26 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
January 14, 1905. 
Among the Orchids. 
Cypripediums. —The late autumn and winter-flowering Cy- 
pripediums that have passed out of flower should be examined 
for any repotting requirements that may be necessary. I 
have previously drawn attention in this column to the ad¬ 
visability of leaving large specimens of C. insigne, etc., un¬ 
disturbed as long as possible, and in repotting, where the ne¬ 
cessity arises, to use the potting compost in coarser or more 
lasting state than that which is required when dealing with 
smaller plants. I would again urge upon my readers the ne¬ 
cessity of this particular item. 
I do not, of course, mean that unreasonable sizes of pots 
altogether out of comparison to the size of the plants should 
be employed, but. reasonable room to permit of the increasing 
growth of the plants should Ire given. If may occur that 
there be ample foliage, vet but little root. In such a. case, too 
much room and too great amount of compost about the few 
roots attached to the plant would more than probably prove 
fatal to its culture. It is when we realise that Orchids 
are, after all, plants, and they are treated as such, that 
their cultivation becomes assured. Therefore, if large speci¬ 
mens of Cypripediums are considered in the same light as 
other plants, and they are treated with the same considera¬ 
tion, many cultural difficulties will be overcome and the 
plants will not fail to afford satisfactory results. 
The Potting Compost should consist of one-third good fibrous 
peat, one-third turfy loam, and the remaining compost 
of leafy soil, chopped sphagnum, broken crocks, and sand 
this may be used for the whole of the plain-leaved section of 
Cypripediums. In the tessellated-leaved section little or no 
loam should be used, especially in the neighbourhood of 
London and other large towns, and in smoky manufacturing 
districts. The drainage should be clean and filled to one-third 
the depth of the pot. I would not recommend bracken roots 
for large specimen plants, as the possibility is that they may 
become decayed before the plants may again require repotting. 
In repotting, it is not always an easy matter to turn large 
specimen plants out of their pots, owing to the matted state 
of the roots and their having become adherent to the sides of 
the pots. It is a custom with some growers to permit the 
compost to become very dry before the plants are repotted. 
I have never found any advantage from this system, but find 
a much greater difficulty of detaching the roots than where 
plants are watered a day or so previously to repotting. When 
turned out, all dead and decayed matter should be removed 
from the base of the growths and about the roots. If the 
plants have become hollow in tire centre from the younger 
growths making for the outer edges' of the pots, this is best 
remedied by carefully cutting the rhizome asunder and break¬ 
ing the plants up into suitable sizes to work conveniently 
back into a specimen, not spreading singly over a large area, 
but keeping together as closely as possible in the centre. 
Plants that have grown weakly should not be permitted to 
remain as large specimens ; it is a much better plan to divide 
such plants and to pot in small plants for a year or two until 
they regain their vigour. They may then be placed together 
again if desired. 
Divisions of Growth. —It is only a short time since the 
lovely C. insigne Sanderae was first introduced, and only a 
moderate-sized plant when first imported. To-day we not only 
find it plentifully distributed in the gardens of England and 
the Continent, but there are numerous specimens sufficiently 
large to have carried at least a dozen flowers this season. 
This is sufficient to illustrate the desirability -of division of 
the rhizome between back growths either when repotting or 
in the specimens which do not require repotting. Old growths 
that have flowered and produced the following season’s growth 
will have performed their function, unless something unfore¬ 
seen happens, and it becomes necessary for it to emit another 
growth from the dormant eyes at the base to perpetuate the 
whole life of the plant. It. is self-supporting while it retains 
living roots, but when these die it draws' its sustenance from 
the leading growths, and proves detrimental to the advance 
of the new growths. If the rhizomes between the back growths 
are severed, they will generally produce more growth, and a 
specimen is thus obtainable in a short time. 
H. J. Chapman. 
The Rock Garden. 
The Androsaces. 
The species of Androsace are nearly all of dwarf habit, some 
of them, especially those from the European Alps, forming 
dwarf patches of foliage closely hugging the ground and pro¬ 
ducing a wealth of very neat and attractive flowers. The latter 
are. never of large size, but their numbers and pleasing colours 
render them objects of admiration nor soon' forgotten when 
once seen in good form. For Ihese reasons they are peculiarly 
suitable for cultivation in the rock garden. 
Many of them prove somewhat difficult to maintain in health 
during summer, especially in the drier and more southern 
counties, but further north and inland, where the rainfall is 
heavier and the temperature less high, the conditions are more 
akin to those which prevail in their mountain homes, and the 
trouble in supplying their peculiar requirements perceptibly 
less. In the Alps the frost and snow keep the plants at rest 
and also relatively diy at the roots, while the atmosphere is 
cooler in summer owing to elevation and the moisture or even 
cloudy vapour that frequently envelops the mountains and 
enables the plants to make and mature their growth after the 
flowering period is over. Under cultivation it would greatly 
assist the plants if fresh soil mixed with chips of granite or 
freestone were applied as a top-dressing early in summer and 
again in autumn. Those which have a tendency to raise their 
stems above the soil are much benefited by top-dressings which 
encourage the production of fresh roots close up to the crowns 
of leaves, renewing, as it were, the lease of life. Watering and 
other causes serve to wash the soil gradually down or away 
from the plants in exposed positions, and this is another reason 
for supplying fresh material to plants that under artificial con¬ 
ditions would tend to deteriorate without it, A few young 
plants raised from seeds or cuttings and kept in cold frames 
are always a great advantage where choice and valuable plants 
are at stake. To lovers of alpine plants, however, any trouble 
or care expended on these mountain gems is well repaid. -The 
undermentioned are a few of the best known and handsome 
species. 
A. carnea. 
The above is one of the most easy to grow, and since it is 
a native of the Alps it must be akin to our own vegetation, 
and only because it is an alpine and dislikes our dry atmo¬ 
sphere in summer does it occasion any difficulty in the matter 
of cultivation. For the reason that it is fairly accessible in its 
native habitats it comes to our shores a,s frequently as any 
other. It has a similar habit of growth to Saxifraga bur- 
seriana, but without the densely tufted leaves of that plant. 
The green leaves are not woolly, and therefore do not hold the 
moisture like many of the Himalayan species, and consequently 
are not so liable to succumb through damping in winter. The 
small flowers are pink with a yellow eye, resembling a Bird's- 
eye Primrose in miniature. When planting, a cool situation 
should be selected for it, so that it may not suffer from the 
dry burning heat of the summer sun at low elevations. If 
shaded by a piece of rock from the sun, except, perhaps, in the 
early morning, it will be more likely to feel at home than where 
the soil remains hot all day, drying up the life-giving moisture. 
The variety A. c. eximia. is a finer thing, and more amenable 
to the cultivator’s art than the type, being of stronger growth 
with larger pips. Like the parent, it rejoices in plenty of light, 
though not direct sunshine, and the rocks must not shelter 
it in such a way as to throw off the rain in spring or summer. 
A. Laggeri. 
The close habit of this is similar to that of A. carnea, the 
leaves being green, sharply pointed and aggregated in close 
tufts. The flowers are of a warm, rosy pink, and produced in 
umbels of moderate size, just rising above the foliage. It is 
