February  27,  1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
179 
managed  as  some  dealers  in  them  and  others  would  have  us  believe. 
How  often  we  hear  that  these  and  other  kinds  are  easily  grown  in 
a  greenhouse,  flower  as  freely  as  a  Geranium,  and  so  on  ;  the 
inexperienced  amateur,  fired  with  the  ambition  to  become  an 
Orchid  grower,  at  oqce  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  these  are  the 
very  plants  for  his  greenhouse,  where  among  Pelargoniums  of 
various  kinds,  Azaleas  probably  eaten  up  by  thrips,  and  the  usual 
run  of  plants  so  frequently  met  with,  he  grows  a  few  Tomatoes  in 
the  summer,  and  Mustard  and  Cress  in  the  winter. 
The  kind  of  atmospheric  conditions  that  obtain  in  houses  of 
this  description  are  only  too  well  known — dry,  and  parched  in 
summer,  with  draughts  innumerable  all  the  year  round.  Here, 
then,  are  these  Orchids — natives  of  alpine  regions,  where  they 
grow  enshrouded  in  mist  and  a  cool  moist  atmosphere,  rarely  at  so 
high  a  temperature  as  an  ordinary  English  summer 
heat,  and  never  anything  like  so  cold  as  our 
winter,  but  always  genial  and  mild — expected  to 
grow  and  thrive.  Long-suffering  under  difficulties 
as  they  undoubtedly  are  this  proves  too  much  for 
them,  and,  instead  of  thriving  healthy  plants,  we 
see  miserable,  half-starved  insect- infested  ones  ; 
where  there  should  be  large  vigorous  flower  spikes 
with  twenty  or  thirty  blossoms,  puny  bits  with 
two  or  three  are  to  be  seen.  This  ii  the  way 
Odontoglossums  thrive  in  a  “  greenhouse,”  as  the 
term  is  usually  understood,  and  no  amount  of 
care  in  watering,  potting,  shading,  cleaning,  and 
other  cultural  details  can  alter  it. 
The  sooner  amateur  cultivators  understand 
that  the  atmospheric  conditions  of  the  house 
wherein  are  grown  any  kind  of  cool  Orchids  are 
of  even  greater  importance  than  any  other  of 
the  details  referred  to,  the  better  it  will  be  for 
their  plants.  Get  these  latter  well  up  to  the 
light  in  winter,  and  keep  them  just  comfortably 
warm  and  always  moist,  shade  them,  and  damp 
the  house  time  after  time  in  summer,  not  for¬ 
getting  a  frequent  syringing,  and  a  regular  and 
constant  supply  of  fresh  air,  and  the  resultant 
growths  will  be,  without  a  doubt,  highly  satis¬ 
factory.  The  pseudo-bulbs  will  swell  to  their 
full  size,  the  foliage  will  be  stiff  and  rustling  to 
the  touch,  and  above  all  the  blossoms  will  be 
produced  in  such  abundance  as  to  more  than 
repay  the  trouble  taken. 
I  have  not  touched  upon  the  matter  of  com¬ 
post,  or  time  and  manner  of  repotting,  partly 
because  they  have  been  frequently  descanted 
upon  in  these  pages,  and  partly  also  because  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  is 
the  atmospheric  conditions  that  are  wrong.  As  a 
rule,  too,  the  plants  when  received  from  nursery¬ 
men  are  right  in  the  former  respect,  yet  these 
suffer  in  just  the  same  way.  From  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  such  collections  as  described  it  is 
pleasant  to  turn  to  that  of  an  interested  and 
very  successful  amateur  whose  plants  I  recently 
saw.  To  enumerate  all  that  were  in  good  con¬ 
dition  would  take  up  too  much  space,  but  the 
kinds  named  below  were  all  in  flower,  the  result  being  an  extremely 
bright  and  varied  display. 
Nothing  but  Odontoglossums  were  grown,  and  the  kind  most 
freely  represented' was  the  chaste  and  beautiful  0.  Pescatorei,  the 
charming  blossoms  of  which  have  just  enough  colour  in  them  to 
enhance  the  purity  of  the  snow-white  sepals  and  petals.  Both  the 
old  branching  forms  and  the  newer  varieties  with  simple  spikes  of 
large  flowers  were  included,  and  they  are  both  equally  beautiful. 
0.  crispum  in  its  varying  forms  are  hardly  less  so,  but  yet  I  think 
lack  the  elegance  of  the  former  kind  to  a  certain  extent.  The 
roseum  section  was  represented  by  several  plants,  that  make  a  very 
pleasing  contrast  with  the  white  ground  varieties.  0.  triumphans, 
O.  luteo-purpureum,  and  0.  tripudians  are  a  trio  of  easily  grown 
yellow  flowering  species,  very  constant  in  flowering,  while 
O.  maculatum,  although  of  a  quieter  tone  of  colouring,  is  useful  on 
account  of  the  length  of  time  the  blossoms  last.  This  is  also  a 
characteristic  of  the  better  types  of  O.  Rossi,  and  it  is  not  unusual 
for  plants  of  this  kind  to  last  in  flower  for  over  three  months.— 
H.  R.  R. 
Pleiones. 
This  group  of  very  dwarf,  large-flowered  Orchids  is  now 
generally  included  under  the  genus  Coelogyne.  The  plants, 
although  quite  beautiful,  are  seldom  seen  in  America,  and  deserve 
to  be  grown  even  in  choice  collections.  They  are  natives  of  Assam, 
Nepaul,  and  Sikkim,  and  are  plants  with  shrivelled  pseudo-bulbs 
close  to  the  ground  and  deciduous  foliage  of  a  membranous  texture. 
The  flowers  are  produced  in  great  abundance,  but  are  almost  sessile 
and  solitary  white  or  rose  coloured,  with  or  without  yellow  veins 
in  the  lip. 
Some  forms  are  exceedingly  showy,  others  are  chiefly  of  botanical 
interest.  All  flower  freely  under  cultivation — almost  resembling 
certain  varieties  of  Crocus  when  seen  at  a  distance.  The  flowers 
appear  before  the  leaf,  or,  in  other  words,  during  the  period  of  rest, 
which  occurs  at  different  times  for  different  species.  Pleione 
lagenaria  is  the  most  common.  The  sepals  and  petals  of  this 
species  are  of  a  rosy  lilac,  the  lip  being  pure  white,  with  yellow  and 
crimson  bars  and  veins.  The  leaf  is  solitary,  membranous  and 
plaited,  springing  from  a  peculiar  wrinkled,  bottle-shaped  pseudo¬ 
bulb.  P,  humilis  is  another  common  kind,  with  flowers  smaller 
than  those  of  the  first-named  species,  almost  white,  with  the  lip 
marked  with  brown  and  crimson  or  yellow.  The  flowers  are 
numerous  and  appear  late  in  the  autumn.  P.  maculata  is  one  of 
the  finest  of  all,  with  pure  white  sepals  and  petals  and  lip  barred 
with  crimson  and  yellow.  P.  Hookeriana  is  one  of  the  smallest 
of  the  section,  very  dwarf,  with  rose-coloured  flowers  produced 
in  spring,  at  the  same  time  as  the  leaves. 
All  the  species  do  best  in  shallow  pans,  in  equal  parts  of  chopped 
peat,  sphagnum  and  silver  sand,  and  an  addition  of  well-decayed 
cow  manure.  A  cool,  airy  position  is  most  suitable  to  them. 
During  the  growing  season  an  abundance  of  water  should  be  given, 
and  then  gradually  withheld  as  the  young  bulbs  have  reached  a 
normal  size.  The  plants  should  then  be  allowed  to  rest  until  the 
buds  begin  to  appear. — N.  J.  R.  (in  “  Garden  and  Forest  ”). 
PlIAIUS  GRANDIFOLIUS. 
This  old  but  useful  Orchid,  so  often  despised  by  those  who  are 
ever  on  the  look  out  for  novelties,  proves  to  be  an  invaluable  plant 
for  conservatory  decoration.  If  kept  on  the  dry  side  while  in 
these  structures  the  complete  rest  while  in  flower  is  very  beneficial. 
In  repotting  I  shake  the  whole  of  the  old  soil  from  the  roots  and 
place  the  plants  in  a  compost  of  loam,  peat,  sand,  and  a  little  decayed 
manure.  After  potting  care  is  needed  at  first  not  to  give  them  too 
much  water,  and  the  syringe  should  be  used  with  caution.  If  scale 
is  noticed  on  the  leaves  sponge  thoroughly  before  potting. — 0.  G. 
