886 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 24, 1903. 
Shading used to be considered a most essential acquisition 
for Orchid seedlings at all seasons of the year. Many of the 
indispensable requirements considered necessary for successful 
cultivation of Orchids until quite recently are being either alto¬ 
gether abolished or considerably minimised by successful 
modem cultivators. The dispensing with roof shading for 
seedling Orchids during the winter months is one of these. I 
am convinced that where leaf soil is included in the potting 
compost, Orchids in all stages must have more light to 
enable them to properly mature the more robust growths pro¬ 
curable by its use. Without light it is impossible to ripen 
thoroughly, and unless this is procured it is doubtful if satis¬ 
factory results will be procurable either from dowering or in 
the succeeding season’s growth. 
Drip from the roof is another great danger to be avoided. 
In cold weather, with every up-to-date facility, one has to be 
constantly on the guard against cold drops that have condensed 
on the roof falling among or into the pots containing seedlings. 
In cold weather, when moisture condenses quickly on the roof 
glass, one has to be particularly on the alert. To get the 
compost saturated or the central growth of a plant full of cold 
water is one of the most injurious things possible. Where the 
plants are discovered with water in their centres every endea¬ 
vour must be made to remove it. If the plants are turned 
upside down, and held in that position, the excessive moisture 
will drain out, and by wiping as dry as possible the danger 
will be considerably lessened. Where in the case of Cattleya 
growths it may get between the outer 1 skin and the advancing 
pseudo-bulb, causing discoloration, the skin should be care¬ 
fully removed by splitting it carefully from the top downwards. 
This will permit the accumulated moisture to escape. H. J. 
Fruit Under Glass. 
Pineapples. —Fruiting plants require most careful manage¬ 
ment from now onwards, the weather being anything but 
favourable to ripening fruit. Day after day and not a gleam 
of sunshine, without which highly-flavoured fruit can hardly 
be expected, and under such circumstances water at the root 
must be applied with the greatest care, and judgment is re¬ 
quired in ascertaining the state of the soil before applying the 
same. After the fruits are swelled to their full size withhold 
water and keep a warm and fairly dry atmosphere until the 
fruits are cut. Maintain a night temperature of 68 deg., or 
even 70 deg. in mild weather, advancing to 80 to 85 deg. 
with sun-heat. Succession plants] should have the night tem¬ 
perature lowered to 60 deg., and not allowed to advance much 
above 75 deg. during the day, affording air at 70 deg. With 
these figures little or no- water will be required for the next 
eight or ten weeks, which will give the desired rest to the plants 
before starting them, afresh early in the new year. Suckers 
should be placed at the coolest end of the structures and within 
a. few feet of the glass roof, affording but little water at the 
root and dispensing with overhead moisture in each depart¬ 
ment., and the evaporating troughs should be allowed to go dry 
for the winter. Any suckers large enough for potting up 
attached to fruiting plants should be detached, and the old 
stools thrown away after the fruit has been cut. 
Early Peach House. —These are slow in losing their leaves, 
partly on account of the sunless season, but I am no advocate 
in wresting them from the tree, believing that each one has 
a duty to' perform until nature casts them off; but. a slight 
shake may be given the trellis occasionally, and all leaves 
that have parted from the tree removed by hand if inclined 
to hang about the wood and trellis. In low-lying districts or 
when Peach houses are not placed in the best position for sun, 
a little fire-heat may be applied with advantage for 1 a few 
weeks, keeping top, also bottom ventilators wide open, and as 
soon as all foliage has dropped give the necessary pruning. 
Should scale be on the trees, the men should be deputed to 
go carefully over all the wood with a pointed label, dislodging 
all that can be seen, after which wash the trees with a. mixture 
of thin sulphur and soft soap; first washing all elass and wood¬ 
work with warm, soapy water and whitewashing the walls. 
In re-tying the trees, which are usually fan-shaped, let each 
side, right and left, be evenly balanced, and where any shorten¬ 
ing of the shoot is a necessity always cut to a wood-bud, which 
is more pointed than a fruit-bud. This completed, thoroughly 
clean over tire border, loosen the surface soil 2 in. or 3 in., 
and remove the inert soil, replacing the same with a mixture 
of fibrous loam with a fair sprinkling of wood- ashes and old 
mortar refuse or lime rubble, making all nice and firm, and 
apply water if the border is found to require it when using 
the fork. Keep the house wide open until the time of starting 
comes, which need not be until the end of November, unless 
ripe fruits are required in. April, when close early in, the same 
month. Succession houses must not be neglected, but. the 
syringing of trees should be discontinued and the borders not 
allowed to become dry; the after treatment the same as given 
above. 
Pot Strawberries.- —Plants for the earliest batch, to' be 
started next month or early in December, should be placed in 
cool pits or frames to ward off the heavy rains, which seem in 
excess this autumn. Pull back the lights when the weather is 
dry overhead, otherwise keep them tilted up so that the plants 
get plenty of fresh air. The general stock, a,s soon a.s frost 
threatens, should be taken to a warm, sheltered comer and 
plunged in coal ashes, covering the rims of the pots entirely 
over, or many will get split with the 1 frost, first removing all 
weeds and quite decayed foliage. Those under frame-lights 
require to be looked over once or twice a week, to, see that 
they do, not suffer for the want of water, and should worms 
be in the pots a. little lime water once or twice ■will generally 
drive them. James Mayne. 
Bicton, Devonshire. 
Autumnal Tints of Clerodendron richo- 
tomum. 
For some years I have taken a keen interest in the various 
hues and colours of plants hardy in our climate, and was some¬ 
what surprised a,t the remarks on this species in the review of 
Roath Park, Cardiff, on p. 846. I take it for granted that, a 
printer’s error 1 [Yes.— Ed.] has crept in—that “ tricolorum 
should be trichotomum, as there is no species in cultivation 
under the former name. So' far as I am acquainted with this 
specie®, its tints can hardly be described as gorgeous, seeing 
that they are dull purple and yellow. Of course, from an 
artist’s point of view this can be easily surpassed, and one 
has but to see the scarlets and yellows of Rhus cotinoides—un¬ 
fortunately not very plentifully distributed in gardens yet— 
t,o realise that this has, justly been extolled as the showiest of 
autumn shrubs. Some of the Amelanehiers and Parrotia, come 
very near this, and one could readily name more showy things 
than Clerodendron trichotomum. As plants of this are not 
very common., it would have been interesting if your corre¬ 
spondent had more fullv described the one -seen at Roath Park. 
A. H. P. 
Letter to the Editor. 
Saxifraga macnabiana' 
To the Editor of The Gardening World. 
Sir, —I beg to congratulate you on the great improvement 
in The Gardening World since it changed hands. The illus¬ 
trations are splendid. The Supplement is magnificent in this 
week’s issue. Saxifraga macnabiana, is grand. I notice in the 
article on. it you say the origin, of it is, unknown. Mr. James 
Gordon, for many years in the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, 
told me some time ago, that it was raised by Mr. Lindsay, late 
curator there. Speaking to him this morning about, it, he 
said that it, was raised by Mr. Lindsay. He thought it, was a 
cross,between Cotyledon, and pyramidalis, but, that could easily 
be ascertained from Mr. Lindsay. It is named after Mr. Macnab, 
a, former curator of the Edinburgh Gardens. 
John Fleming. 
