January  9, 1898; 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
25 
crowding,  keep  the  house  dry,  have  the  hot-water  pipes  comfortably 
warm,  or  the  temperature  at  from  55°  to  60°,  and  give  a  little  top 
air  on  warm  days.  If  the  plants  present  a  somewhat  starved 
appearance  give  weak  liquid  manure  occasionally. 
Those  who  do  not  work  their  double  Primulas  hard  early  in 
the  winter  find  them  very  serviceable  in  January.  Single  pips, 
notably  of  that  fine  double  white  variety  A.  F.  Barron,  are  useful 
for  buttonholes,  and  the  flowers  of  the  older  ones  are  frequently 
used  similarly,  while  the  spikes  or  elongated  trusses  are  good  for 
vases.  It  must  be  a  good  plant,  though,  that  produces  flowers  to 
the  value  of  Is.  Well-flowered  plants  in  5-inch  pots  will  frequently 
fetch  9s.  per  dozen,  ao  that,  all  things  considered,  this  is  a  class  of 
flowers  of  which  market  growers  should  work  up  a  stock.  Shelves 
that  suit  them  during  the  autumn  and  early  part  of  the  winter 
answer  well  for  moderately  early  Strawberries  in  pots.  Indian 
Azaleas,  notably  the  popular  Deutche  Perle,  must  be  grown  in 
quantity  where  white  flowers  for  wreaths,  crosses,  and  such  like  are 
constantly  in  demand,  this  variety  giving  quite  a  long  succession  of 
bloom  from  a  single  plant  without  being  forced,  but  sent  to  the 
markets  in  a  cut  state  they  fetch  next  to  nothing.  What  a  pity  it 
is  so  few  private  gardeners  and  such  a  comparatively  few  market 
growers  can  grow  Cyclamen  persicum  successfully.  Strong  young 
plauts  are  capable  of  flowering  freely  from  November  to  February 
inclusive,  when  they  may  be  sold,  after  having  already  paid  their 
way.  Good  blooms,  especially  if  whites  predominate,  fetch  4d.  per 
dozen,  and  this  accounts  for  the  sale  of  the  plants  not  being  pushed 
early  in  the  season. 
Carnations  and  Tea  Roses  are  always  appreciated,  and  are 
particularly  valuable  during  January  ;  Is.  6d.  per  dozen  is  freely 
given  for  medium-sized  blooms  of  the  best  perpetual  flowering 
varieties,  so  those  who  can  grow  them  well  must  find  Carnations 
very  profitable.  Miss  Jolliffe  is  the  favourite  with  ladies,  but 
Mrs.  Moore,  white,  Winter  Cheer,  scarlet,  Uriah  Pike,  crimson,  and 
Germania,  yellow,  all  sell  readily.  Anybody  ought  to  succeed  with 
the  free- flowering  Marguerite  strains,  a  trade  packet  of  seeds  giving 
hundreds  of  plants  that  will  flower  the  same  season  they  are  raised, 
and  give  large  numbers  of  double-fringed  sweetly  scented  blooms 
during  January  and  the  next  two  months.  Neither  these  nor  any 
other  types  will  succeed  well  in  mixed  plant  houses,  or  the  green¬ 
houses  to  be  found  in  most  private  gardens.  What  they  want  is 
to  be  by  themselves  on  light  stages,  or  raised  up  to  near  the  glass 
in  house*  facing  the  south.  The  low  span-roofed  houses  of  the 
description  erected  by  market  growers  suit  them  well.  Tea  Roses 
require  more  heat  and  are  seldom  plentiful  early  in  the  year.  If 
forced  hard  they  are  apt  to  become  weakly  and  red  spider  infested, 
and  the  high  prices  sometimes  obtained  for  buds  in  January 
scarcely  pay  for  the  risks  run. 
Bulbous-rooted  plants,  it  need  hardly  be  pointed  out,  are  very 
extensively  forced  by  market  growers  as  well  as  private  gardeners, 
and  early  in  the  year  do  good  service.  Roman  Hvacinths  have, 
perforce,  to  be  grown,  and  can  easily  be  had  in  flower  during 
December  and  January  ;  but  let  me  warn  those  inexperienced 
against  investing  heavily  in  that  direction.  Paper  White  Narcissi 
pay  better,  but  not  if  it  is  in  competition  with  French-grown 
flowers,  as  they  have  to  do  in  large  towns.  Tulips  are  very  cheap, 
but  not  many  of  these  can  be  had  in  flower  early  in  the  year  ;  and 
Spanish  Irises  will  not  stand  hard  forcing,  otherwise  they  would 
be  most  profitable.  Lily  of  the  Valley,  if  the  Berlin  crowns  are 
obtained,  will  force  readily,  the  cheaper  Dutch  crowns  flowering 
satisfactorily  in  February,  or  rather  earlier.  If  there  are  many 
failures,  and  the  price  is  Is.  and  less  per  dozen  for  what  are 
obtained,  the  profits  are  small. — Market  Grower. 
Calanthe  gigas. 
In  supposing  that  there  is  no  Orchid  of  this  name,  our  corre¬ 
spondent,  who  signs  himself  “  Young  Orchidist,”  is  wrong,  and  we 
have  pleasure  in  giving  an  illustration  (fig.  4)  that  will  tell  him  and 
others  what  it  is  like.  Emanating  from  Messrs.  J.  Veitch  and 
Sons’ establishment,  this  hybrid  was  on  its  introduction  hailed  as  an 
acquisition  by  all  who  saw  it,  and  received  a  first-class  certificate 
from  the  Orchid  Oommittee  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society. 
It  was  the  result  of  a  cross  between  C.  Sanderiana  gigantea  and 
C.  veBtita  grandiflora.  It  is  bold,  vigorous,  and  effective,  the  stout 
spike  containing  numerous  handsome  flowers,  the  sepals  and  petals 
of  which  are  ivory  white,  and  the  lip  rich  rose. 
L./ELIA  superbiens. 
The  flowering  season  of  this  fine  species  has  again  come  round, 
and  the  spikes  this  year  are  exceptionally  fine.  To  grow  this  species 
properly  a  large  spacious  house  is  required,  one  in  which  the 
temperature  and  other  atmospheric  conditions  are  steady  and  not 
fluctuating,  this  point  being  of  great  importance  not  only  to  small¬ 
growing  Orchids,  but  also  to  Cattleyas  and  Lselias  of  the  grosser 
growing  kinds. 
L.  superbiens  is  not  a  difficult  plant  to  cultivate,  but  well 
furnished  specimens  with  a  good  number  of  leading  pseudo-bulbs 
are  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is  a 
defect  of  the  species,  but  a  good  deal  may  be  done  to  divert 
the  flow  of  the  sap  by  notching  the  rhizome  just  behind  the 
second  pseudo-bulb.  Though  not  effectual  in  every  case,  it  is 
so  more  often  than  not,  is  so  little  trouble,  and  cannot  injure 
strong  plants,  in  any  case  the  experiment  is  worth  trying.  The 
notch  should  go  quite  half  way  through  the  rhizome,  but  not 
much  more,  and  the  best  time  for  the  operation  is  in  autumn  or 
early  spring,  the  former  for  preference.  Much  care  should  be 
taken  in  mixing  the  compost,  for  large  pieces  of  this  Orchid  do  not 
require  frequent  repotting  provided  the  work  is  well  done  in  the 
first  instance.  Plenty  of  good  rough  lumps  of  potters’  ballast  are 
preferable  to  sharp-edged  crocks  for  mixing  with  the  peat  and 
sphagnum,  which  should  each  be  of  the  best  quality  obtainable, 
the  former  being  shaken  free  of  all  sand  and  earthy  particles. 
If  the  plants  are  newly  imported,  and  are  being  potted  for 
the  first  time,  it  will  be  difficult  to  bring  them  into  a  convenient 
shape  for  potting,  and  they  should  be  tried  in  the  pots  before 
commencing  with  the  drainage.  The  lower  end  of  the  rhizome  will 
most  likely  be  some  distance  below  the  surface,  but  this  does  not 
