808 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 19, 1893. 
deltoides Leichtlinii, Armerias and others. The 
masses of Perennial Candytufts must be conspicuous 
and effective in spring. Many of the above are 
flowering freely, including also Campanula pyiami- 
dalis, Hypericum Moserianum, and others. In one 
place is a fine bank of Yucca filamentosa and its 
little known variety, Y. f. flaccida with more upright 
leaves, recurved at the tip and having stronger- 
marginal fibres. 
The hothouses for the raising and keeping of the 
more tender subjects are situated by the American 
garden, and a peep in there will show what prepara¬ 
tions are being made for the annual display of 
Chrysanthemums in autumn. The bulk of the 
plants are dwarf and sturdy this year, and must 
flower earlier than usual, for the buds of many are 
already well set. There are some 3,000 plants of the 
large flowering kinds and 700 Pompons. The latter 
are dwarf, bushy, and are intended for facing the 
groups of larger kinds in autumn. A new kind of 
flower pot is being used here, and which is as wide 
at the bottom as at the top to prevent the wind from 
upsetting them, as the plants get top heavy. A 
commencement has just been made to feed the 
plants. Altogether the park is well worthy of a 
visit, and reflects great credit upon Mr. Melville 
for his good management. A stately house to 
accommodate the Chrysanthemums in autumn is 
being built, about go ft. long and 30 ft. wide, but its 
construction looks better from an architect’s than a 
horticulturalist's point of view. 
-- 
THE ABBEY PARK FLOWER SHOW, 
LEICESTER. 
So far as we know the popular annual flower show 
held in the Abbey Park, Leicester, on the Tuesday 
following the August Bank Holiday, is the only one 
in this country which is organised by the local cor¬ 
poration, and which devotes its profits to the im¬ 
provement of the town parks The Abbey Park 
at Leicester, now one of the most beautiful in 
in the kingdom, occupies the site of a former 
morass, and is in itself a lasting monument of the 
■wisdom and enterprise of the Corporation of Leices¬ 
ter at a time when the town was not so large or so 
rich as it is to-day. The glories of the park itself 
have often been descanted upon, but this year they 
seem to be even more manifold than in previous 
seasons, for the trees continue to grow luxuriantly, 
trying to top the grimy buildings and tall chimneys 
on the town side, and spreading themselves in orna¬ 
mentation of other parts of the grounds ; and the 
floral display in front of the Pavilion is one of the 
happiest achievements of the curator, Mr. Burn. 
The attractions included, besides the flower show', 
an ample provision of good music, the very first 
desideratum of such a scene and such an occasion ; 
aquatic sports and life-saving demonstrations in the 
river, under the superintendence of the Leicester 
Swimming Club; gymnastic performances and 
dancing; spacious refreshment pavilions, free 
from the cup that inebriates; exhibition of bees 
and honey, by the Leicestershire Beekeepers' 
Association ; day-light and evening fireworks, 
balloon ascents, etc. The marquees utilised for 
the purposes of the show w r ere this year erected 
on the Abbey Park roadside, in the vicinity of the 
new glass-house, which was used for the display of 
groups and plants. The new house, a moderately 
large, light, and airy structure, situated a little* to 
the front and between the main entrance on the 
Park Road and the old Chrysanthemum House, was 
utilised for the display of ornamental groups, the 
most attractive section of the show. The visitor, on 
entering the house, came upon a gorgeous line of 
Pelargoniums in magnificent bloom to the left; on 
the opposite side was a charming exhibition of 
Begonias, Coleus, etc. ; and a decidedly novel group of 
water bouquets exhibited by Mr. Smith, gardener to 
W. Raven, Esq., Portland House, Knighton, w'hich 
was greatly interesting, and was awarded a special 
Silver-gilt Medal; down the centre a series of groups, 
which in the enlarged space allotted for the purpose, 
produced probably the finest work in this direction 
ever seen at Abbey Park Shows; and at the far end 
a platform was erected for the purposes of the 
opening ceremony, with a display oi Ferns and other 
plants below, and flanked with plants of various 
kinds on a stand. The pillars of the house were 
already “mossed” at the base-, and twdned with 
climbers, which will no doubt show to advantage 
when the Chrysanthemum days come round. The 
first prize group was put up by Mr. J. Smith, 
gardener to S. Bennett, Esq., Holmdale. It was a 
most artistic exhibit, notable for beauty of form and 
decoration, a graceful display of light grasses, not 
overdone with flowers, yet bright, diversified, and 
well contrasted in colour. Mr. G. Barry, gardener 
to H. Snow, Esq., of Glenwood, gained the second 
prize with a magnificent group, very fine in form, 
but falling short in the lightness and beauty of 
decoration which characterised the premier group. 
The third prize was gained by Mr. W. Calvert, 
gardener to G. Oliver, Esq., Hughenden, whose 
group was also an excellent one. 
A specially interesting feature of the show was a 
magnificent array of hardy herbaceous plants, 
occupying the whole of one side of a tent, exhibited 
by Mr. M. Cuthbertson, of Rothesay. Messrs. B. 
S. Williams & Son, of Upper Holloway, were also 
as usual to the fore in assisting the decorative and 
educational part of the show with a fine collection 
of insectivorous plants, including rare Saracenias 
and Nepenthes, which were greatly admired, and 
many splendid Dracaenas, Crotons, Aralias, etc., one 
conspicuous plant being a seedling Amaryllis, named 
Mrs. John Burn, as a compliment to the much 
respected curator's wife. In the groups for market 
gardeners, Mr. H. Rogers secured first honours; 
Messrs. Biddles & Go., Loughborough, second ; and 
Messrs. Y'arde & Co., third, with very creditable 
collections. In the cut flower division, usually, the 
largest interest is centred in the Roses, and on this, 
as on previous occasions, they elicited the fullest 
encomiums. But a high meed of commendation 
should not be withheld from the twelve bunches of 
hardy annuals with which Messrs. Biddles & Co. 
took premier honours. Amongst the Roses, Messrs. 
James Cocker & Son, of Aberdeen, had a marvellous 
thirty-six, which were well seconded by Messrs. D. 
& W. Croll, of Dundee, and Mesrs. Harkness & Son 
were placed third. The same positions were main¬ 
tained in the class for twenty-four Roses ; but the 
places of first and second were reversed in regard to 
twelve Tea or Noisettes. Another most successful 
exhibitor was Dr. Budd, of Bath, who secured 
first place in the classes for six Roses, six Tea Roses, 
twelve Roses, and eighteen ditto. Messrs. Cocker & 
Son secured a first prize for twelve magnificent 
Horace Vernets, and Messrs. Croll for twelve Teas. 
The fruit shown was of an excellent order of 
merit. The best eight dishes came from Mr. 
Goodacre, of Elvaston, Mr. Mclndoe, Hutton Hall, 
Guisborough, coming in second, and Mr. Read, gar¬ 
dener to the Earl of Carnarvon, Burton-on-Trent, 
third. Mr. Goodacre had also the best three dishes, 
Mr. YV. H. Divers, Kelton Flail, coming in second, 
and Mr. McVinish, Lockington Hall Gardens, 
Derby, third. The last-named exhibitor put up the 
best Black Hamburgh and Muscat Grapes, and in 
other Grape classes Mr. Messenger and Mr. Read 
secured premier honours. Mr. Divers showed the 
finest Peaches and Nectarines ; and Mr. Goodacre 
the best Pine and green-fleshed Melon. Mr. 
Garaway had the best collection of vegetables. 
ORCHID NOTES ADD GLEANINGS, 
Orchid Growers’ Calendar. 
Cattleya House.— Cattleyas generally are looking 
wonderfully well this season, and C. Trianae and C. 
Mendelii are making up some grand growths. The 
tropical heat we are now getting is just what they 
want to thoroughly mature their growths, as plenty 
of air can be afforded them both night and day. 
During the past week the nights have been so warm 
that fire heat has been dispensed with. C. 
Bovvringiana takes plenty of moisture at the roots 
now and until the growths are made up. 
L.elia crispa now in flower is a grand summer 
flowering Orchid. It does best with us when grown 
at the coolest end of the house, at least, that is our 
experience. I have seen it grown warm, but it never 
seemed to look happy, and the flowers, when it did 
flower, were very puny and only lasted a few days. 
Miltonias. —YVe have again a good show for 
bloom of the type, as well as of the dark form 
Morrelliana, all growing in baskets with very little 
material about their roots, just enough peat and 
moss only to retain moisture about the few roots 
that choose to enter the basket, for most of the roots 
on our plants are outside, where they get sufficient 
nourishment from the manure water that is poured 
over the floors in the evening and from the water 
afforded them by means of the syringe when damp¬ 
ing down in the afternoon. Thrips have been 
troublesome amongst them this year, which is the 
first-time that I remember having seen them on this 
Miltonia. 
Cool House. —The time is at hand when the 
majority of the Odontoglossums will require repot¬ 
ting, for they, like most things, are quite a fortnight 
in advance of other seasons, but should the weather 
continue bright it will not be wise to be in too great 
a hurry unless they can be heavily shaded until they 
have got hold of the new material. On the other 
hand we do not care for the growths to be approaching 
maturity before commencing operations, as after the 
young growth has began to put out roots from its 
base there is always a danger of their getting 
damaged. Good peat and sphagnum moss is all 
that is required to do them well with a small bit or 
two of crock here and there as the work proceeds. 
If the plant has plenty of roots it will not be 
necessary to fill the pots more than half full of 
crocks, as we do not favour high potting now for 
Odontoglossums. 
Propagation of Fine Varieties. —Having some 
fine varieties, which we wished to increase, we have 
divided them. Our plan, when the new growth is 
far enough advanced to have roots of its own, is to 
sever the last made up bulb with the growth at¬ 
tached from the old plants and pot up into small 
pots where it will soon get established, and although 
the new bulb will be small it will be quite capable 
of pushing a spike if allowed to do so, but of course 
no one would countenance this. The old bulbs will 
push a strong growth from the opposite side, and in 
about two years you will have two valuable plants 
where before you only had one. Bear in mind this 
should only be done when the plants are strong.—C. 
Cattleya aurea. 
A pretty and distinct variety of this grand Cattleya 
is now flowering in Mr. W. McArthur’s collection at 
Maida Vale. The plant has sixteen healthy bulbs, 
six leads, and two flowers open, the latter being 
remarkable for the wide lip and deep pink splashings 
on the sepals and petals. 
New Orchids Certificated. 
The Orchids described below received Certificates 
according to merit at the meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society held on the 8th inst.:— 
Laelia tenebrosa Walton Grange van. 
The sepals and petals of this variety are of great 
length and pale yellowish-green. The lip, on the 
contrary, is white, lined with purple in the interior of 
the tube, and the lamina crimson-purple, with a 
pale rose coloured blotch at the apex of both lamina 
and side lobes. In these respects it of course differs 
widely from L. grandis tenebrosa, but why it should 
be considered a variety of L. tenebrosa is more than 
we can divine, as that itself is only a variety of L. 
grandis, a highly variable species in a state of nature. 
A First-class Certificate was awarded it when 
exhibited by W. J. Thomson, Esq., Walton Grange, 
Stone, Staffordshire. 
Miltonia Joiceyana. 
This is merely a large flowered variety of M. 
Clowesii, with a much larger lip than in the type. 
The sepals are oblong, the petals much broader, and 
all of a rich brown with transverse gold reticulations 
and markings. The lip is of a soft pink with a violet 
blotch on and around the crest. The whole plant 
showed unusual vigour. A First-class Certificate 
was accorded it when shown by Major Joyce (gar¬ 
dener, Mr. F. J. Thorne), Sunningdale Park. 
Cypripedium Thayerianum. 
This was obtained from C. Lawrenceanum crossed 
with C. Boxalli atratum. The leaves are oblong 
and of a light yellowish-green, beautifully marked 
with a zig-zag tracery of deep green. The upper 
sepal is broadly ovate and of a heavy brownish- 
purple, but fading to a clearer purple on a white 
ground towards the edge. The petals are oblong- 
spathulate, and of a deep, shining brown at the top 
spotted with dark markings on the greenish-yellow 
ground of the lower two-thirds. The lip is of a 
deep shining brown except the tip, which is greenish. 
An Award of Merit was accorded it when shown by 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans. 
