April 25th, 1885. 
540 
THE 
dttjntr drainers’ Catcnirar. 
Orchid Shading. —This is a subject on which 
extremists have done much mischief. The dense 
shade of the thick blinds of olden time was bad for 
the majority of plants, but not, perhaps, more fatal 
than the practice of growing plants in unshaded 
houses, which a few from time to time advocate. 
Periodically the alarm is sounded that things are 
kept too shady—that Dendrobes are often found 
growing in the blazing sun, and Lselias and other 
Orchids in very exposed situations. While, however, 
we give all due thanks to collectors for their remarks 
as to the situations occupied by the plants in their 
native habitats, we must be careful only to adopt 
them in such a form as to be available when tried on 
plants under glass. 
It is a very different thing for plants to be growing 
in their native habitats in the full blaze of the sun, 
but with a free circulation of air around them, and 
frequently with at least a few of the lesser branches of 
the trees waving over them, to what it is to place 
them under glass with no shading to break the sun’s 
rays, and that any advocate for growing Orchids 
unshaded will be convinced of and never forget if he 
stands in one position in the full sunlight in a glass 
structure for five minutes. Leelia anceps, L. autum- 
nalis, some Cattleyas, and many other Orchids can be 
grown in an unshaded house, provided great care is 
taken in giving a free circulation of air all around 
them, but they can be grown better and with less 
trouble with a thin shading over them. 
Shading Materials. 
I think, therefore, it may safely be said that 
every Orchid-house should from now throughout the 
summer be provided with a thin shading, varying in 
the openness of its texture or thickness according to 
the plants which are under it. The Lrelias and other 
Orchids from Mexico and Guatemala require that 
of the thinnest texture. The Cattleyas and other 
intermediate-house plants will do with the same, or a 
material a trifle closer, and the East Indian Orchids, 
Cypripediums, Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, ever¬ 
green Calanthes, Angriecums, Phalamopsis, &e., must 
have shading of the closest quality (not necessarily 
thick or heavy), as such plants sutler most from bright 
sunlight, and it can never be let directly on to them 
without injury, although the damage like that from 
cold chills in winter often does not show itself for 
some time. Often at the change of the season from 
summer to autumn mysterious spots, blotches, and 
withered leaves appear without any apparent cause. 
I am convinced that the injury may often be laid to 
the damage done to the tissues by even accidental 
exposure to the direct rays of the sun in the previous 
summer. 
All, therefore, who wish to grow their plants to 
perfection will do well not to play with the question, 
but see at once that each Orchid-house is fitted with 
a roller blind. At the same time, those who have 
charge of the management of them may be reminded 
that the blinds are only there to protect the plants 
from injury from the sun, and that they are only to 
be left down while required for that purpose, as every 
hour they are unnecessarily used robs the plants of 
vital force which will be required to carry them over 
the dull season. Seeing then that all the light which 
can be got without risk of burning by sun is required, 
the blinds should be pulled up as soon as the sun 
goes off the house, and in many cases the lower part 
of the blind may be rolled up an hour or so before the 
upper half. 
Permanent Shading : False Economy. 
Some, for supposed economy sake, have a fashion 
of whitening the glass to give shade in summer, but 
there are several objections to such a course. In the 
first place, the shade is on day and night in fair and 
in dull weather alike, thus robbing the plants of the 
clear light which is so necessary for them. The 
shading applied by a brush, too, has a trick of wearing 
off in places by the time the sun gets its greatest 
power, and consequently it does in such cases more 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
harm than good. Shading applied by painting the 
glass is false economy, and should only be used on 
the spaces between the blinds or on the lower panes of 
glass which the blinds sometimes fail to cover. 
Fixing the Blinds. 
In fixing the blinds it is of great advantage, where 
practicable, to so-arrange them that they do not rest 
on the glass. This can easily be done by placing 
strips of wood or rods of iron at intervals along the 
roof, so as to keep the shading off the glass. In new 
buildings it is an arrangement which should be 
attended to during the process of constructing the 
houses, as it is a matter of some moment, the houses 
so fitted maintaining a better and more even tempera¬ 
ture in summer than they do where the blinds rest on 
the glass. Where air can circulate between the blinds 
and the glass the glass itself is kept cool and a little 
air is allowed to pass through the laps, and this has a 
marked effect in keeping the house cool in very hot 
weather. In some houses I have seen the blinds run 
over the top ventilators and close to the glass, in 
which case the ventilators are not of the least service 
at a time when they are the most needed. In such 
cases, where no other means of obviating the difficulty 
suggests itself, it is better to have a portion of the 
blind over the ventilator removed, and the glass of the 
ventilator painted over to make up the deficiency. 
It is very certain that it is costly and unsatisfactory 
work to keep Orchids too much exposed to the sun, 
and as shading materials in the present day are both 
cheap and good it will be a matter of gain to liberally 
employ them, the more particularly that, when 
properly used, they save labour. As much difference 
of opinion exists as to the best material for shading, 
it would be well if some of your Orchid-growing corres¬ 
pondents would give their opinions as to what they 
find to be the best, cheapest, and most durable.— 
James O'Brien. 
— g . —- 
ORCHID NOTES. 
Orchids in Flower at the Right Hon. J. 
Chamberlain’s, Moor Green, Birmingham.— 
Amongst other good things in this collection, I noted 
down recently the following: Saccolabium ampul- 
laceum (very fine variety); S. Hendersonianum; 
Cypripedium niveum, fine large flowers, three upon a 
spike ; Cattleya citrina, growing in a shallow pan, -was 
flowering wonderfully well, two bulbs carrying two 
flowers each ; a fine plant of Dendrobium densiflorum, 
bearing eighteen spikes, a good showy old Orchid 
when well grown, as in this case. Masdevallia 
Veitchii superba is a plant seldom seen, but so fine 
that any one could covet it. Oncidium Marshallianum 
was represented by a fine plant and variety. Mr. 
Cooper has some capital specimen Odontoglossums 
under his charge, including a very fine type of 0. 
triumphans, one flower of which measured 4^ ins. 
across. O. Ruckerianum had tw T o spikes, one carrying 
twenty-seven flowers. My visit w r as a hurried one, so 
that note-taking was necessarily limited, but I was 
particularly struck with the cleanliness and good 
order apparent throughout the extensive glass 
structure. 
Out-of-doors, too, in the beautiful pleasure grounds, 
the same good order and neatness prevailed, and 
which, while reflecting great credit upon Mr. Cooper, 
was, I should say, a source of pleasure and gratification 
to his employer. I must just add that the North 
American Cypripediums grow and flower well on the 
banks of one of the lakes in the pleasure grounds at 
Moor Green.— D. Simcoe, The Gardens, Lake House, 
Cheltenham, April 20th, 1885. 
--H*- 
Dendrobium thyrsiflorum. — In the conser¬ 
vatory at Broomhall Field, Broomhall Park, Sheffield, 
there is a magnificent plant of the above Dendrobe, 
bearing fourteen racemes of its beautiful yellow and 
white flowers. The plant is without blemish, and 
has twelve fine pseudo-bulbs of last year’s growth, 
besides numerous older ones. A short time ago there 
■was a gorgeous display of D. Wardianum, D. nobile 
pendulum, and D. nobile Wallichii in the same 
structure. Orchids are as well or better cultivated in 
a quiet and unpretentious way at Broomhall Field as 
in any garden in the neighbourhood of Sheffield.— 
Visitor. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
Royal Horticultural, April 21st .—At the meet¬ 
ing on Tuesday, held instead of on the 28th, as 
originally fixed, but few new plants came under the 
notice of the Floral Committee, but in view of the 
annual show of the National Auricula Society, several 
of the leading nurserymen sent attractive groups of 
plants or cut-flowers. Notwithstanding the extensive 
collection of Daffodils shown last week by Mr. T. S. 
Ware and Messrs. Barr & Son, these well-known 
growers again contributed splendid banks of flowers 
of a quality much surpassing those of the previous 
week, thanks to the more genial circumstances as 
regards weather under which the flowers opened. 
Both firms were awarded Silver Banksian Medals. 
Messrs. William Cutbush & Son sent a neat collection 
of hard-wooded flowering plants, principally Heaths 
and Epacrises, but including also a few Azaleas, 
the fine white Choisya temata, and the rarely seen 
Anopteris glandulosa, on which a note will be found 
in another column. Mr. Prinsep, gardener to the 
Hon. Mrs. Portman, Buxted Park, Uckfield, received 
a Cultural Commendation for a splendidly-flowered 
specimen of Dendrobium nobile, with about three 
dozen spikes. 
The plant was exhibited to prove that Dendrobiums 
can be grown under what is called the pruning 
system; that is to say, that the old bulbs can be 
cut off without injury to the plant. The specimen 
shown certainly proved that Dendrobium nobile, at all 
events, will stand pruning, and will make vigorous 
growths if subsequently submitted to an abnormally 
high temperature, but it did not prove that other 
Dendrobes will submit to the same treatment, and 
when we consider that D. nobile can for all practical 
purposes be as well grown as any gardener need to 
have it under ordinary stove treatment, the advantage 
of the pruning system was not apparent. Mr. Turner 
sent from Slough a group of Indian Azaleas and 
decorative Pelargoniums that much pleased the con¬ 
noisseurs, the plants being grandly bloomed and 
remarkably bright and fresh. Among the Azaleas 
Apollo, a grand white, with a few carmine stripes ; Roi 
de Holland, bright scarlet; and Mrs. Turner, bright 
pink, margined with -white, -were very conspicuous for 
their fine quality. Of the Pelargoniums we noted in 
rare form such sterling good sorts as Triomphe de St. 
Maude, crimson; Digby Grand, white, with a dark 
blotch; Duchess of Bedford, white, with carmine 
spot; Duchess de Morny, rose, with maroon 
spot; Rosy Morn, pink, with carmine spots; and 
Madame Thibaut, a light-coloured variety with 
fringed petals. 
From Messrs. Paul & .Son, The Old Nurseries, 
Cheshunt, again came a very interesting collection 
of Alpine and herbaceous plants ; and from W. Craw¬ 
ford, Esq., Lakelands, Cork, came some cut blooms 
of the magnificent Magnolia Campbellii, which 
flowered with him for the first time some three years 
ago, and this year the tree, which is 35 ft. high, has 
borne forty flowers. A small collection of Alpine 
Auriculas, of small size but fair quality, came from 
W. Toby, Esq., St. Mark’s Grove, West Brompton. 
Messrs. James Carter & Co. showed a large group of 
Cinerarias, well flowered and the colours good, and 
including one plant of special interest, the shape and 
style of the flowers being like those of C. cruenta, but 
of a good light blue colour. 
Only two First-Class Certificates were awarded at 
this meeting, and of these Mr. Ballautine, gardener to 
Baron Schroder, took one for the lovely Phalienopsis 
Mari®, one of Mr. Burbidge’s finds in Borneo. The 
flowers are of the Luddemanniana character, white 
ground, barred with chocolate and rich violet, the 
latter in the centre. It has plain green leaves, and 
is quite a gem. The other certificate went to H. J- 
Elwes, Esq., for Tulipa Oculus solis var. Mervensis, a 
large flower of a bright scarlet colour. Sir Trevoi 
Lawrence exhibited a large and superbly bloomed 
specimen of Masdevallia Turneri, a fine old Orchid,with 
crimson and cinnamon colouredsweet-scentedblossoms. 
A very fine variety of Odontoglossum mulus, with the 
distinguishing name of Courtauldianum, was shown by 
S. Courtauld, Esq., Booking Place, Braintree. It is 
very distinct, the ground colour being brighter, and 
