March 25, 1899. 
475 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Equestrian Stars; and so one is tempted to inquire 
with Thomson as to— 
" Who can paint 
Like Nature ! Can imagination boast. 
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers ? 
—C. B. G., Acton, W. 
The Stove. 
March has to a very large extent made up for the 
rest of the winter, for it has brought us rather more 
than its full share of cold winds ; indeed, the weather 
for the last three weeks has been as trying as it 
could well be. In the vicinity of London the fogs 
have sorely tried many things, more particularly 
Begonias and Gloxinias, whilst the cold winds and 
frosts at night have necessitated brisk firing. Dur¬ 
ing the day the sun has been bright, at least in 
country districts, and whatever may have been the 
case at night the temperatures under glass during 
the day have been high enough. 
Shading. —Part of the blinds were fixed during 
the first half of the month, and no time should be 
Idst in getting the others up. Angles and inequali¬ 
ties in the rcof must be painted over by Summer 
Cloud Shading or something else of a like nature. 
The coating given should only be a thin one for the 
present. 
Syringing and Watering. —The morning and 
afternoon syringings should now be carried on 
regularly, but take care to use only clear water for 
this purpose, and as soft as can be obtained. At no 
period of the year must more judgment be exercised 
in watering than at the present time. With so many 
newly potted things about, a novice at the end of the 
watering-can is an unmitigated evil, for such an one 
will work untold damage in very little time. Until 
the soil on newly potted plants has become quite 
solid a rose should be used upon the can. Keep up 
the temperature of the house to 65° by night, and if 
the fires have to be hustled to maintain this damp 
down the floors of the house the last thing at night. 
Nymphaeas. —As soon as the tender young leaves 
appear above the water commence watching for fly, 
which usually attacks the plants at this stage. A 
few minutes' work with the sponge now may save a 
lot of trouble presently. If the tank is small keep 
a constant flow of water running through it—stag¬ 
nant water is not good for the plants, and it creates 
an unpleasant smell in the house. 
Stephanotis floribunda. —Just now vigorous 
plants of Stephanotis will require to begone over at 
least once a week, and their rapidly pushing growths 
tied in. If this is not done they soon become a 
tangled mass that it is hopeless to attempt to 
separate. A few doses of liquid farmyard manure, 
not too strong, will be appreciated by the plants. 
Bougainvillea glabra. —The treatment which 
this Bougainvillea needs is very much like that 
accorded to the Vine. After the annual spurring 
back numbers of young shoots are pushed from 
each spur, and as their are many more of these 
shoots than there is room for, some amount of thin¬ 
ning out must be done. Let the thinning out be 
done gradually, taking out the weaker growths first, 
and leaving enough ultimately to cover the whole 
of the space nicely without crowding. Finer and 
more richly coloured flowers will then be obtained. 
As the strongest shoots push up to the glass, put a 
little constraint on them by means of light strings, 
and finally bring them down to the trellis. When 
flowering commences many of these shoots may be 
untied, when their own weight will cause them to 
hang gracefully down with all their load of 
blossoms. 
Pits and Frames. 
This department is always busy, but it is never 
busier than it is now, for cuttings of all sorts of 
things have to be put in as they can be had, and 
rooted cuttings have to be potted off. Seed-sowing 
and the subsequent pricking off of the seedlings also 
absorb a great deal of time, and every foot under 
glass space is in request. 
Herbaceous Calceolarias.— These have now 
got a nice hold of the soil in their flowering pots, 
and are commencing to push up their flowering 
stems strongly. Keep the plants going steadily, and 
give them a little higher temperature than that 
accorded them prior to their final shift. After 
another two or three weeks a little liquid manure 
won’t come amiss, but if the soil given them was 
good there should be no great hurry about stimu- 
lants. 
Fumigating and Vapourising will call for some 
attention, for fly is beginning to get troublesome. 
The fumigation or vapourising should not be put off 
until the plants are literally smothered with the fly, 
but a light dose should be given when the first signs 
are seen. Roses, Pelargoniums, herbaceous Calceo¬ 
larias, Francoas, and Richardias all need watching, 
for fly is very partial to them. 
Tuberous Begonias. —Attend to the pricking off 
of seedling Begonias as soon as they are large enough 
to handle. E ther pots or boxes may be used, but 
they must be well drained, and the soil light and 
sandy. Avoid having too many young plants out of 
the soil at once, and do not select all the coarse and 
gross growers to the utter exclusion of the weaker 
plants, for thereby some handsome forms may be 
missed. See to the potting up of the last batches of 
the old plants, using a compost of equal parts of 
loam, leaf soil, and either peat or old mushroom bed 
manure, with plenty of sand. Pot rather loosely, 
discarding entirely the use of the rammer. Maintain 
a growing atmosphere, and sprinkle the plants 
occasionally with the syringe. 
Gardenias.— While good old plants will always 
be worth their place, by reason of the immense 
quantities of flowers they throw, good young ones 
are, if anything, more useful, for not only do they 
bear plenty of bloom, but if kept in small pots they 
may be turned to account as decorative plants in a 
way that the larger specimens cannot be. Half or 
fully ripened shoots will make roots readily at this 
season of the year, and as quite large shoots may be 
used which are throwing three or four young growths, 
plants of quite respectable size are forthcoming as 
soon as roots are made. For soil employ a mixture 
of peat and sand, insert the cuttings singly in small 
thumb pots, and place in a propagating frame with 
a bottom heat and an atmospheric temperature of 
not less than 70° Fahr , if a little higher so much 
the better. Roots will be produced in two or three 
weeks, and the plants may then be taken out of the 
frame and stood upon a shelf near the glass in the 
same house. 
Poinsettias. —The old plants have been resting 
for some time, but they must now be placed in heat 
with a view to getting the requisite material for 
cuttings. They should therefore be given a corner 
in a warm pit, where, after they have been half 
pruned the balls may be reduced to a moist condition 
by repeated waterings. Ply the syringe amongst 
the stumps twice or thrice each day and they will 
not be long in breaking. 
Tree Carnations. —The cuttings put in in heat 
at the beginning of the month have now made 
sufficient roots to warrant potting off. The larger 
size of thumb pots will do, and the soil may be 
a mixture of loam and leaf soil, in equal parts, 
with sand. After potting, a heated frame with 
a temperature of from 45 0 to 50° will be the best 
place for them. Under such conditions they will 
scarcely feel the check of shifting.— A. S. G. 
-- 
Ttie orcfiiil Brower’s Calendar. 
Old leafless pseudobulbs on Cattleyas and 
Laelias. —The question arises in our mind, whether 
after the plants become established it is not a mistake 
to leave too many leafless and rootless bulbs. In 
their native habitat, where they are subjected to long 
seasons of drought, they are of course very necessary 
for storing up moisture as they do during the rainy 
season to be used in keeping the plants alive during 
the dry period. Under cultivation, however, this is 
all changed, for as soon as there are any signs of 
undue shrivelling, the cultivator sets about remedying 
it by giving it what it requires, that is, moisture. 
It seems to us then that there is no advantage in 
keeping old leafless pseudobulbs on plants, after 
they once become thoroughly established ; and may 
we think be safely looked upon as so many drones, 
living on the work of others. By the judicious use 
of the knife when the repotting is done, many a 
plant may be put back into the same sized pot for 
another season. If there is a sound eye on the back 
bulbs they should be placed in a moist place to induce 
them to break. It is a long job, however, to make a 
plant out of back leafless bulbs, but if the variety is 
a good one it is worth trying. 
Cattleya House. —The potting must now be 
pushed along with all the despatch possible of all 
those occupants that show signs of aciivity. 
C. aurea, I notice, has begun to make numerous 
rootlets along the old ones and quite a host of new 
ones from the base of the last made up pseudobulbs. 
We generally repot our plants immediately after 
flowering, but somehow they were late this year 
those which did flower) and consequently were left 
over until the present time. We took the pre¬ 
caution, though, to pick out some of the old material, 
thus letting the air get to the roots. This seems to 
have a beneficial effect, as it sweetens what is left of 
the old stuff, besides helping to keep the roots alive 
during the recess. 
Cattleya labiata and C. gaskelliana, will be 
all the better for a shift now. Pot culture suits 
these two best, and in doing the work be sure to 
elevate them so that the rhizome is above the rim of 
the pot. We fix the plant securely by means of a 
stake and then work the material in round it. 
Too large a pot and too great a mass of material is 
a very great mistake in the culture of Orchids. To 
pot a plant so that it will not require a fresh shift 
for two years always seems to me like giving a horse 
his breakfast overnight. The compost we use is the 
best peat procurable, with a small quantity of live 
sphagnum moss, and plenty of drainage, with a few 
bits of crock worked in amongst the compost as the 
work proceeds. 
Dendrobiums. —The most forward of this section 
will now be ready for a shift. Be careful not to 
afford much water to them direct, after the repotting, 
but keep them from shrivelling by damping well 
between the pots. The compost is similar in 
quality to that used for Cattleyas only we use more 
moss ; in fact, some growers use nearly all moss and 
do them well.— S. C. 
ORCHID NOTES & GLEANINGS. 
By the Editor. 
Calanthe sandertana.—Of the many fine 
Orchids that put in an appearance at the Drill Hall 
on the 14th inst. none was more conspicuous than 
Calanthe sanderiana. About a dozen and a half 
grandly flowered plants were set up in a semicircular 
group on the floor by Mr. White, grower to Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Burford Lodge, Dorking. For 
decorative work this Calanthe is ahead of all its con¬ 
geners. The individual flowers are of medium size, 
and very substantial, the sepals and petals being 
white, slightly tinged with pink, and the large hand¬ 
some lip bright rosy-pink. The rachis is rather short 
but bears very many flowers compressed into a small 
space. The tall, stiff stems which carry the flowers 
are the chief characteristic of the plant, for they are 
fully 3 ft. long and strong enough to dispense with 
artificial support. For building up into groups with 
a ground work of Ferns or other dwarf foliage subjects 
there is nothing finer. Calanthe sanderiana is a 
native of Cochin China. It is closely allied to C. 
Veitchii, which it much favours in style of growth. 
The lip bears a resemblance to that of C. Regnieri, 
also brought from Cochin China. 
Dertdrobium nobile balleanum —Amongst 
light-coloured varieties of the popular D. nobile, the 
variety under notice takes a high position. The 
beauty of the flowers is brought out to best advan¬ 
tage by contrast with some of the darker forms. 
Light varieties are generally slender in build, and 
this one is no exception to the general rule, but the 
segments are relatively long, moderately wide, and 
white. The lip is also white, with the exception of a 
pale rosy blotch in the throat in place of the usual 
dark purple or maroon one. The variety is flowering 
in the nursery of Messrs. McBean & Son, Cookes 
Bridge, Sussex. 
Ivy on Houses.—The Irish Farming World says 
that Ivy trained against the wall of a house absorbs 
dampness, and tends to make the air dry inside the 
dwelling. The latter part of the statement is true 
enough, but the former is distinctly a desperate 
attempt to account for the fact, for the Ivy helps to 
keep walls dry in exactly the same way as a mackin¬ 
tosh helps to keep a person dry, simply by throwing 
off the rain. 
