February  6, 1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
113 
of  a  blotch  of  yellow  on  the  centre  of  the  lip,  which  certainly  does 
not  detract  from  the  chaste  beauty  of  C.  Trianee  alba.  The  Orchid 
Committee  of  the  Society  unanimously  awarded  Mr.  Bull  a  first- 
class  certificate. 
Repotting  and  Surfacing  Orchids. 
Every  month  in  the  year  brings  its  own  especial  work  to  the 
orchidist,  and  but  few  months  pass  in  which  there  is  no  repotting 
to  be  done  or  surface  dressing.  The  present  and  succeeding  two 
months  may,  however,  be  considered  the  busiest  in  this  respect, 
and  it  is  quite  time  that  all  arrears  of  work  are  brought  up  to  date, 
and  a  good  stock  of  all  materials  likely  to  be  wanted  got  ready. 
Not  only  the  materials  for  the  compost,  such  as  peat  moss, 
charcoal,  loam,  and  others  are  wanted,  but  a  look  through  the 
stock  of  baskets,  pots,  labels,  stakes,  and  those  other  supplementary 
fig.  17.— cattleya  trianas  alba. 
articles  is  necessary,  or  probably  there  will  be  hindrances  later  on 
when  the  work  ought  to  be  in  full  swing. 
The  weather  at  the  time  of  repotting  all  classes  of  Orchids 
ought  to  be  watched,  especially  where  the  potting  shed  is  unheated, 
for  to  take  the  plants  out  of  the  house  when  the  external  air  is 
frosty  and  keep  them  about  in  a  cold  draughty  shed  is  about  the 
worst  thing  thst  could  be  done.  Even  when  the  shed  is  kept  at  a 
fairly  high  temperature  the  plants  are  frequently  checked  on  the 
journey  thereto  from  the  houses,  and  here  we  always  make  use  of  a 
large  covered  box  for  the  purpose  of  transit,  placing  it  on  a  hand- 
barrow  after  being  closed  inside  the  house.  If  no  heat  is  afforded 
in  the  shed  it  is  better  to  pot  the  plants  in  their  respective  houses 
than  to  run  the  risk  of  checking  them  described  above.  There 
will  be  no  need  of  disturbing  the  house  much,  just  clearing  a 
convenient  piece  of  stage  and  lay  some  board  on  it,  or,  better  still, 
have  a  small  temporary  bench  constructed  that  may  be  moved  about 
to  the  different  houses  as  needed. 
This  ought  to  be  about  a  yard,  or  a  little  more  in  length,  and 
half  that  width,  and  a  piece  of  thin  board  should  be  nailed  round 
three  sides  of  it,  standing  up  about  5  or  6  inches,  to  prevent  the 
materials  falling  off.  All  pots  will,  of  course,  be  provided  with 
drainage  before  being  brought  into  the  house,  and  a  box  to  hold  the 
old  crocks  and  rubbish  will  also  be  required.  The  peat  and  moss 
may  be  prepared  outside,  but  should  be  brought  in  some  time  before 
it  is  needed,  so  as  to  get  gently  warmed  before  coming  into 
contact  with  the  roots. 
Where  there  are  a  great  many  plants  of  one  kind  to  be  repotted 
it  is,  perhaps,  as  well  to  have  the  compost  all  ready,  the  peat  moss 
and  charcoal  mixed  in  proper  proportions  before  commencing  ;  but 
if  the  plants  are  of  a  miscellaneous  character  it  is  better  to  have 
Cattleya  Trian^e  alba. 
Though  this  plant  cannot  be  termed  new  it  is  extremely  rare, 
and  consequently  attracted  much  admiration  when  it  was  staged  by 
Mr.  Wm.  Bull,  King’s  Road,  Chelsea,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  held  in  the  Drill  Hall,  Westminster,  on  the 
14th  ult.  The  examples  exhibited  were  splendidly  grown,  and 
carried  flowers  of  perfect  form  and  great  substance.  As  may  be 
seen  by  the  woodcut  (fig.  17)  the  shape  of  the  flower  is  exactly  that 
of  the  type,  from  which  it  differs  only  in  colour.  The  colour  is 
pure  white  over  the  whole  of  the  organs  with  the  single  exception 
and  as  soon  as  the  roots  reach  the  sides  of  the  pots  the  plants  will 
require  another  shift  into  4-inch  pots.  Later  on  they  will  require 
another  and  last  removal  into  6-inch  pots,  which  are  quite  large 
enough  for  all  ordinary  purposes.  The  soil  for  the  two  last  shifts 
should  be  of  a  richer  character,  and  may  consist  of  good  fibrous 
loam  one  part,  half  a  part  each  of  leaf  mould  and  horse  droppings, 
a  third  of  a  part  of  old  mortar  rubbish  and  of  silver  9and,  adding 
a  sprinkling  of  bone  dust  and  soot.  At  the  final  potting  a  small 
handful  of  sand  ought  to  be  put  round  the  collar  of  the  plant 
before  filling  up  with  soil,  which  keeps  the  stem  dry  and  prevents 
damping  off  at  that  point.  Keep  the  plants  near  the  glass,  and 
allow  plenty  of  room  in  the  frames,  also  giving  free  ventilation. 
The  utmost  care  must  be  exercised  in  watering.  The  plants 
should  never  be  allowed  to  flag,  and  at  the  same  time  they  must 
not  be  saturated.  I  go  over  them  every  day,  tap  each  pot,  giving 
a  thorough  soaking  when  it  is  required. 
Let  them  have  all  the  light  possible, 
but  shade  from  the  sun  with  light 
tiffany  in  the  middle  of  the  day.  In 
the  afternoons  of  fine  sunny  days  give 
them  a  light  syringing,  and  close  the 
frames  early,  putting  a  little  air  on 
afterwards.  On  fine  nights  in  August 
and  the  early  part  of  September  remove 
the  lights  altogether,  as  the  heavy  dews 
which  generally  prevail  at  this  season 
have  an  invigorating  influence  on  the 
plants.  At  the  end  of  September  re¬ 
move  the  plants  from  the  frames  to  a 
light  position  in  the  greenhouse,  stand¬ 
ing  the  pots  on  a  moist  base  in  prefer¬ 
ence  to  a  latticed  stage. 
The  plants  will  now  be  pushing  up 
their  flower  9tems  (any  flower  that  may 
have  appeared  before  this  time  should 
have  been  pinched  out),  and  to  assist 
them  a  little  weak  liquid  manure  may 
be  given  occasionally,  soot  water  being 
very  beneficial.  With  the  above  treat¬ 
ment  the  plants  will  push  up  one  tier 
of  flowers  above  another  until  they 
become  perfect  pyramids  of  bloom, 
-which  will  reward  the  cultivator  for 
all  his  care  and  be  the  admiration  of 
everyone  who  sees  them. 
Varieties  that  I  have  grown  and 
can  recommend  are  whites — Snowball, 
of  strong  habit,  fine  foliage  and  large 
flowers  ;  Cannell’s  White,  beautiful 
pure  white  flowers,  heavily  fringed ; 
Pearl,  another  very  fine  white,  and 
alba  magnifica.  Amongst  the  coloured 
I  can  strongly  recommend  Magenta 
Queen,  which  is  a  robust  grower,  with 
large  flowers  of  a  beautiful  colour  ;  Chiswick  Red,  very  fine 
dark  red  ;  Cannell’s  Giant  Pink  is  a  good  companion  to  Snowball  ; 
rubra  superbisaima,  similar  in  habit  to  alba  magnifica,  but  the 
flowers  are  large  and  heavily  fringed.  The  best  so-called  blue 
that  I  have  grown  is  Clibran’s  Oldfield  Blue.  This  variety  is 
a  strong  grower,  with  large  flowers,  and  looks  well  amongst  the 
others.  Fern-leaved  varieties,  Sutton’s  Gipsy  Queen  and  Purity 
are  very  handsome  ;  and  for  semi-doubles  I  would  strongly  recom¬ 
mend  Firefly,  red  ;  Empress,  pink  ;  Sutton’s  Double  White  and 
Clibran’s  Double  White. — James  Ferguson,  Manchester. 
