236 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 14, 1889. 
urging the necessity of moderation in the question 
of size, even in the matter of cultivating vegetables for 
exhibition. The judging of exhibits was, by Mr. Dean, 
made a great point of—-he, in fact, being all for points. 
A discussion ensued, in which Mr. Dean’s ideas were 
generally upheld, a notable exception obtaining in the 
case of the Brussels Sprouts. Mr. Wright, Mr. Chad¬ 
wick (hon. secretary), Mr. Sewell, Mr. Green (of Acton), 
and others took part, the last-named gentleman remark¬ 
ing that he interpreted Mr. Dean to imply that large 
Brussels Sprouts were not Brussels Sprouts at all, but 
little Cabbages. A hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Dean, 
proposed by Mr. Green, and seconded by Mr. Sewell, 
concluded the proceedings, which were of an eminently 
practical character. 
The chairman announced, as the result of the recent 
concert in aid of the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, that the 
sum of £20 would be handed to Mr. A. F. Barron, the 
hon. secretary of the fund; that it had been resolved by 
the committee of the society that this sum be divided 
into four equal parts of £5 each, and that Messrs. 
George Cannon, E. Chadwick, E. Fountain, and himself 
had been elected as life members. Although the 
balance in favour of the fund did not quite reach £20, 
that sum was made up in the room through the kindness 
of Mr. Sewell and others. 
Ware and District. 
A meeting of this society was held at Ware on Tuesday, 
the 3rd inst., when a paper was read by Mr. E. Wallis 
entitled “Hardy Fruit.” The subject proved very 
interesting, and a discussion followed, in which Messrs. 
Fulford, Brown, Phillips, Smith, and Riding took part. 
A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Wallis 
for his paper, and the meeting terminated with the 
usual vote of thanks to the chairman. 
-- 
ORCHID NO TES ARP GLEANINGS. 
Hawthorndean, Didsbury. 
I SAVE before me a most beautiful flower of Lycaste 
Skinneri alba, sent by Mr. G. Jackson, gardener to 
W. Robinson, Esq., Hawthorndean, near Manchester. 
The plant in question was imported direct with several 
others of the same variety which have proved to be 
true ; since then one or two more have come over, so 
that now there are ten plants showing flower, with 
from two to twelve flowers on a plant. If all should 
prove true, it will indeed be a successful venture. The 
flower sent measures 6f ins. across, the top sepal being 
If ins. in breadth. It is indeed a fine form, very 
pure, and of a stout substance. Several plants of 
Oncidium splendidum are also showing flower. These, 
too, were imported direct, and last year, when many of 
them flowered, they proved to be excellent varieties. 
I had the pleasure of visiting this establishment a short 
time ago, and was pleased to find a nice lot of Orchids 
doing well. Yandas were represented by good plants 
of Y. tricolor, Y. suavis, V. Denisoniana, and Y. 
Sanderiana, the latter having eleven stout leaves and 
rooting freely. The new Y. Amesiana was doing well, 
so too was Y. teres in a basket, hung up well into the 
light. Saccolabium Blumei majus was stout and vigo¬ 
rous ; Ccelogyne Massangeana is here grown in a basket 
with the East India plants, and very strong are the 
bulbs and leaves. A grand plant of C. pandurata had 
started early in the season, made a bulb, and flowered 
in June ; it then commenced growing again from the 
same bulb, and finished another, and produced a 
second spike of flower in September. Coelogyne 
cristata, represented by several large plants, gave 
promise of a fine display of flowers. I noticed also 
Ltelia Perrinii, a grand mass in a basket 2 ft. square. 
This plant, last year, had ninety-four flowers upon it. 
I anticipate the next flowering time, even just now, 
a far larger number will be developed. Dendrobium 
Findleyanum and D. heterocarpum are clean and good, 
while a mass of D. Dalhousieanum had come away with 
forty leads. A capital lot of Calanthes are here grown 
in 32’s and 24’s, several bulbs in a pot, C. Yeitchii being 
stout and clean, having bulbs just 1 ft. in length. 
Many Dendrobes, such as D. nobile, D. densiflorum, 
D. thyrsiflorum, &c., were stood out in a cool vinery to 
rest. 
In the Odontoglossom house were some twenty plants 
of 0. grande. These had been imported some eighteen 
months ago, and are now in flower, just 150 blooms 
being all out together. 0. citrosmum is here done in 
baskets, and were very stout and plump, thirty-five 
flowers having been counted on a single bulb. 0. 
Insleayi was in flower, as also were Oncidium Forbesii, 
0. phalrenopsis, and Zygopetalum rostratum. The 
latter is grown in a pan and hung up, and well indeed 
it was doing. Lselia elegans was clean and fine, while 
a mass of L. anceps was suspended on a raft just 4 ft. 
long. Many other things were deserving of note, but 
those enumerated will give a fair idea cf one of the new 
collections now being formed in the neighbourhood of 
Manchester.— W. S. 
Rattlesnake Orchid. 
Comparatively few of the smaller-flowered Orchids 
find acceptance with the general grower of that class of 
plants, but Pholidota imbricata seems to be taken in 
hand more and more every year, judging by the fre¬ 
quency with which we are asked to name specimens. 
Y T e received a fine one the other day from Mr. W. D. 
Marks, a well-known amateur grower. The name 
Rattlesnake Orchid applies to the bracts subtending 
the flowers, inasmuch as they are closely arranged, 
almost overlapping one another, resembling the scaly 
body of the rattlesnake, and the spike twists about in 
a somewhat similar manner when shaken. The 
numerous small flowers are of a pale yellowish hue 
with an orange anther-cap, and, curiously enough, they 
commence to open from the apex of the scape down¬ 
wards. The latter is, however, drooping, and the first 
flowers to open are therefore lowermost—that is, at the 
tip. 
L/elio-Cattleya Pallas. 
The pollen parent of this bi-generic hybrid was 
Cattleya Dowiana, and the seed parent Lrelia crispa. 
The sepals and petals are blush, and the latter are 
folded backward longitudinally, and crisped at the 
edge like Lfelia crispa. The lip is large, and the 
middle lobe is deeply bifid, rich crimson-purple, with a 
lilac margin, and finely striated with purple and yellow 
in the throat and tube after the manner of Cattleya 
Dowiana. The column is clavate and white. The 
plant exhibited by Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, 
Chelsea, at the Drill Hall, Westminster, on Tuesday 
last, was of good size, and bore four blooms on 
one scape. A First Class Certificate was awarded it by 
the Royal Horticultural Society. 
Cypripedium Niobe. 
This is a hybrid between C. Farrieanum, as the male 
parent, and C. Spicerianum, as the female parent. The 
leaves are oblong, green, and resemble those of the 
female parent, but are shorter. The scape is dwarf, 
bearing one flower, which, for the plant, is of great 
size. The upper sepal is white, veined and reticulated 
with pale purple, and greenish at the very base. The 
petals are deflexed and beautifully undulated on the 
upper margin like C. Farrieanum. They are greenish 
yellow at the base dotted with dark purple, and striped 
along the middle on a greenish yellow ground with a 
broad brownish purple border on both margins, and 
ciliate. The lip is densely pubescent, brownish, and 
suffused with yellow in places. The staminode is 
deeply bifid on the lower margin, creamy yellow, with 
a purple band round the sinus, and tinted with green 
above that. The infolded sides of the lip are yellow, 
dotted with purple. It was exhibited by Messrs. J. 
Yeitch & Sons, at the Drill Hall, Westminster, on the 
10th inst., and received a First Class Certificate, which 
the three plants shown well merited. 
C CELIA BELLA. 
The leaves of this pretty but curious Orchid are 24 ft. 
in length or more, linear and three to five-nerved. On 
the contrary, the racemes of bloom, which are four to 
eight-flowered, are only from 3 ins. to 5 ins. long. The 
bracts are three-fourths as long as the flower, and 
brown when the latter is expanded. All the parts are 
erect for three parts of their length, and then recurve, 
forming a funnel-shaped flower, and there is a gibbosity 
or chin at the very base of the lateral sepals. All the 
three sepals are white, with a purple tip, while the 
petals are wholly white. The pointed lip is bright 
yellow. The flowers are slightly fragrant. The 
specimen noted was exhibited by S. Malcolm Cook, 
Esq. (gardener, Mr. D. Cullimore), Kingston Hill, at the 
last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, when 
it received a First Class Certificate. 
Cypripedium Galatea majus. 
The parents of this hybrid are C. Harrisianum and C. 
insigne Chantini. The strap-shaped leaves are oblong, 
light shining green, reticulated with deeper markings 
like those of C. Harrisianum, and 4 ins. to 8 ins. long. 
The upper sepal is large, heavily blotched with brownish 
purple, almost hiding the greenish yellow ground, while 
the apex and margin are white : in this it corresponds 
with C. insigne Chantini. The petals are more of C. 
Harrisianum, oblong-spathulate, glossy purplish brown 
on the upper half, and suffused with pale brown on the 
lower longitudinal half and tipped with yellow. The 
horizontal lip is deep, dull purple, and shining. The 
large staminode is obeordate, brownish yellow, finely 
tuberculated, and having a central yellow knob. It 
was shown at the Drill Hall, Westminster, on Tuesday 
last, by Mr. Ballantine, gardener to Baron Schroder, 
The Dell, Egham, and received an Award of Merit. 
Cypripedium, T. B. Haywood. 
The pollen parent of this hybrid was C. Drurii, and 
the female parent C. superbiens. The leaves are 
oblong, the broader ones narrowed to both ends, and 
all slightly marbled with dark green on a paler ground. 
The brownish purple hairy scape is one to two- 
flowered. The upper sepal is suffused and striped 
with purple on a white ground, and the broad dark 
purple midrib takes after C. Drurii. It is also 
greenish at the base. The broad petals are oblong, 
spathulate, suffused with pink on a white ground, 
with a purple midrib and lines of purple dots along the 
veins. The large rosy purple lip is minutely dotted 
with darker purple near the mouth, and more distinctly 
so on the infolded side lobes. The half-moon-shaped 
staminode has a wide sinus at its lower edge, and a 
narrow one at the upper, and is flesh-coloured, with a 
greeenish marbling in the centre. It was exhibited by 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, at the last meeting 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, and was accorded 
an Award of Merit. 
--- 
The Gard eners’ C alendar. 
THE STOVE. 
Caladiums.— -Where a large number is kept, a few of 
the tubers started now will come in useful before the 
main batch is required. The tubers of the latter should 
now be resting iu a moderately warm place, with just 
sufficient moisture in the soil to prevent them from 
shrivelling. Under the influence of a low temperature 
the tubers of many are liable to perish. 
Achimenes, Gloxinias.— Batches of both of these 
may now be started in the stove or forcing pit. Old or 
last year’s tubers of Gloxinias may be turned out of the 
dry soil in which they grew last year and re-potted in a 
small size, in a compost of peat and leaf-soil with a 
small proportion of loam, some lumps of charcoal if 
obtainable, and sand. Place them in a temperature of 
60° to 65°, and do not give any water until they begin 
to grow. Before the roots get pot-bound shift the 
plants into their flowering pots, using 48 or 32-size 
pots, according to the relative size of the tubers and 
the size the plants are likely to attain. Seeds may also 
be sown at once, or some time during next month, as 
the seedlings are of very slow growth during the early 
stages. Of course they can be raised with greater 
certainty after the new year on account of the increasing 
amount of light. In all cases keep the seedlings near 
the glass after they have germinated. 
Begonias in Flower. —Of the shrubbery or her¬ 
baceous kinds the undermentioned are now flowering, 
and will be most acceptable in various ways to those 
who possess them. The winter-flowering race of the 
tuberous kinds are Adonis, John Heal, Winter Gem, 
B. socotrana, and others. Other forms, such as B. 
insignis, B. semperflorens, B. s. rosea, B. s. carminata 
gigantea, B. Bruanti, B. Carrieri, B. manicata, and 
several others will be found most serviceable. All of 
them flower most abundantly, especially B. insignis, 
B. Carrieri and B. manicata. The large leaves of the 
latter are very ornamental with their wrist-bands of 
reddish brown scales, and the cloud-like panicled cymes 
of small pink flowers. 
THE GREENHOUSE. 
Heaths. —Great care must be exercised in the heating 
of houses containing Heaths and other Cape plants 
during the winter season, but especially during frosty 
weather. If the plants are at all stimulated by too 
much artificial heat they start growing, to the great 
detriment of the display of bloom afterwards. Rather 
than this the house may be allowed to drop to a little 
above freezing point, and no harm will result. 
Plants in Flower. —A few of the Chrysanthemums 
are still in tolerably fair condition, and they are largely 
assisted in making a display by forced Lilacs, Deutzias, 
Azalea indica, Roman Hyacinths, Due Yan Thol Tulips, 
Freesia refracta alba, Narcissi, and others. Be careful 
during frosty weather not to admit cold draughts, 
which are very injurious to newly forced flowers, 
causing them to shrivel up. 
