570 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 9th, 1S85. 
C. labiata Pescatorei is one of the rarest of the 
old importation. It has upright bright green pseudo¬ 
bulbs and curious trowel-like leaves. Its flowers are 
of fine form, sepals and petals light rose, lip dark 
crimson, with paler margin. Mr. B. S. Williams has 
a very fine plant of it. 
C. labiata brilliantissima (see illustration, p. 569), 
the only plant of which in cultivation is in the 
famous collection of William Lee, Esq., of Downside, 
Leatherkead, where it was beautifully in bloom last 
September, surpasses all the rest in beauty, substance, 
and, it is supposed, duration of its flowers. The 
sepals are clear rose, the petals are of the same 
colour, but with a crimson feather extending up the 
middle of each, which gives the whole flower a very 
showy and distinct appearance. But the handsomely 
crimped and fringed labellum, with its shining dark 
velvety-crimson colouring, is the chief attraction, the 
blending of the colours, crimson, rose, and white, 
and the soft effect of the pale yellow in the throat, 
constituting it a very attractive object. Not content 
with the display of all this loveliness it emits a most 
grateful odour. Mr. Lee must be congratulated on 
the possession of such a beauty, and the plant on its 
good fortune in getting into such skilful hands. 
C. Mossim is one of our oldest and best friends; it 
is the amateur's plant pur excellence, as it is won- 
drously showy, easy to cultivate, and cheap to buy. 
Moreover, it is fragrant, and if fifty plants of it are 
obtained no two will be exactly alike. 
C. Mossi.e Wagnebii.— Sepals and petals pure 
white ; lip orange. 
C. Mossle Beinecklana has pure white flowers, the 
labellum being veined with crimson and the throat 
tinged with yellow. 
C. speciosissima is very variable, beautiful, and 
generally cheap, because it is said not to bloom 
freely; grown on blocks or in shallow baskets, and in 
the full light near the glass of the roof, I have never 
had any trouble in growing it well and getting it to 
flower. When growing and rooting it wants an abun¬ 
dance of water, and when grown with but little stuff 
about it, it should be dipped every morning. 
C. gigas. —This and its varieties are among our 
showiest Cattleyas. The flowers are very large, sepals 
and petals clear rose; lip broad and flat at the lower 
half, bright crimson, edged with lilac and beautifully 
fringed. I should recommend amateurs to grow all 
the varieties of this in baskets, treating it much like 
C. Dowiana or C. aurea, as given in The Gardening 
World, with an illustration, p. 296, January 10th. 
C. gigas Burfordiensis is one of the grandest of the 
gigas varieties. It flowered in Sir Trevor Lawrence’s 
noted collection. It has purplish-rose flowers, with 
intense amethyst lip. 
C. gigas imberialis is a local variety discovered by 
Mr. Boezl. Some of the forms which have flowered 
out of it have labellums much resembling those of 
C. Dowiana. In particular, may be mentioned that 
which Mr, Geo. Hardy flowered at Pickering Lodge, 
Timperley, and which was like C. Dowiana in the lip, 
but C. gigas in the petals. 
C. Dowiana is a great beauty, with yellow sepals 
and petals, and dark velvety-crimson lip veined with 
yellow. It comes from Costa Bica. 
C. Dowlana aurea appears to be a New Grenada 
form of the preceding; we gave a good illustration of 
it, with cultural note, at p. 296. 
C. Mendelii being now in flower, all have it well 
before them, and know it to be a grand plant. It is 
also very easy to grow, and not expensive. The 
sepals and petals vary from white to rose, and the 
lips from rosy-lilac to crimson. 
C. TRiANiE, a host in itself, is well-known for its 
free habit of growth and for the certainty with which 
its flowers in the dull months of the year may be 
counted on. Like C. Mossiie it is cheap, and as there 
is endless variety in it, some of the forms being even 
pure white, the amateur cannot well get too many. 
C. Percivallana is one of our neatest Cattleyas, and 
a good acquisition. Its flowers are small compared 
with C. Mossise, but the richness of the dark crimson 
or maroon labellum, and its delicate frilling in a good 
variety, makes it a very handsome and desirable 
plant. 
C. Gaskelliana. —This is of the true labiata form, a 
handsome thing, and delightfully fragrant. There is 
great variety among the different specimens, but to 
my mind, all the forms are beautiful, although some 
charge them with paleness. It, like many of the 
other good large-flowered Cattleya introductions of 
recent times, was imported by Messrs. F. Sander & 
Co., of St. Albans .—James O'Brien. 
-—— 
CANARINA CAMPANULA. 
Tour correspondent “ B. D.,” p. 551, inquires if 
this old-fashioned plant has gone out of cultivation, 
to which I answer No, not quite ; though its occurrence 
in gardens is by no means so general as the merits of 
the plant deserve. I know of two places where it is 
grown, and I doubt not there are many more, though 
perhaps rather widely distributed. It has no doubt 
fallen into neglect, and your correspondent has done 
well in directing attention to so interesting a subject, 
and which by the way is so easily grown. The Messrs. 
E. G. Henderson & Son, of Maida Vale, used to grow 
it, and I doubt not may still have it. Latimer Clark, 
Esq., of Sydenham Hill, was an admirer of this plant 
some years ago (indeed old-fashioned plants were his 
favourites); he grew it well too, and visitors used to 
admire it, though I never remember an instance of a 
stranger recognizing it, a circumstance which illus¬ 
trates its sparse distribution. Flowering so early in 
the year, and the general appearance of the plant 
being so widely distinct from any other in flower at 
the same time, are qualities which should recommend 
it to those lovers of plants who can command the use 
of an ordinary greenhouse. To cultivate it well and 
successfully, the instructions given at p. 551 will prove 
a good guide. I find it mentioned in some continental 
lists among miscellaneous bulbous plants, and if 
my memory serves me rightly, I believe I saw the 
plant in the Cambridge Botanic Garden last year. 
There is another species of African origin, C. zangue- 
bar, on which coast it is found, hence its specific 
name; it requires an intermediate temperature.— 
E. Jenkins. 
— c— ■ — ^ TA- <> cr- —p — 
Fruit Culture under Glass.— Vineries : The 
next few weeks will be the busiest time in the whole 
year in this department. The Vines will require to be 
looked over twice a week in the way of pinching the 
lateral and sub-lateral growths, and Grape thinning 
(respecting which see p. 522) from sunrise till pretty 
well sunset will be the order of the day until every 
bunch has been properly thinned, commencing the 
operation as soon as the berries are set, and sticking 
to it until the last bunch is finished. The skilful and 
anxious Grape-grower will not allow any superfluous 
bunches or berries to remain on his Vines one day 
longer than he is absolutely obliged to do. As soon 
as the thinning process is completed, we strew a little 
of Beeson’s Manure over the border, following it 
immediately with a mulching of horse-droppings 
2 ins. thick and a good soaking of tepid (clear) water 
and (after the first couple of waterings) liquid manure 
at intervals of ten days or a fortnight, until the berries 
commence colouring, when the applications are less 
frequent and consist of clear water only. 
Ventilation.— Grapes in the early house (in which 
we cut our first bunch on the 24th ult.) should be 
ventilated freely throughout the day during favourable 
weather, leaving the sashes open a few inches top 
and bottom at night. Open the ventilators a little in 
the morning when the thermometer registers 75 degs. 
to 80 degs. in houses in which the Vines are swelling 
their bunches, and at 70 degs. to 75 degs. in later 
houses, and afterwards increase or decrease the quantity 
of air given according to the rise and fall of the tem¬ 
perature in the individual houses until closing time, 
which should range from a quarter past three to four 
o’clock in the afternoon on bright sunny days during 
the next few weeks. The top and bottom ventilators of 
vineries of modern erection, and which we will assume 
are nearly, if not quite, air-tight, should, however, be 
opened a little late in the evening, and closed first 
thing in the morning, except houses in which the 
Grapes are beginning to colour or are coming into 
flower, which should, as already stated, have more 
or less air on day and night. 
Atmospheric Moisture.—A somewhat dry atmos¬ 
phere should be maintained in houses in which the 
Grapes are ripe and ripening, and a like atmosphere 
should be observed in houses in which they are in 
flower, but in the case of Grapes which are set and 
swelling the conditions should be the reverse, the 
pathways, walls, and surface of the border should be 
damped over morning and afternoon at closing time, 
when the temperature may be run up to 90 degs. with 
sunheat.— H. W. Ward, Longford Castle. 
Profitable Fruit Culture.—At a late meeting 
of the Herefordshire Chamber of Agriculture, Mr. 
Watkins, of the Pomona Farm, Withington, con¬ 
tributed a paper on this subject, in which he stated 
that it had been asserted that fruit-growing did not 
pay, but he maintained that it could be made profitable, 
and instanced an orchard which had yielded a profit 
of £15 per acre. Fruit had not decreased in value in 
the same ratio as other farm produce. In Hereford¬ 
shire they had a soil highly suitable to the growth of 
Apples, and it was to the interests of the landlords and 
tenants to develop those capabilities. If they were 
growing for market they must have both quality and 
size. He did not recommend the planting of one 
sort of Apple, unless a person intended to grow 
extensively, and was prepared to bear an occasional 
failure of crop ; nor the planting of too many sorts, 
but the growing of several good varieties. No land 
paid so well for good attention as orcharding. He 
advised great attention to the feeding of the soil, but 
condemned the practice of over-pruning. The only 
pruning required to an old orchard, if it had been well 
attended to when young, was to cut down the dead 
and oross boughs, and to thin out small wood, to let 
the sun into the centre of the tree. There was no 
reason why the quality of English fruit should not be 
as good, if not superior, to the American and Canadian 
fruit, which secured higher prices than the English, 
as it was better harvested. Apples should be placed, 
and not dropped, into a basket. The way to make 
fruit-growing profitable was to plant sorts of good 
quality, heavy croppers, and good size, and to take 
care of them when planted, and to harvest them well. 
CL—* 
Work in the Plant-houses. —Among the soft- 
wooded greenhouse plants there will be plenty of 
work just at this season of the year, when they are 
making rapid growth ; and if not given plenty of pot 
room as they require it, and space to grow in, it will 
be useless to expect to have good plants that will keep 
up a succession of flowers. In potting on Tuberous 
Begonias, any plants that are throwing up a number 
of shoots should be thinned out and the young shoots 
will make good cuttings, besides benefiting the plants 
by being removed. To keep the plants dwarf and 
sturdy, they should be placed in a light, airy position, 
and only have a slight shading during the middle of 
the day. The watering must also be carefully attended 
to, as over watering is equally as damaging as allowing 
the plants to become too dry. 
Pelargoniums that are coming on for succession 
will require tying out, and to have more space allotted 
to them. If some of the free-flowering early varieties 
are selected and cut back just below the flowering 
shoots, they will make useful plants for flowering 
in the autumn, if potted on and grown out-of-doors 
through the summer. To keep Cyclamens clean and 
healthy through the summer, they should be grown 
on a moist bottom, and must be examined from time 
to time to see that they are free from green-fly or 
thrips, and, on the first appearance of either, be 
carefully fumigated until the pests are thoroughly 
eradicated. In watering, soot-water may be used 
freely, which will promote growth and help to keep 
off insects. 
Azaleas that are making their growth will require 
frequent syringing, and as this will sometimes keep 
the surfaoe of the soil moist when they are dry 
beneath, they should be examined carefully, and when 
water is given they should have a thorough soaking. 
Where the plants are throwing out vigorous shoots it 
is a good plan to stop them ; this will help to keep the 
plants in shape, and if done early enough will give 
several trusses oi flower where there would otherwise 
only be one. 
