum 
crispum is found often goes down to or near the 
freezing point. Perhaps it does, but we must 
remember that all plants grown under natural 
conditions are better able to withstand sudden 
changes than those grown under glass. Should the 
temperature outside keep low, syringing overhead in 
all the houses will be curtailed. 
Cattleya House. — The early forms of Mendeli 
as they go out of flow'er will be thoroughly cleaned, 
and if they require it be repotted ; also any Gigas 
varieties that may have missed flowering, as these 
will be ready before the flowering plants which again 
promise to be fine. We use for these the best 
fibrous peat that can be procured, and use it in rather 
large lumps, being particular to have all the fine 
particles shaken out. Very little sphagnum moss is 
required, but a plentiful use of broken pots worked 
in with the peat helps to keep the latter sweet and 
porous. The roots too adhere to these. The old 
material should be carefully removed and all the 
decayed or bruised roots be cut away. Pot as firm 
as possible without damaging the roots ; no water will 
be required to be given directly to the plants, if they 
are placed in a position where the atmospheric 
conditions are favourable to root action. 
L.elia anceps. —These will be greatly benefited 
if watered once a week with weak guano water. I 
would ask those who do not agree with feeding 
Orchids to try one or two as an experiment and 
report the result to you. I shall be greatly surprised 
if the report is not favourable to the feeding system. 
Calanthes growing in the stove or warm division 
will be making rapid growth, and should be 
encouraged as much as possible. A good liquid 
manure for these is made by placing a bag contain¬ 
ing horse droppings and a little soot into a tub of 
water, which at first may be diluted to about the 
colour of weak tea, gradually increasing the strength 
as the plants get used to it. Clay’s fertilizer is a 
good manure, but its strength is not easily deter¬ 
mined unless procured direct from the manufacturers; 
then of course it is fresh and at its full strength, and 
should be applied in small quantities as directed by 
the makers, when no harm will be done. 
Angr.ecum falcatum.— What a charming little 
Orchid this is ? It is of easy culture, too, and takes 
up but a small amount of space in the Cattleya 
house, wherein it does well grown in small baskets 
suspended close to the glass. Ours are just pushing 
up their spikes of pure white flowers. In the same 
house we have A. sesquipedale growing. It flowers 
annually, but of course does not make such rapid 
growth as when grown warmer ; but it shows that 
amateurs not possessing a stove or East India house 
are not debarred from growing this, the finest species 
of the genus. We grew a small plant of the spring 
flowering variety into a nice specimen in this house, 
and a good price being offered for it, it has passed 
into the hands of a leading Orchid grower.— C. 
Rodriguezia secunda. 
The habit of this plant and the colour of the flowers 
strongly recal those of some Cochlioda such as C. 
sanguinea, but the flowers are of a much darker rose- 
red even than in that case notwithstanding the 
significance of the specific name. It comes from 
Trinidad, and is very far from being common in 
cultivation although originally introduced in 1820. 
The pseudo-bulbs are compressed and of small size, 
well furnished with lanceolate, leathery leaves, some¬ 
what similar to those of an Odontoglossum. The 
flowers are borne on a one-sided, arching raceme, 
more closely arranged than those of Cochlioda san¬ 
guinea, and certainly pretty. We noted a flowering 
specimen the other day in the nursery of Messrs. H 
Low & Co., Clapton. 
The undermentioned new Orchids were exhibited at 
the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
the 7th inst., and received awards according to merit. 
Zygopetalum (Warscewiczella) Lindeni 
The leaves of this Zygopetalum are lanceolate, 
relatively broad, and of a grass green. The one- 
flowered scape is drooping, and the flower of great 
size for the genus. The sepals are oblong, and 
white, the upper one being reflexed, and the lateral 
ones revolute along one edge. The petals are some¬ 
what broader and oblong. The lip is nearly 
orbicular, somewhat scooped, of great size, and 
white with nine to eleven mauve-violet lines along 
the centre; the sides are undulated, somewhat 
crenate, and there is a prominent crest at the base. 
First-class Certificate. 
Cynorches peruvianum. 
The pseudo-bulbs of this curious, interesting, and 
most remarkable Orchid are fusiform, bearing 
several lanceolate, tw T o-ranked, and ribbed leaves. 
The raceme is pendulous, nearly terminal, and many 
flowered. The sepals are linear-oblong, the petals 
lanceolate, and all are variously twisted pale green 
spotted with brown. Interest however centres in the 
column and lip. The latter has a long claw, then a 
twelve fringed white lamina, having an additional 
white fringe near the centre, and just below the 
subulate apex ; the whole of this fringed lamina is 
white. The column is long, curved like a swan’s 
neck, slender, purple downwards, and green just 
below the clavate apex. Botanical Certificate. 
Oncidium auriferum. 
The pseudo-bulbs are ovoid and short, bearing 
lanceolate, channelled leaves, above which the 
branching flower scapes rise to a height of iS in. to 
2 fa ft., bearing a profusion of small, but bright yellow 
flowers. The sepals are linear, the petals oblong, 
