August 29, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
731 
Round the Nurseries. 
Messrs. J. Cowan and Co., Ltd. 
Large and busy as Liverpool is, there is quite a. rural aspect 
at Gatacre, where the nurseries of Messrs. J. Cowan and Co., 
Ltd., are situated. They are easily reached by rail from Liver¬ 
pool, and when one is set down, at Gatacre Station he is con¬ 
fronted with a small village, beyond which are nurseries, gar¬ 
dens, and woodland, with quite a rural aspect. The other week 
we had the pleasure of inspecting their nurseries, where Orchids 
are still extensively grown, and, in fact, constitute the most im¬ 
portant feature of the establishment. Ornamental trees and 
shrubs occupy the ground that are not covered with glass, but 
the outdoor nursery is of secondary importance to the Orchids. 
Entering the warmest house we found Dendrobium war- 
dianum hanging up to the roof, making an excellent growth, 
the stems being about 2-|- feet long and not yet finished. 
Oncidium cavendishianum suspended from the roof is also doing 
well. A large quantity of unflowered Cattleyas were' located in 
this house, including C. Trianaei, C. labia-ta, C. Skinneri, C. 
sehilleriana, the latter well established plants from a recent im¬ 
portation and well rooted plants of C. labia.ta bearing Two or 
three leaves. 
Tire next house entered also contained a, fine lot of Den¬ 
drobium wardianum. A fine importation of Laelia purpurata 
has made a good start, and like many other allied Orchids it 
has been potted in a new compo-st consisting of two parts of 
sphagnum, one part of leaves run through a sieve so as to take 
out tire finer dust, and one part of peat, simply broken up, the 
dust not being taken out. Mr. Cowan believes this a, much 
more suitable compost than when leave® alone are employed, 
and there is less danger oif mishap to the plants' from culti¬ 
vators not thoroughly understanding the use of leaves alone in 
the growing of Orchids. Other Cattleyas which we noted in 
this house were fine batches of C. Mendellii, C. Trianaei, C. 
Sehroderae, C. glandulosa, and C. Loddigesii. Some of the 
above have been recently potted, but others 1 are. well estab¬ 
lished, and in all cases'making good stuff. Here we noted good 
plants of such fine varieties of Laelia purpurata as L.p. 
Sehroderae, L.p. russelliana, L.p. alba, and L.p. wyattiana, all 
doing well. Vanda tricolor and V. suavis- are well done here. 
A slender growing, distinct-looking basket plant with beauti¬ 
fully marbled leave® is Ceropegia, Woodii. It is not an Orchid, 
but associates well with them, being in. bloom at the time we 
mention. 
Another house through which we passed contained more 
Dendrobium wardianum. Altogether there was an importation 
of 5,000, 4,000 of which were potted up. Many Cypripediums 
occupied this house, including C'. lawrenceanum, C. master- 
sianurn, C. Lowii, C. villosum, C. insigne, C. Sedeni, and, C. S. 
candidulum. Here also we noted Laelia, anceps- Morado, which 
Messrs. Cowan regard as their own particular type o-r strain of 
the species. The dark flowered L.a. cbamberlainianum is also 
grown in. some quantity. Sobralia Veitchi (macrantha, x 
xantholeuca) was. about to flower. Dendrobium Phala.enopsis 
| schroderianum is grown in. considerable quantity, and recently 
a consignment of 5,000 of them was sent off to India, where 
they were, of course, near their own home again. 
The next house to this contained a. fine batch of Oncidium 
splendidum, growing strongly in pots stood upon ashes, which 
keeps the moisture about, them. An importation, of O. 
varicosum Rogers! has just been put into pans and suspended 
from the roof. A house' was entirely filled with Lycaste 
Skinneri in excellent condition. Some grand varieties were 
obtained out of the importation last year, when the plants 
flowered for the first time. All the plants’ are grown, in the 
mixed compost, and are making excellent foliage and pseudo- 
bulbs. None of the plants in this house have yet flowered, 
those that did bloom being in another house. 
Near the entrance of the next house entered wa,s a massive 
plant of Epidendrum rhizophorum in fine condition. Vandaj 
ca.eruleia was in equally fine order, and close by was a batch 
of the mountain strain of Cypripedium insigne. Several of the 
6pecies of Cymbidium are grown in this house, including C. 
giganteum, C. lowianum, C. eburneum, and C. tracyanum. The 
last named is readily recognised by the way in which the tips of 
the roots all rise perpendicularly from the soil. None of the 
others behave in £his way. The beautiful Oncidium leucochilum 
is making good growth in pots. Some large specimens of 
Cypripedium insigne are located here. A fine lot of Odonto- 
glossum grande has recently been, potted into 1 60-sized pots. 
Here also are the interesting and beautiful Vanda- caerulea, 
Pleione lagenaria., P. maculata, Max ill aria, sanderiana, and 
Coelogyn.e pandurata, the latter in fine condition, and coming 
into bloom. Sometimes it is put in boat-baskets, but by 
judicious management the front and growing part of the plant 
can always be secured and cultivated in an ordinary basket. 
Calanthes have made splendid growth, including C. Veitchi, C. 
vestita and C.' Regnieri. Oncidium phymatochilum potted up 
a month ago' is now throwing up its flower spikes. Thunia mar- 
shalliana has made splendid growth, the stems being about 3|ft. 
high, and lift. of this exceeds- the growth of last year’s bulb. 
T. alba is grown in smaller quantity. 
In two' or more houses we came upon, the remnants of several 
importations of Oncidium kramerianum, made two years ago. 
Cypripedium Transvaal. 
About 3,000 plants are still left and continue to come into 
bloom at intervals. They show great variation both in the 
spotting of the foliage and in the spotting of the flowers. Some 
of them were very handsome indeed, and we give an illustra¬ 
tion of one that happened to be. in bloom at the time. In the 
north this species is popularly known as the bulldog Orchid, 
from the fact that the crest of the lip resembles more’ or less 
closely the face of that or some other animal. Not' all are 
exactly alike, but the face-like appearance is often very strik¬ 
ing and evident. A very handsome hybrid Cypripedium is that 
named C. Transvaal, the parentage' of which was C. chamber- 
lainianum x rothsehildianum. The dorsal sepal is orbicular, 
greenish yellow, with many shining black lines. The petals are 
about 3J inches long, nearly horizontal, but twisted as in the 
first-named parent and heavily spotted all over with brownish- 
maroon on a yellow ground. The upper edge is heavily bearded 
and the lower edges less strongly so. The lip is of a dull shin¬ 
ing purple, dotted with crimson. We give an illustration of 
this beautiful hybrid taken at a, time when two flowers were 
expanded and three in the bud state. With good cultivation 
it is possible to get several of these flowers open at one time. 
In what is known as the Crispum house we came upon im- 
