428 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 8, 1890. 
SEASONABLE WORK IN THE 
GARDEN. 
Azaleas. — When the first forced Azaleas go out of 
bloom, the seed vessels (if there are any) should be 
picked off, and the plants put into a brisk heat, and 
kept moist by syringing them twice a day to cause 
them to break. By encouraging the development of 
growth at this early period, ripening of the wood and the 
setting of the flower buds will ensue at a corre¬ 
spondingly early date, and be ready for nest winter’s 
forcing. 
Ferns. —Those who have not yet thoroughly over¬ 
hauled the Fern house, or, at least, the kinds that 
require stove temperature, should now do so, because 
many of them will be starting into growth. Be careful 
to avoid overpotting, while, at the time, giving a 
reasonable shift to those that grow rapidly, and 
especially to young and vigorous plants that are 
wanted to form large specimens. 
Plants for the Conservatory. — Besides the 
various forced bulbs, such as Hyacinths, Tulips, 
Narcissi, and others which are now plentiful, a fine 
display may be made by introducing various hard- 
wooded subjects, such as Acacia longifolia, A. linearis, 
hybrid greenhouse Rhododendrons, Camellias, Cytisus 
canariensis, C. raeemosus, Corouilla glauca and its 
variegated variety, Deutzias. Heaths, Epacris, For- 
sythias, Lilacs, Prunus sinensis flore pleno, Libonias, 
Grevilleas, and others. 
Deutzia gracilcs.— Where a large quantity of this 
is annually required, a stock should be kept up by 
propagating a batch of cuttings every second or third 
year. Small plants in pots are always serviceable. 
Seeing that the plant is hardy, in the south at least, all 
surplus stock may be left in the ground during winter, 
and potted up in the spring when required. Cuttings 
may be obtained from plants in flower. 
Begonias. —A good batch of these plants for early 
flowering should now be put into heat. Leave them 
in the old pots, and supply them with water till the 
tubers have fairly started, when they should be shaken 
out and put in the smallest pots their roots can be 
got into. Keep well exposed to light or the stems will 
get drawn. 
Show and Fancy Pelargoniums. —Those intended 
to be flowered in May should not be pinched, while 
for blooming in July all the points should be taken 
out. Fumigate to keep down green-fly, and syringe to 
clean the 'leaves from dust. More water will now be 
required than has been given them during winter, or 
good results cannot be expected. 
Vineries. —Where the Vines are now in full bloom, 
a night temperature of 65° or 70° may be given ; but 
should cold, cutting, frosty winds prevail, the lower 
temperature would be preferable. Muscats should not 
be unduly hastened, or many of the bunches will run 
partly to tendrils. Remove superfluous bunches in 
good time, to relieve the Vines. It is sometimes 
advantageous to fertilise artificially the flowers of 
Muscats, and always so in the case of Alnwick 
Seedling. 
Cucumbers. — Plants in full bearing should be 
liberally treated. Also remove all fruits as soon as fit 
for use. Old shoots and leaves may be pruned away to 
make room for vigorous young shoots, which may be 
breaking forth from the main stem. On no account 
allow crowding, or the inevitable will be weak shoots, 
and, it may be, large, but soft, flabby leaves, from 
which little good may be expected. 
Tomatos. — Plants intended for fruiting in pots 
should now be growing freely. The main points to be 
considered are to attend to watering, and duly venti¬ 
late to prevent the stems from getting drawn and 
weakly. They should never be allowed to get pot- 
hound until they have been placed in their fruiting 
pots, after which they should be fed with liquid 
manure, or some other stimulant. 
Rhubarb.— Fresh plantations may now be made in 
well-trenched and heavily-manured soil. The latter 
should he of a light and friable nature than otherwise, 
and if the manure is well put under, no harm will 
result, and the strong fleshy roots will soon find their 
way down to it. Injure the roots as little as possible 
when dividing the crowns. 
Asparagus. -^-Beds for the planting out of seedling 
Asparagus should now be prepared, so that all may be 
in readiness when the proper time comes. The ground 
should be trenched to the depth of 3 ft., and a liberal 
quantity of well-rotted manure incorporated with it. 
The soil should be naturally well drained if possible, 
and of a light friable nature. 
ORCHID NOT ES AND G LEANINGS. 
Orchid Growers’ Calendar. 
Any of the early-flowering Dendrobiums, such as 
D. Wardianum, D. lieterocarpum, D. nobile, &c., 
which have bloomed, and are now pushing young 
growths, should be re-potted or re-basketed if they 
require it before there is any danger of breaking the 
brittle young roots that will soon be emitted. Cara 
should be taken not to give the plants larger pots or 
baskets than they really require, for they greatly 
dislike a large mass of compost round their roots, aud 
should always have plenty of clean crocks for drainage. 
Green-fly generally infests the growing points of the 
shoots at this season, and if the Dendrobes are grown 
in a house in which Phaltenopsids are in flower, it is not 
advisable to fumigate, but dipping in weak tobacco- 
water or some reliable insecticide must be resorted to, 
so that the growths may not be crippled. 
Thunias should also be re-potted, and if possible be 
afforded a very light position, so that they may be the 
more likely to flower freely. Half turfy loam and half 
peat, with a dash of sand, is a good compost in which 
to grow them. This soil will also suit Cymbidiuni 
Mastersii, which will probably be fit to re-pot about 
this time. The many varieties of Lselia elegans which 
are now pushing stout young growths are best potted 
at this season, as well as forward plants of Gaskelliana. 
Any plants of Miltonia vexillaria not potted in the 
autumn, Masdevallia tovarense, M. Chimsera, M. Back- 
houseana, or Odontoglossum meyium majus, that want 
a size larger pot, had better be attended to, so that they 
may get re-established before they are transferred to 
the cool house for the summer months. 
Temperatures. —Cool house, 45° to 50’ by night, 
50° to 55° by day. Cattleya house, 55° by night, 60° 
by day. East Indian house, 65° by night, 70° to 75° 
by day. — JF. P. 
Stauropsis gigantea. 
Amongst Orchid growers this plant is better known 
under the name of Vanda gigantea, but it is by no 
means a common plant in gardens, and is seldom seen 
in flower. There is a fine specimen of it at Clare Lawn, 
East Sheen, under the care of Mr. Want, and which has 
been flowering for some time past. The broad, leathery 
strap-shaped leaves are unequally bifid at the apex, 
arranged iu two ranks after the manner of a Vanda, 
and droop to a length of 2 ft. The whole plant is 
about 2 ft. high, and from amongst the leaves arises 
the pendulous raceme bearing sixteen flowers or buds 
which expand in succession from the base to the apex 
of the raceme. The flowers are of great size and 
substance, resembling those of a Vanda, but the lip is 
not spurred, and in this instance is narrow, hatchet¬ 
shaped, scooped at the base and then bent forward, and 
whitish fading to pale yellow. The sepals are obovate, 
clear yellow, and irregularly blotched with a tawny 
brown. The petals are smaller and more faintly 
blotched, but othewise similar. 
Dendrobium MacfarlaNei. 
Two plants of this very rare Dendrobium are now in 
flower at Messrs. Veitch & Sons’ Nursery, at Chelsea, 
one of the plants having been in flower for several 
weeks past. The plants might be easily mistaken for 
D. chrysotoxum of moderate size when not in flower ; 
but the flowers are very different—the sepals and petals 
being purest white. The lip, which is nearly as long 
as the petals, is also white, with purple markings in 
the throat. The flowers appear to be stout, and to 
endure for a considerable time ; even where many 
other Orchid-flowers suffer severely from the effects of 
London fog. A good illustration of the above plant 
appeared in The Gardening World for January 1st, 
1887, from a flower sent from Chalfont Park, Slough, 
which was from a plant derived from a different source 
to the ones now flowering at Chelsea. The plant was 
dedicated to the Rev. S. M. Macfarlane, by Professor 
Reichenbaeh, he being one of the pioneer missionaries 
in New Guinea in connection with the Londbn 
Missionary Society.— W. P. 
Phal/enopsis denticulata. 
In general appearance and habit this may be compared 
to P. Luddemanniana, but it is neither so strong a 
grower nor so effective when in flower. To the specialist, 
however, and more particularly to those who pay much 
attention to the different species of Phalsenopsis, it 
cannot fail to prove interesting. The flowers are, 
however, much larger than either those of P. Parishi 
or P. cornu-cervi. The sepals and petals are nearly 
equal in size, pale yellowishjwhite, and barred trans¬ 
versely with yellowish brown blotches. The lip is 
narrow, ridged, slightly bearded along the top of the 
ridge, especially near the top, and creamy white with 
three mauve lines on either side of the ridge. The 
specific name refers to a number of teeth round the 
apex of the lip. The leaves are of the usual type 
common to the class to which this species belongs ; 
they vary from 5 ins. to 7 ins. long and are green. It 
has been flowering for some time in the nursery of 
Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., Clapton. 
Cypripedium porphyrochlamis. 
The seed parent of this striking variety was C. 
barbatum crossed with the pollen of C. hirsutissimum. 
The upper sepal is broadly ovate, nearly orbicular, 
purple with darker veins, and white round the tip and 
upper margin. The slightly declinate sepals are 
oblong, pale purple on the lower half, and spotted with 
darker purple ; while the upper half is a clear purple, 
thus showing the influence of C. hirsutissimum pretty 
strongly. The lip is oblong and deep purple. The 
leaves are tessellated with dark green, after the manner 
of C. barbatum. The plant was shown by F. G. Tautz, 
Esq. (gardener, Mr. C. J. Cowley), Studley House, 
Hammersmith, at the last meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, when it received a First Class 
Certificate. 
Orchids from Arddarroch. 
A quantity of seasonable flowers reached us the other 
day from Mr. James Brown, gardener to R. B. ’White, 
Esq., Arddarroch, Gaerloch Head, N.B. Amongst 
others was a fine raceme of Dendrobium fimbriatum 
oculatum, sometimes grown under the name of D. 
Paxtoni. The sepals and petals were of a fine orange- 
yellow, and the fringed lip paler with an intense 
maroon, almost black blotch in the throat. Judging 
from those sent the varieties of D. nobile are both 
numerous and fine at Arddarroch. One had flowers as 
richly coloured as D. n. Wallicliianum, if not the same 
thing, and another presented a fine contrast, being 
almost white, except the tips of the segments and the 
blotch. A small-flowered form of Cattleya Trianas had 
the upper portion of the lip richly coloured, while the 
usual yellow blotch had almost given place to pure 
white. A fine Cattleya is C. T. albida, with large 
flowers of a pure white, with the exception of a lilac band 
across the throat, and a few yellow lines running down 
into the tube. It was several shades paler than C. T. 
delicata, or intermediate between that and C. T. alb?. 
Another form sent was notable for its huge size, 
measuring 8 ins. from tip to tip of the sepals, and 
nearly as much across the petals. The sepals were 
blush coloured, the petals several shades darker, and 
the lamina of the huge lip, together with its long tube, 
of a rosy purple. 
-- 
Gardeners’ Improvement Societies. 
Ealing and District. 
At the weekly meeting held iu the Victoria Hall on 
February 26th, the members of this association contrived 
to render the room very gay with seasonable flowers. 
The finest exhibit was that shown by Mr. Long, 
gardener to A. P. Oakshot, Esq. He had two Azaleas 
(including Deutsche Perle), Hyacinths, Tulips and Astilbe 
japonica, all in fine condition. Mr. E. Chadwick, 
gardener to E. M. Nelson, Esq., had a fine Azalea 
mollis and the Chinese Sacred Lily, the latter creating 
a lively discussion. Mr. Cox, gardener to Mrs. Bland 
showed Hyacinths, Tulips and Primula obconica. Mr. 
Griggs, gardener to A. G. Dixon, Esq., showed Odonto¬ 
glossum cordatum and O. maeulatum. White Azaleas 
were shown by Mr. Simmons, gardener to W. Williams, 
Esq., and Mr. J. Baird, gardener to C. A. Daw, Esq. A 
neatly arranged flower stand was shown by Mr. Roberts, 
gardener to J. Harris, Esq. A basket of Deutzias and 
Cinerarias was shown by Mr. Gates, gardener to the 
Rev. Professor Henslow ; and a fine bunch of Clematis 
indivisa was brought up by Mr. Wilson, gardener to T. 
Simpson, Esq. Some fine pots of Freesia refracta alba, 
emitting a strong but pleasing odour, were staged by 
another exhibitor. After the preliminary arrangements, 
the chair was taken by A. G. Dixon, Esq., who intro¬ 
duced the Rev. Percy W. Myles, R. A., T.C.D. who 
gave an interesting lecture on the “Names of Plants, 
their Meanings, Derivations, and Pronunciation.” He 
brought with him a considerable number of old books 
in divers languages, aud said that the only way of 
getting at the original meaning and correct pronun¬ 
ciation, was to go back to those old authors who used 
the names for plants which they described or wrote 
about. He held that when a name was quoted by a 
Greek or Latin author, its meaning and pronunciation 
could absolutely be depended upon. Although in itself 
a dry subject, the lecture was rendered both amusing 
and instructive. 
