June 11, 1898. 
the gardening world 
64 1 
known and useful sorts are Cymbidium lowianum, 
Maxillaria sanderiana, and Epidendrum elegantulum, 
the latter being a secondary hybrid replete with 
numerous colour varieties. A fine variety of E. 
Wallisii, with golden-yellow sepals and petals, 
carried twenty-seven large flowers. Beautiful also 
is Trichopilia marginata Champlatreux var., having 
a rosy-purple lip, and paler sepals and petals, out¬ 
lined with a broad white margin. Calanthe Masuca 
is a rare old and pretty species, having purple-blue 
flowers. The sepals and petals of Bifrenaria 
tyrianthina are delicate lilac, overlying white ; the 
orange-brown and purple-lined lip is heavily bearded 
all over. Many fine varieties of Vanda tricolor are 
noticeable. Epidendrum radicans grows with so 
remarkable vigour that it reaches the roof of the 
house every year in September, after which the 
upper portions of the plants are taken off and 
lowered into the pots. Numerous plants have been 
flowering all the winter, and still continue to develop 
their fiery scarlet flowers. 
The Cattleya house has been particularly gay for 
weeks past, there being a great variety of rich 
colours in Cattleya Mossiae and C. Mendelii, which 
are grown in great quantity. Other showy species are 
C. lawrenceana, C. schilleriana, C. Skinneri, C. 
Schroderae caerulescens, and C. Roezlii, the latter 
being yellow with a prominent purple blotch on the 
lip. Altogether there are something like 300 spikes 
of Cattleyas, 
No less numerous are the species and hybrids of 
Laelia, of which the dark crimson-purple lipped L. 
purpurata, and the varieties with white sepals and 
petals are numerous and very ornamental at this 
period of the year. Other species are L. cinna- 
barina and L. elegans. The orange flowers and 
crimson lip of Laelia Latona are particularly hand¬ 
some for this hybrid. The large, intense purple lip of 
the bigeneric hybrid Laeliccattleya wellsiana is 
very gorgeous. Of Lae’iocattleya Ascania we noted 
four different colour varieties. It comes from 
Cattleya Trianaei x Laelia xanthina. The flowers 
are yellow, intensifying in the throat of the lip which 
is margined with soft lilac. In size the flowers is 
intermediate between those of the parents and 
charmingly pretty. A choice named variety is 
Laeliocattleya Ascania superba, having an intense 
purple lip, the dark colour running much further 
down the throat than in the type. A singular com¬ 
bination of colours is presented by Dendrobium 
glomeratum, having rich rosy sepals and petals con¬ 
trasting with the rich orange-scarlet lip. The 
plants at Chelsea are always profusely flowered. 
---+>- 
THE VIOLA. 
These flowers are, in spite of the backward season, 1 
making a fine show in some of the Scotch nurseries. 
To see them at their best one should see them grow¬ 
ing. An examination of the flowers at flower shows 
may give one some idea as to the value of a variety 
for competition, but you cannot tell whether it may 
be a good bedder or not. Although many of the best 
competition sorts are good bedders, some of them 
grow too tall. 
One of the best varieties noticed is Accushla, a 
very pure white ground, heavily edged with purple. 
A bold and telling rayless yellow is A. J. Rowberry. 
An immense showy flower is Butterfly, the ground 
being pure white, edged with rose. Blue Gown is a 
gem for bedding, very light blue, and about 4 inches 
high. Dorothy Stokes is a massive fancy flower, 
purple ground, striped crimson. A white variety 
which takes one's fancy is Duchess of York, which 
has a dwarf tufted habit and throws its pure white 
flowers well up. Very pretty is Iona, which is one of 
the Magpie type. A very unique flower is Jessie 
Pretswell, the ground colour being white, striped 
with crimson and purple. Lizzie Barron is a large 
and fine rosy-purple self. A large showy white is 
Lady Salisbury, which is rayed. A very fine rayed 
lemon-yellow is Lord Salisbury. Another very 
bright rayed yellow is Lizzie Paul. Magic is a very 
pretty shade of light rosy-crimson, a very pleasing 
colour. An immense pure white is Nellie. Princess 
Louise is a very fine yellow bedder. A very sweet 
shade of rose is Princess Ida. The same may be 
said of Sissy Mellows, which is violet shading to 
lavender at the sides. Sheelah is a charming flower 
with a clear pale rose on the top petals ; lower petals 
deep pink with darker centre. A very fine dark blue 
is Wm. Haig. The above are a few of the best at 
the time of my visit.— 5 ^. J. 
--*•- 
The dull, damp, and rather cold weather has been 
rather a trying time amongst under-glass fruits. At 
such a time the Vines particularly are apt to show 
their dislike of the experience by very flaccid foliage, 
of poor substance, and very light green in colour. 
Where this is the case the outbursts of hot sun¬ 
shine that will come presently must be carefully 
watched, otherwise there will be a good deal of 
scorching to deplore. 
Night Ventilation.— If the practice of leaving 
a little top, as well as bottom, air on all night has 
not been commenced up to the present, it should be 
started now. A couple of inches of air upon the top 
lights will be quite enough for a start, but it will 
help greatly in the making of stout and healthy 
foliage, and will, moreover, help to diminish the risk 
of scalding in Vines. Peaches and Nectarines, as 
well as orchard house fruit generally also benefit 
largely by night airing. 
Late Vines.— As the fruit here has now set, the 
thinning will require to be pushed on with all 
possible despatch. In the case of backward bunches 
only the small and inside berries should be removed 
at first, the work of thinning the rest being left to a 
later time, when the process of swelling is further 
advanced. All these late houses should have a tem¬ 
perature of about 70° Fahr. by night, although if it 
should occasionally drop down to 68° no great harm 
will be done. By day the temperature will much 
depend upon the weather; if bright it may rise to 
85° without any danger, provided there is a good 
circulation of air. In dull weather the glass will 
probably not touch 8o°, and may possibly not rise 
above 75 0 . 
Grapes Ripening. —Houses in which the fruit is 
colouring will need to have a brisker and rather 
drier atmosphere maintained than hitherto, in order 
to expedite the ripening process. To this end the 
dampings down and syringings that have been 
regularly and frequently given should be discon¬ 
tinued at once. Any plants that may be in the house 
should likewise be removed. Vineries have often to 
accommodate a variety of plants in pots, more 
especially Ferns, which do really well up to this 
stage ; now, however, the air will be rather too dry 
for their liking, and they must be given shelter else¬ 
where. The lights should be opened wider than they 
have been up to the present, and every effort should 
be made to maintain a continual current of dry air 
through the house. Manurial stimulants of all kinds 
may be dispensed with after the first stages of ripen¬ 
ing are past, but clear water must be given, 
especially where the roots of the Vines are wholly 
inside the house, and therefore soon liable to feel the 
effects of drought. It is quite a fallacy to make 
total abstainers of the Vines from the time that the 
fruit commences to colour, under the idea of helping 
the fruit to colour. Under such treatment both 
colour and flavour are apt to be second rate. 
Peaches, Nectarines, and Cherries in pots 
that are now ripening their fruit should be given all 
the benefit of what sunlight there may be in order to 
put a good colour on the fruit. The whim of sending 
the fruit to table as it grows upon the trees seems to 
be growing in some quarters, and it is only by 
keeping a stock of medium-sized pot plants that the 
gardener is able to gratify it. As the condition of 
perfect ripeness is reached each Peach, and also 
each Nectarine if they be large and heavy, should 
be enclosed in small bags, so as to insure their being 
kept in place while they are being moved. After 
the trees have safely reached their destination the 
bags may be removed in order to allow guests more 
ready access to the fruit. 
Late Pot Strawberries. —The season for forced 
strawberries in drawing very near its close. Only 
the very late pot plants are left, which will join 
hands with the earlier outdoor crops. Some of the 
finer flavoured but rather intractable varieties come 
in admirably at this juncture. Take for instance, 
British Queen, which is very often with many a 
failure out of doors, and but a qualified success 
when forced in pots early in the year. The best 
method of treating it seems to be to put some pots of 
it into a very gentle heat about the beginning of 
March, and to allow them to come along very 
gradually, not much faster indeed than they would 
in the open ground, Nature only being anticipated 
for a space of about three weeks. Such plants are 
now bearing plenty of good fruit. With so many 
fine varieties it may seem superfluous to take so 
much trouble over one, but there is no finer 
flavoured Strawberry than British Queen, and it is 
often asked for in private establishments where the 
cost of production is not so closely watched.— 
A. S. G. 
-- 
Kitchen Barflen Calendar. 
General Work. 
As the ground becomes cleared of the early Potatos 
and Peas, it should again be sown or planted with 
some other crop—the kind must entirely depend on 
the position and requirements of the establishment. 
Where early Potatos are grown on south borders the 
position is a good one for sowing Carrots to give a 
supply during winter, as they will be somewhat pro¬ 
tected from the severity of the weather should there 
be hard frost. Such positions are also good ones for 
early Broccoli that turn in about Christmas, as the 
borders can again be cleared in time for forward 
crops another season. 
Where Peas and Potatos are grown in the open 
quarters the crops will not be lifted or gathered for 
another few weeks, but to make the most of the land, 
plants should be had in readiness for putting out as 
soon as the other crops are cleared off. In many 
gardens Broccoli and Savoys are much in demand 
during the winter, and as sufficient space cannot be 
found for them to be planted out early in the season, 
recourse is often had to planting them between the 
rows of Potatos. When this has to be done, it is far 
better to put them between the early or second early 
kinds that do not produce much haulm, for when the 
tops of the Potatos overgrow the plants they become 
drawn and seldom prove satisfactory. In many 
places, too, there is not sufficient space to get out the 
Celery unless between some other crop, and gar¬ 
deners are often put to their wit’s ends to provide 
room. If the ground be set out in early spring for 
the various crops and those that are to succeed them 
much trouble and annoyance may be saved when the 
time arrives to sow or plant. Celery can occupy the 
spaces between the rows of early Peas, provided they 
are planted sufficiently far apart to admit of room 
for earthing ; the plants will have taken good hold of 
the ground before the crop of the latter is gathered. 
Thinning. —At this time of the year this is an im¬ 
portant item in the growth ot all crops. On no 
account should the plants of any kind be allowed to 
get overcrowded, as they soon spoil each other. 
Carrots, Parsnips, Onions, Beet, and such like root 
crops ought to be thinned in the first instance as 
soon as the foliage touches each other ; and before 
they show the least signs of becoming drawn, the full 
space should be allotted to them. It is not neces. 
sary to thin Onions to any considerable extent unless 
extra large roots are wanted ; for all ordinary pur¬ 
poses four inches will be ample, but where extra 
large bulbs are required a distance of from eight to 
nine inches should be allowed between the plants 
Watering at this time of the year is also an 
important item, as no plants can make satisfactory 
progress unless provided with sufficient moisture ; at 
the same time much harm is often done by giving 
driblets. Never water until the plants actually need 
it, and then give sufficient to thoroughly moisten the 
soil to the depth of the roots. Peas, to grow them 
well, need much nourishment, because the space for 
tnem to grow in is usually limited, that is, many 
plants are growing close together side by side form¬ 
ing the rows. Much water is needed for all the 
roots to obtain the requisite amount. If the rows be 
thoroughly soaked and afterwards a mulching put 
along the sides, this will prevent a too rapid 
evaporation. The mulching should also be 
thoroughly soaked, as this will keep the soil under¬ 
neath moist for a much longer period. 
Often at this time of the year weeds grow apace, 
but these must be kept under at all points, for they 
soon seed, and as this will germinate after the first 
genial shower, the ground becomes filled with all 
kinds of rubbish. The hoe should be kept constantly 
at work when the weather is fine, as more execution 
can be done in one day when the sun is bright than 
in a week in dull, showery weather. Be careful in 
hoeing not to get too near the plants, as much harm 
is often done to root crops by scars with the hoe.— 
Kitchen Gardener. 
