312 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 14, 1893 
for top dressing the garden with as there are sure to be 
many seeds of weeds in it. \ quantity of stakes (of 
various sizes and lengths) can be dressed and pointed 
and stored by for use in a busy time; old wall nails 
can be cleaned of mortar and shreds clinging to 
them, which will make them ready for use again ; a 
quantity of shreds can be cut. Where withies are at 
hand garden baskets can be made ; most garden 
labourers with a little instruction can turn out very 
creditable garden baskets. By carefully tying the 
loose ends of new mats they will last twice as long ; 
a good quantity of labels can be made which are sure 
to be wanted later on. We shall find plenty to do 
outside for a day or two sweeping walks and knock¬ 
ing the snow off the choice trees and shrubs which 
they are groaning under.— IF. 0. .V., Abergavenny. 
ST. BRIGID'S CHRISTMAS ROSE 
The name St. Brigid is applied to the narrow-leaved 
form of the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger 
angustifolius). Some consider this synonymous with 
H. n. minor, and say that it has smaller leaves and 
flowers than the typical form of the species, but with 
this we can hardly agree. The leaves are indeed 
different from those of the type, but they are longer 
and relatively narrower, so that the varietal name 
augustifolius is very appropriate. It can readily be 
distinguished by this character alone whether in 
flower or not. On the contrary the flowers are 
large, in fact, little inferior to those of H. n. maxi- 
mus, while they are of a purer white, especially when 
grown under glass, or covered up with a hand-glass. 
We can therefore well conceive that preference 
would be given to it for winter decoration. Not¬ 
withstanding its beauty, the Christmas Rose will 
probably never become extensively used for market 
purposes, because of slow growth and the fleshy 
roots resent being disturbed. The bad treatment the 
plants get after they go out of flower causes them 
to die by hundreds, thus reducing the stock for next 
year's supply. The leaves seldom attain that vigour 
in the south as they do in a cooler and moister 
climate. In private establishments the gardener 
can afford to wait more patiently for natural increase, 
and to be more careful in the lifting, division and 
preservation of the roots. A quantity of the variety 
under notice has been flowering for some time past 
in the cooler houses at Falkland Park, South Nor¬ 
wood Hill. 
-- 
GARDENERS IN COUNCIL. 
(Continued from p. 290.) 
Alpine plants are not so familiar to many of us as 
most other garden plants, and for this reason pro¬ 
bably not of so much interest to gardeners as a 
whole, many of whom I feel fully persuaded look 
upon all old-fashioned plants, herbacious and other¬ 
wise, and amongst which they undoubtedly class 
Alpines, as so many weeds, quite unworthy of their 
care and attention. Many, not only gardeners, have 
been so schooled as to look upon Pelargoniums, 
Verbenas, and the multitude of other plants which 
have been so generally used for outdoor summer 
decoration of gardens for many years past, as the 
only plants of interest and worthy of cultivation. 
Thanks to the gods and a more artistic taste 
which is yearly becoming more prevalent, this 
remains, I will term it, of a barbaric age, is gradually- 
dying out and the public are beginning to have a 
desire and a longing for these old-time flowers, which 
not only are so beautiful and charming in themselves 
but tend in their endless variety and time of flower¬ 
ing to add an unlimited interest to the garden 
extending throughout the whole year, and added to 
this their entire want of artificial culture and 
protection make them accessible to all. 
All who are possessed of a herbaceous border 
know the endless pleasure derived from it and would, 
I feel certain, not easily be persuaded to dispense 
with it; add to this the joy of even the smallest rock 
or alpine garden and the gardener's bliss must 
be almost if not quite complete. Who that 
has had once the pleasure of continually watch¬ 
ing these beautiful little flowers springing into life as 
the warmer days of spring come upon us and unfold¬ 
ing the bright and numerous flowers at every season 
of the year, every day some new interest some 
new pleasure, would like to be without them. 
Of course all these things require a certain amount 
of care and attention, especially during the summer 
months when weeds will spring up and grow even 
faster than the plants themselves, and when the water 
pot must be freely used to keep the plants alive and 
thriving. I can quite understand an already over bur¬ 
dened gardener—however much he may love them— 
not caring to add additional cares in this way and 
now-a-days, when every' one who keeps a gardener 
expects so much and makes of him almost, if not 
quite a white slave, he must ofttimes be tempted to 
discourage such additions to his charge, as he 
knows from experience — if he be a gardener—that 
his actual love not only' for the plants but for the 
interesting work they' entail will not allow of his 
neglecting them when once they are there. 
Mr. Meyer’s paper which has not only been of great 
and special interest to ourselves, but has been read 
and favourably commented on by many lovers of 
these most charming little plants, both in our own 
country' and abroad, was most explicit as to the best 
modes of culture in every way, and cannot fail to be of 
interest at any time to the cultivator ; and to the 
uninitiated who have had the care of Alpine plants 
thrust upon them without having any previous know¬ 
ledge of their requirements, it must have proved an 
endless boon, and it would be most interesting to 
know of any good resulting therefrom. 
He gave us his idea of what a well-constructed 
rockwork should be, and pointed out where so many 
of us go astray ; but in this, as in the arrangement of 
flowers, the decoration of a bonnet or the kissing 
of a cow, tastes differ, and very properly so, or the 
employment of those who have what is certainly the 
correct and most artistic taste would soon lapse. 
It would, I am fully persuaded, take any amount 
of talking and reasoning to convince the lovers of the 
Plum pudding and Almonds kind of rockw'ork that 
his was not the most beautiful, or that anything of 
interest or beauty existed in the more natural 
arrangement. 
To such an one I should simply say, by all means 
enjoy yourself in your own way ; if y’ou derive 
pleasure in this way and what y'ou cultivate succeeds, 
that is all that is necessary'. Everything that is 
pleasing must be beautiful, and to those who know 
not the old masters, and care just a little for them, a 
good painting by some of the newer ones, and even 
sometimes the despised oleographs are as pleasing, 
and more so than theirs. 
What we as lovers of these little and most charm¬ 
ing plants want is to extend their successful cultiva¬ 
tion, and to do this many must gain their experience 
by failure and at the expense of their pockets. 
It is an undoubted fact, that if we desire success, 
we must learn much from and copy Dame Nature, 
and in doing this we must not only' learn, as our 
taste improves, that the more natural the formation 
of a rockery is, the more artistic and beautiful it be¬ 
comes, and the more it is adapted to the successful 
culture of the plants we place in it. 
Miller has truly said, “ There is no surer guide to 
a curious artist than Nature, from whence a gardener 
should always be directed in every part of his pro¬ 
fession, since his business is to aid and assist Nature, 
when she is not capable of bringing her productions 
to maturity, or where there is room to make con¬ 
siderable improvements by art, which cannot other¬ 
wise be effected than by gently assisting her in her 
own way.” 
--j.- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
Cattleya labiata alba 
I do not desire to recommence, on the subject of 
Cattleya labiata alba, the controversy which took 
place last year on the subject of C. Warocqueana. 
It has given me every desirable satisfaction since the 
ReicJienbachia has recognised in its last number that 
the two plants are identical, which was what I wished 
to demonstrate. But if I do not wish to return to 
the subject, I ought, nevertheless to, state publicly 
that what has actually' passed upon the subject of 
Cattleya labiata alba, exhibited recently by' Mr. 
\\ ells, is strange. Behold now that one plant of 
Cattleya labiata alba sold by us in England, some 18 
months ago, is dead after having been no more than 
a C. Gaskelliana delicata, and that the other has 
turned out a C. Trianae alba—the latter amongst 
plants from Pernambuco I And this strangeness be¬ 
comes absolutely phenomenal when one recalls the 
fact that the C. labiata alba, exhibited by Mr. 
Wells, was a plant cultivated in Europe for more 
than two years, while the introductions of Mr. 
Sander only date from November, 1891 I I have 
proof in hand that Mr. Wells' plant, or at least that 
exhibited under his name, did not open its flower at 
his place. It is furthermore strange that the replies 
to the letter of Mr. Wells' gardener follow his ques¬ 
tion in the same number of your Journal. It would 
seem as if the question had been raised with an 
object which does not appear on the surface. Finally 
there are other strange things in those letters, 
notably the reference to the bad state of the plants 
that we delivered, and the compost in which they 7 
were cultivated, but I do not think it is worth w'hile 
to seek for a solution of them. I count upon your 
courtesy' and well-known impartiality' to give publicity 
to this letter in your next issue.— L. Linden, Parc Leo¬ 
pold, Brussels, January gth. (It is perhaps but 
simple justice to ourselves that we should state 
that the three letters published in our last 
number were received by us within the space of 
two days, and that w'e know nothing of anv collu¬ 
sion in the matter. The subject seemed to us to be 
a fair one for discussion, and our columns are always 
open for the reception of matter likely to be of in¬ 
terest or value to our readers, but not otherwise. —Ed. 
We have a variety' of Cattleya labiata with pure 
white sepals and petals from Swainson’s hunting 
ground, which is a gem, and w’hich we call C. labiata 
elegans. I should be glad to know through your 
columns if other plants from the same source have 
bloomed with snow-white sepals and petals like ours. 
I should also be glad to know if any of your readers 
have flowered Cattleya gloriosa and C. majestica, 
and if they belong to the same section as the fine old 
C. labiata, or are in the w'ay'of C. Gaskelliana ? Many' 
of us country gardeners cannot get away to the 
shows, and have to depend largely upon such jour¬ 
nals as your own for our information.— J. Earl, The 
Gardens, The Briars, Chislehurst, January gth. 
Cypripedium Albertianum. 
It rarely happens that hybrid or other Cypripediums 
receive such recognition as the subject of this note. 
It w’as exhibited by M. }ules Hye at the meeting of the 
Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Ghent 
in November last, w'hen the committee unanimously 
awarded it a gold medal. It w r as raised from Cypri¬ 
pedium Spicerianum fertilised with the pollen of C. 
insigne Wallacei, both very pretty' kinds as is well- 
known. According to the parentage it should be 
closely allied to C. Leeanum, a hybrid now grown in 
this country' in many forms. The beautifully 
executed illustration of it in the Revue de VHorticulture 
Beige shows, however, that it is very' different from 
anything we possess. The upper sepal is large, 
nearly round, pure white, and heavily spotted with 
lively violet magenta in lines along the central and 
basal half. The midrib forms a band as in C. 
Spicerianum, but deep violet in colour, and the base 
is green spotted with sepia brown The petals are 
suffused with brownish maroon on a golden yellow 
ground and spotted with clear sepia all over except 
the tips and margins, which are yellow. The lip is 
heavily suffused in front with rich brown and bronzy 
green towards the lower end. The plant is very 
vigorous with strap-shaped, dark green leaves. 
Cypripedium bellatulum. 
In large importations of this Cypripedium like those 
of Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., Clapton, a considerable 
amount of variation amongst the flowers may be 
noted as the different individuals come into bloom. 
The petals are mostly alway’s the most conspicuous 
organs of the flower on account of their great size 
and rich deep purple or crimson spotting on a white 
ground. The blotches are brought into prominence 
by their size, number, and intensity while a series of 
rosy purple markings often run together, making a 
large blotch at the tip of the same. The upper 
sepal is also large and beautifully marked, while the 
lip is smaller. Tfie dwarf habit of the plant makes 
the flowers appear unusually large and massive. 
The foliage is also always compact. 
Cypripedium Wallaertianum pallidum 
It rarely happens that we get such a fine thing from 
the parents of this hybrid as that under notice. It 
was raised from C. Harrisianum luteolum, itself a 
hybrid, and C villosum. The influence of the seed 
parent has been sufficiently powerful to almost com¬ 
pletely eliminate the brown colouring matter so 
characteristic of C. villosum, C. v. Boxallii and all 
their hybrid progeny. The result is a Cypripedium 
of considerable beauty'. The upper sepal is ovate- 
elliptic, heavily netted with reddish-purple lines, the 
medium ones being darkest and tinted with brown 
