60 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
Sept. 27th, 1884. 
THE 
©rcbitr (Srateers Calcnbar. 
o 
Staging for Orchid-houses. —During the last 
twenty years or so the internal fittings of Orchicl- 
houses on which the plants are placed have under¬ 
gone a marked change for the better—a change which 
has played a very important part in the improvement 
of our general collections, and in rendering easy the 
culture of small and delicate things which were 
formerly unmanageable. Before the improvement 
took place varied and dissimilar were the forms of 
staging in use, scarcely two gardens having them 
arranged throughout in the same way or made on the 
same plan. In some old places the Orchids were to be 
found plunged in bark beds, always unhappy-looking, 
but doing their best to prove how tenacious of life 
they were. The living among such plants were 
generally tall specimens of Aerides odoratum, Vandas, 
and strong-growing Oncidiums, which had grown up out 
of the stagnant air which they disliked and thus escaped 
the fate of their weaker and smaller brethren, which 
had early departed. In other places flat, hot-water 
tanks formed the staging, or a portion of it on which to 
place the plants, and this was even more objectionable. 
Nearer to our time a favourite and more generally 
followed plan, became the forming of stages by 
building up brickwork from the floor to the height 
required, in order to form the sides of the stage, on 
which was placed slates or boards to form a close 
fitting covering with a fiat surface. This kind of 
stand for Orchids is bad in several important points. 
In the first place, it interfe res with the free circulation 
of air throughout the lower part of the house and 
actually blocks up a great portion of the area of it 
and precludes the possibility of its containing and 
circulating that pure air which is of such vital 
importance to the health of the plants. 
Again, on such flat-topped close stages the stronger 
plants were found to have a tendency to run up and 
in dull weather to lose their lower leaves, and the 
weaker ones to die off suddenly on account of the 
stagnant air around them. These defects were soon 
observed by the more watchful among the Orchid 
growers, and then the expedient of raising the plants 
on inverted flower-pots was resorted to and carried 
to such an extent, that in some of our collections 
hundreds of flower-pots might be seen in a single 
house doing duty in that capacity—often three 
or four 12-in. pots being placed one on the other 
to carry one plant. This is a clumsy contriv¬ 
ance harbouring dirt and insects, and only in a very 
slight degree meeting the object aimed at, viz., the 
raising of the plants out of the stagnant air and 
nearer to the light. But this and all the other kinds 
of staging in vogue at different times, show progress 
in then day, and the close staging after having been 
improved by being placed on iron supports instead 
of brickwork, and thus allowing a free circulation 
of air throughout the basement, formed the foundation 
of the Orchid-house staging now generally, in use, and 
which seems to meet the requirements of the plants 
both large and small, strong-growing and fragile. It 
is all the more acceptable that it can be arranged in 
most cases without clearing out the staging already 
fixed in the houses. 
The stage now in general use and acknowledged 
to be the best for all Orchids, consists of open 
wood-work placed over the close one, the bottom or 
close stage being either made water-tight and kept 
supplied with \vater a quarter or half inch in depth, 
or covered with shingle which will hold and give ofi 
moisture. The close bottomed stage is of great service 
in breaking the currents of dry ah which always pass 
through the plants where open stages alone exist, and 
also in giving off a healthy moisture, which the 
elevated position of the plants on the open wood¬ 
work stage, surrounded as they are by pure air, places 
them in safety to enjoy. The open wood-w'ork 
staging both for the sides and the middle of the 
house, is generally arranged in steps, the front one 
starting at a convenient height above the lower stage, 
(sometimes only 2 in.), and rising according to the form 
of the house. Orchids always thrive better when near 
the glass, and in some large old-fashioned houses great 
results with them have been obtained by building a 
strong wooden stage high above the old one in the 
house, and as the plants when placed on it would be 
out of reach from the floor, a walk is made along the 
top of the stage so that the plants can be watered 
and well inspected from it. 
Where open wood-work staging is already in an 
Orchid-house, if flat it should be covered with ordi¬ 
nary house slates to hold shingle or rvhatever else is 
used to be kept wet and to give off moisture, and 
the light open-work stage should be arranged above 
it for holding the plants, or if the existing staging 
is arranged in steps and as near the glass as it is 
convenient to go, a close one for containing some 
moisture-holding substance can easily be arranged 
beneath it. I was one of the first to use these open 
stages over close ones, and, from long observation, 
I am convinced that it w r as an important step in 
Orchid culture. I made use of it first in order to do 
away with the employment of pots in bringing plants 
nearer to the light which w'ere grown in houses having 
flat slate stages, and which were not built for Orchid 
culture. I soon found that the advantages gained went 
even beyond my calculations, and others who have 
adopted this kind of staging (often modifying it 
according to individual fancy) have done the same. 
My first attempt was a very simple and inexpensive 
one, bufr, as it answered the purpose as well as the 
most elaborate arrangement could have done, I may as 
well relate it for the benefit of those who wish to be 
economical. Having a plant-house with flat slate 
staging in it which I wished to fill with Odontoglossums, 
I made the slates water-tight with Portland cement and 
placed a coating of shingle on it. This formed the close 
moist stage. For the upper one I got roughly-planed 
battens and had them nailed to cross pieces of the 
same wood, so as to form movable trellises, each 
composed of four strips of wood nailed to cross pieces 
so as to have a space of an inch and a half between 
each. A sufficient quantity of these were made (mov¬ 
able like boards, of course), and then simply white¬ 
washed. They were then brought into the house one 
at a time and placed on the close stage, being sup¬ 
ported and raised to different heights, as required, by 
bricks. The front trellis was raised one brick, the 
second two, and so on until the whole was complete, 
when it formed one of the best and firmest stages I 
ever had, and, being in pieces, it had the advantage 
that, when the periodical cleaning came, it could 
removed outside, be washed, whitewashed, and re¬ 
turned, the lower stage having been cleaned in the 
meantime. 
Amateurs, and particularly those who are beginners, 
who have turned other plant-houses into Orchid- 
houses, will find the double stage a great assistance in 
keeping them plants' healthy with little trouble, and 
the rough but efficient batten upper stage I have 
described can be put together by anyone .—James 
O'Brien. 
—— 
ORCHID NOTES. 
Cattleya elegans. —Some grand masses of varie¬ 
ties of Cattleya elegans, with over one hundred pseudo¬ 
bulbs each, are now in flower with Messrs. F. Sander 
& Co., of St. Albans, where they seem to be ahnost 
perpetual flowering. The varieties at present in bloom 
are of the “ Sehilleriana ” type, lovely in form and 
odour, and varying from clear white to blush with 
intense violet-mauve labellums. They are grown in 
baskets, and are suspended near the glass in the 
wonderful specimen Cattleya-house (about 250 ft. 
long), where, in common with the large general collec¬ 
tion of Cattleyas and Ltelias, they seem to enjoy their 
healthy, airy situation. 
Oncidium Lanceanum. — I can fully endorse 
all that your correspondent Mr. Dumper says in 
The Gardening World, at p. 44, respecting this grand 
old Orchid. We had a small piece with two leaves 
imported from Trinidad seven years ago. I potted it 
in a 48-sized pot and hung it up in the Cattleya-house 
near the glass, where it made a nice healthy growth 
of two leaves. I then made a square wooden basket 
for it, and planted it in equal parts of peat, sphagnum 
moss, and charcoal, and suspended it near the glass 
in the same house. It now has sixteen large healthy 
leaves, with roots hanging from the basket a yard 
long, and it flowers freely every summer. It bore 
last June fifty-four flowers on five spikes. I may 
mention that every year after it has done flowering 
I remove a portion of the old peat and moss and 
add some fresh material, and this in my opinion is 
the main point to be observed in order to ensure 
success.—IF. Driver, Longford-s, Minchinhampton. 
The Dove Flower, Peristeria elata. —This 
grand old Orchid is in bloom with John Gwynne, Esq., 
The Grange, Kenton, where it has been sending up its 
wax-like white flowers for a considerable time, and has 
yet a quantity to come. As the plants are unusually 
small to flower so freely, it may be well to give Mr. 
F. King’s, the gardener, treatment of them. He pots 
them in turfy yellow loam, and grows them in a moist 
intermediate house, giving them plenty of water until 
the bulbs are fully formed, and then the plants are 
kept rather dry for a few weeks to allow of the spikes 
coming up ; they are not, however, dried ofi, but kept 
plump and fresh-looking. In summer the plants get 
plenty of fresh air.— J. B. 
-- 
Orchids at Kew. — Cypripedicm Sedeni. A fine 
plant with eleven spikes may now be seen, each with 
seven or eight flowers. It is, as is well known, a 
hybrid, and shows a character not unfrequently seen 
in hybrids, viz., the production of monstrous flowers. 
On this plant some flowers have one and others both 
petals suppressed, giving them a peculiarly odd-look¬ 
ing appearance.— L.elia purpukata. A three-flowered 
spike with flowers 3 in. in diameter, the sepals and 
petals are white, and the lip rich deep purple, with a 
white margin and yellow throat. —Epidendrtoi purum. 
A plant with a very graceful aspect and delicious frag¬ 
rance. The small, greenish-white, very numerous 
flowers are produced in pendulous, branched racemes. 
-—Masdevallia tbiglochin and M. trich.ete are two 
minute little gems, now in flower; the former has 
flowers of a bronzy hue, and the latter of a peculiar 
claret-purple, which becomes paler in the upqier sepal. 
Otherwise they are very closely allied.— Orchis. 
Vanda Cathcarti. — In the interesting and 
healthy collection of Orchids belonging to Sydney 
Courtauld, Esq., at Booking Place, Braintree, a 
magnificent plant of this rare Orchid now has five 
very strong flower spikes. The plant is in magnificent 
health, and furnished with leaves to the pot. V. Cath¬ 
carti has wax-like flowers, circular in outline, and 
unique in the polished, brownish-crimson marking of 
its flowers. Mr. Courtauld’s plant is about 6 ft. in 
height. The species first flowered in England in the 
collection of C. Stead, Esq., at Baildon, near Leeds, 
in 1869, and afterwards with Messrs. Veitch in 1870. 
Masdevallia Dayana, the innocent-looking M. iono- 
charis, and superb varieties of Zygopetalum Gautieri 
and Odontoglossum grande are also flowering among 
a quantity of other good things, and the well-known 
collection of Nepenthes are worth a visit in them¬ 
selves.— J. 
LOBELIA PUMILA MAGNIFICA. 
This is one of the best varieties of this indispens¬ 
able bedding-plant that we are acquainted with. It is 
a good grower, of compact habit, and produces flowers 
of a rich blue colour in great profusion. On this 
account it has been greatly admired in our flower 
garden during the last seven or eight years, during 
which period several friends have had a few plants 
sent to them late in autumn to propagate from in 
spring, for, owing to the free disposition of the plants 
to flower, difficulty is experienced in securing an 
adequate number of cuttings in the autumn to propagate 
from. Therefore a few plants should be taken up 
before they are injured by frost with a little soil adher¬ 
ing to the roots. The latter and the tops should 
be shortened back a little, then the plants must be 
potted into 4-in. pots in light soil, watered and placed 
in a frame or pit near the glass, and out of the reach 
of frost or of excessive damp. They must be shaded 
from bright sunshine for a few days until the roots 
have taken to the soil, when it should be discontinued, 
and the plants have plenty of air on all favourable 
occasions. Keep them also on the dry side at the roots, 
with the object of preventing the plants from starting 
into growth until wanted for propagation. In spring, 
