316 
Jan. 17th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
THE 
©rrbitr (fexabsm' (Calendar. 
Odontoglossum Londesboroughianum. — 
Those who have not succeeded in growing and 
flowering this Orchid will do well to try the plan 
recommended by Mr. O’Brien in his excellent and 
very interesting note upon the subject at p. 284. 
I have flowered it for the last three years under rather 
different treatment to that practised at Mr. Pollett’s. 
The plants here are grown and rested in the Cattleya- 
house. They are fastened to charred blocks of wood, 
and then placed in pots, the remaining space in the 
pots being filled up with broken charcoal alone, as I 
have found that they thrive far better without any 
moss or peat about their roots. When the plants 
begin to grow, great care is taken not to allow any 
water to lodge in or about the young breaks, but when 
the bulbs are about half made up I drench the roots 
with water, and continue doing so until the bulbs 
show their flower-spikes. After flowering comes 
their resting season, when they are kept as dry as 
a deciduous Dendrobium. It is possible to grow 
Odontoglossum Londesboroughianum well and yet 
not flower it. The other day I saw a quantity of 
well-grown plants, and not 10 per cent, of them had 
flowered. My experience teaches me that without 
plenty of sun and light to bring about a well-hardened 
or ripened bulb this Orchid will not flower. The first 
plant I had to deal with refused to flower at all for 
two or three years until it was hung up close to the 
glass by the side of a Cattleya Walkeriana. The best 
varieties of this Odontoglot (such as we are fortunate 
enough to have here) far surpass in richness and 
depth of colour any yellow-flowered Oneidium that 
I am acquainted with, and it is only by seeing the 
different varieties side by side that we can realize 
the superiority of one variety over another.— T. 
Simcoe. 
Lycaste lanipes.—This I look upon as a very 
chaste and free-flowering Orchid. It usually blooms 
late in the autumn, but with us it is finely in flower 
now, and two bulbs have produced twenty-two 
flowers! which would be of ivory whiteness but for 
a slight suffusion of green ; the lip is flat, and 
beautifully fringed. Those who are not well ac¬ 
quainted with this Lycaste may be glad to know 
that it will thrive under exactly the same treatment 
as L. Skinneri.— Thomas Simcoe, The Gardens, Lalce 
House, Cheltenham. 
Dendrobium formosum giganteum. —A striking 
instance of what may be done with this plant by good 
culture, even when it has got into what is supposed to 
be an irreclaimable state, is now to be found in the 
gardens of John G wynne, Esq., at Kenton Grange, near 
Edgware. About two years ago Mr. King, the gardener, 
took in hand two plants of it which had steadily been 
going back until they had got into a very bad state. 
They were placed on bare blocks and suspended in a 
rather cool intermediate house, and water was given 
them from time to time to keep them from shrivelling. 
They soon sent forth new growth and roots, and then 
water was given to them every day, as there was no 
stuff about them to get soddened. The growths when 
completed were small but healthy, and sufficed well 
to carry the plant over until the next growing season. 
The growths made last year are marvellous, some of 
them being nearly 2 ft. in length and proportionally 
thick, and they were moreover in flower for three 
months last summer, their large snow-white and 
orange blooms being very beautiful. Mr. King attri¬ 
butes his success to their being kept in a tolerably 
cool and rather dry temperature all the year round, 
and to their being on bare blocks and rather profusely 
watered at the root. 
Cypripedium niveum. — This lovely species 
frequently refuses to grow freely; and I have found 
that when a plant or plants once get into an unhealthy 
state, they seldom start into vigorous growth again. 
A mixture of turfy-loam, peat, sphagnum, broken bits 
of pots and charcoal is the best compost, according to 
my experience. The plants do not thrive when the 
compost is pressed too firmly round their necks, it 
chokes them, and they die off gradually, one leaf after 
another dropping off. Keep the plants near the glass in 
the warmest house, but if they are in a bad state, it 
will be best to start with a healthy lot.— G. G. 
Cypripedium Spicerianum requires treatment 
very similar to that of C. niveum, but it is a more 
vigorous growing plant. I do not know whether twin 
flowers are produced by cultivation, or whether it is 
that isolated varieties in a collection have this 
characteristic. The finest grown plants I have seen 
were in a corner of a house in Messrs. Yeitch’s 
nursery at Chelsea, the one devoted to Plialsnopsis, 
and two or three only gave twin flowers. We have 
but one plant in our collection of Orchids, a small 
one, which produced two twin-flowered stems and a 
single one. I have seen this species growing in turfy- 
loam, and making healthy development.— G. G. 
Cypripedium insigne.—This old species is not 
so much valued as it ought to be, the typical variety 
is very pretty, and some of the varieties such as 
Maulei are amongst the finest of Ladies’ Slippers. 
A large group of well-flowered specimens is now a 
good feature in the Orchid-house at Kew, one plant of 
Maulei is there to show its superiority over the typical 
varieties. This species succeeds well in the coolest 
house.— G. G. 
-- 
MasdevaUia Tovaren.se.—One of the prettiest 
of white flowers at present in gardens is this chaste 
Orchid, and it is now so plentiful that we may even 
expect to see it as a pot plant in the market. It 
seems difficult to realize the fact that only a couple 
of years ago or so people used to run about with five 
or ten guineas ready for a plant of it if they could get 
it. It ought to be generally known that it is wasteful 
to cut spikes of flower of this plant, as the old spikes 
go on flowering for years. The flowers ought there¬ 
fore to be cut and wired where possible, for by letting 
the old spikes accumulate with the new the plants 
can in time be got to be covered with flowers. 
—- 
Lycaste Emeeana.—This, one of the earliest 
complications of L. Skinneri, which hitherto has kept 
pretty distinct, is now in flower with Henry Little, 
Esq., at Hillingdon Place, near Uxbridge. Its petals, 
which are longer and narrower than those of L. 
Skinneri, are white, and the lip is prettily suffused 
with rose. It is a very pretty variety, looking like a 
Lafiia Skinneri, with the shape of L. Deppei. A 
pretty white margined form of Odontoglossum 
vexillarium rubellum is also finely in bloom with Mr. 
Little. 
Orchid Sales.—The sale of the last portion of the 
Fallowfield collection of Orchids is announced to 
take place on Tuesday, February 3rd, at Messrs. 
Protheroe & Morris’s Booms. At the sale of the 
third portion on the 6th inst., some plants in flower 
realized very good prices. A white variety of Laalia 
anceps from St. Albans, fetched twenty-four guineas ; 
an Odontoglossum Pescatorei with a large dark spot 
on the lip, was knocked down for twenty guineas, and 
another fine white variety for ten guineas. An 
unusually good variety of Cattleya chocoensis fell 
to a bid for eleven guineas. A nice piece of Cypri¬ 
pedium selligerum majus fetched twenty guineas, and 
the sale wound up with 400 lots of imported plants 
of Odontoglossum Alexandras, for which there was a 
brisk demand. 
Aeocasia guttata vak. impekialis.—A new variety 
under this name is figured and described in the 
December number of the Illustration Horticole. 
The leaves are about 14 ft. long by 9 to 12 ins. wide, 
purple beneath, greyish-green above, with blackish- 
green veins, and the spathe white. It is said to 
surpass the species for effect. Both were imported 
from Borneo, the species by Messrs. Veitch, and the 
variety by the Compagnie Continentale d’Horticulture 
of Ghent. It is a charming and effective plant. 
VINES AND VINERIES, 
These will now be demanding attention, for soon 
the sap will again be in rapid circulation, and if 
vines are not pruned at once they will bleed, as it 
takes some little time for the wounds made by the 
knife to heal or close at the pores, and if the fluid 
once begins to escape there is no stopping it, for it 
rises and flows with such force that styptics fail to 
keep it in, and the drop, drop, day after day, causes 
a serious drain to the plants, which become so 
weakened after the heavy less that they have the 
greatest difficulty in starting their buds, and when 
they do this it is but feebly, as the young shoots have 
nothing behind them, and they flag from want of 
support. In pruning vines it is only necessary to 
leave one eye at the base of each shoot that has to be 
removed from the spurs, which, if more are allowed to 
remain, soon get long, and not only become unsightly, 
but knarled and knotted, when they impede the 
circulation and thus starve the Grapes. 
When the reds get in the unsatisfactory condition 
referred to, it is a good plan to run up fresh ones 
between the others, and the first year after this is 
done they should be cut back half way so as to make 
them break below, and where they do this the spurs 
of the old vines may be removed to make room for 
the new shoots, which will then have light and room 
for the leaves. If there is any fear of the wounds 
bleeding, they should be smeared by just rubbing 
them over with thin white lead, which I like better 
than the styptics sold, as they kill the wood where 
they are used, which dies back some way, and if the 
cut happens to be close to a bud that is destroyed by 
its strength. The pruning over, the next thing is to 
think about the cleaning, which is a very important 
matter, as by a thorough routing out and washing 
insects may be got rid of, and a fresh and fair start 
made for the season. 
The skinning of the vines, however, so commonly 
carried out, cannot be too much condemned, as it is a 
most barbarous practice, productive of much harm, 
especially when they are peeled close, as the inner 
skin is bruized, damaged, and exposed, which causes 
contraction and prevents further swelling, as may be 
seen with vines that have been subjected to this 
unnatural treatment. All the bark that should be 
taken away is that which hangs loose and ragged, 
beyond which all ought to remain, as it forms a shield 
and protection against the sun’s rays, and the drying 
influence it has on the rind. If scale, thrip, or other 
insects are supposed to be lurking on the stems, they 
may be got rid of by a washing or dressing of nicotine 
soap, which is a powerful and safe insecticide to use, 
as, unless put on unnecessarily strong, it never 
injures plants, but cleanses them and makes them 
look bright and clean after. The quickest way of 
applying it is to syringe it on, but in doing this it 
should be made to wet every part, as it only kiL's 
where it touches ; but if made to penetrate every 
lurking-place, there is no escape for the parasites. 
Hot only is it requisite to be particular about the 
vines, but the paint, wood-work and glass should be 
thoroughly washed, which may be done by the aid of 
a good scrubbing-brush and big dusting-brush, the 
latter being of great use for the glass, as the long, soft 
hairs may be brushed over its inner surface rapidly to 
set free the slimy deposit on it, which can then be 
rinsed off by a force of water sent on by the garden 
engine, and as soon as the walls have got a little dry, 
the next thing is to give them a thin coat of lime- 
wash, when all will be ready for the season’s 
campaign, and forcing may begin at once, with every 
chance of success; but to render this more certain 
the border must be covered to keep out the frost. 
Some pile on a lot of fermenting material, but that, 
like the peeling, does much more harm than good, as 
though it may start the roots into active motion, it 
causes a closeness of the soil, from which it shuts out 
the air. Instead of the hot stuff, reeking and 
steaming, it is far better to place a few dry leaves on, 
and throw over them a little fresh straw to prevent 
them from being blown about, which light covering will 
preserve sufficient warmth, and afford all the protec¬ 
tion the vines need against changes of weather. 
Forking over the surface, or the digging of vine 
borders, is bad, as neither can be done without 
damaging the surface-roots, every one of which should 
be encouraged and preserved with the greatest cere, 
