March 24, 1900. 
471 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Sternbergia fischeriana. —S. fischeriana is pro¬ 
bably a variety of S. lutea though it has been des¬ 
cribed and figured without the specific name of lutea. 
This also is a pretty yellow flowered alpine of some 
interest. Coming from the rather mild regions of 
the Mediterranean coast it prefers a sheltered corner 
when grown in our rock gardens here. The yellow 
flowers are tubular with a long neck, and droop for¬ 
ward nearly to touch the ground. The appearance 
when seen from below reminds one of an Odontc- 
glossum citrosmum. The foliage is light green and 
linear or grass-like, and stands erect. The above is 
a welcome little plant for our gardens at the present 
time. 
--J—- 
the OrcHid Growers’ calendar. 
Warm Division. —As the Phalaenopses, after being 
relieved of their flower spikes, have begun to start 
making fresh growth they should now be attended 
to, picking out all the old sphagnum moss and as 
many of the crocks as is possible without damaging 
the roots. Syringe the remaining crocks well with 
tepid water, allowing them time to dry before filling 
up with clean ones and live moss, always being care¬ 
ful though that the materials be placed in the house 
the day before they are wanted for use, so as to be 
at the same temperature. 
Should there be any plants that have become un¬ 
healthy through overflowering or other causes, the 
best pirn would be to take them out of their pans or 
baskets. Wash them well, cutting away all the de¬ 
cayed roots at the same time; this being done, put 
them into as small a receptacle as possible with as 
ittle moss as you can. Keep them shaded and 
place them at the warmest end of the house. If 
well supplied with moisture they will soon make 
fresh roots and improve in their general condition. 
A night temperature of 65° should be maintained ; 
and in giving air let it be through the bottom venti¬ 
lators, as these plants cannot stand draughts. 
Dendrobioms. —These plants, too, enjoy a high 
temperature, but not quite so much shade as do the 
Phalaenopses, so that though this is a good place to 
start them in, and to keep them for a few weeks after 
being repotted, they should be so placed that they 
receive as much light as possible. You can 
generally manage to work it so that each species gets 
nearly what is wanted. I often think we starve our 
Dendrobes by giving them too light a compost, and 
by elevating them too high. We shake out what 
little good there is in the peat, which is, I feel sure, 
a mistake. Use it lumpy, with plenty of crocks 
mixed with it to keep it porous, and the results are 
much better growths and much larger flowers. 
Calanthes. —Most people know all there is to be 
told about these winter-flowering Orchids, so that I 
shall only just point out that if you want to keep 
them free from spot do not water them direct until 
the growths are a good height and rooting freely. A 
high temperature, of course, is necessary, such as a 
stove house would afford. They like a little shade, 
and are gross feeders. 
Shading. —A cheap and easily applied shading for 
the ends of houses and spaces where the blinds do 
not meet is made up of 7 lbs. whiting, two quarts 
of milk, and half pint of turps. This applied on 
bright days will adhere to the glass, and is not easily 
washed off.— S. C. 
@Ieanittffs Bum ffye IDutrlb 
- of Brtettr% 
The undermentioned subjects were discussed at the 
Scientific Committee meeting of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society on the 27th ult. 
The Lucombe Oak.—Specimens of foliage and 
acorns were received from Rev. J. H. Ward, of 
Silverton Rectory, Exeter, from a tree growing in 
the churchyard, requesting for information as to 
their identity. Dr. Masters has supplied the follow¬ 
ing details:—" I believe the leaf and acorns 
exhibited to be those of the Lucombe Oak, or from 
one of its descendants. The Lucombe Oak was a 
hybrid between the Turkey Oak (Q. Cerris) and the 
Cork Oak (Q. Suber). The leaves are all but ever¬ 
green ; indeed, in some of the varieties, quite so. As 
is the case generally with hybrids, the descendants 
from the first cross vary extremely, consequently 
there are many forms and varieties of the Lucombe 
Oak in existence. As the specimens came from 
Exeter there is additional ground for presuming it 
to be descended from the Lucombe, as the original 
tree was raised in the nursery of Lucombe, Pince 
& Co., of Exeter. The Fulham Oak, raised in the 
Fulham Nurseries, had a similar origin, and now I 
believe it to be impossible to distinguish its descen¬ 
dants from those of the Lucombe Oak. A full 
account of these Oaks will be found in Loudon’s 
‘ Arboretum,’ vol. iii." 
Large Yew Tree.—Mr. Ward also mentions the 
fact of a Yew tree in the same churchyard being 
25 ft. in circumference at a height of 4 ft. from the 
ground, and asks if it is a reasonable conjecture that 
the tree was planted before the Norman Conquest. 
Data as to the rate of growth of Yew trees have 
been supplied from trees planted in Basildon 
churchyard in 1726. They have been measured in 
1780, 1796, 1834, a °d 18S9. They were found, after 
a commencing period of more rapid growth, to be 
pretty regularly increased by one line (one-twelfth 
of an inch) per annum. (See " Nature,” October 
17th, 1889). 
Bulbiferous Sci I la..—A plant of Scilla nutans 
was received from Mr. Alex. Mortimer, 1, Paper 
Buildings, Temple, in which the outer bulb scale 
had become greatly elongated upwards, forming a 
closed tube. It bore two small bulbs on the inner 
surface, and was greatly thickened at the summit, as 
if attempting to form a larger bulb; but no other 
than the above two were developed. They both 
possessed small rolled-up green leaves. 
Orange malformed.—Dr. Masters showed an 
Orange having a band of paler and smoother rind 
than the rest of the skin. It was referred to Dr. 
Bonavia for examination, who writes as follows :— 
" It somewhat resembles the Bigaradier tricolor 
Orange, which has a yellow skin, with orange stripes 
when ripe. Again, the Bigaradier bizarrerie has 
smooth parts of an orange colour and warty parts 
yellow. These parti-coioured Oranges are normal.” 
Dr. Bonavia would theoretically explain this 
peculiarity by referring to the " fingered ” Orange, 
which he regards as a whorl of modified leaves, 
coalescing to form a covering to the inner portion of 
the fruit. To apply this theory to the case in 
question, he would compare the paler portion to, 
say, a Euonymus, which may have green leaves 
with an occasional yellow one, or again he would 
compare it with striped petals, as of the York and 
Lancaster Rose. The objection to Dr. Bonavia’s 
ingenious theory lies in the fact that the paler 
coloured stripe did not correspond with a single 
carpel, but covered the half of one and the half of 
the adjacent carpel, so it would represent two halves 
of different capellary leaves. Secondly, striped 
flowers are probably the result of crossing two 
whole-coloured flowers. This is obviously the case 
with Petunias, a purple and white flowered species 
having been the parents of all our garden forms. 
So that it would seem more probable that the 
Orange had received the pollen of a smooth-skinned 
variety, and the tubes penetrating one placenta, 
common to two adjacent carpels, had influenced the 
surface on both sides of the division. Similar 
stripes have been known to occur on the fruit of one 
variety of Theobroma (Cocoa) when pollinated by a 
second variety. Dr. Bonavia’s report will appear in 
full in the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
Scientific Committee, March 13 th. 
Grapes diseased.—Mr. Hudson Drought some 
specimens which appeared to be attacked with the 
fungus Glaeosporium. Dr. Masters undertook to ex¬ 
amine it further. 
Douglas Fir disease.—Branches were received 
from Mr. Rogers, of Penalowne, Cornwall. They 
were from young trees, planted in an old plantation. 
In some cases the whole tree was unhealthy ; but in 
others the trees grow vigorously, and only the top 
dies. They were referred to Dr. W. G. Smith for 
examination. 
Pear stem oonstricted.—Mr. Rogers also sent 
a specimen remarkably constricted by a staple. The 
diameter of the stem being two inches, this was re¬ 
duced to half-an-inch at the constriction. It had 
borne good crops of fruit up to last year. 
Abies amabilis attacked by Chermes.— 
Dr. Masters showed specimens of this tree, also 
called A. lowiana, with gouty branches. The bark 
was badly infested by an aphis much resembling 
that which attacks Beeches. The same remedy of 
syringing with petroleum emulsion is to be adopted 
if the trees be slightly infested ; otherwise tbe only 
means of destroying the pest is to destroy the tree 
by burning. 
Hydnora africana.—He also showed a specimen 
of this remarkable parasite. It is a fleshy, leafless 
plant, parasitic upon plants of the genera Cotyledon 
and Euphorbia in tropical and South Africa. There 
are about eight species. The specimen was received 
from Grahamstown, 
Caladium Maria Dubil. 
