366 
■JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  29,  1897. 
Lycaste  Skinneri. 
From  time  to  time  records  of  the  successful  culture  of  this 
handsome  Orchid,  occasionally  accompanied  by  illustrations,  have 
appeared  in  the  pages  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture .  We  now 
present  another  one  (fig.  75),  of  which  the  photograph  was  sent  by 
Mr.  H.  Martin,  gardener  to  Lord  Leigh,  Stoneleigh  Abbey,  Kenil¬ 
worth.  That  the  specimen  is  a  splendid  one  will  be  seen  by  a 
glance  at  the  illustration,  but  the  following  brief  particulars  sent 
with  the  photograph  will  probably  enhance  the  interest.  The  plant 
is  growing  most  luxuriantly  in  a  24  sized  pot,  and  carried  when  at 
its  best  twenty-five  fully  expanded  flowers.  We  are  indebted  to 
Mr.  Martin  for  kindly  sending  the  picture,  and  trust  that  he  will 
shortly  be  able  to  send  particulars  as  to  the  treatment  to  which  the 
plant  has  been  subjected. 
Notes  on  L^elias. 
The  plants  in  this  genus  do  not  differ  much  from  the  nearly 
related  Cattleyas  in  botanical  structure,  the  chief  distinction  being 
that  they  possess  eight  pollen  masses  to  each  flower,  while  the  latter 
have  four  only.  They  are  not  so  numerous  as  Cattleyas,  but  the 
variation  in  them  is  very  considerable.  Some,  like  L.  Perrini, 
L.  purpurata,  and  others,  are  very  much  like  the  labiata  section  of 
Cattleya  in  habit  and  inflorescence  ;  others  are  of  small  stature, 
and  produce  many-flowered  racemes,  such  as  L.  anceps  and 
L.  autumnalis,  while  again  there  is  a  section  of  the  genus  wijh 
somewhat  stem-like  pseudo-bulbs,  as  L.  cinnabarina  or  L.  harpo- 
phylla. 
Obviously,  then,  a  collective  mode  of  treatment  will  not  do  for 
them,  and  each  species  must,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  considered 
separately.  In  L.  cinnabarina  we  have  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
examples  of  an  orange-scarlet  Orchid,  the  long  many-flowered 
racemes  having  a  most  exquisite  appearance  grouped  with  other 
and  more  quietly  tinted  kinds.  It  grows  about  a  foot  in  height, 
the  pseudo-bulb  being  one-leaved,  the  racemes  appearing  at  the 
apex  of  these.  To  grow  it  well  it  should  have  the  lightest  position 
in  the  Cattleya  house,  and  be  potted  or  basketed  in  a  rough  open 
compost,  consisting  of  peit  fibre  and  sphagnum  moss  in  equal 
proportion. 
The  drainage  must  come  in  for  especial  attention,  and  a  fairly 
good  layer  of  material  may  be  allowed  provided  plenty  of  rough 
crocks  and  charcoal  are  mixed  with  it.  A  smaller  habited  plant, 
though  not  unlike  the  last-named  in  habit,  is  L.  flava,  and  this  is 
not  by  any  means  as  well  known  as  it  deserves.  On  healthy  plants 
the  spikes  carry  five  or  six  flowers  to  each  spike  of  a  bright  golden 
yellow.  Its  culture  consists  of  growing  it  somewhat  freely  during 
the  summer  months,  and  keeping  fairly  dry  until  the  flower 
spikes  appear.  A  thin  compost  suits  it  best,  and  it  should  have  an 
airy,  light  position. 
L.  grandis  is  a  pretty  plant,  but  is  now  almost  eclipsed  by  its 
well-known  variety  L.  g.  tenebrosa.  The  latter  is  sometimes 
labelled  as  a  species,  and  is  undoubtedly  ODe  of  the  moit  beautiful 
and  generally  useful  Orchids  in  cultivation,  ranking  with  such 
superb  things  as  Cattleya  Mossiae  or  Laelia  purpurata.  It  delights 
in  plenty  of  heat  and  moisture,  and  the  roots  being  very  large  and 
fleshy  the  compost  may  be  of  substantial  texture,  but  made  very 
open  and  freely  drained.  Good  peat,  broken  in  large  rough  lumps, 
with  only  about  a  third  part  of  sphagnum,  will  do  it  well,  and  the 
roots  mast  never  be  dried  summer  or  winter. 
A  peculiarity  of  L  grandis  tenebrosa  is  that  sometimes  it 
blooms  upon  the  young  wood  in  autumn  like  Cattleya  labiata,  but 
usually  it  rests  in  sheath  during  the  winter,  and  pushes  up  in  spring 
and  early  summer.  It  varies  very  much  both  in  size  and  colour, 
but  the  usual  tints  are  purplish  brown  upon  the  outer  segments, 
the  lip  purple  and  rose.  L.  harpophylla  is  another  richly  tinted 
kind,  not  unlike  L.  cinnabarina.  When  healthy  it  is  easily 
managed  and  free  in  growth,  doing  well  in  the  Cattleya  or  Mexican 
hou-e.  The  pots  need  not  be  large,  nor  should  a  great  thickness  of 
compost  be  employed.  It  is  very  apt  to  be  attacked  by  the  soft 
white  scale  insect,  and  this  must  be  rigorously  kept  under  if  the 
best  results  are  to  be  attained. 
Where  there  is  room  for  large  specimens  to  fully  develop 
themselves  L.  superbiens  is  a  very  fine  and  noble  plant.  It  has 
large,  erect,  fusiform  pseudo- bulbs,  each  carrying  a  pair  of  long 
leathery  green  leaves  from  between  which  the  immense  panicles 
of  flowers  issue.  The  stems  grow  to  a  height  of  about  5  feet  on 
medium-sized  plants,  and  each  carries  from  a  dozen  to  twenty 
blooms.  The  ground  colour  of  these  is  a  rich  rosy  lilac,  the  lip 
being  much  deeper  than  the  sepals  and  petals,  and  lined  with 
yellow  and  purple.  As  noted  above,  a  large  house  is  necessary 
for  this,  and  the  plants  being  vigorous  rooters  should  be  grown 
in  large  well-drained  pots,  the  compost  consisting  of  lumps  of 
peat  as  large  as  a  hen’s  egg,  plenty  of  rough  nodules  of  charcoal  and 
crocks,  and  a  little  chopped  sphagnum.  L.  superbiens  is  a  rather 
straggling  plant  if  allowed  its  own  way,  but  by  notching  the 
rhizomes  occasionally  to  make  them  produce  back  breaks  they  will 
become  much  better  furnished. 
All  those  mentioned  are  now  flowering,  but  the  most  gorgeously 
beautiful  of  all  is  not  open  as  yet.  I  need  hardly  say  I  refer  to 
L  purpurata,  which  in  its  best  forms  ranks  second  to  none.  The 
flowers  are  too  well  known  to  need  description,  and  the  species  is 
free  in  growth  and  easy  to  cultivate.  The  earliest  plants  to  flower 
generally  have  time  to  form  a  new  pseudo-bulb  and  sheath  before 
winter,  but  if  the  later  ones  can  be  induced  to  rest  until  early 
spring  they  then  come  away  with  surprising  vigour  and  flower 
freely.  By  no  means  endeavour  to  force  them  to  do  so  ;  better  by 
far  let  them  have  their  own  way,  but  if  they  seem  inclined  to  rest 
keep  them  as  quiet  as  possible  in  a  slightly  drier  atmosphere  until 
the  turn  of  the  new  year. — H.  R.  R. 
PLANT  CONSTITUENTS  :  SODA. 
Of  the  twelve  primary  constituents  found  in  plants — namely,  water 
(hydrogen  and  oxygen),  carbon,  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  potash,  lime, 
iron  oxide,  magnesia,  sulphuric  acid,  silica,  soda,  and  chlorine,  ten  only 
are  considered  by  chemists  to  be  indispensable  for  the  production  of  the 
majority  of  farm  and  garden  crops,  the  la9t  two— soda  and  chlorine — 
not  being  required.  Nevertheless  both  enter  into  the  composition  of 
plants  grown  for  their  useful  produce,  such  as  grasses  and  cereals,  Clover 
and  legumes,  fruits  and  vegetables,  and  unquestionably  serve  some 
useful  purpose  in  the  economy  of  the  several  plants. 
Sodium,  Na,  28,  is  a  soft  yellowish  metal,  first  isolated  by  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy  in  1807.  It  does  not  occur  in  nature  in  the  elementary 
condition,  but  its  compounds  are  widely  distributed  through  the  crust  of 
the  earth  and  in  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  Sodium  barns  with  a  brilliant 
oraDge-yellow  flame,  yielding  sodium  oxide,  or  soda,  Na,0,  62,  which, 
united  to  water,  produces  the  hydroxide  or  caustic  soda,  NaOH,  40,  and 
this  forms  soap,  commonly  hard,  with  the  various  fats. 
All  soils  contain  compounds  of  the  metal  sodium  which  have  been 
derived  from  the  disintegration  of  silicates  or  that  have  been  carried 
down  in  the  rains.  The  amount  varies  considerably  in  different  soils 
and  situations.  Dr.  Fream*  gives,  that  of  a  loam  soil  from  Kent  (a  Hop 
soil  near  Sittingbourne)  at  0  01,  of  a  sandy  soil  from  Staffordshire  (near 
Rugeley),  and  a  clay  soil  from  Cambridgeshire  (near  Cambridge)  at  0  06, 
and  of  a  chalk  soil  from  Norfolk  (near  King’s  Lynn)  at  O' 11  per  cent. 
The  older  analyses  give  much  larger  percentages  of  soda  in  the  soil,  and 
those  of  plants  exhibit  a  striking  coincidence  in  the  greater  amounts 
found  in  them  formerly  than  at  the  present  time.  Some  uncertainty 
exists  as  to  the  older  data,  and  in  the  recent  the  sodium  is  apt  to  be 
under-estimated  or  overlooked  when  mixed  with  much  potassium,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  sodium,  if  present  to  the  extent  of  a  per  cent,  or 
more,  is  very  liable  to  be  estimated  too  high. 
Thus,  analyses  become  stumbling-blocks  over  which  cultivators  trip 
in  the  application  of  scientific  research  to  the  needs  of  the  field  and 
garden,  especially  as  regards  sodium  and  potassium.  Indeed,  the 
commonly  prevalent  belief  that  the  labours  of  the  chemist  in  his 
laboratory  when  he  makes  an  analysis  of  a  given  soil  will  supply 
absolute  figures  as  to  the  fertility  of  that  sample  for  general  plant 
growth  is  delusive.  Of  course,  it  is  contended  that  if  a  chemist  can 
analyse  a  plant  and  find  out  what  it  removes  from  tfye  soil,  why  not  an 
analysis  of  the  soil  furnish  all  the  information  needed  as  to  what 
fertilising  constituents  should  be  applied  ?  This  proposition  would  seem 
to  afford  an  easy  method  of  arriving  at  a  definite  coaclusion  as  to  the 
needs  of  a  soil  and  its  adaptability  to  a  given  plant  or  crop.  Tne  idea 
that  the  requirements  of  the  soil  in  the  way  of  plant  foods  as  ascertained 
by  an  analysis  of  it  and  the  plant  to  be  grown  is  simplicity  itself,  but 
there  are  modifying  factors  to  be  considered. 
Plant  foods  may  be— 1,  soluble  in  water — ready  for  use  by  plants  ; 
2,  soluble  in  very  weak  acids — this  and  1  is  called  the  available  plant 
t»od;  and  3,  insoluble  either  in  water  or  weak  acids,  and  of  no  use  to 
plants  until  changed  into  an  available  form.  The  chemist  can  separate 
these  forms  with  considerable  accuracy  when  analysing  a  fertiliser,  and 
is  able  to  compare  the  commercial  value  from  the  results  secured.  In 
the  case  of  soils  the  chemist  can  tell — 1,  the  total  amount  of  plant  food 
present ;  2,  how  much  is  soluble  of  it  with  water  ;  but,  3,  cannot  decide 
how  much  plant  food  is  ready  for  use  and  how  much  is  not.  The 
discriminating  power  of  the  rootlets  of  plants  are  beside  the  chemist’s 
*  “  lements  of  Agriculture,”  pages  20  and  21. 
