May 3, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
557 
in. In gardens that are inclined to be moist, a collection 
of bedding Violas should always he included in the list of 
plants for the decoration of the flower garden. 
Half-hardy Annuals. —Continue to prick out 
these in frames as soon as they have developed a few 
leaflets, because all delay in the matter tells with bad 
effect on many kinds which are apt to run up with a 
single stem, and produce but a few flowers, where early 
thinning and planting have been neglected. 
Hardy Annuals. —Successional sowings of some 
kinds, such as Sweet Peas, Candytuft, Virginian 
Stocks and others may now be made to produce a 
display in early districts, after the first have gone out of 
bloom. 
-- 
ORCHID NOT ES AND G LEANINGS. 
Orchid Growers’ Calendar. 
It is very essential to the well-being of the plants, 
that insect pests be kept under at all times, but they 
appear to increase amazingly during the spring months, 
and perhaps no pest is harder to eradicate than ordinary 
Cattleya scale, sticking so tenaciously as it does to the 
leaves and bulbs ; but by far the most difficult as well 
as the most tedious operation is to get the rhizomes 
free from the pest, especially when partly buried by 
the peat and moss in which the plant is growing. 
However, this may be accomplished if carefully and 
thoroughly sponged over with clean water, after an 
application of some safe and good insecticide. A 
painter’s brush about the size generally used in painting 
sashbars, &c., will be found the most useful tool to use 
in applying insecticides, and if after sponging over 
with clean water any scale remain, they will be easily 
dislodged by a piece of stick sharpened wedge-shape at 
the point. 
If those who have charge of Orchids could spare 
the time to look through the whole collection frequently, 
there would be less damage done to plants, for it is 
certain that much vital force must be lost if insects 
remain undisturbed for any length of time. 
Imported Cattleyas are frequently badly infested 
with white scale, and should be well cleaned after 
having had the affected parts cut out and burnt. In 
the case of some plants, such as Oncidium Jonesianum, 
we have found the dead hollow roots full of insects, and 
the very lovely 0. bifolium equally alive with mealy¬ 
bug after a few weeks spent in a genial atmosphere. 
But this last plant was thoroughly cured by being 
immersed, peat, basket and plant, in a pail containing 
three-quarters of a pint of Lemon Oil and two gallons of 
water, and instead of the plant being injured by 
having its roots soaked, it seems rather to have been 
benefited thereby, as the flower spikes were just 
showing at the time, and are now in perfection. 
Another pest which taxes the grower’s patience at 
this season is the one which is especially fond of 
Cypripediums which grow in hothouses, and which 
much resembles Stock seed in appearance, but which is 
generally known by the name of Day’s Scale. It does 
not stick to the plant like the other forms, but may be 
removed by sponging, though I prefer dipping the 
plants in a pail containing some weak solution, before 
commencing to sponge them. 
Odontoglossums should now be syringed overhead 
on bright mornings, or sprinkled over with a fine rose 
waterpot, but they will not want doing in the afternoon 
as they are not benefited by having water laying on 
them all night, and the nights are yet quite cold 
enough to bring the house down rather too low if no fire 
is used. I prefer therefore to do away with fire in the 
cool house, and to keep the plants from getting wet 
late in the day by doing the watering and syringing in 
the morning ; in fact, I am in favour of doing all the 
watering of the plants before noon if possible, from 
October to May at any rate. 
There are several sections of plants which will soon 
require re-potting. The most pressing just now is 
Lycaste Skinneri, which revels in pure leaf-soil about 
half decayed, and an abundance of water, the compost 
being kept an inch below the level of the rim to allow 
of ease in watering. 
Temperatures for May. —East Indian house, 
75° to 80° day, 70° night. Cattleya house, 70° day, 
60° night. Cool house, 60° day, 50° night.— IV. P. 
Dendrobium barbatulum. 
Not having seen any mention of this useful little 
Dendrobe in your “Notes and Gleanings,” I conclude 
it must, to some extent, have gone out of cultivation. 
My employer, Mr. Leatham, being in India last spring, 
bought a piece in full flower for a trifle, from a boy in 
the street. It kept on flowering until after he reached 
England without any moisture whatever, and when 
handed to me the bulbs were quite fresh. I placed 
them in a 5-in. pan, with the result that we have now 
quite a little picture, the bulbs from 9 ins. to 12 ins. 
long, drooping over the pan with between thirty and 
forty spikes of its pure white, chaste-looking flowers.— 
F. Excell, Gardener, Misarden Park, Cirencester. 
Vanilla planifolia. 
The flowers of this species are produced in short 
racemes in the axils of the leaves, but, as far as orna¬ 
mental effect is concerned, they are of no value whatever 
from a horticultural standpoint, being for the most part 
green. The value of the plant depends upon the fact 
that it produces the best Vanilla. It is grown in a few 
establishments in this country for the sake of its highly 
fragrant fruit, which is so largely used for flavouring 
and other purposes. Notwithstanding the unattractive 
appearance of the flowers, they must have their insect 
visitors in their native habitats, otherwise the flowers, 
which are of very peculiar construction, would never 
get fertilised. Horticulturists who grow the plant for 
the sake of the fruit frequently fail to get any, if they 
have not been initiated into the mysteries of fertilising 
the flowers. The rostellum forms a sort of lid, folding 
down over the stigmatic disc, and this has to be lifted 
to insert the pollinia. A large insect, while retreating 
from the tubular lip, would be able to do this, owing to 
the obstruction caused by a large crest on the middle 
of the lip, consisting of a number of toothed plates 
closely applied, and forming a mass of considerable size. 
Dendrobiums from Longfords. 
A box of Orchid blooms, chiefly of Dendrobiums, has 
been sent us by Mr. W. Drivers, The Gardens, Long- 
fords, Minchinhampton. A quantity of them con¬ 
sisted of D. nobile, from imported plants flowering 
for the first time. The flowers were as a rule of very 
large size and richly coloured, the sepals and broad 
petals being often coloured half-way down. The ground 
colour of the lip was very pure, bringing out the rich 
hue of the basal blotch. Even in the smaller forms 
the colours were intensified. Accompanying them 
were some fine samples of Dendrobium fhnbriatum 
oculatum, with its orange sepals and petals, and dark 
maroon blotch on the golden yellow lip. The elegant 
blotches and markings of D. Devonianum were greatly 
improved by the white gauze-like fringe of branching 
filaments surrounding the lip. There were also flowers 
of Lycaste Skinneri and L. cruenta, the latter very 
distinct on account of the breadth of its green and 
yellow sepals, its orange petals and lip, the latter being 
marked on the lower half with crimson. A spike of 
Ccelogyne ochracea, bearing eight of its chaste, white, 
sweet-scented flowers, added much to the charm of the 
whole. It has two bright ochreous yellow blotches on 
the lip, surrounded with an orange line. 
Odontoglossum Stevensi. 
This grand Odontoglossum is now in bloom in the 
select collection of Orchids formed by Thomas Campbell, 
Esq., Newmilns, Ayrshire. It is carrying a superb 
spike of ten flowers, the individual blooms measuring 
3 ins. in diameter. Such a rare gem is only to be seen 
in few collections. In a small house 10 ft. square I 
noted the following Orchids in bloom :—Twenty-four 
Odontoglossum Alexandra, eight O. Pescatorei, three 
O. Rossii majus, two O. Cervantesii, 0. triumphans, 
0. Hallii, Dendrobium nobile, strong Oncidium 
macranthum, and Miltonia vexillaria. Such a wealth 
of bloom is seldom seen in such a limited space.— 
J. McNab. 
Odontoglossum vexillarium, Le Doux’s Var. 
The flowers of this variety are notable for their huge 
size. The lip is white, with a small yellow crest, and 
measured rather over ins. The sepals and petals 
are rose-coloured. The whole flower lengthwise 
measured nearly 4| ins. A plant and a fine spike of it 
were exhibited by G. Le Doux, Esq., East Moulsev, 
Surrey, at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, when he was accorded an Award of Merit for it. 
Odontoglossum Pescatorei, var, Mrs. G. W. 
Palmer. 
The flowers of this variety are of large size and very 
attractive. The sepals and petals are ovate, much im¬ 
bricated, and white, beautifully blotched with violet on 
the lower half. The lip is moderate in size and white, 
with a yellow crest and a few violet spots around and 
upon the latter. It was exhibited at the Drill Hall, 
Westminster, last week, by G. W. Palmer, Esq. (gar¬ 
dener, Mr. B. Dockerell), Elmhurst, Reading, and 
received an Award of Merit. 
THE ROYAL AQUARIUM SHOW. 
The second spring show organised under the super¬ 
intendence of Mr. William Holmes was held at the 
Westminster Aquarium on Tuesday and Wednesday 
last, and both for extent and quality exceeded the 
expectation of its promoters. It was a seasonable 
display of popular flowers in every sense, and the 
Auricula show—in which term we include also Prim¬ 
roses and Polyanthuses—was exceedingly good, but 
not quite up to the National as regards show Auriculas, 
although much superior in numbers and quality of the 
Alpines staged. In the large class for fifty Auriculas 
Mr. Douglas held his own with a good assortment 
of both sections ; Mr. C. Turner came in second 
with a group consisting in the main of Alpines. 
Mr. R. Patterson, who pluckily brought up a 
collection from Ashburne Gardens, Sunderland, was 
placed third. For a dozen show varieties, Mr. G. W. 
Wheelwright, of Reading, secured the premier award 
with a bright fresh lot, consisting of Mrs. Potts (Barlow), 
Rev. F. D. Horner (Simonite), Black Bess (Woodhead), 
Dr. Kidd (Douglas), R. Headly (Lightbody), Prince of 
Greens (Trail), Col. Taylor (Leigh), C. J. Perry (Turner), 
Lancashire Hero (Headly), Acme (Read), and G. 
Lightbody (Headly). Mr. Douglas came in second ; 
Mr. R. Patterson, third ; and Mr. E. Adams, Swalwell, 
Newcastle-upon Tyne, fourth. For six plants, Mr. 
T. E. Henwood, Reading, was first, with Mrs. Potts, 
Rev. F. D. Horner, Dr. Kidd, Black Bess, G. Lightbody, 
and Mrs. Dodwell (Woodhead). Mr. C. Phillips, 
Reading, had the next best. In a good competition 
with four plants, one of each class, Mr. Henwood again 
came to the front, with Mrs. Potts, Rev. F. D. Horner, 
G. Lightbody, and Reliance (Mellor). The other prizes 
went to Mr. Wheelwright, Mr. Douglas, and Mr. Pat¬ 
terson in the order named. 
In the single plant classes, the judge’s awards were 
as follows:—Green-edges : The first, second and fourth 
prizes to Mr. Douglas, for Col. Taylor and the Rev. F. 
D. Horner ; and the fourth to Mr. Henwood for the 
last-named variety. Grey-edges : First, Mr. Henwood, 
with G. Lightbody ; second and third, Mr. Douglas, 
with G. Lightbody and Mabel (Douglas) ; fourth, Mr. 
Phillips, with Lancashire Hero. White-edges : First 
and fourth, Mr. Douglas, with Elaine and John Simon¬ 
ite ; second and third, Mr. Henwood, with Acme and 
Smiling Beauty (Heap). Selfs : First and third, Mr. 
Henwood, with Black Bess; second, Mr. Wheelwright, 
with Black Bess ; fourth, Mr. Douglas, with Tiresias 
(Douglas). 
The Alpines were a very fine lot, and with twelve 
Mr. Douglas and Mr. Turner ran a close race, an extra 
point or two for freshness carrying the highest award 
to the former exhibitor, who had Diadem, Love Bird, 
Sensation, Hotspur, Toujours Gaie, Miss Moon, Miss 
Blackburns, Ada Hardridge, and several of his own 
seedlings. Mr. G. W. Wheelwright came in third, 
and Mr. W. L. Walker, Reading, fourth. With half 
a dozen Mr. Henwood came to the front again, showing 
Hotspur, Love Bird, Mary Francis, Homer, Mrs. 
Martin, and Defiance. Mr. Phillips, Mr. R. Dean, 
and Mr. A. J. Weston, Cavendish Nursery, Balham, 
were the other prize takers. The best four Alpines 
were Love Bird and Circassian, yellow centres, and 
Toujours Gaie and Ada Hardridge, white centres, 
shown by Mr. Douglas. Messrs. Henwood, Wheel¬ 
wright and Patterson were the other successful com¬ 
petitors. The best single yellow ground was Mr. Doug¬ 
las’s Nellie Hibberd ; and the best white, Mr. R. Dean’s 
Phidias ; Mr. Douglas’s Miss Moon being second and 
fourth, and Mr. Turner’s Mr. Gibson third in the 
former class ; Mr. Turner’s The Duke and Miss 
Knighton second and third, and Mr. E. Adams’s 
Slough Rival fourth in the latter. The prizes for six 
fancy Auriculas went to Mr. Douglas, Mr. R. Dean, 
and Mr. G. Cragg. The premier show Auricula was 
Trail’s Prince of Greens, shown by Mr. Wheelwright, 
and the premier Alpine, Mr. Douglas’s Nellie Hibberd. 
The Gold-laced Polyanthuses were very attractive in 
their rich colours and lacing, but for border decoration 
the fancy kinds are the most popular with the masses on 
account of the much greater size and profusion of their 
flowers. The first prize for gold-laced kinds was taken by 
Mr. J. Nicholson, gardener, Sewardstone Lodge, Ching- 
ford, whose plants were equal in size, vigorous and richly 
laced. The second prize was taken by Mr. James 
Weston, gardener to D. Martineau, Esq., South Road, 
Clapton Park. Mr. R. Dean came in third with 
dwarfer plants. He, however, took the first prize for 
fancy kinds, showing large and very floriferous plants 
in many colours. Mr. J. Douglas was second with 
smaller plants, and Mr. W. H. FrettiDgham came in 
