230 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  5,  1896. 
bloom  at  that  season.  Other  kinds  more  or  less  rare  are  T.  candi- 
dissima,  T.  Dodgsoni,  T.  nivalis,  and  T.  Veitchiana,  but  those 
described  above  are  the  most  generally  grown. — H.  R.  R. 
Treatment  of  Orchids. 
Will  you  kindly,  through  the  medium  of  your  Journal,  answer 
the  following  questions  : — 1,  Can  Dendrobium  nobile  be  flowered 
from  growths  just  matured  ?  and  state  treatment.  2,  When  should 
Ltelia  glauca  and  Digbyana  (Brassavola)  be  started  ?  3,  What  is 
the  best  position  and  house  for  Zygopetalums  crinitum  and  Mackayi, 
and  when  should  they  be  started  and  rested  ? — J.  Thomas. 
[Dendrobium  nobile  often  flowers  upon  the  newly  made  pseudo¬ 
bulbs,  but  to  induce  them  to  do  so  an  early  start  and  quick 
vigorous  growth  are  necessary.  This  is  in  order  to  get  them 
finished  early,  so  that  the  plants  may  have  a  long  rest  in  a  cool 
house  before  being  started  again  in  early  spring  for  flowering.  As 
a  rule,  however,  the  stems  do  not  flower  until  the  second  season. 
If  the  growths  are  well  ripened  place  them  at  once  in  a  sunny 
position  in  a  cool  house  or  frame,  giving  just  enough  water  to  keep 
them  from  shrivelling  and  a  free  circulation  of  air  night  and  day  until 
the  approach  of  frost  renders  the  former  dangerous.  Keep  them 
dormant  by  these  means  until  the  turn  of  the  year,  when  place 
them  again  in  heat.  Do  not  allow  very  much  atmospheric  mois¬ 
ture  or  water  the  plants  much  at  the  root  at  this  season,  or  the 
probability  is  that  you  will  get  more  growths  than  flowers.  As 
soon  as  the  buds  can  be  distinctly  seen,  however,  there  is  no  danger 
of  this,  and  they  will  need  more  assistance  at  the  roots. 
The  Brassavolas  named  usually  commence  to  grow  early  in 
spring,  the  increase  of  light  and  heat  in  the  Orchid  house  causing 
this  naturally  without  any  starting,  as  the  term  is  usually  under¬ 
stood.  Avoid  any  undue  excitement  now  or  after  the  growths  are 
finished,  for  the  flowers  are  never  so  good  in  colour  or  so  large 
when  the  growths  start  out  of  season,  and  are  sometimes  altogether 
wanting. 
The  Zygopetalums  referred  to  are  not  fastidious  as  to  tempera¬ 
ture,  but  perhaps  a  somewhat  shady  position  in  the  Cattleya  house 
suits  them  better  than  any  other.  They  are  very  restless  plants, 
and  seem  to  require  an  almost  constant  state  of  growth,  and  are 
never  dormant  like  a  Dendrobium  or  a  Cattleya.  If  they  seem 
inclined  to  rest  after  the  new  pseudo-bulbs  have  flowered  and 
finished  up  it  is  well  to  allow  them  to  have  their  own  way,  but 
they  must  not  be  forced  to  rest  by  withholding  moisture  at  any 
time.] 
OLLA  PODRIDA. 
Lilium  Henryi. 
I  DO  not  think  there  has  been  so  satisfactory  an  addition  to  this  tribe 
of  plants  roade  of  late  years  as  this  beautiful  species  from  North  China. 
I  say  this  in  full  recollection  of  the  beautiful  varieties  from  India, 
such  is  Nepalense,  sulphureum.^and  others  of  a  similar  class  ;  but  there 
is  a  difficulty  about  their  cultivation  which  robs  them  of  a  good  deal  of 
their  satisfactory  character.  This  it  not  the  ease  with  Lilium  Henryi. 
It  seems  to  partake  in  a  very  strong  degree  of  the  free  growing  character 
of  speciosum  or  lancifolium  ;  indeed,  it  may  be  described  as  an  orange 
yellow  speciosum.  I  had  a  comparatively  small  bulb  of  it  last  year, 
and  I  did  not  like  to  risk  it  in  the  open,  and  so  placed  it  in  a  pot ;  it 
grew  about  5  feet  high  and  had  eight  fine  blooms,  and  I  feel  sure  that  I 
might  have  placed  it  in  the  open  ground  without  fear  of  loss,  and  I  shall 
so  place  it  this  autumn  when  its  blooming  season  is  over.  Dr.  Wallace 
says  it  is  perfectly  hardy,  and  I  can  quite  credit  it.  Its  introduction 
leaves  one  to  hope  that  there  may  be  others  of  the  same  family  to  be 
obtained  from  this  comparatively  unexplored  region.  Robert  Fortune 
■did  indeed  visit  part  of  it,  but  there  are  regions  where  Europeans 
have  hardly  if  ever  ventured  which  may  yet  yield  treasures  for  our 
gardens.  Especially  valuable  are  these  autumn  flowering  Lilies,  and  I 
think  the  one  under  notice  may  fairly  be  classed  as  one  of  the  most 
beautiful. 
Crinum  Powelli. 
I  received  last  autumn  from  the  raiser  a  gift  of  two  bulbs  of  this 
fine  hybrid,  and  although  it  had  to  pass  rather  a  severe  ordeal  in  the 
frost  of  February  and  March  and  in  the  drought  of  May  and  June,  yet 
I  have  been  gratified  to  find  that  one  has  flowered  ;  of  course  not  so 
well  as  I  hope  it  will  do  if  I  am  spared  till  next  year.  It  is  a  hybrid 
raised  between  Crinum  longiflorum  and  Crinum  Moorei.  The  colour  is 
bright  pink,  and  the  umbel  consists  of  seven  or  eight  blooms  ;  and  as 
when  if  is  in  good  condition  the  stem  is  4  or  6  feet  high  it  forms  a 
showy  object  in  the  garden.  One  very  rarely  sees  any  of  the  plants  of 
Crinum  and  its  varieties  in  private  gardens,  where  certainly  in  their  fine 
style  of  growth  and  beautiful  flowers  they  are  well  worthy  of  a  place. 
The  Gastronomy  of  Bees, 
For  many  years  I  was  a  somewhat  ardent  bee-keeper.  I  went  into  its 
mysteries,  got  profusely  stung,  and  suffered  various  inconveniences  from 
the  pursuit.  Yet  it  was  very  pleasant,  and  as  I  did  not  follow  it  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  my  rent  from  them,  the  bad  seasons  which  I 
sometimes  experienced  did  not  trouble  me  much.  The  idea  that  bees 
when  they  have  found  a  store  of  honey  go  and  tell  their  companions  has 
been  shown,  I  think,  to  be  without  foundation.  Then,  again,  a  good 
deal  has  been  made  of  their  sealing  down  a  snail  which  had  intruded 
into  their  hive  ;  but  if  this  were  done  to  make  him  powerless,  why  do 
they  leave  unmolested  that  terrible  enemy  the  caierpillar  of  the  wax 
moth  1  Neither  can  I  make  out  any  case  for  their  supposed  predilection 
for  blue  flowers,  and  I  have  noticed  that  the  hive  bees  and  the  w'ild  bees 
seldom  frequent  the  same  flowers.  Thus,  for  instance,  a  bed  of 
Mignonette  swarms  with  the  honey  bee,  but  one  never  sees  a  wild  bee 
upon  it,  although  a  head  of  Lavender  close  by  tells  just  the  reverse  tale  ; 
one  seldom  sees  a  hive  bee  on  it,  while  wild  bees  delight  in  it.  The 
Gladiolus  with  its  broad  open  flower  and  abundance  of  pollen  affords 
a  delightful  place  of  recreation  for  the  humble  bee,  and  perhaps  for  that 
very  reason  the  hive  bee  never  enters  the  flower.  Again,  what  an 
unpromising  place  for  obtaining  either  food  or  honey  seems  to  be  such 
a  plant  as  Eryngium  Oliverianum,  and  yet  the  hive  bee  seems  to  be 
very  fond  of  it ;  so  again  Echinops  ritro  or  Euthenicus  is  a  very  great 
favourite  with  them  also,  but  I  never  see  a  wild  bee  on  it.  There  must 
be  a  good  deal  of  sweetness  in  the  perfumed  Marvel  of  Peru,  the  nectar 
lying  at  the  bottom  of  a  long  and  slender  tube.  The  wild  bee  has 
scented  it,  but  cannot  reach  it,  so  he  hovers  about  the  flower  and  pierces 
the  bottom  of  the  tube,  so  that  he  can  get  at  the  nectar,  and  having 
spoiled  one  flower  goes  on  to  another.  In  all  these  cases  of  preference 
for  one  flower  over  another  I  presume  there  is  a  science  of  gastronomy 
amongst  bees,  and  that  they  have  already  settled  which  dish  they 
prefer. 
Dis4  geandiflora. 
Among  the  pleasant  things  connected  with  flowers  must  be  reckoned, 
I  think,  the  associations  they  bring  up.  This  plant  always  brings  to  my 
memory  that  clever  old  Scotchman  Donald  Beaton,  whose  glowing  pen 
for  so  many  years  enlivened  the  pages  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  ; 
indeed  it  recalls  not  only  him  but  another  friend,  the  late  Mr.  Charles 
Leach,  who  has  long  since  passed av/ay.  And  why  so?  it  may  be  asked, 
I  shall  never  forget  old  Donald  standing  before  a  group  of  it  exhibited 
by  Mr.  Leach  at  the  opening  exhibition  of  the  E.H.S,  in  South  Kensing¬ 
ton,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  telling  all  whom  he  could 
buttonhole  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  whole  exhibition  comparable 
to  it,  notwithstanding  that  Mr.  John  Standish  had  the  first  bulb  of 
Lilium  auratum  that  had  ever  flowered  in  this  country  in  his  collection 
of  novelties.  Not  that  the  plant  had  been  unknown,  but  nobody  had 
hitherto  mastered  its  cultivation  ;  and  even  now  you  may  go  through 
many  collections  of  Orchids,  but  when  you  ask  the  owner  whether  he 
has  got  it,  he  will  tell  you  he  has  failed  to  keep  it.  1  have  seen  Mr. 
Lindsay’s  beautifully  grown  plants  in  the  Botanic  Gardens,  Edinburgh. 
For  many  years  I  grew  this  very  successfully,  but  for  a  few  years  past 
I  have  not  done  so  well,  I  fancy  that  I  have  been  rather  too  free  in 
w’atering  it  when  it  has  begun  to  make  its  growth  for  the  following 
year  ;  at  least  I  can  account  for  it  in  no  other  way,  as  in  every  other 
respect  the  method  of  growing  it  is  the  same  I  have  pursued  for  many 
years  past.  I  think  it  may  be  well  to  say  that  care  should  be  exercised 
in  the  obtaining  of  plants  now,  their  exportation  from  the  Cape  having 
been  forbidden.  It  is  a  plant  of  the  easiest  cultivation,  and  will  grow 
in  an  ordinary  greenhouse  with  other  plants,  and  its  striking  beauty 
is  sure  to  attract  the  notice  of  visitors,  wnile  its  flowers  are,  I  think,  the 
most  lasting  of  anything  that  I  know,  the  same  one  remaining  in 
beauty  for  five  or  six  weeks,  a  great  recommendation  to  those  who 
often  mourn  over  the  evanescent  character  of  many  of  their  favourites. 
— D.,  Beal. 
LOBELIA  CARDINALIS. 
I  NOTE  the  remarks  about  this  Lobelia  by  “  D.”  (page  155).  For 
the  last  fifteen  years  I  have  made  it  a  feature  in  at  least  one  of  our 
beds  for  an  August  display.  This  year  I  have  plants  in  five  beds.  I  do 
not  think  it  is  grown  nearly  as  much  as  its  merits  deserve.  The  cause  is 
to  be  found,  I  think,  in  the  difficulty  usually  experienced  in  preserving 
the  roots  through  the  winter.  I  have  tried  many  ways  of  dealing  with 
this  plant  in  the  hope  of  increasing  the  stock,  but  must  admit  I  have 
many  times  failed.  Last  autumn  a  fresh  plan  was  tried,  and  I  am 
pleased  to  say  answered  well.  Directly  the  plants  were  lifted  from  the 
beds  they  were  pulled  in  pieces,  placed  rather  thickly  in  boxes  in  sandy 
soil,  and  stood  in  a  temperature  of  60°  to  65°  to  induce  fresh  root  action. 
When  the  plants  had  made  a  good  start  into  growth  and  become  well 
rooted  the  boxes  were  moved  into  a  cool  house — a  vinery  at  rest — and 
there  the  plants  made  steady  progress.  The  soil  was  kept  just  moist. 
At  the  end  of  March  the  plants  were  put  out  in  light  soil  over  a  layer  of 
old  Mushroom  bed  refuse  in  a  temporary  frame,  and  in  due  course 
capital  roots  were  ready  for  the  beds. 
"  The  flower  spikes  are  now  4  feet  high,  and  brilliant  in  the  extreme. 
The  dark  foliage  is  much  more  effective  than  that  of  Fulgens  or  Firefly. 
I  was  lately  told  that  propagation  is  easily  effected  by  taking  off  the 
side  shoots  when  4  inches  long  and  before  they  exhioit  signs  of  flowering, 
inserting  them  in  sandy  soil  in  a  shaded  cold  frame.  I  have  put  the 
plan  into  practice,  and  hope  for  satisfactory  results,  but  am  somewhat 
sceptical  on  the  point. 
No  matter  in  what  form  the  plants  are  arranged  in  beds  or  borders, 
the  soil  should  be  covered  with  some  low-growing  plant,  not  only  to  hide 
it,  but  to  form  a  contrast  with  the  brilliant  flowers  above.  I  have 
employed  Sedum  glaucum,S.  Lydium,  Herniaria  glabra,  Viola  Mrs.  Gray, 
and  a  dwarf  Ageratum,  Perhaps  the  Viola  carpet  was  the  most  effective, 
