fHE GARDENING WORLD 
June 15, 1895. 
8o2 
notwithstanding the excessive heat. Seedlings of 
Ranunculus asiaticus are now in bloom, and show a 
considerable variety of pale, delicate, and attractive 
colours. A plantation of a dwarf bedding Tropaeo- 
lum raised from seed has come wonderfully true to 
colour, which is of a brilliant crimson-scarlet; the 
foliage is of a rich dark green. Damsons will be a 
heavy crop this year, judging from four dozen trees 
in the seed grounds, and which are calculated to bear 
about fifty bushels of fruit. 
■-- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
By John Fraser, F.L.S., Kew. 
Vanda parviflora.—Notwithstanding the small size 
of the flowers of this species, it should have more 
claim upon the sympathies and attention of horti¬ 
culturists than several others of larger size but less 
interesting character, which find their way into 
collections. Although relatively rare in cultivation, 
it is one of the commonest and most widely distri¬ 
buted of the Indian species. The insignificant size 
of the flowers is doubtlessly accountable for the 
neglect with which it is treated, but the bright appear¬ 
ance and the quiet beauty of the same should find a 
larger number of admirers. It was first introduced 
into Britain in 1844, but has frequently been im¬ 
ported since amongst consignments of other Indian 
species. The species is best known amongst gar¬ 
deners under the name of Aerides Wightianum. A 
piece of it in a small basket has been flowering for 
some time past in the garden of E. H. Watts, Esq., 
Devonhurst, Chiswick, under the care of Mr. J. 
Gibson. The sepals and petals are soft yellow when 
they first expand, deepening to golden-yellow or the 
colour of old gold when fully developed. The lip is 
white, tinted with pale violet. The aerial roots are 
generally abundantly developed, and curiously 
enough they are often almost as stout as the stem 
itself. 
Erratic Odontoglots.—Instances of erratic 
behaviour often turn up amongst Orchids, and would 
cause less surprise perhaps if they were confined 
to garden hybrids, so that their sports and rever¬ 
sions might be explained under those headings ; but 
this is by no means the case, and fresh importations 
are no more exempt from it than old established 
plants. A case occurring in Odontoglossum crispum 
seems the more curious, inasmuch as the departure 
from the type seems constant. A specimen before 
us comes from a plant in the collection of Thomas 
McMeekin, Esq., Falkland Park, South Norwood 
Hill, and which behaved in exactly the same manner 
last year. The sepals and lip are perfectly normal, 
but the petals and column abnormal, not in one 
flower only, but in every one upon the raceme The 
petals are adnate by their contiguous and upper 
edges to the back of the column, so that they form a 
sort of wavy and fringed hood over the latter. The 
original wings of the column have become enlarged 
and petaloid, but owing to the peculiar structure of 
the whole organ they appear much farther back than 
usual: The column was greatly thickened and prac¬ 
tically treble. The normal anther was nearly per¬ 
fect, but more or less united with the petals, and 
contained pollinia devoid of pedicel or gland as far 
as could be seen. In this respect the pollinia closely 
resembled those of Dendrobium. The two super¬ 
numerary anther caps contained no pollinia, and 
were attached to the edge of the column in the 
position where the proper wings of the column 
should be situated. These imperfect organs 
evidently represented the development of the two 
anthers that normally remain indiscernable, but 
which serve to complete one of the two series sup¬ 
posed to have existed in the ancestral forms of the 
order. Accompanying the above was a form of O. 
c, Andersonianum, furnished us by Mr. Wright, the 
gardener, and which had a much broader lip than is 
usual to this sub-species. In this respect it seemed 
to swerve towards the type to a greater extent than is 
customary. Something like a miniature lip is hinged 
to the lip of the principal or primary one. 
Odontoglossum excellens dellense_The 
Dell variety of this Odontoglot originally appeared 
in the collection of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., 
Burford Lodge, Dorking, in 1881. At first it was 
Supposed to be a yellow variety of O. Pescatorei, but 
the late Professor Reichenbach thought it was a 
natural hybrid, and this supposition was at last con¬ 
firmed when O. excellens, or a form of it, was raised 
by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, by crossing 
O. Pescatorei with O. triumphans. The Dell variety 
is a remarkably fine one by reason of the number 
and large size of the blotches, which are reddish- 
brown, and distributed over the greater portion of 
both sepals and petals. There is also a very large 
blotch of the same colour in front of the golden- 
yellow crest. A coloured plate in the Lindenia PI. 
335 represents a magnificent raceme, bearing eleven 
flowers of large size. It may here be stated that the 
artificial production of O. excellens is the second 
case of supposed natural hybridism that has been 
proved by actual experiment. The first was the 
raising of O. Wilckeanum from O. crispum, crossed 
with the pollen of O. luteo-purpureum, and which 
was effected by M. Leroy, gardener to Baron Edmond 
de Rothschild, of Armainvilliers, near Paris. 
- H - - 
Brussels Sprouts.— The importance of these as a 
winter and early spring vegetable every gardener is 
well acquainted with, and they are practically in¬ 
dispensable in every kitchen garden, forming as they 
often do in severe winters like that of 1894-95 the 
only kind of green stuff that can be relied on to resist 
adverse and trying climatic conditions. A portion 
of ground which was trenched in autumn will have 
been left vacant for their accommodation, and they 
should therefore be transferred to their permanent 
quarters without delay. Some growers make a 
practice of sowing the seed in a cold frame or in 
pans about the end of February or the beginning of 
March, transplanting these when they have attained 
a sufficient size to a piece of prepared soil in a 
warmer corner outside, or in a spare frame. This 
method of treatment will now have furnished a 
quantity of strong young plants, which should be 
lifted with good balls of earth attached and planted 
with the trowel, making the soil nicely firm around 
them and giving a good watering soon after plant¬ 
ing so that little check will be felt. In planting a dis¬ 
tance of 2 ft. between the plants, and of 2 ft. 6 in. 
between the rows will be quite sufficient room to 
allow. Several varieties should be grown, amongst 
them Sutton’s Exhibition, Dwarf Gem, Veitch's 
Paragon and Scrymger’s Giant. 
Broccoli— Although not so certain a vegetable 
as Brussels Sprouts, still in ordinary winters fairly 
good crops of this valuable esculent may be obtained. 
The great thing to observe in the culture of 
Broccoli is never to plant upon soil that is loose, or 
lhat has been recently manured and dug. In such a 
situation the plants make such gross succulent 
growth, more especially if the summer and autumn 
turn out wet, as was the case last year, that they are 
unable to stand hard frost, and are thus destroyed 
wholesale. Land which it is intended to plant with 
Broccoli should therefore be as firm as possible, and 
in preparing it for the plants the weeds may be 
removed by means of a hoe and a rake. The holes 
should be made with a crowbar or an iron-shod 
dibber. If possible a dull day should be taken 
advantage of for planting, but as this may not offer 
itself, additional care must be taken in planting if the 
sun is shining the while with the brilliancy that has 
been so characteristic of the last five or six weeks. 
Avoid having too many plants out of ground at once ; 
for dibbling them in on such hard soil is necessarily 
a lengthy operation, and the tender seedlings soon 
flag under the drying influence of the fierce rays of 
the sun. A good watering will of course be 
essential immediately after planting, also occasional 
subsequent attentions of a like nature as long as the 
drought continues, and until the plants have become 
established. For early work, that is to say, to head 
in during the autumn months, and to come into use 
after Autumn Giant Cauliflower has been cut down 
by frost, Veitch’s Self-Protecting is a splendid variety. 
For winter use it will be hard to beat Sutton’s superb 
Early White, Winter Mammoth and Vanguard. As 
a succession to these Sutton’s Late Queen and 
Veitch’s Model are all that could be wished. The 
former variety particularly is very dwarf and hardy, 
and forms an admirable connecting link between the 
late Broccoli and the earliest Cauliflowers. 
Sprouting Broccoli. —A few plants of these should 
always find a place in the kitchen garden, as they 
form an agreeable change in the way of green stuff. 
They may be grown side by side with the Broccoli, 
and the same general treatment as advocated for 
these latter may be given them. We have found 
Sutton’s Improved White and Early Purple two 
really good varieties of Sprouting Broccoli. 
General Work.— Beds of Asparagus that have 
been in full bearing may now receive a dressing of salt. 
This should be sprinkled over the surface with the 
hand, a dull showery day being selected for its 
application if possible. Attend to the earthing up of 
Potatos as occasion requires. Tomatos on walls 
that were put out about the middle of last month 
will need attention. Cut out all lateral growths and 
securely tie or nail in the leaders. It is much better 
to train them obliquely, that is to say at an angle of 
about sixty degrees, than it is to allow them to 
assume the perpendicular ; for by the former method 
more advantage is taken of the wall room, and 
besides it is our experience that the fruit is much 
more evenly distributed along the whole length of 
the stem than it is when the latter method is 
adopted.— K.G. 
- «!-- - 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
If proper advantage has been taken of the fine 
weather, bedding-out should now, with few excep¬ 
tions, be completed, and the gardener will thus have 
time to congratulate himself on being blessed with 
a long spell of such glorious weather, and to 
wish in earnest for the much needed rain, which, 
badly as it has been wanted for some weeks past, 
would yet have hindered bedding-out to a consider¬ 
able extent, and would doubtless have caused a little 
grumbling. With the soil almost as dry as dust it is 
very certain that plants which are newly put out will 
have to be seen to at short intervals for watering 
until they get a fair hold of the soil. 
General Work.— This will now consist in the 
mowing of the grass, which must be gone over fre¬ 
quently in order to keep it well under the control of 
the machine, the trimming of the grass edges to 
beds and paths, and the rolling of the latter when 
the gravel is soft after a good shower. On walks 
over which a good deal of traffic passes the stones 
soon get loose, and walking is thus made exceedingly 
unpleasant. A watering must therefore be given 
these now and again followed by heavy rollings if 
they are to be kept in condition. 
Ornamental Vases.— The filling of these is 
usually left until the beds and borders in the 
flower garden have been attended to, and so, when it 
comes to the turn of the vases to be operated on, 
the gardener knows that the worst of the struggle is 
over. To leave them until the last is both a safe and 
a wise plan, for from the fact that a great deal of 
sub-tropical stuff may be used with great advantage 
for filling them, the tender plants are not com¬ 
mitted to the mercies of the weather until prac¬ 
tically all danger of frost is past. The old soil will 
have been removed from the vases during winter, and 
both insides and outsides scrubbed thoroughly with 
warm water and soap. They will thus be in readiness 
for filling with soil. In the larger vases some good 
sized specimens of such foliage plants as Grevillea 
robusta and several of the hardier Palms look ex¬ 
ceeding well, surrounded by a few dwarf flowering 
plants. A few good American Aloes are also ex¬ 
ceedingly ornamental, as they present an appearance 
rather out of the common as compared with the 
generality of our hardy or half-hardy plants. Sub¬ 
jects of this kind when placed in the ornamental 
vases should not be turned out of the pots in which 
they are growing but may simply be plunged deeply 
enough to cover the rims of the pot. This will 
allow of their being easily lifted and removed to 
shelter when frosts in the autumn endanger their 
outdoor existence. 
Palms on Lawns. —When speaking of the high 
decorative value that Palms possess we usually 
associate them with the under glass department, and 
do not as a rule attempt to utilise them for adorning 
the pleasure grounds and flower garden. There is 
plenty of room for improvement in this direction, 
for, although the occasional rigour of our climate 
during the winter precludes the possibility of plant¬ 
ing them out-of-doors permanently, still there are 
many that may be turned out during the summer 
with very satisfactory results. Large holes should be 
