406 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 23,1895. 
soil between it and the compost. " Porter s Patent 
Crocks ” are undoubtedly a first class article, but 
their chief value lies in that they serve to exclude 
worms from the pots, mischievous little pests which 
are often responsible for the choking up of the 
drainage of many a pot.— G. 
-- 5 *- 
ASPARAGUS PLANTING. 
The Asparagus is one of the most useful, most 
profitable, and most neglected of vegetables, and as 
the season is now coming round for planting, a few 
remarks may not be out of place. I should advise 
intending planters to have a piece of land trenched 
about 3 ft. deep, adding a good quantity of manure 
and good sprinkling of salt, soot, and burst ashes, and 
if the soil is heavy and stiff, the addition of road 
scrapings or sea sand, if at hand, would be a good 
thing in helping to keep the soil open. We know 
that the Asparagus is a sea-shore plant in many 
parts of England and other countries, and this tells 
us that it likes rather a light, open soil and plenty of 
manure and moisture, so that by adding a good 
quantity of manure, salt, etc., in the first place, 
better results may be looked for hereafter. With the 
land well trenched, leave the surface as rough as 
possible for a time so that the March winds may 
well pulverise it, after which a forking over 
again a good spit deep will be needful about a week 
before planting time, and in digging this time the 
soil should be broken properly fine in readiness to 
receive the plants. 
As to the time for planting, much depends on the 
season, but I find the best time is just when the 
plants are starting to grow, therefore it is as well to 
have the land ready, and one-year old plants, in my 
opinion, are the best to plant. Next comes the ques¬ 
tion of planting in beds or on the flat. I am in 
favour of the beds, only on the flat. So far, my sys¬ 
tem has been to plant in beds, and I should advise 
those planting to plant in beds, and to do themselves 
justice and their plants as well to give them plenty 
of room. I recommend the beds to be 5 ft. wide for 
three rows, one row down the centre of the bed 
leaving 18 in. clear between the outside rows and 
1 ft. clear from the edge of the bed, planting the 
plants 1 ft. apart in the row. Some plant four rows 
at 15 in. apart, but this leaves only 7^ in. outside 
the row to the edge of the bed. In either case, an 
alley should be left 2 ft. wide between the beds. 
In planting, the less the soil is trod the better. 
Some people plant in some way, some in another. 
My system is to draw a drill about 4 in. wide and 
ij- in. deep, and take my plants fresh from the beds, 
holding the crown between the finger and thumb of 
the right hand and the roots of the plant loose in the 
palm of the hand so that they lay out properly and 
not in a bunch or matted together. When the plants 
are all placed in the drill, take the back of a rake 
and draw the edge of the drill carefully over the 
plants before drawing another drill and leaving your 
plants to dry before covering them up. This done, 
draw another drill and plant the same and so on till 
the piece is finished, then take your line, mark out 
your beds properly, edge them down, and with a 
spade or shovel clean out the alleys to their proper 
width to form the beds. Place the soil carefully on 
the beds, and with an eye to neatness, fill up any 
holes, etc. Should the soil be dry and light a gentle 
tread over the same will do good, and then a slight 
scattering of Lettuce or Radish seed on the bed will 
do no harm, and a row of Cabbage or Cauliflower up 
the alleys will not rob the land much and will keep 
the same at work while the Asparagus is getting 
settled and ready to grow to perfection which will be 
in two years from planting. Some of your readers 
may exclaim, " Oh, I have to wait two years for a 
bit of Asparagus ! ” And I say, “ Yes, it will pay you 
well to do it ” If you can keep it clean and give it 
a good coat of manure every year you can, with 
proper attention, have a good supply for thirty or 
forty years after without planting again. But you 
can cut year after year from a bed such as I have 
mentioned, and say 20 yds. long will give a 
good supply three or four days a week for a month 
or five weeks straight away, and what can be,better 
and more wholesome than this much sought-for 
vegetable. 
I don’t believe in the system of growing Asparagus 
on rounded up beds, although I like to plant in beds 
in the first place, as they are easier kept clean, and 
there is always a clean path to walk on without 
treading on the crowns. Neither do I believe in 
digging out a deep trench between the beds, but to 
keep the alleys and beds as near level as you can, 
then in the spring and summer you can help your 
beds with manure water, a little salt, etc., and if the 
beds are all on the round the rain and manure, all runs 
off the beds into the trenches or alleys, leaving the 
plants on the bed as dry as dust. I have seen a 
grand lot of "grass” grown the last year or two 
where the beds have been soaked once a week with 
manure water and soot. The grower said—" I like 
to see these fine fat-looking chaps, there is something 
to eat in them’’and he was right. In the autumn 
let the soil be carefully pricked over and as much as 
possible be taken off and placed in the alleys, then 
place about two to three inches of good manure all 
over the bed and let it remain open till a good rain 
comes, when the manure should be covered over 
with the soil from the alley or pathway, digging the 
same as deep as possible with a fork or spade, 
adding some good manure at the same time, leaving 
the whole as rough as possible all the winter, the 
frost will pull the soil to pieces and kill thousands of 
weeds. In the spring, rake the bed properly and 
any rough rakings off the beds can be dug in the 
alley and all made tidy. 
If the Asparagus has been properly attended to 
the second season, cutting may commence, but not 
too sharp or you will weaken your beds and stop 
the growth for another season. The practice I recom¬ 
mend is to cut all small heads leaving one strong one 
to each plant to encourage the plants to grow; this 
done all others may be cut for a week or two the 
second year, then let it all go away and grow which 
will strengthen the bed for the next season. In the 
autumn cut it down and manure it the same as 
before and treat it in every way the same. When the 
next season comes you may cut away for weeks and 
you will have a good supply, and many a person who 
has a garden, either cottager or (amateur)—which is 
hard to find nowadays in my parts—but if he were 
to make a bed for Asparagus, as I have recommended, 
it will prove the most profitable part of the garden. 
For forcing no doubt, three year old plants are the 
most suitable, and to have a good supply of this 
ready to hand, a sowing must be made every year on 
a piece of well-trenched land about fifteen inches 
from row to row. Sow thinly, for the more single 
plants you have the stronger they will be. The 
spring following have another piece of land ready 
and thin out the plants to about nine inches apart, 
and planting the other land with those taken from 
the bed the quantity depending on the demand. But 
to keep a supply of forced Asparagus up it will take 
some quantity and some little study for a time till 
you get a good stock, and once got into rotation it can 
be taken up and forced at almost any season, and in 
almost any common old two-light frame placed on a 
little steady heating manure in ordinary seasons. 
But this will not do in a time when we are getting 
208 to 30° of frost and lasting sometime with bright 
sunshine and cold winds in the daytime, but at other 
times about three old two light frames will keep up 
a good supply for a long time, and I have found that 
these old rough broken frames often prove useful at 
this season of the year. Things do well in them 
simply because they do not want so much attention ; 
so, with the aid of the plants and an old frame or 
two and some few cartloads of good leaves and a 
little covering, we may have Asparagus from Christ¬ 
mas away till we get it outside. This in many places 
would be much appreciated and much easier grown 
than many things that are looked for in the gentle¬ 
man's garden.— J. L., P. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
By John Fraser, F.L.S., Kew. 
The undermentioned Orchids were exhibited at the 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on the 
12th inst., and received awards according to merit 
Cymbidium eburneo-Lowianum auperbum, 
Nov. vat'.— The name of this Orchid sufficiently 
explains its parentage. A second plant having 
flowered, it turns out to be much finer than the first 
and has been honoured with a varietal name. There 
were four flowers on the spike, of larger size and 
better colour than the type. The oblong sepals are 
creamy-yellow tinted with flesh, but are darker and 
almost pink on the back. The petals are narrower, 
more decidedly of a yellow tint, and less suffused 
with flesh. The three-lobed lip has the side lobes 
creamy-white; but the terminal has a large, angular, 
crimson-purple blotch fading to white at the margin. 
The crest is yellow, and the face of the column 
spotted with purple. Altogether it is a distinct and 
showy variety with massive and conspicuous flowers. 
First-class Certificate. Exhibited by Messrs. J. 
Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. 
Calanthe Masuco-tricarinata, Nov. liyb .—As 
in the case of the Cymbidium, the name of this 
hybrid indicates its parentage. The habit of the 
plant is very similar to that of C. Masuca, and the 
broad, lanceolate-elliptic, plaited evergreen leaves 
are arranged in a tuft round the base of the erect 
scape, which is 18 in. long, bearing a raceme of 
flowers on the top. The flowers are of medium size 
with elliptic sepals washed with pink, but more 
distinctly on the back. The petals are much smaller 
and obovate, but similar in colour. The shallowly 
three-lobed lip is purplish-violet and often very 
faint, but variable in this respect, at least at this 
season of the year. The evergreen foliage and the 
delicately coloured flowers of this hybrid will com¬ 
mend it to the attention of all Orchid growers, but 
particularly to those who have a leaning to Calanthes 
generally. Award of Merit. Exhibited by Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons. 
Phalaenopsis Youngeana. —A raceme of this 
beautiful Phalaenopsis, bearing eight large flowers, 
was exhibited by Baron Schroder (gardener, Mr. H. 
Ballantine), The Dell, Egham. The flowers are 
similar in size to those of P. Aphrodite, but very 
different in colour. The oblong sepals are pale, 
rosy purple, fading to white towards the edges. The 
roundly obovate petals are white with a pale, rosy- 
purple centre. The lateral lobes of the lip are 
obovate and white with several deep purple lines 
towards one edge; the terminal lobe is triangular 
with rather acute basal points, but narrows con¬ 
siderably towards the apex, and is finely spotted all 
over with warm rosy-purple. The antennae are 
incurved and cirrhose. The bifid crest is spotted 
with purple and shaded yellow at the tips. Alto¬ 
gether it is a very handsome and desirable form. 
First-class Certificate. 
Phalaenopsis intermedia Por ei. —The cut 
inflorescence of this supposed natural hybrid, shown 
by Lord Rothschild (gardener, Mr. E. Hill), Tring 
Park, Tring, was the finest we have seen, and the 
largest. It had four or five very large branches of 
moderate sized but very numerous flowers, in 
accordance with the supposed parentage of the type, 
and which has been proved artificially. These 
parents were P. Aphrodite and P. rosea. The 
variety under notice has the sepals and broadly 
rhomboid petals, white with a pale purple spot at 
the base of each. The side lobes of the lip are 
suffused with tawny-yellow and spotted with red, 
while the terminal lobe is amethyst-purple with very 
short, incurved antennae. A First-class Certificate 
was accorded the variety, and a Cultural Commen¬ 
dation by way of recognition for its undoubted 
evidence of cultural skill. 
Orchids from Perth. —For some time past it 
has been demonstrated that Orchids can more than 
hold their own during the winter months, even 
against all the stress of weather with which we have 
been visited. Just as we were going to press last 
week a boxful of flowers arrived from Mr. James 
Lindsay, gardener to John M. Fraser, Esq., Rose- 
mount, Perth, who has within the last four years got 
together a fine collection of these exotic favourites. 
Those sent are flowering for the first time since their 
introduction. Amongst them was a bloom of 
Coelogyne cristata maxima, of large size, with rich 
orange-yellow fringes. The rich cinnabar hue of 
Laelia cinnabarina harpophylla, with its wavy and 
nearly white lip, is always acceptable, and worthy 
of a place in the most select collection. Dendrobium 
Wardianum was richly coloured, and will always 
hold a place amongst its congeners. The Odonto- 
glossumswere more varied, and included the elegant 
and beautifully marked O. Cervantesii. O. crispum 
could hardly have been omitted, and it may here be 
stated that this and other cool house species are 
promising well for a display later on. Some of the 
forms of O. crispum have already commenced to 
bloom, including a fine yellow O. c. Andersonianum. 
