February 8, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
359 
GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND 
MYRRH. 
It will, I have no doubt, have been noticed by readers 
of The Gardening World, that on the recent occasion 
of the occurrence of Epiphany, a few chaplains of the 
English Episcopal Church presented, in the name of the 
Sovereign, at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s, offerings 
of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh, thus continuing a 
devout act, commemorative of that made by the Gentile 
Kings to the Infant Jesus, an act consonant with the 
time in which it occurred, and the customs of the 
countries in which it took place. That medireval 
monarehs should with great pomp and gaudy ritual 
imitate the gifts of the Magi at Epiphanytide, was also 
in keeping with the age3 to which such ceremonies 
pertained. It is an act still continued, but what was 
formerly done by Sovereigns in person, is now, as far as 
this country is concerned, performed by deputy. That 
the custom will soon become obsolete, like many others 
which have lost their original significance, there can be 
no doubt. 
We are told on high authority that it is now a pretty 
well ascertained fact that the resin called Olibanum, 
which is the Frankincense used by the Jews and other 
ancient churches in their religious ceremonies, is the 
produce of Boswellia thurifera, or as it is sometimes 
called, B. serrata and B. papyrifera. Linnreus supposed 
it to have been obtained from Juniperus lycia, but the 
botanists of our day say not so. It would appear there 
are two kinds of Olibanum, the Indian and the African, 
the first the produce of B. thurifera, and the African 
the produce of B, papyrifera. Dr. Hogg informs us 
that the Indian Olibanum is in “the form of yellowish, 
somewhat translucent tears, larger than that of the 
African, and generally covered with a whitish powder 
produced by friction. It has a balsamic, resinous smell, 
with an acrid, bitterish, somewhat aromatic taste. 
When chewed it softens in the mouth, adheres to the 
teeth, and partially dissolves in the saliva, which it 
renders milky ; it burns with a brilliant flame and emits 
a fragrant odour.” It is employed for its grateful 
perfume as incense in Roman Catholic churches. A 
species called B. glabra also furnishes a resin, which is 
used in India in the place of pitch, and as a medicine, 
both externally and internally. The Hindoos employ 
it as incense in their religious ceremonies. The 
Boswellias are stove plants. The genus was named 
after Dr. Boswell, of Edinburgh. 
Ovid, the Roman poet, set forth iu immortal verse 
the origin of Frankincense. The tradition states that 
Leucothea, the daughter of the Persian king, Orchamus, 
attracted the notice of Apollo, who, to woo her, 
assumed the form and features of her mother. Unable 
to withstand the god’s “impetuous storm,” Leucothea 
indulged his love ; but Clytia, maddened with jealousy, 
divulged the intrigue to Orchamus, who, to avenge his 
stained honour, immured his daughter alive. Apollo, 
unable to save her from death, sprinkled nectar and 
ambrosia over her grave, which, penetrating to the 
lifeless body, changed it into the beautiful tree which 
bears the Frankincense. 
Whether the Frankincense which the Philistines 
reverently burnt before the fish-god Dagon was the 
same as that used in our day is not stated. It is said 
that King Darius received from the Arabians an anunal 
tribute of 1,000 talents of Frankincense ; indeed, it 
was regarded as such a valuable commodity as to be 
accepted as tribute. The Magi, or wise men of the 
east, when they made their oblation to the Infant 
Jesus, by presenting him with Gold, they symbolically 
acknowledged him as King; with Frankincense, as God; 
and with Myrrh, as Man. 
' Myrrh is a resinous-like gum, yielded by Balsamo- 
dendron myrrha, the generic name representing certain 
balsam-bearing trees. B. myrrha is a small tree, 
with a stunted trunk, covered with a whitish grey bark, 
and furnished with rough abortive branches, terminat¬ 
ing in spines. It grows in Arabia Felix, in the 
neighbourhood of Gison, in dwarfish thickets, inter¬ 
spersed among Acacias and Euphorbias. The juice 
exudes spontaneously, and hardens on the bark. 
Myrrh is in the form of small irregular fragments 
or tears, or in large masses, very irregular in shape 
and size, being often not larger than a pea, and some¬ 
times as large as the fist. When of good quality it is 
reddish-yellow or reddish-brown, and translucent, of a 
strong, peculiar, somewhat fragrant odour, and a bitter 
aromatic taste. 
Tradition states that the precious resin was first pro¬ 
duced by the tears of Myrrha, daughter of Cinyras 
King of Cyprus, and mother of Adonis. Flying from 
the anger of her father, Myrrha, after long and weary 
wanderings, reached the Arabian Continent, and at 
length, in the Sabsean fields, overcome with fatigue 
and the misery of her situation, prayed with her dying 
breath to the gods to accept her penitence, and to 
bestow upon her, as a punishment for her sins, a 
middle state “betwixt the realms above and those 
below.” “ Some other form,” cried she, “to wretched 
Myrrha give ; nor let- her wholly die or wholly live,” 
when she became changed into a tree ; and as Dryden 
puts it— 
“And though with outward shape she lost her sense, 
With bitter tears she wept her last offence ; 
And still she weeps, nor sheds her tears in vain, 
For still the precious drops her name retain.” 
It is interesting to note how many instances are 
given of plants originating in this manner. Plants 
and tradition are woven together in many singular 
forms ; dating back to ages when credulity and super¬ 
stition exclusively prevailed. Iustances of this nature 
form an interesting study, and their publication agree¬ 
ably varies the contents of a paper devoted to practical 
horticulture in very many of its aspects.— U. D. 
-- 
EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURE 
IN ORCHID CULTURE. 
By F. W. Moore, Royal Botanic Garden, Dublin. 
(Concluded from p. 343 .) 
Further Experiments. 
In February,-1888, I selected the following additional 
plants with which to use the manure—viz., Acineta 
densa, Anguloa eburnea, A. Ruckeri sanguinea, Cym¬ 
bidium eburneum, C. elegans, Dendrochilum Cob- 
bianum, D. glumaceum, D. latifolium, Luddemannia 
Pescatorei, Masdevallia Veitchiana, M. ignea, M. 
tovarensis, OJontoglossum vexillarium, and Restrepia 
elegans. Its influence on some of these was immed¬ 
iately manifested, the only difference being that some 
seemed to derive more benefit than others. All of them 
improved ; even the Masdevallias, which before seemed 
to be uninfluenced, showed decided improvement, 
notably M. Veitchiana, the flowers of which were un¬ 
usually large and well coloured. Anguloa Ruckeri 
sanguinea and Cymbidium elegans, both came to Glas- 
nevin from Scotland. Neither was in very good health, 
and both were small, otherwise their owners might 
not have parted with two such scarce plants. The im¬ 
provement iu these two plants was simply marvellous, 
and quite exceeded my expectations. The new growths, 
when finished, were large and plump, the foliage 
healthy, and free from spots, and both flowered well 
this year, and at the present moment they give promise 
of further improvement. 
The history of Luddemannia Pescatorei is interesting. 
Seven years ago, I purchased two large pseudo-bulbs of 
an unnamed Orchid, for a few shillings. For two 
years they did not give any sign of growth, but the 
third year a small new growth appeared and developed. 
The fourth and fifth years, slightly larger growths 
matured, and the two original bulbs decayed away. 
The sixth year, a little Fish Potash was used when 
potting, and a splendid growth twice the size of the 
others resulted. When potting it in 1889, a flower- 
spike was discovered buried in the(soil; it was carefully 
brought to the surface, the plant was re-potted and 
watched, and the flowers on the inflorescence eventually 
opened. I sent it to the Kew Herbarium, and Mr. 
Rolfe published a description of it, with notes, in The 
Gardeners' Chronicle. If healthy growth may be taken 
as an indication of flowering, I can hope again to see 
this beautiful plant in flower, as it is one of the most 
healthy plants I have. 
The only plants I need allude to, beyond those 
already mentioned, are Ccelogyne Dayana, Odonto- 
glossum citrosmum, and various species of Catasetum, 
all of which were added to the list in 1889. The two 
first-named behaved exactly as did all Orchids 
previously tried. Not so, however, the species of 
Catasetum. I fondly hoped to solve the difficulty of 
cultivating these most interesting plants as readily as 
I had in the case of Ple.ione, Houlletia, and Den¬ 
drochilum, but I was greatly disappointed, and I must 
honestly state, those that were treated with Fish 
Potash are certainly not better, and, if anything, they 
are worse than those that are without it. 
Measurements. 
So far I have given, generally, a history of the effects 
of using Fish Potash in the cultivation of Orchids as 
observed by me. I now propose to substantiate some 
of my statements, by giving the measurements of some 
of the plants I have alluded to, which will convey a 
clear idea of the effect its use had on them. Take, 
first of all, Dendrobium nobile : the strongest growth 
on the special plant two years ago was 15| ins., the 
strongest growth at present is 21 ins. Of Dendrobium 
thyrsiflorum, the strongest growth before using manure 
was 19 ins., the strongest after two years with manure, 
25 ins. In 1887 I purchased a small piece of Ccelogyne 
Dayana : when potting in 1888 1 used a little manure. 
The leading pseudo-bulb gave a double break, and the 
oldest bulb decayed away, so that when potting time 
came in 1889, I had a small but improving plant of 
four pseudo-bulbs, two just formed, the largest of 
which was 3 ins. long, with a leaf 8 ins. long. Again 
I used a little manure, and I got three breaks which 
developed strongly. The largest of them is now 5 ins. 
long, and the largest leaf 16 ins. long. The circumference 
of a bulb of Houlletia odoratissima, before using manure, 
was 24 ins.; length of leaf, 20 ins. Now the largest 
bulb measures 31 ins., and the largest leaf 34 ins. 
Still more marked are the increases in Lycaste gigantea, 
Anguloa Clowesii, and A. Ruckeri sanguinea, the 
measurements of which I give for three years, no 
manure being used the first year, but manure being 
used iu both of the succeeding years. 
Bulb Bulb Leaf Leaf 
circumference. length, width, length. 
Lycaste gigantea ... 1st year, 6 ins. 4 ins. 17 ins. 
2nd 
„ 7i 
33 
6|„ 
31 
3rd 
„ 11 
3 f 
9 „ 
36 
Anguloa Clowesii... 1st 
„ 6 
33 
7 ins. 6 ,, 
2nd 
,, 7 
J 5 
10 „ 6 ,, 
3rd 
„ m 
3 3 
10*., 74 „ 
Anguloa Ruckeri 1st 
„ 5 
33 
34 „ 
sanguinea. 2nd 
„ <5 
3 3 
44 „ 
3rd 
„ 8 
3 3 
7 „ 
Subsidiary Effects of Manuring. 
Two questions still remain to be discussed :—Firstly, 
what effect has manuring on flowering ? Secondly, is 
the growth of a soft watery nature, likely to damp off? 
To the first I reply, the effect on flowering has been 
excellent, both as regards number and size of flowers ; 
and again I substantiate my statements by referring to 
the plants. A plant of Anguloa Clowesii, with four 
old pseudo-bulbs and two new, carried seventeen 
flowers, two peduncles carrying two flowers each, an 
unusual thing with this plant. One growth of Lycaste 
fulvescens carried fifteen flowers, three peduncles 
carrying two flowers each. A plant of Cymbidium 
eburneum with four growths had eight inflorescences, 
with fifteen flowers. The Pleiones I have already 
described. I took two pots of Dendrochilum Cobbia- 
num, and potted them in February, 1889 ; to No. 1 
I gave a pinch of manure, from No. 2 I withheld it. 
The former grew slightly the stronger, and the leaves 
were a little larger. Both flowered in November, and 
both had an equal number of inflorescences, but those 
on No. 1 were atleast twice as long as on No. 2. I now 
show you the two largest inflorescences, one from each 
plant. [The difference was most marked. The inflor- 
escense of No. 1 was 214 ins. long, the flowering 
portion being lOf ins. That of No. 2 was only 11J ins. 
long, the flowering portion being 6 ins. The peduncle 
of the first was as thick again as that of the second. 
As to the relative size of the flowers in the two we are 
less certain, because those on the middle portion of the 
inflorescence of No. 2 (accompanying the manuscript) 
had dropped, or had met with an accident, or, what is 
probable, had naturally become aborted during the 
period of flowering.— Ed.] To the second question I 
can also give a favourable reply. As far as my experi¬ 
ence goes, the growths, although large, are sound and 
healthy, and no more liable to damp off than those 
formed on plants with which no manure has been 
used. 
In conclusion, I may state that there are many 
Orchids with which I have not, as yet, tried Fish 
Potash Guano. From the lists I have given will be 
missed the names of such well-known genera as Aerides, 
Vanda, Saccolabium, Cattleya, and Lfelia, simply 
because I have never tried the manure with them. 
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I cannot 
in any way state that the experience of others is, or 
will be, similar to mine, as I have neither sought nor 
obtained information on the subject. The following 
precautions are adopted by me :—I only give manure 
in small quantities, and only once a year ; I always 
incorporate it with the soil, or, in the case of plants 
that are not being potted, I raise the sphagnum, and 
scatter the Fish Potash Guano over the soil. I have 
never given it in liquid form. 
