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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDEXEll 
Sale  oe  Arddarroch  Orchids. 
On  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  June  9th  and  10th,  a  considerable 
number  of  the  stove  Orchids  in  the  collection  of  R.  Brooman 
White,  Esq.,  was  sold  by  auction  by  Messrs.  Protheroe  &  Morris. 
The  principal  London,  Manchester,  Edinburgh,  and  Bradford 
buyers  were  represented,  and  the  bidding  was  at  times  very  brisk. 
It  is  well  known  the  collection  was  exceedingly  rich  in  Cattleyas, 
Laelias,  and  Odontoglossum  crispum,  many  of  the  varieties  being 
unique.  The  highest  price  obtained  was  65  guineas  for  a  Cattleya 
Trianas  albida  ;  C.  Mendeli  Empress  of  India,  60  guineas,  was  next, 
with  Cattleya  Hardyana,  55  guineas ;  and  C.  Mendeli  Mrs. 
Brooman  White,  50  guineas,  closely  follow. ng.  A  piece  of  Odon¬ 
toglossum  excellens  fetched  25  guineas,  and  several  O.  crispums 
about  20  guineas. 
Notes  on  Dendrobiums. 
The  flowering  period  of  these  popular  Orchids  may  be  said 
to  have  passed  for  this  season,  the  majority  of  the  species  being 
over.  There  are,  however,  a  few  very  interesting  kinds  in  flower 
that  require  rather  different  treatment  from  the  usual  run  of  the 
genus.  As  is  well  known,  Dendrobes  require  a  hot  and  moist  house, 
and  a  distinct  season  of  growth  and  rest  to  attain  the  best  results, 
the  less  important  cultural  details  varying  more  or  less  in  different 
kinds.  One  of  the  prettiest  species  now  in  blossom  is  D.  infun¬ 
dibulum,  and  this  must  be  treated  quite  distinctly  from  the  heat- 
loving  species. 
I  have  tried  this  Oichid  under  various  conditions,  and  have 
found  it  to  succeed  best  in  a  temperature  such  as  suits  the  Mexican 
Laslias,  or  rather  lower  than  the  Cattleya  hou»e.  The  plants  keep 
very  healthy  and  clean  when  grown  with  the  Odontogloisums,  but 
the  pseudo- bulbs  are  then  much  shorter,  and  in  consequence  fewer 
flowers  are  produced.  The  atmosphere  must  be  kept  very  moist, 
and  the  plants  suspended  so  as  to  get  the  best  of  the  air  currents 
and  a  clear  light,  shading  only  being  allowed  sufficient  to  prevent 
injury  to  the  foliige  by  scorching.  The  roots  must  be  rather 
confined,  and  a  thin  compost  only  is  needed,  the  small  shallow  pans 
so  often  recommended  being  more  suitable  than  baskets. 
Under  those  conditions  1).  infundibulum  will  be  satisfactory, 
provided,  of  course,  the  plants  are  carefully  attended  to  and  not 
allowed  to  suffer  by  want  of  water  at  the  roots.  The  plant  is 
much  more  constant  in  its  growing  and  resting  season  than  are 
some  of  the  nigro-hirsute  section,  to  which  it  belongs,  and  each 
growth  will  flower  freely,  the  blossoms  being  of  the  purest  white 
in  the  sepals  and  petals,  the  lip  ornamented  with  a  dense  blotch  of 
yellow. 
Of  quite  a  different  style  of  beauty  and  habit  of  growth  is 
D.  Falconeri,  the  pseudo-bulbs  being  short  and  stem-like,  the 
blossoms  occurring  singly  from  the  upper  nodes  of  these.  They 
are  white  in  ground  colour,  the  petals  tipped  with  light  purple, 
as  is  the  lip,  the  latter  organ  being  also  blotched  with  rich  orange 
and  maroon.  This  species  is  not  by  any  means  easy  to  keep  in 
health  ;  newly  imported  plants  usually  grow  very  freely  for 
several  seasons  under  cultivation,  after  this  losing  vigour,  and 
eventually  becoming  too  weak  to  be  worth  keeping. 
One  of  the  principal  causes  of  non-success  with  this  Orchid  is 
the  difficulty  of  keeping  thrips  away,  these  insects  apparently 
having  a  great  liking  for  it.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that 
continued  health  is  out  of  the  question  while  the  plants  are 
being  overrun  with  this  pest,  so  the  first  consideration,  without 
which  all  cultural  details  are  futile,  is  to  keep  the  plants  clean. 
Moisture  in  the  atmosphere  is  the  best  deterrent,  and  this  must 
never  be  overlooked,  or  the  result  will  be  a  failure. 
To  leave  the  plants  to  extend  without  providing  something 
for  the  upper  tiers  of  roots  to  lay  hold  of  is  another  cause  of 
ill-health,  so  whatever  is  chosen  to  grow  the  plants  on  provision 
should  be  made  for  this.  Possibly  the  best  holding  for  it  will  be 
found  in  pieces  of  Tree  Fern  stems,  the  roots  liking  the  roughness 
natural  to  these,  and  as  they  extend  the  upper  tiers  may  be 
accommodated.  If  these  stems  are  not  obtainable  pans  may  be 
us  ad,  and  the  young  growths  brought  down  to  the  surface,  occasion¬ 
ally  cutting  out  any  that  are  exhausted  to  make  room  for  them. 
Only  a  thin  surfacing  of  good  open  compost  is  needed,  a  thick  layer 
of  close  heavy  material  doing  more  harm  than  good,  and  the  drainage 
must  be  open  and  free.  D.  Falconeri  does  not,  I  am  convinced, 
require  the  high  temperature  that  some  cultivators  allow.  It  must 
be  kept  warm,  of  course,  being  a  native  of  India  and  other 
tropical  countries  ;  but  a  night  temperature  of  from  55°  to  60°  is 
ample  at  any  time,  50°  sufficing  during  the  winter. 
D.  superbum,  frequently  misnamed  D.  macrophyllum,  is  an 
Orchid  that  must  have  a  very  long  season  of  growth.  The  plant 
is  deciduous,  the  flowers  appearing  on  the  last  made  pseudo-bulbs 
after  the  foliage  has  fallen,  and  very  beautiful  they  are  when 
grown  in  a  natural  manner  and  not  tied  to  stakes  in  the  stiff 
constrained  way  we  sometimes  see.  The  sepals  and  petals  are 
rich  magenta,  and  the  lip  is  light  purple  with  an  almost  white 
margin. 
This  species  is  growing  nearly  all  the  year  round,  and  must  have 
a  high  temperature  also  plenty  of  moisture  at  the  root  and  in 
the  atmosphere,  as  by  this  means  only  can  the  growths  be  finished 
in  time  for  a  few  weeks’  rest  before  being  again  placed  in  heat. 
A  light  sunny  position  is  best  for  it,  especially  during  the  autumn, 
and  in  winter  the  temperature  should  drop  to  about  45°  in  order  to 
rest  the  plants  as  much  as  possible.  Good  peat  and  sphagnum  moss 
in  equal  proportions,  and  in  a  rough  open  condition,  should  be 
mixed  with  half  the  bulk  of  charcoal,  and  the  pots  or  baskets 
used  may  be  considerably  larger  than  usually  advised  for  the 
deciduous  kinds. 
Somewhat  similar  treatment  is  advisable  for  D.  Parishi,  another 
deciduous  kind  not  difficult  of  cultivation,  and  yet  not  generally 
well  grown.  This  species  finishes  its  pseudo-bulbs  in  a  shorter  time 
than  the  last  named,  and,  unlike  that  kind,  delights  in  having  its 
roots  cramped  for  room  and  growing  one  over  the  other,  so  to 
speak.  The  pretty  D.  Bens  mise  is  also  in  flower,  and  does  well 
under  the  same  treatment  as  D.  Parishi. 
All  the  other  Dendrobes  now  in  blossom  have  been  frequently 
treated  on  in  these  pages,  and  have  not  so  many  peculiarities  as 
those  named  above.  Some  growers  may  think  the  precautions 
given  unnecessary,  and  point  to  a  healthy  plant  or  two  not  long 
imported  in  support  of  their  views,  but  the  plants  that  are  longest 
lived  under  cultivation  will  always  be  those  that  are  most  closely 
studied  and  their  individual  tastes  catered  for. — H.  R.  R. 
GREENHOUSE  PLANTS  IN  THE  SUMMER. 
A  greenhouse  of  all  plant  structures  seems  to  me  to  give  the 
best  return  for  the  labour  and  expense  involved  in  its  management, 
simply  because  so  many  distinct  sets  of  plants  can  be  grown  and 
flowered  in  it  during  a  single  year.  This  is  made  possible  by  the 
simple  fact  that  numbers  of  greenhouse  plants  may  be  safely 
kept  in  the  open  air  for  fully  five  or  six  months  in  the  year. 
At  the  present  season  cool  plant  houses  are  princ'pally  occupied 
with  Bigoniaa,  Fuchsias,  Pelargonium*,  Celosias,  and  other 
showy  plants  which  give  such  a  wealth  of  flower  throughout  the 
summer  months,  while  the  winter  occupants,  which  are  composed 
largely  of  hardwooded  plants,  are  enjoying  (or  otherwise)  the 
advantages  of  a  sojourn  in  the  open  air.  Yery  often  the  cultivator  has 
but  little  choice  in  the  position  he  assigns  to  such  plants,  for  strange 
as  it  may  appear  standing  room  for  plants  in  the  open  air  is  far  too 
limited  in  the  majority  of  gardens,  and  the  utmost  that  can  be  done 
for  the  well-being  of  each  class  is  to  arrange  them  in  masses 
wherever  space  occurs.  Other  gardeners  more  favourably  situated 
may  do  much  to  promote  health  and  vigour  in  their  plants  by 
placing  them  in  positions  the  most  suitable  during  the  hot  days  of 
the  summer.  In  the  case  of  Azaleas  I  have  seen  many  instances  in 
which  fine  plants  have  been  injured  rather  than  improved  by  their 
stay  in  the  open  air,  this  being  caused  by  two  mistakes — viz., 
placing  them  in  the  open  air  before  growth  was  completed,  and 
giving  them  too  dry  and  sunny  a  position. 
There  has  been  so  much  written  from  time  to  time  about 
“  iipened  wood”  both  for  fruit  trees  and  flowering  plants  that 
many  have  been  led  to  erroneously  believe  the  term  is  intended  to 
describe  the  process  of  “  roasting  half-ripened  shoots,”  instead 
of  the  gradual  development  of  sound  woody  tissue  which,  under 
favourable  conditions  in  regard  to  sunshine,  becomes  fully  matured. 
I  never  like  to  place  Azaleas  in  the  open  air  until  growth  is  com¬ 
pleted  and  the  leaves  have  begun  to  harden,  and  then  I  prefer  to 
give  them  a  west  aspect  to  one  due  south,  as  I  have  never 
experienced  any  difficulty  in  “  ripening  ”  the  wood  of  Azaleas  in 
any  fairly  open  position.  Whenever  it  is  necessary  to  turn  plants 
out  of  doors  before  the  growth  is  completed,  they  should  be  placed 
in  a  shady  position,  such  as  the  back  of  a  north  wall,  or  receive 
shading  by  artificial  means  for  a  few  weeks.  This  treatment,  together 
with  a  couple  of  daily  syringings,  will  bring  them  through  safely. 
Before  arranging  Azaleas  in  their  summer  quarters  it  is  important 
to  take  steps  to  destroy  any  insects  which  infeBt  them.  Thrips  are 
