682 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 26, 1897. 
THE BEST TWELVE ORCHIDS FOR 
BEGINNERS. 
The Princess of Wales Orchid. 
Odontoglossum crispum (Alexandrae). —This is 
without exception the most popular of all the 
Odontoglots. Even the starry forms, when made up 
into sprays, are very much appreciated by the ladies, 
and find a ready sale on account of their elegance 
and lasting properties. The forms, however, most 
sought after by connoisseurs are those with broad 
sepals and petals, known as the Pacho type. A fine 
variety of this kind would easily realise ten guineas 
even now; whilst a fine spotted form would fetch 
ten times more. 
O. crispum apiatum, one of the best known 
spotted forms, would, if brought under the hammer, 
realise an unprecedented sum. Just fancy buying a 
few hundred imported plants at, say, £25 per 100, 
and flowering one or two a tenth the value of the 
above. This lucky chance is possible and even 
probable; and as an investment there is no better 
horticulturally 
Coming to the prizes out of recent importations, 
we have only to instance the beautiful O crispum 
Heliotropium and O. c. Starlight as shown by Mr. 
R. B. White ; and O. c. Queen Victoria, shown at the 
Temple Show by Messrs. Hugh Low & Co., all of 
which we believe have been passed on at long prices, 
so that it is easy to see what possibilities there are in 
imported plants. Small wonder is it, then, that 
they command a ready sale. 
There are, of course, many other very fine varieties 
not a few of which are on the Continent; but as 
this is not intended as a cheap advertisement, there 
is no need to mention them here. 
And now for a little straight talk respecting their 
treatment. Coming as they do from an altitude of 
7,000 to 8,000 ft. it will be readily understood that cool 
treatment will be the most suitable. It has been said, 
and I believe with some truth, that in their native 
habitat it is no unusual thing to find them just at 
daybreak quite white with frost. The temperature, 
however, does not remain low sufficiently long to do 
any harm. 
To attempt to grow them over here in a tempera¬ 
ture lower than 45 0 would end in failure to a 
certainty The house best suited to their require¬ 
ments, to our mind, is a low span with a path down 
the middle and 3 ft. stages on either side. The 
stages we cover with ordinary roofing tiles, which, 
whilst being clean, are sufficiently porous to hold 
enough moisture from one damping down to another. 
This admits of the house drying up (which it should 
do) once a day. 
Shading. —This should be twice the thickness of 
that used for Cattleyas, and, where possible, should 
be elevated a few inches above the glass so as to 
admit of a free current of air passing between the 
blinds and the glass. This has a wonderful effect in 
keeping down the temperature during very hot 
weather. 
The heating of the house in winter is, of course, 
important ; ours is fitted with a 4 in. flow and re¬ 
turn on each side, and is worked by a saddle boiler. 
Assuming that you have the house ready, we should 
recommend you to commence by buying in imported 
plants, being, however, careful to get them from a 
reliable source, as they are not all broad forms that 
that are being sent over. The pseudobulbs of the 
best type are short round ones ; therefore it is best to 
avoid the long thin ones which bear, as a rule, 
starry flowers—O. andersonianum or O. gloriosum. 
Having secured your plants, commence to over¬ 
haul them, cutting away decayed bulbs, old bracts, 
&c. This being done select convenient sized pots, 
which should be three parts filled with crocks. If the 
plants are in good condition we pot them up straight 
away, using good fibrous reat, and sphagnum moss 
in about equal parts. This may be either mixed 
beforehand or used separately ; v.e always take the 
latter course. 
With plants in poor order, or if received in early- 
spring or late in autumn, it would be safest to put' 
them in crocks alone for a few weeks, allowing them 
to break away before adding the material. When 
the pottiDg is finished, give a sprinkling with the 
syringe, and likewise when damping the house down 
in the morning and afternoon. This treatment is 
repeated every day right up to the end of September. 
Very rarely indeed are they watered direct by the 
watering pot ; but during the autumn and winter 
months it is not advisable to syringe overhead. 
The great thing with Odontoglossums is to keep 
the moisture, air and shading nicely balanced, too 
much of either being detrimental to their well-being. 
Established plants we treat in precisely the same 
way, always giving them some fresh material once in 
a season. The bulk of ours (four thousand) is 
potted during August and September. 
Insects. —Thrips, if allowed to get a foothold, 
will soon ruin Odontoglossums, so that every means 
should be adopted to prevent them making any head¬ 
way. XL All Vaporiser is the best thing ever intro¬ 
duced, easy, safe, and sure to kill all insect pests. —C. 
--——- 
s. m. 
SIXTY YEARS A QUEEN.* 
London, June 22nd, 1897. 
All London put by toil to-day— 
Old Sol came forth with pride ; 
The rich, the poor, 'neath buntings gay, 
Were marshalled side by side. 
Refrains of music filled the air, 
Caught up by hearts unseen— 
The same old Song—the same old Prayer— 
That prayer !—God save the Queen !!! 
All London put by toil to-day, 
When kindred, years apart, 
Moved with the throng to homage pay— 
To pulsate heart to heart. 
Refrains of music filled the air— 
Halt, maim'd, and blind were seeD, 
Though sad their lot, mid silent prayer, 
To lisp " God save the Queen ” M ! 
All London put by toil to-day ; 
Words, cabled east and west, 
Were greetings flashed, from sea to sea, 
To reach one Royal breast. 
Refrains of music from mid air 
Flashed ! cabled back between 
The voice of Song, the voice of Prayer — 
God save—Long live the Queen ! ! ! 
All London put by toil to-day ; 
Earth's Rulers, far and near, 
Now ponder o'er Victoria’s sway, 
Where “ Love can cast out fear.” 
Old Erin—Albion—Scotia—one— 
The Thistle, Rose, and Shamrock seen— 
One triune blend that fought and won, 
Then cheered, and sang, God save the Queen !!! 
WILLIAM BAYLOR HARTLAND. 
Ard-Cairn, Cork. 
*■ m * ig .. 
PLANTS OF THE QUEEN. 
To the list of plants named after Her Most Gracious 
Majesty Queen Victoria, given in one of your con¬ 
temporaries, I beg respectfully to add Cineraria The 
Queen, and Cucumber Empress of India. Both 
were raised at the Exeter Nursery, and distributed 
early in the eighties, by the late Dr. Wm. Robt. 
Woodman, when trading as Lucombe, Pince & Co. 
The former was a magnificent variety, rich purplish 
crimson, with white centre, of great substance, the 
individual flowers as large as crown pieces ; and was 
chosen from our new strain of Cinerarias, known as 
the Wonder of the West strain, by the late revered 
Doctor, and named by him. He also selected and 
named many others, including Prince of Wales, 
white centre, rich magenta margin; Princess of 
Wales, white centre, rosy purple margin; Lord 
Beaconsfield, light purple-mauve, white centre; 
Earl of Devon, china-blue, passing to mauve ; Sir 
Stafford Northcote, dark purple, and Lady Northcote, 
white centre, deep edging of rosy purple. This 
strain of Cinerarias as you will no doubt remember, 
was a departure from the ordinary types then in 
cultivation, and created quite a sensation at the 
exhibitions, during many seasons. At that time, I 
had the control and management of Lucombe, Pince 
■& Co’s seed department, and can well remember 
that large quantities of Cineraria seeds in sealed 
packets, at 2s. 6d. each, were sold to growers in all 
parts, Messrs Hurst & Son of Houndsditch being 
the wholesale agents. 
Cucumber Empress of India was a splendid white- 
spined variety for summer cultivation, averaging 20 
♦This would go to the air of God Bless the Prince of Wales, 
and comes from a seedsman, sixty years on earth, 
to 24 in., and was awarded a certificate by the Royal 
Western Horticultural Society. It was very popular 
in west country gardens, down to the time of my 
leaving Devonshire, some ten years agone. — W. 
Nupper, Royal Ashburnham Park Nursery, Chelsea. 
— - •*= - 
THE ICELAND POPPY. 
When the sun is at a white heat, so to speak, the 
ruddy glare of the Oriental Poppy is too much for 
the eyes to look upon, although it is effective enough 
in the' distance. The Iceland Poppy on the contrary 
is agreeable to look upon in its various shades of 
orange, yellow, and white. It also endures for a 
much longer period than its oriental congener, 
throwing up numerous flowers in succession over a 
long period. Old plants flower much earlier in 
summer than young ones, and for this reason 
successive sowings constitute a means of lengthening 
the period during which flowers are obtainable for 
cutting. They may be used alone or in combina¬ 
tion with other flowers; but the more thinly they 
are arranged the better. If at all crowded, their 
fragile structure would be crushed, but apart from 
this all their individual beauty and gracefulness 
would be entirely lost. Their sharply cut or 
regularly defined outline, poised like a dainty 
goblet at the end of slender stalks is very 
charming. The plant is perennial but re¬ 
latively short lived, so that it is needless 
labour to attempt propagating it by cuttings or 
division like most other perennial Poppies. Seeds 
are produced in abundance, and by sowing them on 
the surface in autumn or as soon as they are ripe, 
the plants will flower about midsummer the follow¬ 
ing season. 
- *5-— 
FLOWERING SHRUBS. 
Last autumn being so damp, sunless, and cold in 
many parts of the north it was feared that flowering 
shrubs would not be of much interest this season ; 
but it is pleasing to note that the reverse is the case. 
Seldom have flowering shrubs of the deciduous 
classes been more beautiful than of late. Thorns, 
Lilacs of sorts, Laburnums, Cherries, and others 
have been densely covered with blossoms. Where 
these are associated with evergreens with fine foliage 
a beautiful picture is formed. Rhododendrons have 
not been so much in evidence as last year; perhaps 
many of the shrubs overtaxed their strength by 
profuse flowering in the previous season. Reverting 
to Thorns, it is noticeable that the older trees are 
not flowering so freely. Many of them some years 
ago which seemed to be dying were cut hard bark. 
They broke out into free growth and are quite 
recuperated, with large heads covered with blossoms. 
Many proprietors are very tardy in allowing their 
trees (when failing) to be cut back, but many on 
which we manipulated during the last dozen years 
have shown unmistakably the advantages derived 
from judicious pruning. Coniferae can seldom be 
improved when they begin to fail; but young grow¬ 
ing trees may often be assisted by cutting back 
growth which is deforming the plant; and we find it 
is labour well spent to regulate (as may be found 
necessary) the growth of ornamental plantations. It 
is regretable to see so many well planted shrubberies 
left to become mere thickets.— M. T., Canon, N.B. 
- .K 
GARDENS OF ATHENS. 
The seaboard of the Mediterranean possesses a vege¬ 
tation that is in many respects different from ours and 
from the west coast of Europe generally. The season 
there is much earlier and the climate warmer. Shade 
trees are much valued, and if of a fruit bearing 
character so much the better. The Cypress is much 
used for the purpose of affording shelter against the 
cold winds that blow from the north. 
The Myrtles and Cherry Laurels are now in 
bloom, but will disappear before next month. April 
is the flowering month at Athens and all that neigh¬ 
bourhood. About that time Melias Azedarach hangs 
out its great panicles of blue or violet flowers, 
Oranges expand their fragrant flowers, and Almonds 
are gay. Jasmines and Passion-flowers spread over 
the walls everywhere, and suspend their long leafy 
shoots laden with blossom. ClimbiDg Roses in 
variety adorn the pillars, trellises, and other coigns 
of vantage. Wild and other Poppies, Fumitories, 
and various other herbaceous subjects form a blaze 
of colour that is dazzling to the eyes in the sun- 
