684 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 27th, 1885. 
THE 
(Drrlritr (footers’ dalentmr. 
Cattleyas of the Amazon.— During a residence 
of some eight years in Para and on the Amazon, 
we have received many letters asking information 
as to Amazonian Orchids. The notes given in 
Orchid manuals, that a certain Orchid comes from 
Brazil, lead many to suppose that it comes 
from the Amazon, whereas the Amazonian region, 
vast in extent as it is, comprises only a small 
portion of the immense empire of Brazil. The two 
genera of Orchids concerning which there is the most 
inquiry (and well do they merit the attention) are 
Cattleya and Laelia. Now there is not a Lselia of any 
kind in the Amazonian valley, nor, as far as our 
knowledge extends, have any ever been found on any 
of the Amazonian tributaries. To the north Laslias 
are found in Mexico and Guatemala, but the Brazilian 
Laslias are natives of the southern provinces, generally 
in the region of Bahia or Bio de Janeiro, and thence 
toward central Brazil. The large genus of Cattleya 
is also sparingly represented in the Amazon valley, 
the great proportion of the Brazilian Cattleyas being 
natives of the same regions as the Laslias. But as 
compensation for the lack of number the Amazonian 
Cattleyas are pre-eminent for their beauty. 
To one who now has only to wire them on to the 
trees, or on to blocks which hang on the fences, to 
have them establish themselves at once and bloom 
profusely, the general complaint that they do not 
thrive in cultivation would augur want of proper care, 
did not his experience in times past in their culture 
in the Orchid-house lead him to believe that they are 
not easily grown. A few notes as to the conditions 
under which they naturally grow may furnish some 
suggestions as to their culture. 
The Cattleyas of the Amazon are Cattleya superba 
and its varieties, El Dorado and its varieties, Luteola 
Wallisii, and the almost unknown species—if species 
they be called—Schrcederi and Leeana. 
None of these are found on the Amazon this side 
of Manaos, which city is situated on the rizer Negro 
just above its junction with the Amazon, about 1,000 
miles from Para, and, as far as our knowledge goes, 
no Cattleyas have been found above Tabatinga, the 
frontier fortress on the Amazon between Brazil and 
Peru. They are also, except Cattleya luteoia (and 
perhaps superba), confined wholly to the northern 
bank of the Amazon. 
The Cattleya region thus seems to comprise a tract 
of about 800 miles on the northerly bank of the 
Amazon, extending northerly to Guiana, Venezuela, 
and Colombia. The whole of this region for many 
miles north of the Amazon is of the same general 
character—varzea, or land overflowed in the annual 
rise of the rivers, with stretches or isolated portions 
of higher land known as terra preta. There are 
innumerable lakes, many of great size, countless 
igaripes and parana-meris, or water-courses which 
connect the various rivers, but never any high hills or 
great elevations until far north, near the boundaries of 
Brazil. The greater part of the soil is alluvial, though 
there are sandy plains and rocky formations. No 
road or path of any kind exists in the whole of this 
immense extent of territory, and the only communi¬ 
cation is by way of the water. 
The evaporation is very great, and in the woods 
the air is generally surcharged with moisture. The 
rainy season begins in December and continues until 
June, the rain at times falling continuously in a 
deluge. During the remainder of the year there is 
but little rain, but the air at night is always damp 
from the great condensation. The days are hot, the 
mercury often rising to 80 degs. or 90 degs. in the 
shade, and the nights cool, often cold, the thermo¬ 
meter sometimes falling to 55 degs. The annual rise 
of the rivers, as shown by marks on the trees, is from 
20 ft. to 30 ft. 
It is under these conditions of temperature that the 
Amazonian Cattleyas grow. It must be remembered 
that Cattleyas are never found in the close, dark 
woods, and never in pestilential localities. Orchids 
like a free circulation of pure air, and the Cattleyas 
often grow on the topmost branches of the immense 
trees in the full sunlight. They also never seek to 
cover or bury their roots, which run up and down the 
branches often to the length of 15 ft., but always on 
the surface clinging close to the bark, but in large 
clumps the roots often wind round and round the 
dead roots and pseudo-bulbs of past years, and make 
large masses, but these inner roots are all dead, and 
these masses become the habitation of fire-ants—a 
fact which does not add to the pleasures of Orchid 
collecting. 
The Cattleyas thus experience a season of six 
months of constant moisture, followed by six months 
of intense heat by day, during which they become 
very dry, but are every night refreshed by the copious 
condensation; the maximum and minimum of tem¬ 
perature in the shade being about 80 degs., rising to 
120 degs. in the sun, and about 55 degs. at night. 
The nearer we approach these conditions in cultiva¬ 
tion the nearer we shall be to success .—The American 
Garden. 
-- 
Orchids and Art. —Some time ago in a letter to 
you I called attention to the steady progress Orchids 
were making as subjects for the artist’s pencil, and at 
the same time I ventured to predict a wide field for 
them in that direction. Since that time I have had 
repeated proofs that my surmises were correct; 
indeed I find they have, by their strange beauty and 
grace, insinuated themselves into the artist’s favour 
even beyond my expectation. 
The other day I was pleased to find in a friend’s 
house a folding screen, on each panel of which a 
lovely group of Orchids alone were cleverly painted. 
The first panel had Cypripedium longifolium, C. 
Harrisianum, and C. hirsutissimum; the second, 
Phalasnopsis Bchilleriana, Odontoglossum cordatum, 
and Cattleya citrina ; the third Zygopetalum Gautierii 
and Epidendrum fragans; and the fourth, Phajus 
Wallichii, with Trichopilia suavis beneath. The 
whole thing was admirably got up as to form, colouring, 
and habit of the plants, and reflected great credit on 
the designers. 
My friend, who knows nothing of Orchids, said she 
was told by the upholsterer that the Cypripediums 
were Pitcher plants, and the others Butterfly plants, 
so he has evidently taken his first step in Orchidology, 
and with the help of the lovely pictures before us, I 
was not slow to advance my friend and the others 
assembled a degree further in the science, which may 
have effect some day in causing Orchids to appear in 
their greenhouses. I would not for a moment seek to 
depose the favourite Boses, Carnations, Gardenias, 
&c., but I must say that, considering how beautiful 
Orchids are, and how easy they are to grow, they 
should command more extensive cultivation in gardens 
generally.— Madeline. 
Odontoglossum CErstedii. — This handsome 
little Odontoglossum is figured in the June number 
of The Botanical Magazine. It was discovered by 
Warcewicz in 1848, but was not well known till some 
time afterwards. It is said to be a native of Costa 
Bica, growing at an elevation of 9,000 ft. on Mount 
Irasu, near the town of San Juan. The plant is 
believed to have first flowered in Europe in 1877, with 
the firm of Messrs. Veitch & Sons, and its usual time of 
flowering is from February to May. It grows to about 
6 ins. high, the peduncles producing from one to four 
flowers, which measure 1 in. to 1£ ins. in diameter ; 
the colour being pure white, with the exception of the 
base of the lip, which is orange-yellow. 
The Orchid Album. —The last number of the 
fourth volume of this admirable work contains por¬ 
traits of Catasetum macrocarpum, taken from a 
specimen in Mr. McDonald’s fine collection at 
Woodlands, Perth ; La-lia anceps Williamsii, a rare 
and costly variety, pure white, with the throat and 
crest yellow, striped with reddish-brown; Saccola- 
bium ampullaceum, remarkable for its short, dense 
spikes of rosy-purple flowers; and the old yellow 
Oncidium varicosum, still a valued plant for autumn 
and winter flowering. 
Orchid Prices. —At the second day’s sale of Mr. 
Armitage’s Orchids, which took place last w T eek in 
Manchester, the following prices were realized — 
Cymbidium Lowianum, 9 gs.; Dendrobium Ains- 
worthii, eight leads, 10 gs, ; Cattleya exoniensis, 
£13 10s. ; Ccelogyne eristata, Chatsworth variety, £7; 
Dendrobium nobile intermedium, £14 10s.; Tanda 
suavis Gottesschalckii, £8; Cypripedium Dominia- 
num, £8 10s.; C. caudatum, 12 leads, £15; Dendro¬ 
bium clavatum, £5 15s.; Dendrobium moniliforme, 
£5 ; Cymbidium eburneum Dayanum, £5 15s.; and 
Cattleya Trianse, in basket, 14 ins. by 18 ins., £5 15s. 
— g—. -we < x= p- — 
NOTES FROM THE NEW FOREST. 
Eablv one sunny morning,in this leafy month of 
June, the writer booked from Salisbury to the Lynd- 
hurst Boad Station on the London and South-Western 
Bailway from Salisbury to Weymouth, for the purpose 
of having a quiet stroll through that part of the 
great historical Hampshire Forest which is situate 
in the neighbourhood of Cadnam and Lyndhurst. 
It is three miles from the Lyndhurst Boad Station 
to the town of Lyndhurst, three miles to Cadnam, 
and the same distance between the last-named places. 
An omnibus from the Crown Hotel, Lyndhurst, meets 
all the trains stopping at the Lyndhurst Boad Station. 
The New Forest—the most extensive and wildest of 
woodlands now existing in the south of England— 
was, as every schoolboy knows, created by William 
the Conqueror. He it was who first placed this vast 
tract of wooded country under the severe restrictions 
of the Norman forest laws, and increased its limits 
so as to include the whole extent of land between the 
Southampton estuary on the east, and the southern 
Avon on the west. 
This remarkable district is nearly sixty miles in 
circumference, or about the size of the Isle of Wight, 
and contains 66,000 acres. Of these, 900 acres are 
encroachments, 11,200 acres enclosures round the 
keepers’ lodges, 25,000 acres belong to manors and 
freehold estates, independent of the forest laws, and 
about 1,000 acres are held of the Crown by leases. 
The remainder consists of woods and (about 14,000 
acres) of pasture lands. Its original extent (as 
computed by Cobbet) was 144,000 acres. The present 
boundaries may be defined by drawing two lines from 
Blackhill, in Wiltshire, to Dunley Chine, near Poole, 
on the west, and to Calshot Castle on the east, the 
coast forming the base of the triangle. It is divided 
into nine bailiwicks, which are subdivided into fifteen 
walks, and the whole is under the control of a Lord 
Warden, who formerly appointed a cohort of wood¬ 
wards and verderers, regarders, foresters, and under¬ 
foresters, but in pursuance of a Beport issued by the 
Boyal Commission in 1857-8, the administration has 
been greatly simplified and brought more directly 
under parliamentary control. 
Oak and Beech are here extensively grown for the 
supply of Her Majesty’s dockyards. The Oak does 
not attain to a great size, but is gnarled and knotted 
in a most picturesque fashion. There are now no 
deer in the grassy glades, and they never, it is said, 
at any time reached the size and strength of their 
northern brethren. The last great “deer hunt” is 
said to have taken place in 1838, when upwards of 
thirty masters of hounds and about 1,500 sportsmen 
assembled on the heath at Stoney Cross. After the 
stag got away, the number of his pursuers speedily 
dwindled down to seven, and at length he was secured 
by John King, Esq., the master of the Hambledon 
Hunt, in a barn attached to one of the keeper's 
lodges. He was removed to Windsor, and appro¬ 
priately named “ King John.” 
The appearance of the New Forest on entering it 
from the direction of Fordingbridge is calculated to 
impress the tourist visiting it for the first time with 
the idea that he was passing through a series of large 
and beautifully wooded private domains, and of which, 
in truth, there are several of more or less extent in 
the Forest. Looking over the tops of thousands of 
acres of trees from the vantage-ground at Stoney 
Cross, the huge mass of undulating leafage surface, of 
various shades of dark and green, is very effective; and 
when contrasted with the Southampton Waters, be¬ 
decked with steamboats and craft of various sizes 
plying hither and thither on the glassy waters in the 
background, together with a long stretch of south 
coast scenery away in the distance, completes a picture 
of sylvan beauty and picturesqueness of outline which 
would gladden the heart of a Bubens. 
The present denizens of the Forest are badgers, but 
not in great numbers ; foxes and squirrels in plenty; 
