220 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
Dec. 6th, 1884. 
THE 
(IrcMir (Srakers (SurfcnbaL 
Winter Management.—With winter upon us, 
every probable chance that can occur, likely to mili¬ 
tate against the welfare of the plants, should be 
calculated on and arrangements made to meet them. 
For safety sake, therefore, the heating apparatus 
should be carefully examined to see that all is sound 
and in good working order, before the hard weather 
comes. Often where weak points in the boilers, in 
the firebars, or in the joints of the piping are known 
to exist, the repairs are deferred from time to time, 
until at last in very cold weather -when the greatest 
pressure is put on, a disastrous break down is the 
result. 
It is the lament of all those who carelessly put off 
the necessary examination and repairs of the heating 
apparatus, that the mishap always comes at the worst 
season. Of course they do, because in the coldest 
weather, everything connected with the boiler is tried 
to its utmost, in order to keep up the temperature in 
the houses. Let the boilers and piping be ever so 
good or new, time is never thrown away at the 
beginning of winter in thoroughly examining them, 
and letting out the fire on a warm day for the purpose 
of thoroughly cleaning the flues, &c. 
Throughout the winter, comparatively small fires 
kept free from clinkers, and carefully tended, are 
much more efficient and economical than large dead 
ones, on which a large quantity of fuel is wasted ; 
and the small active fires, are not nearly so trying to 
the boilers, quite one-half of the accidents to which 
arise from bad stoking. Often in winter, by heaping 
one lot of fuel on the other a bright fire is made in 
the front, while that behind is dead and useless, and 
it is such fires as these that often cause injury to the 
boilers by the unequal expansion of their parts, and 
thus the poor boiler makers get into trouble without 
in many cases being able to assign a reason for it 
themselves. 
The man in charge of the fires should be told that 
it is his place to get a bright fire in the back of the 
fire-way, and the front will take care of itself. Nothing 
secures good clear fires better than making it a rule 
once a week to let them burn low in the morning, and 
afterwards rake them out and start them afresh, and 
the same treatment is the only safe one with a sulky 
fire. The fires also burn much better when the ashes 
are kept clear below and the stoke-hole not allowed to 
harbour rubbish, which may interfere with the draught; 
indeed, all around the boiler should be kept as tidy as 
possible. 
Where some of the houses have bleak ends and 
corners, canvas-covered frames should be got ready to 
fasten up on the approach of hard frost, or mats may 
be used for the purpose. These answer much better 
when they are so fixed that they stand a little off from 
the glass than they do when they are placed so as to 
touch it, as in the latter case they often let the frost 
through the glass in sharp weather. No harm happens 
in the cold-house if frost gets inside the glass so long 
as the thermometer is up to 45 degs., and it is the 
worst thing possible to do to try and clear it off by 
artificial heat .—James O'Brien. 
Orchids at the "Woodlands, Streatham.— 
Mr. B. H. Measures has so earnestly taken up the 
pleasant task of Orchid growing, and has so rapidly 
pushed on with his collection that already, although 
not much more than a year has elapsed since he first 
commenced, his houses begin to have the appearance 
of containing an old collection. Until recently the 
fine new houses at Woodlands were devoted to 
general plant culture, and great proficiency had been 
attained with many difficult subjects when the idea 
was conceived of adding Orchids, and so quickly 
acted upon that already five of the houses are filled 
with them, many of the rare things from the late 
Mr. E. Hanbury’s and other good collections having 
found a home here. 
Of course at present little can be said of the 
culture of many of the plants as they are new comers, 
but from the fact that even the best cultivated when 
received have either maintained their good condition 
or improved, and from the careful and zealous manner 
in which everything is done likely to produce a 
beneficial effect on the plants, it is evident that 
Mr. Measures’ collection will in a very short time be 
worthy to rank with the best of our great private 
collections. That their culture is really taken up in 
earnest the new, well-built, and elaborately-fitted 
new range not yet filled bears witness. It is in six 
divisions, one of the middle ones being built with a 
view to placing the flowering Orchids in it, and thus 
provide a comfortable place in which their beauties 
may be displayed. The whole range is exceedingly 
well planned and built within and without, and is fitted 
with several new arrangements well worth imitating, 
for example, the glass sash forming the sliding cover 
over the perforated zinc-covered bottom ventilators, 
the ingenious grooving of the bars of the roof to 
prevent drip, and the clever use of iron and cement 
to form the watertight under-staging are all good 
improvements on the old methods. 
The flowering ijlant-house in the old range, a square 
roomy house with ornamental fountain in the centre, 
contains at present one of the prettiest sights imagin¬ 
able. No wonder that a sight of such a lovely and 
varied display at this dull season should be calculated 
to start fresh growers. From the floor to the roof a 
great and effective display is made by arranging the 
plants in bloom with considerable artistic skill, those 
on blocks and in baskets drooping over and mingling 
with the tall spikes of Vanda ccerulea, Calanthes, Ac. 
Many of the showier kinds have many representatives 
in bloom, and single plants of some very rare things 
give both beauty and interest to the whole. In 
particular may be noted a plant of Lycaste plana 
with several flowers. It is a real gem with flowers 
in size and shape like those of L. Deppei; the sepals, 
too, are of a brownish olive, as in some of the 
varieties of that species; the petals are pure white 
and the lip white and bright blood red, the combination 
and blending of the colours being most charming. 
The display of flowers in this Orchid show-house is 
made up of a good assortment of fine varieties of 
Odontoglossum Alexandras, 0. Pescatorei, 0. Wallisii, 
0. Ivrameri, O. Eossii majus, 0. grande, 0. bictoniense 
splendens, 0. Uro Skinneri, Masdevallia Chelsoni, M. 
Tovarense, M. Trocbilus, M. Veitchii, Cypripedium 
Schlimii, C. Sedeni, C. Boezlii, C. insigne punctatum- 
violaceum, C. insigne Chantinii, and many other 
Cypripediums ; many Calanthe Veitchii and C. 
vestita, Oncidium prsetextum, 0. Forbesii, 0. vari- 
cosum, the rare O. cruciatum, O. cucullatum, many 
spiked plants of L®lia autumnalis atrorubens, and L. 
anceps ; strong plants of Sophronitis grandiflora, one 
with three flowers on a spike ; Maxillaria Gautierii, 
Dendrobium heterocarpum, large plants of Vanda 
ccerulea, Lycastes, Ac., the fountain being tastefully 
arranged with slender-stemmed Oncidiums. 
Showing in the warm-house are Vanda Lowii, many 
plants of Cypripedium Spicerianum, C. Dayanum, C. 
Haynaldianum, Galeandra Devoniana, Phalamopsis 
rosea, P. amabilis, P. violacea, Saccolabium Harri- 
sonianunr, which is very sweet, Dendrobium bigibbum, 
and D. Dearei. These look well arranged as they are 
among the handsome leaves and scarlet spathes of 
Anthurium Andreanum. The fine plants of Phalre- 
nopsis look particularly well, and Mr. Measures seems 
to enter on his Orchid-growing career with confidence 
and a certainty of success. 
-—— 
ORCHID NOTES, 
Lycaste Skinneri is in every sense of the word an 
amateur’s plant. Anyone possessing a greenhouse or a 
brick pit can scarcely fail to succeed with it, for as 
regards cultivation no plant is more easily grown. 
Clean pots and clean crocks, a nice sweet open 
compost, consisting of fibrous peat, sphagnum moss, 
cow manure baked on a flue previous to using it, with 
a sprinkling of charcoal, will suit them to perfection, 
and they must have plenty of water during growth. 
I remember when I was gardener at Timberhurst, 
Bury, Lancashire, my employer, Thomas Wrigley, 
Esq., bought two dozen plants of Lycaste Skinneri, at 
Stevens’ Booms, and having no Orchid-house proper, 
I was obliged to grow them in a Peach-house. 
Elevated on pots under the Peach trees, they soon 
started into growth, and by the end of the summer 
made fine fat bulbs. I removed them to a vinery, and 
during the winter was rewarded with numerous 
flowers from each newly-made bulb. I write this 
merely to show what really can be done without the 
aid of an Orchid-house. — IF. Driver, Langfords, 
Minchinhampton. 
Cypripedium Sedeni.— Whatever other qualifi¬ 
cations this Orchid may possess, its free-blooming 
habit will always render it a valuable plant to grow 
for cut flowers. A number of plants have bloomed 
with us since last July, and are still giving supplies 
for cutting. Few plants stand better than Cypri¬ 
pediums in rooms, when their pots are crammed full 
of roots at the flowering period, and they are not 
allowed to suffer from stagnation or drought. They 
last a long time in flower. I have seen plants of the 
old C. insigne stand on the tables and mantelpieces 
of a drawing-room for six weeks at a time, season 
after season, and not show any visible signs of 
distress.— M. T. 
Vanda lamellata Boxallii. —This by no means 
too co mm on Orchid is now in flower wherever grown, 
or fast approaching that stage. It requires a position 
in the East Indian house, where it is- sure to do well, 
and annually reward the cultivator for his trouble. 
As far as my experience goes, I find it equally as 
floriferous as the older, V. lamellata, which was 
never thought much of on account of its rather 
dingy-looking flowers ; that cannot, however, be 
said concerning the subject of this note. Its free- 
growing disposition (though not by any means so 
robust as V. suavis and its allied varieties), coupled 
with its free-flowering propensities, is much to recom¬ 
mend it to most growers of the heat-loving section of 
Orchids. It does well grown in pots with crocks, 
and surfaced with living Sphagnum. I have a plant 
in a 6-in. pot, bearing two spikes, one having eighteen 
and the other nineteen flowers, and the plant is only 
about a foot in height. The sepals and petals arc 
nearly white, with the exception of the lower half of 
the bottom petals, which is brown, and the lip is 
purple. The white portion, however, changes with 
age to a creamy colour, and the flower is pleasantly 
fragrant. The flowers last six or eight weeks in good 
condition, which is an additional feature in its favour, 
and are rather loosely set on the spike, to which they 
are connected by a foot stalk of from two to three 
inches in length, which renders them useful for 
button-hole flowers, for which purpose they are here 
much appreciated.— E. Dumper,Summerville, Limerick. 
Spiders in Orchid-houses.—I should be very 
much obliged if any of your correspondents could tell 
me of some effectual means of destroying the common 
spider. My Orchid-houses are overrun by these pests, 
and hitherto they have successfully baffled our efforts 
to exterminate them; indeed, the smell of tobacco 
smoke seems especially to agree with their constitu¬ 
tion, and it is hopeless to attempt their destruction by 
the simple but tedious process of killing them singly. 
— Vanda. 
THE DADDY LONGLEGS. 
Loss from Daddy Longlegs grub ranks amongst 
the four or five most important kinds of injuries to 
farm crops, as it occurs more or less every year. The 
grubs feed for several months just below the surface of 
the ground on almost all of the common field crops, 
although they are especially prevalent amongst such 
as have been put in after broken-up pasture or clover- 
ley. 
The large, tawny, exceedingly long-legged Daddy 
Longlegs fly, Tipula oleracea, is the kind best 
known; but there is a Smaller sort, of a yellow 
colour spotted with black (the Tipula maculosa 
or spotted Daddy Longlegs;, of which the grubs are 
quite as destructive, and several other kinds are 
also injurious. 
The grubs of the two above-mentioned are much 
alike both in habits and appearance; they are 
wormlike in shape, that is, footless and cylindrical, 
but when extended are truncate at the tail and 
bluntly pointed at the head, which is furnished 
with small jaws, and can be drawn back into the 
body. 
The greatest length is about an inch or a little 
