348 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Jan. 31st, 1885. 
THE 
(Drcbib <6r0toers Calendar. 
Calanthes in "Winter. -— The Preptanthe or 
pseudo-bulbous section of Calantbe has always sup¬ 
plied most beautiful and acceptable plants, which are 
all the more useful, in that they naturally come into 
flower in winter. Every season commencing in Novem¬ 
ber, and beginning with the old red and yellow-eyed 
varieties of C. vestita, and the favourite C. Yeitcbii, 
followed on by the rest of the hybrid varieties, C. 
nivalis and C. Turnerii, and finishing up with the many 
varieties of C. Eegnieri, which keeps up the display 
until March comes in, they give us such a cheerful 
display and at such a dull season that we hardly 
know what we should do without them. This year 
they seem to be especially fine in most collections, 
and particularly with Sir Trevor Lawrence, at Burford 
Lodge, where, in addition to the known varieties, a 
nice batch of distinct seedlings, raised at Burford, has 
been in bloom, and Mr. H. M. Pollitt, of Fernside, 
Bickley, who, as well as growing and flowering these 
plants well, has a happy knack of keeping them in 
flower all together for a very long time. Notwith¬ 
standing that his plants began to flower in November, 
they are now as gay as ever, the tall spikes of C. 
Veitchii mingling well with the snow-white C. nivalis, 
C. Turnerii, and the different forms of C. Eegnieri and 
C. vestita. 
Most good growers attain great perfection with 
Calanthes, and that too with so little trouble that they 
cannot understand how it is some fail with them. 
Nevertheless, some experience difficulty in growing 
them, and try all they know, they cannot even reach 
mediocrity, and as I believe that the winter treatment 
is often the cause of failure, I am constrained to 
make my Calantbe note at this season. 
The Deciduous Calanthes. 
Calanthes of this section being deciduous, it is 
well-known that they require a resting season after 
flowering, and hence they are frequently, like too 
many other resting plants, put aside where they are 
neglected and sometimes where they are in too low a 
temperature and subject to get injured by drip. 
Careless treatment in some of these respects I have 
frequently found to have been given in cases where 
the Calanthes were in an unsatisfactory condition, 
while, when they are grown to perfection, I always 
find that the plants although not watered, are as 
carefully looked after in winter as in summer. If the 
plants are allowed to get w T et or too cold in the resting 
season, small bulbs and blackened leaves are the 
result. 
"Winter treatment.—From the time the flowers 
begin to open, a lessened supply of water should be 
given, as there is nothing to be kept up except the 
flowers, the bulbs being finished and hardening for 
the resting season. 
A shelf or convenient place near to the glass in a 
house in which the temperature does not go below 
58 degs., nor much over 68 degs. Fahrenheit being 
selected, the plants as they go out of bloom should 
be placed on it and kept in their pots quite dry. 
Here, being occasionally looked over to see that they 
are alright, they will remain quite dry until the first 
week in March (a little sooner in some cases and a 
little later in others), when they will be growing or 
about to grow, and consequently ready for potting. 
It is as well to let the young growths push out stroDgly 
before giving them their new pots, as the roots will 
then soon be ready to take advantage of the new 
compost. 
Potting and After Management. 
In potting, the strong bulbs are generally put 
singly into 8-in. pots, and where the bulbs are weaker 
two or three of them are put together. The best 
material is good fibry yellow loam, to which a little 
sphagnum and broken charcoal has been added, or 
a mixture of half fibry loam, a quarter peat, and a 
quarter sphagnum, indeed those who grow the Calanthes 
well can grow them in almost anything, many finding 
good fibry loam alone to suit them best. After 
potting and until the growths are well advanced and 
the roots appearing, but a moderate supply of water 
should be given, but afterwards when growing and 
rooting strongly too much cannot well be given, and 
at this stage a little weak liquid manure is of great 
assistance. 
During the growing time a good place near the glass 
in the warmest and most humid house should be given, 
and here they should be kept until the growths are 
finished and the flower-spikes appear. 
Many who have been unsuccessful with Calanthes 
when growing them in pots, have succeeded marvel¬ 
lously well when they have grown them in those 
shallow half-pots or pans used for Orchids, and kept 
them suspended near to the glass in a hot-house, and 
this plan I confidently recommend to all who are not 
satisfied with the results of their own method of culture. 
The "Winter-flowering Calanthes. 
These are already a goodly array and the seedling 
batches known to exist in several places promise to 
add to it considerably. There is no fear of getting too 
many, however, so long as they are distinct. 
C. vestita rubro-oculata.— This is the fine old 
crimson-eyed variety which we have frequently seen 
with over thirty spikes to a potful. 
C. vestita rubro-oculata gigantea.— A grand form 
of the preceding, for which Sir Trevor Lawrence 
received a First-Class Certificate at the Boyal Horti¬ 
cultural Society in February, 1877. Its flowers are 
very large, creamy-white, with a large dark crimson 
blotch in the centre. Flower-spikes, 3 ft. to 4 ft. in 
length. 
C. vestita luteo-oculata. —The old yellow-eyed 
form, precisely the same as the red-eyed, except in 
that particular. 
C. vestita gigantea.— This is the variety which 
Professor Beichenbach subsequently named C. vestita 
igneo-oculata on account of its fiery red centre. It 
comes from Borneo, and Mr. Sander has a small stock 
of it. 
C. vestita "Williamsii. —This fine new variety is 
only known to Orchid-growers generally through the 
plate in The Orchid Album, but as Mr. B. S. Williams, 
in whose honour it was named, has a goodly stock, 
we shall doubtless soon become more familiar with it. 
Its large three-lobed lip is of a bright rosy-crimson 
colour, and its sepals and petals white, with a blush of 
crimson on the margins. 
C. rosea (Limatodes).—This pretty little plant, after 
playing such a good part as one of the parents of the 
noble C. Veitchii, has sunk into obscurity. It should 
not, however, be dropped, as our now better Calantbe 
culture can make it a very desirable plant. 
C. Veitchii.— Messrs. Yeiteh’s happy production 
between C. vestita rubro-oculata and C. rosea. Every 
year produces fresh testimonials for this lovely rose- 
pink hybrid. This year many have flowered it with 
spikes over 4 ft. in height, and with flowers of unusual 
brilliance, the bulbs being 15 ins. high. 
C. Sandhurstiana is a hybrid of precisely the same 
parentage as C. Veitchii, but by some strange reversion 
or freak it is much darker than that variety, the 
flowers being dark crimson, tinted rose. It was raised 
by P. H. Gosse, Esq., and also quite independently by 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, who exhibited a plant of it at a 
recent meeting of the Boyal Horticultural Society. 
C. porphyrea. —This is another of Sir Trevor 
Lawrence’s fine hybrids from C. vestita. It is a 
most magnificent thing, with bright purple sepals and 
petals and trilobed lip, yellowish at the base, with 
purple spots, the anterior part being purple. 
C. lentiginosa.— A fine hybrid raised at Messrs. 
Veitch’s from the grand C. Veitchii. Flowers white, 
slightly tinged with ochre, lip large, four-lobed, with 
purple spots at the base. This is a very pretty and 
distinct novelty. 
C. nivalis is an old but still not common variety, 
with flowers of the true “vestita” shape, and of the 
purest white, without spot or freckle of any kind ; a 
chaste and lovely winter flower. 
C. Turnerii. —This is also of the “vestita” form, 
and has the pure white of C. nivalis, with a purple 
blotch at the base of the lip. It is said to be a Java 
production, and was named in honour of Mr. Turner, 
of Manchester. 
C. Eegnieri, a recent introduction from Cochin 
China, is one of the latest flowering and most 
desirable of Calanthes. There is endless variety 
in it, some of the labellums being white, some rose, 
some spotted in the centre with rose, and some with 
purple, and others varying in a very erratic manner. 
Some of the forms are apparently identical with C. 
Turnerii in flower, but others, again, are quite unlike 
that species. It was only introduced last year, and 
is already a great favourite. C. Eegnieri and its 
varieties have the double or jointed bulb of C. 
Veitchii. 
C. Stevensiana.— This is a distinct form of the 
C. Eegnieri importation, with snow-white flowers 
and delicate lilac-purple marking on the labellum. 
It was named in honour of Mr. Stevens, the great 
head-centre of the Orchid trade at King Street, 
Covent Garden .—James O'Brien. 
Odontoglossuru Sanderianum. —This is now 
flowering very freely in the cool-house here, and it 
is a great favourite, being very pretty and sweetly 
scented. One plant is bearing a branched spike of 
fifteen flowers, which somewhat resemble those of 
0. gloriosum, but the lip is broader and pure white, 
with a dark blotch upon the upper half. The flowers 
vary in their markings upon different plants, some 
have the lower half of the lip prettily spotted with red. 
Professor Beichenbach, in naming and describing this 
Odontoglossum in 1881, spoke of it as likely to be a 
hybrid between 0. mevium and 0. Nevadense, and a 
good substitute for the true form of the latter, which 
was very rare.— T. Simcoe, The Gardens, Lake House, 
Cheltenham. 
BERRY-BEARING PLANTS. 
There are periods of the year when it is difficult So 
furnish greenhouses with gay flowering plants, and it is 
then when berry-bearing subjects come in so useful, 
and appear seasonable, as we all seem to look for 
them just now, on the approach of winter, and regard 
them with different feelings to what we should if we 
saw r them in summer, when they seem out of character 
and to intrude on the vision, but with the advent of 
frost, we welcome them and like to have them before 
us. One of the best sorts to grow is Solanum 
capsicastrum, which forms a highly ornamental plant, 
and is exceedingly useful for table decoration or the 
embellishment of windows, according to whether they 
be trained as bushes or standards. For table work, 
the standards are the most suitable, as the heads 
being elevated, there is no obstruction of the view 
when persons are seated which there would be if 
bushes were used, and these look too squat indepen¬ 
dent of that. There are two ways of raising these 
Solanums, the one by cuttings and the other from 
seed, the first-named method being, perhaps, the 
best, as a selection of varieties may be made, and 
only such as are really good, and bear fine berries, 
are propagated from, by which means a superior strain 
may be kept up and perpetuated. 
To get large plants another year, the present is a 
favourable time for putting in cuttings, which may be 
made from any of the young half ripe shoots, and if 
these are inserted in sandy soil, covered with a bell 
glass and placed on a shelf, in any warm house, they 
will soon strike, and be ready for potting off, which 
should be done when they have emitted sufficient roots 
to render it safe to disturb them. As it is necessary 
to keep young plants growing on, they must have 
gentle heat all through the winter, and, with it, it is 
important that they have a moist atmosphere, and be 
syringed occasionally, or they soon become overrun 
with red spider, an insect to which Solanums are very 
subject and suffer much from, by having their leaves 
injured and made to turn brown. In starting with the 
standards, the thing is to pick out all with nice stems 
and leaders, as any of the others will do for bushes, 
and having made choice of the best, every attention 
should be given to train them up straight by tieing 
them to neat stakes till they reach the required height, 
when the points should be nipped out, and the three 
or four top shoots that start encouraged, and all below 
rubbed off, that the stems may be kept clear and clean. 
After reaching the stage referred to, the plants will be 
ready for potting, and ought to have a shift, the size 
of pot most suitable for growing them in being 7-in., 
which is quite large enough for very fine specimens, 
as they berry better, if well fed, when confined at the 
roots. The plants intended for bushes should be 
stopped while they are still dwarf, and, after they 
break, be potted on and treated, when growing, just 
like the others. 
