October 10, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
87 
M. S. Mortimer, Rowledge, Farnham, Hants, sent 
ten dozen blooms of show, fancy, and Cactus Dahlias 
in first-rate order, the colours being wonderfully vivid 
considering the prevailing wet weather (Silver Medal). 
Messrs. John Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, S.E , sent 
300 dishes of Apples and Pears in grand condition, 
the whole constituting a specially fine display of all 
the best varieties of British grown fruit all of them 
being superbly cut (Silver Gilt Medal). A small 
group of foliage plants also came from the same 
firm. 
Messrs. Gaymer & Son, Norfolk, the well-known 
cider makers, received a Silver Medal for an exhibi¬ 
tion of cider and cider Apples. 
Mr. H. Berwick, Sidmouth Nurseries, Sidmouth, 
showed a large table of Apples and Pears in first- 
class condition. Many of the leading varieties of 
Apples were represented (Silver Gilt Medal). 
Mr. L. H. Calcutt received a Bronze Medal for a 
very pretty floral table. 
Mr. W. Smith, gardener to S. Gardener, Esq., 
Mount Park, Harrow, received a Silver Medal for a 
very nice collection of vegetables; and Mr. John 
Watkins a similar award for an exhibition of cider, 
and a collection of over fifty dishes of cider Apples. 
Lettuce.— To provide for a good supply of Lettuces 
during the early summer months, it will now be neces¬ 
sary to sow some approved green Cos and Cabbage 
varieties in a cold frame. The frame should be 
raised a foot or two by the aid of some rough litter, 
and face south. Fill to within 6 in. of the glass 
with light sandy loam and leaf soil, and over this, 
1 in. of dry sandy road sweepings mixed with fine 
wood ashes passed through a sieve, to give a good 
seed bed, and prevent the young plants from 
damping off at the collar. Sow broadcast and keep 
the frame close until germination takes place, when 
the frame should not again be closed except during 
very severe weather. The young plants must be 
kept dwarf and stocky by removing the lights on fine 
days, but care must be taken not to expose them 
during rain, otherwise damping off may set in and 
prove difficult to check. A one-light frame will 
give sufficient plants for a large establishment, and if 
planted in warm positions in succession, from the 
beginning of February onwards, will give the best 
Lettuces during the whole year. A go 3d stock of 
full-grown Lettuces should now be in condition for 
lifting and planting thickly in cold frames. A fine 
day must be chosen for lifting them,and a small ball of 
earth taken up with each, when they will, with care, 
keep fresh and good for two months or more. Con¬ 
tinue to plant out from previous sowings, in sheltered 
positions, and also in frames. When growing them 
in the latter during winter a soil composed mainly 
of leaf mould will give the best and quickest results. 
A bed may also be formed outside by laying down 
6 in. of leaf mould and thoroughly rotted dung with 
a layer of soil over it, and be planted at once. This 
bed should be made of a size to suit a cold frame, 
which should be placed over the plants a little later 
on. For this planting and also in frames, the 
Cabbage varieties should be selected. 
Beets. — Where the roots have attained a useful 
size, they should be lifted and stored without further 
delay, as a frost sufficiently severe to affect the roots 
may occur at any time after this date. Great care 
should be taken in lifting so as to secure them with¬ 
out much damage to the roots. The leaves also 
must be carefully twisted off without damaging the 
crown. Any not fully grown may remain out a little 
longer, but it will be advisable to draw a little earth 
over the top of the roots and crown. 
Endive,— A good proportion of this crop should 
now be fully grown, and some system of 
blanching will be necessary to render it fit for use. 
The green curled kind may be covered with inverted 
flower pots, or clean tiles may be laid over the hearts 
of the plants. The broad-leaved kinds are better 
lifted with small balls of earth, and placed in a dark 
shed, cellar, or Mushroom house. If a little extra 
warmth can be given them after lifting, it will add 
greatly to the tenderness of the blanched leaves, and 
the prrduce from each plant much increased. Late 
crops may still be planted in light land; and in 
sheltered positions under fruit trees this plant often 
does well through the winter months, and proves 
very useful in early spring. 
Routine Work. —The removal of all refuse from 
used-up crops should be attended to frequently at 
this season, and the ground roughly hoed and made 
tidy ; ready for digging or trenching for future crops. 
Growing crops of all kinds should have the surface 
soil frequently stirred with the hoe during dry days. 
Hand-weeding will be necessary among small grow¬ 
ing crops and seed beds. Cauliflowers turning into 
use should be looked over occasionally, and any 
having the centre exposed should have a few leaves 
laid over them to ensure colour and prevent damage 
from slight frosts. Where a row or two of Scarlet 
Runners were sown late and grown without sticks as 
advised, a good crop of Beans will now be hanging 
on the plants, and provisions should be made for 
covering them during frosty nights. The latest beds 
of Cabbages should be planted as soon as possible 
now, to get the plants well rooted before winter. 
Any small plants left in the seed beds, may be 
pricked out a few inches apart on a warm border, 
ready to fill up gaps in the spring.— J.R. 
-- 
THE ORCHID MUSES. 
Cymbidiums. —These beautiful evergreen Orchids 
are represented by some thirty or forty species, but as 
some of them are hardly up to what we in these days 
expect an Orchid to be, it will only be necessary in 
this article to mention those generally met with, and 
which are well worth growing. 
For general usefulness and ease of culture I suppose 
I shall not be very wroDg in placing C. lowianum 
first. They are free flowering, and last a long time 
in full beauty. The only possible fault that can be 
urged against them is that they take up too much 
room. This they must have, both head room and pot 
room, if you hope to do them well. The best place 
for them is on the middle stage of the Cattleya 
house. 
C. eburneum is altogether a most handsome 
species, and one that flowers in February and 
March when white flowers are in great request. Its 
treatment differs but very little from the preceding 
variety ; the compost, however, may be of a some¬ 
what lighter nature ; for, whilst the former delights 
in a rather strong compost of peat, loam, and dried 
cow dung, we use two-parts peat to one of 
loam, and instead of the cow dung we add 
shopped Sphagnum moss for C. eburneum, feeding the 
plants with weak guano water when well established, 
and throwing up, as they are doing just now, their 
flower spikes. 
C. Mastersii resembles C. eburneum in its habit 
of growth and requirements, but here the similarity 
ends, as the flowers are different in shape, besides 
having numerous spots of purple on the lip. It 
produces its flowers somewhat earlier, too. 
C. tracyanum is a most handsome variety of 
C. giganteum, of recent introduction, and as might 
be gathered by its name, was first flowered by 
Mr. Tracy, of Twickenham. Its habit of growth is 
exactly like C. giganteum, and its treatment must be 
of the liberal order as regards richness of compost 
and the amount of root room allowed. 
There are a few others, including C. Parishii, C. 
dayanum, etc , that are well worthy a place where 
room is no object. They are singularly free from 
the attacks of insects, but sometimes they are infested 
with a little white scale, though this is mostly the 
fault of a too dry and arid atmosphere. 
Stock-seed Scale, too, seems very partial to 
them, and as it gets down into the heart of the young 
growths, it requires some patience to eradicate the 
pest without doing damage to the foliage. A bit of 
sponge tied on to the point of a stick, is about the 
best thing we can find to get at the scale, using 
soapy water during the operation.— C. 
* 
The flower garden has been having a sad time of it 
of late. What with heavy gales of wind and rain, and 
want of sunshine, some trouble will have to be 
expended to prevent a widespread feeling of dreary- 
ness and desolation. The leaves, to^, are beginning to 
fall apace, and the broom must be plied vigorously 
and continuously if lawns and paths are to be kept 
tidy. The beauty has been well-nigh knocked out of 
all the flower beds, although, as long as they look 
green, we do not care to meddle with them. By dint 
of frequent picking over they may be made to look 
fairly presentable. 
The Herbaceous Border.— Here everything is 
topsy-turvy, and a good deal of labour will be neces¬ 
sary before matters are put straight. Dahlias wil 
continue to produce a few flowers as long as the frost 
keeps off, and thus it will be worth while to re-stake 
any plants that have been blown from their fastenings 
by the winds. The same remarks will apply to 
perennial Asters with which the rain has dealt very 
badly. Late flowering plants of Gladiolus brench- 
leyensis will come in very handy now. 
Palms on Lawns. —Where these have been 
plunged in holes dug for the purpose in various parts 
of the lawns it will be advisable to make preparations 
for lifting them. Rough winds are liable to lacerate 
the leaves, especially of the fan-leaved kinds, and the 
plants may as well be spared this trying experience. 
If no other place offers, they will pass through the 
winter very well in a north house that is kept up to a 
temperature of 45 0 Fahr. It is unwise to defer lifting 
them in until the last moment, as heavy work of this 
kind is better done in the daylight if possible. 
Ornamental Vases in which American Aloes are 
placed need not be touched just yet, as two or three 
degrees of frost will not harm them very much, and 
wet weather dees not affect the appearance of the 
plants. Large vases which have been filled all the 
summer with Coleuses, Fuchsias, Celosias, and other 
tender stuff, are now looking much the worse for wear, 
and the best plan will be to fetch the old plants out 
of it and fill in their places with Coniferae and other 
evergreens to stand the winter. If it is not usual to 
fill the vases again after their summer occupants have 
been disposed of they may be emptied of soil at once, 
the crocks washed, and returned to their places. 
Carnations. —In the previous calendar we gave 
directions for potting up the layers preparatory to 
wintering them in cold frame. Some growers favour 
the practice of consigning them straightway to their 
flowering quarters in the autumn, thus saving the 
underglass space that they would have occupied. 
This system answers very well in cases where the soil 
is fairly light and warm, but not where it is of a cold 
and retentive nature. If is elected to plant in 
autumn it should be done without delay. The ground, 
which will have been manured and dug previously, 
should now receive a dressing of soot, or soot and 
lime mixed. This may be forked nicely in, and 
planting proceeded with as soon as a fine day offers 
when the soil can be trodden upon without getting 
pasty. 
Wallflowers.— Beds which it is intended to plant 
with Wallflowers to bloom in the coming spring 
should be cleared as soon as they get shabby without 
waiting for the frost to finish them off. The Wall¬ 
flowers will thus get a chance to make themselves 
comfortable before winter sets in. A digging fork 
must be used to lift the plants with, for a trowel will 
neither be long enough nor strong enough in the 
blade for the purpose. It is important that the plants 
should be lifted with good balls of earth attached. 
The loose earth, all dead leaves, and any suckers 
arising from the base may be removed by hand. 
If the nursery beds are far from the flower beds a 
hand barrow should be employed as a means of 
transport, as is the plants are jolted along in a wheel¬ 
barrow they will most assuredly not be improved 
thereby. Plant pretty firmly, but avoid treading on 
the ground much, as planting in June and planting in 
October are two very different things. 
Anemones.— By planting several batches with a 
few weeks interval between them a succession of 
bloom may easily be kept up. The finest named 
varieties should be kept until later if the soil is at all 
inclined to be heavy. A batch should be put in now 
in any vacant bed, or failing that, a few clumps in 
the herbaceous border will give an excellent account 
of themselves. As Anemones like rich feeding, the 
positions they are to occupy should receive a 
good dressing of cow manure. Plenty of light is also 
necessary; thus the situation should be open, and if 
possible, well drained. If the cow manure is only 
applied just previous to planting it should be buried 
deeply enough so that the tubers do not come into 
direct contact with it. They may be planted about 
3 in. deep, and from 4 in. to 6 in. apart, according to 
the size of the tubers. When planted in clumps in 
the herbaceous border the places must be marked by 
sticks or labels, otherwise they may be disturbed 
inadvertently.— A. S. G. 
