444 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 14th, 1885. 
THE 
(Irrjnir (Smtaers Calcnimr. 
Dendrobium Wardianum.—As this is theseason 
when the imported plants come into the market, a 
few remarks respecting their management may 
perhaps be acceptable to some of your readers who 
have not yet taken up the cultivation of this beautiful 
and easily managed species. I have a list before me 
just issued by a firm w'ho imports them by the 
thousand, and I see that they offer good strong plants 
at 24s. to 36s. per dozen, and the best variety 
(Low’s), so that they are within the reach of all who 
desire to grow Orchids, and who have a warm green¬ 
house. We received a quantity about this time last 
year, and not having room amongst our other plants, 
we erected staging in a small Peach-house, where 
there are two trees. The one on the back wall was 
removed, but the other, which was trained over the 
roof, remained, and carried 15 doz. of finely finished 
fruit. I mention this to show that Orchids can be 
grown with fruit, if need be, but I wish it to be 
understood that more heat was applied and less 
ventilation given than would have been afforded had 
we the Peaches only to think of. 
The plants were carefully examined, and had all 
decayed parts cut away before they were placed into 
small pots filled about two-thirds of their depth wfith 
crocks. Upon the crocks we put a covering of moss, 
and then filled up with good peat, and secured the 
plants on the top to a few sticks inserted among the 
crocks. They were then taken into the Peach-bouse 
referred to, which was kept at a temperature of about 
60 degs. by night and 65 degs. by day, with a moist 
atmosphere. Here they soon commenced to grow, 
and when they had made a few leaves, roots made 
their appearance freely. I then applied a little more 
peat and fresh sphagnum moss, which was readily 
taken hold of by the young roots. The plants grew 
away very freely in this position, and matured fine 
growths; the good syringing which the Peach-tree 
enjoyed being equally appreciated by the Dendrobiums. 
Out of 150 plants potted, not one failed to grow, and 
not more than a dozen have failed to flower. Several 
of the growths are producing above twenty flowers 
each, while the others which are not so strong 
produce a lesser number, according to them strength. 
The flowers also vary very much in size and colour; 
I measured one -which is 4| ins. across, with petals 
ir ins. wide, and the lips just above an inch across. 
This is the finest of all that have opened at present. 
I may mention that I grew other plants in the same 
house, some of them having been imported three 
years ago, and all have done well. One strong 
plant of D. Wardianum has five new growths, the 
strongest of which has thirty-seven flowers upon it, 
the five growths altogether having a total of 125- 
D. Devonianum is also a good grower and a free 
bloomer. We have several plants which came with 
the D. Wardianums, that have been treated in the 
same way and in the same house, and which have 
made very fine growths, now carrying from thirty to 
ninety of its lovely flowers.— J. IF., Sheffield. 
-hH- 
Dendrobium speciosum.—This handsome old 
Orchid has flowered very finely in most collections 
this year, but in that of Sir A. Ramsay, Bart., at 
Cheltenham, at the present time in perhaps hitherto 
unheard of splendour. The largest specimen has 
over thirty spikes of its creamy - white, wax-like 
flowers, many of them having more than fifty fully 
expanded blooms on each. A curious feature in the 
cultivation of these fine plants here is, that for 
several weeks in the early part of the summer, they 
are shaken out of their pots and placed without soil 
on an open stage in an airy, sunny house. In August 
they are potted up and placed in an intermediate 
house and well watered, the treatment always having 
good results. In Sir A. Ramsay’s collection also are 
some very fine specimens of Cattleya Trianae and C. 
Percivaliana in bloom, and a fine show of C. Mossias, 
C. Mendelii, Ac., in sheath. C. Loddigesii also has ten 
good flowers on a spike, Cymbidium Lowianum with 
four fine spikes, Saccolabium guttatum with a like 
number, and many other good things of great merit. 
All the Orchids are very stout and healthy, as Sir 
Alexander gives plenty of light, an abundance of air, 
and comparatively little heat.— J. 
FLORICULTUEE. 
Oncidium Marshallianum.—Mr. Lee seems to 
have arrived at the correct way of growing this plant 
and its allies healthily, and yet flowering them well. 
The fine masses of it at present furnished with 
immense branched spikes at Downside, seem to have 
made the great effort of flowering so heavily without 
even a wrinkle being made in the bulbs. The plants 
are grown on rafts or in baskets in a cold-house, until 
the flower-spikes appear, and then they are taken 
into the warm end of the Cattleya-house, there to 
remain until the flowers are just bursting, after which 
they are returned to the cool-house where they remain 
until the flower-spikes again appear.— J. 
-* 4 *- 
Mr. H. M. Pollett’s CoUection.—The following 
list of Orchids now in flower at Fernside, Bickley, will 
serve to give an idea of the beauty of Mr. H. M. 
Pollett’s neat little collection, and also to indicate 
some of the species which bloom at this season :— 
Angrfficum citratum 
Barkeria cyclotella 
Calanthe nivalis 
,, Regnieri 
,, Turneri 
,, Yeitchii 
Cattleya Bogotense alba 
,, Percevaliana 
,, Trianre 
,, Walkeriana 
Ccelogyne eristata 
,, ,, alba 
,, Lemoniana 
Cymbidium Mastersii 
Cypripedium Boxalli 
,, calurum 
,, Dominianum 
,, Harrisianum 
,, insigne 
,, Schlimii 
,, Sedeni 
,, villosum 
Dendrobium crassinode 
,, nobile 
,, Wardianum 
Dendrochilum glumaceum 
Epidendrum spectrum 
Lfelia alba 
anceps 
,, ,, Dawsoni 
Lycaste Skinneri, 11 plants 
,, ,, alba 
Masdevallia coccinea 
„ ignea 
,, tovarensis 
Maxillaria venusta 
Mesospinidium sangui- 
neum 
,, vulcanicum 
Miltonia cuneata 
Odontoglossum Alexandras 
eighteen spikes. 
,, Bictoniense 
,, „ superbum 
,, blandum 
,, constrictum 
,, cordatum 
,, gloriosum, 
seven spikes. 
,, madrense 
,, membranaceum 
,, Oerstedii 
,, pardinum 
,, Pescatorei 
,, pulchellum 
majus 
,, Roezlii, 3 plants 
m ,i alba, 2 
plants 
,, Rossi majus 
,, Sanderiana 
,, tripudians 
Oncidium cheirophorum 
„ dasytile 
,, Kramerii 
,, unguiculatum 
Phalcenopsis grandiflora 
,, Schilleriana 
,, speciosa 
,, Stuartiana 
„ „ puncta- 
tissima 
Restrepia antennifera 
Sophronites grandiflora, 
,, species 
Trichopilia fragrans 
Zygopetalum Mackayi. 
— J . 
Mr. Wm. Lee’s Cattleyas.—The 100 ft. long, 
roomy and comfortable Cattleya-house at Downside, 
which contains such a grand and healthy collection, 
is more than usually showy this season, many 
hundreds of fine blooms of every conceivable form of 
C. Trianse being open, as well as good specimens of 
all the named varieties. The rest of the establish¬ 
ment, too, is just now of great interest, large quantities 
of rare Dendrobes, Phalamopsis, Lycastes, Cymbidium, 
Arc , being in bloom, together with many other odd 
and rare things. A continuous stream of Orchidists 
has been running Leatherhead way for some weeks 
past, and is likely to continue doing so for some time 
yet.— J. 
Dendrobium fimbriatum occulatum, at Shire- 
cliffe, Sheffield.—I saw a very fine plant of this 
attractive Orchid, the other day, at Shirecliffe, with 
thirty of its pendent spikes of large, rich orange 
yellow flowers, with a deep spot on the lip, and 
which was well displayed amongst its rich evergreen 
foliage. I believe this to be an unusually well- 
flowered plant of this species, and if Mr. Udale would 
tell the readers of The Gardening World how he 
has managed it, I am sure he will be doing good 
service. In my note at p. 412, I was in error in 
saying the Dendrobiums were from 2 ft. to 3 ft. 
across. I should have said from 2 ft. to 4 ft.— 
J. IF., S. 
The Cineraria. — From the present time until 
the end of May, green - houses will be gay with 
Cinerarias. They may be, and indeed are, had in 
bloom much earlier, but only with the aid of heat. 
The three months mentioned may be said to constitute 
the natural blooming season of these plants, and a 
score or so, well-grown, will form a striking element 
in the decoration of a green-house. A big mass of 
plants, such as we are sometimes favoured with, where 
seed-saving is a feature, presents a beautiful sight, 
though inevitably there is much repetition of form 
and colouration. 
Those who can afford to grow only a few plants, do 
well to get a selection of young ones from those which 
have bloomed the previous year, so that variety may 
be insured. Or, again, a small batch of seedlings 
raised from a late sowing and kept in forty-eight sized 
pots, may be made to stand in a limited space, 
and the best, selected and marked as they bloom, may 
be cut back and induced to break up strong, and thus 
furnish robust early blooming plants for the following 
winter. 
We remember to have seen Cinerarias used for 
summer bedding, but that was long since, and the 
heat of summer hardly suited. At this day we have 
such wealth of plants for summer decoration that we 
need not trouble with such unsubstantial material as 
Cinerarias for bedding. Then we have got literally 
miles away from the poor strains of those days, and 
amongst other features have not only improved the 
quality of flower and habit of plant wondrously, but 
also have created greater 'precocity or earliness, so 
that plants naturally bloom much earlier than they 
did at the time to which we allude. 
It would almost seem as if we had now got all that 
was possible out of the Cineraria, for not only are the 
blooms large and rich in colouring, but they are 
absolutely perfect in form; and having attained to so 
much, it is difficult to see what other paths for im¬ 
provement are open. It is true that the old florists’ 
ideal is not yet reached in the configuration of colours, 
except so far as the seifs are concerned, and even maDy 
of these have grey discs when they should have dark 
ones. Certainly the grey discs may be eliminated with 
advantage from all Cineraria blooms, for it is a case in 
which dark, lustrous orbs are indeed elements of 
beauty. 
Then perhaps some of the self flowers, though well- 
coloured and perfect in form, are a trifle too much 
shaded, wanting in density of colour. That is a feature 
raisers can assuredly govern. The most difficult 
requirement of the florist is found in the equal divi¬ 
sion of diverse colouration in the flowers, that is, in 
bi-coloured-flowers, the white ring round the eye and 
the dark margin should be of equal width, or nearly 
so. Too many of our best flowers now that are classed 
as bi-colour or ringed flowers, have a mere ray of 
white round the centre, to light up the heavy broad¬ 
ness of crimson or other ground hue, and balance is 
lacking. To create the desired equipoise seems the 
most difficult of all improvements, but once it is 
effected in the Cineraria there will be little left in this 
beautiful flower to wish or to sigh for. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
Royal Horticultural. —March 10th. —Notwith- 
standinga sharp frost on Monday night, and a piercingly 
cold east wind, there was a pretty Show of flowers in 
the Conservatory at South Kensington on Tuesday. 
Camellias, Cyclamens, Cinerarias and Daffodils were 
the leading features; but there was also a strong 
contingent of Orchids, and hardy spring flowers. The 
group of Camellias in pots (supplemented by a dozen 
boxes of cut-blooms) which came from the nursery of 
Messrs. William Paul & Son, at Waltham Cross, was 
admired by all, the general opinion being that it is 
some years since a finer lot of plants were shown at 
any exhibition in London. The Messrs. Paul have 
made Camellias a speciality of late years, and certainly 
grow them well, in spite of the fact that the Camellia, 
perhaps, of all flowers is the one that least appreciates 
