306 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Januarj’13, 1894. 
treatment, and afterwards grow in almost anything. 
I don’t think even our friend Mr. Spark's precaution 
to take them off at a joirt with a slanting cut is 
necessary. The Zonal Pelargonium seems to me to 
be one of those plants which, from the very first, has 
been doomed to a life of hard work and pent up 
misery, never, excepting in but few instances, being 
allowed to attain the full majesty of its power, a 
favourite necessity with all, yet never associated 
with anything really artistic and beautiful, doomed 
to exist pent up in a small overcrowded pot,or crowded 
together in ugly masses, and formal flowerbeds with 
companions equally as unfortunate. Nevertheless it is 
at present one of the most useful plants we have, and 
if properly treated will never fail to cheer us with a 
flower at all seasons. As a compost for striking 
cuttings in, Mr.Sparks has recommended proportions 
of loam, rotten leaf soil, and sand ; now I would 
rather see the leaf soil left out of the mixture, so far 
as the cutting stage is concerned. The Pelargonium 
is of a soft sappy nature, and any decaying vegetable 
matter is apt to breed fungus, which is bound to 
more or less affect the cuttings. 
Cutting pots should be provided with good drain¬ 
age, after which fill your pot to within an inch of 
the brim, with a compost of good loam and a small 
portion of sand, making it as firm as possible, and 
place over this a layer of half an inch of sand ; place 
your cuttings close to the edge of the pots, as they 
strike better in this position, and make them as firm 
as it is possible to do them ; spare the water-can till 
your cutting shows signs of having developed its 
first roots. 1 am not an admirer of the stiffly trained 
exhibition plants, and am very pleased to find they 
have, in other instances besides that of the Zonal 
Pelargonium, had to give way to other and more 
pleasing forms. 
Insects Injurious to Fruits. 
Dr. Dangar’s lecture on this subject was disappoint¬ 
ing in two respects. I went to the lecture with the 
idea that the learned doctor would dilate upon his 
own practical experience, and have given us the 
benefit of his deep studies of these most wonderful 
yet destructive creatures. But not so ; we were 
simply treated to extracts of a report of the Board 
of Agriculture, which, so far as they went, were 
amusing and instructive, but to most of us fell short 
of the pith of the whole matter, viz., the best means 
for their destruction. And here we have the second dis¬ 
appointing part of his lecture. Apparently every one 
was most anxious to know the nature and develop¬ 
ment of these creatures, their history and mode of 
procedure, but more than this needed instruction in 
the best means of destroying them. The report 
from which the doctor read his remarks fills up this 
deficiency after a manner, and this report may be 
had of any bookseller for 7^d., and of which I 
would advise every one to obtain a copy ; but inas¬ 
much as in some instances I consider the cure there 
recommended would be almost if not as fatal as the 
disease, I would advise every one before applying 
the remedies there set forth to study them carefully 
and to bring their own practical knowledge to bear 
upon them. These evils require to be nipped as it 
were in the bud, and the most successful remedy is 
in every case good cultivation: no sparing of care, 
labour, or nutriment; keeping your crops growing 
and healthy, in which case should an attack come 
your plants will generally survive and out-live it, 
which otherwise if in a weak condition are bound to 
succumb. 
The Begonia. 
This plant has in many instances taken the posi¬ 
tion once so proudly occupied by the Pelargonium, 
and is, if everyone would only believe it, as easy of 
cultivation; as a summer decorative plant, it is 
perhaps more effective and pleasing. Its cultivation 
has to some extent been marred by that great evil 
the straining after large flowers, but this evil has, 
to a great extent, passed, and I am pleased to find 
that what is now most sought after, is stiff, erect 
foot-stalks, which some of our most successful raisers 
are obtaining by degrees, and in attaining this, the 
artificial mode of supporting the flowers by 
stakes seems in a marked degree to affect Dame 
Nature, and aid the florist in his designs upon what 
to him seems one of her great defects, and unlike 
the dressing of the Carnation blooms, may be said 
to be beneficial, I am glad to see Mr. Weeks 
recommending perfect drainage, and firm potting, as 
I quite believe many gardeners lose more from the 
want of these two most essential requirements than 
from any want of care and attention in any other 
direction; except perhaps, in a want of proper 
ventilation, which is also most essential to the 
Begonia in its flowering state. The best plants 
I have met with have been growing in houses 
where the air has had a free circulation all 
round the plant; this tends to keep their under 
leaves free from damp and consequent decay. 
Conifers. 
Mr. C. Bartlett gave us some very interesting 
notes of the Conifers at Dropmore, which with 
the various specimens placed on the table 
seemed to have invoked a greater amount 
of interest than was anticipated, and those of 
us who have not had the pleasure of a visit to 
Dropmore, learnt how many of the choice varieties 
do there, and to some extent the reason of their 
doing so well—evidently the light soil and gravelly 
bottom or substratum is much in their favour. I 
feel quite convinced that many of the delicate and 
choice varieties do not do well in many situations in 
this country owing to the nature of the soil and 
to the want of perfect drainage. It is there¬ 
fore a great pity that planters do not pay more 
attention to the nature of the soils to be planted 
and make their selections accordingly—planting only 
such kinds as are known to do well in certain soils 
and under certain conditions, instead of, as many do, 
straining after making their collection complete. 
Only as regards a comprehensive list of names, ir¬ 
respective of merit or beauty, many of the kinds so 
sought after are not even hardy in many places in 
this country, and where they do exist, their existence 
is of so miserable a nature as to give a healthy man 
the shivers to behold them. I also think we have 
gone somewhat astray in regarding the extinguisher 
shape of tree amongst our Conifers as a thing of so 
much beauty, and are not content with their as¬ 
suming this shape as a natural consequence of their 
somewhat unnatural positions, but must need place 
them where the knife and shears has to be kept 
going to keep them in this most inartistic shape. To 
me a nice group of Scotch Firs with their bare 
stems and overhanging and spreading branches, or 
a well developed specimen of Cedrus Lebani is far 
more beautiful than any of these so-termed beauties 
of more recent introduction. In planting such 
specimens more care and discretion should be used 
in placing them in such positions as would lend 
grace and beauty to their outline, instead of planting 
them as is often done in such monotonous 
groups, or in regular lines of neither beauty nor con¬ 
trast. 
Orchids. 
In speaking of Orchids, I must at once admit myself 
to be one of the outside world as regards knowledge 
of their requisite care and attention, or even their 
endless variety, aud therefore I am not going in any¬ 
way to criticise Mr. Swan’s paper, which was 
certainly of great interest and most practical. In 
Mr. Swan’s hands, a great Orchid enthusiast, the 
subject was too extensive a one for any one night; 
he seemed to be, as an eight-day clock, wound 
up for a season, and could have talked for ever 
on the one theme he loved so well. But 
the Orchid is an acquired taste, and does 
not commend itself to everyone ; most people admire 
their beautiful and curious flowers, but then they 
exclaim how curious for such beauty to come out of 
such ugly dried old sticks, and then the expression 
comes uppermost, ‘‘Well, I don’t think I care much 
for them or admire them.” Orchids, like everything 
else rare, and not to be obtained and grown by every¬ 
body, must of necessity be thought more of, and 
perhaps prized by some beyond their real value to 
us in this country. Aside from all this. Orchids are 
amongst the most beautiful, the most wonderful and 
the most carious and diversified genera of the 
vegetable kingdom. 
It seems to me that what was of the greatest 
importance when Orchids were at first introduced, 
was neglected by the first collectors, I mean that of 
sending home minute particulars of their natural 
modes of growth and surroundings, which seems to a 
great extent to have been left to the surmisings and 
imaginations of those whose care they fell into on 
arrival, and hence the poor Orchid was committed 
to dungeons of despair. This has of late years to a 
great extent, as Mr. Swan pointed out,been remedied ; 
still, if one may judge from the sickly growth, and 
most unhappy condition which can be seen 
in many Orchid houses in this country, the happy 
milennium in Orchid growing has not yet reached 
us. Every Orchid grower should at starting make 
himself fully acquainted with the natural habits of 
the varieties under his care, and his great aim should 
be to acquire these self same conditions without 
infringing the undoubted rights of heat, moisture and 
air, all of which I think must be admitted are 
equally as necessary to vegetable as to animal life, 
and no single plant should be permitted to occupy a 
position in which its health and happiness are not 
complete. 
We go to great expense and trouble to erect rock 
gardens, and make suitable and pleasing abodes for 
our lovely and interesting Alpine plants, and why ? 
Should it not be possible, and at the same time 
practicable, to provide such a house for Orchids, 
in which they might be more naturally grown ? 
The greatest drawback to Orchid culture is the 
apparent necessity of growing them in masses and in 
houses specially constructed and furnished to meet 
the requirements of a certain class or classes. 
Everyone who would like to grow Orchids cannot 
afford to do so in this way ; more than this they don’t 
require fifty or a hundred of one kind to form one 
monotonous group, the whole year through, either 
in or out of flower. No ; variety is what is required, 
and such a house as would provide rocks for the 
rock-loving species, and limbs of trees and mossy 
banks for others, and at the same time give that 
natural atmosphere which they all love, would not 
only be a boon to the Orchid lover, but also to the 
plants themselves. 
--- 
THE GENUS DIURIS. 
Many of the species of Diuris are sparsely dis¬ 
tributed over wide areas in New South Wales, 
chiefly on the light-timbered lands, as the plants 
abhor anything like a jungle where the epiphytes 
would flourish. In the former situation they have 
a unique and pretty appearance when mingled with 
the varied flora that surrounds them. More than 
usual interest is centred in this genus of Orchid¬ 
aceous plants from the fact that its members are 
among the few Orchids that are used as food for 
man, their tubers being eaten with avidity by the 
aboriginals of this country, and no doubt they often 
stay the pangs of hunger among the wandering 
improvident tribes of this race. Some of the native 
born white population have also acquired a liking 
for the ‘‘little yams” as they term the roots, and 
indeed they are not at all objectionable, tasting at 
first a little sweet, but after being masticated they 
are coarse and tasteless. 
D. A UREA is a very pretty species which grows 
naturally in dry, open situations, and arrives at the 
greatest perfection when growing in a rather 
retentive soil, although the tubers attain a greater 
size in those of a sandy nature. This, however, does 
not have the effect of increasing the size of the 
flower spikes or of the individual blooms. The two 
tubercles are ovoid in shape and resemble those of 
Orchis maculata, and the blooms are borne on 
slightly arching stems from 6 in. to 8 in. high. They 
are bright yellow usually, but show a considerable 
variation in the shade ; and the labellum of many is 
more or less barred with rich chocolate brown. 
D. PUNCTATA is a handsome species, the blooms of 
which are much larger than those of D. aurea, and it 
is usually found in places more moist and shady than 
is affected by the last named species ; and grow's 
more luxuriantly in soils that are more rich in de¬ 
cayed vegetable matter. The upper sepal, the petals, 
and the lip are of a light purplish colour, and the 
two lateral sepals are pale green. The signification 
of the generic name is more pronounced in tbis 
species than in any other I have met with, the two 
lateral sepals being very long, and hang like an 
appendage of two tails from under the lip. 
D. MACULATA. —The blooms of this species are 
not so large as those of either of the above, but 
more curious. It does not appear to be at all par¬ 
ticular as to soil, indeed I have many times found it 
flourishing in those of the worst character, but 
always in an open situation. The blooms are borne 
on upright stems (slightly arched at the tips) about 
7 in. high, and are yellow spotted with dark brown. 
The long dark brown claws and rounded petals give 
the species a winged or more loose appearance than 
either of the previously named species. 
liere in the open the species of Diuris named are 
capable of considerable improvement under cultiva¬ 
tion : and a good loam not too rich suits them best. 
The tubers should always be kept ij in. below the 
surface.— G.H. K., Homebusli, N.S.W., December 
