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JOURNAL  OF  nORTIGULTURE  AND  GOfTAGE  GARDENER. 
fruit  culture  can  under  such  conditions  be  expeditiously  performed, 
and  each  crop  be  given  the  exact  treatment  required.  In  winter 
this  takes  the  form  of  keeping  fruit  houses  very  much  cooler  than 
they  can  be  kept  when  filled  with  a  miscellaneous  collection  of 
plants.  When  Vines  or  Peach  trees  have  been  prsned  and  dressed, 
the  houses  cleaned  and  borders  attended  to,  the  practice  of  leaving 
the  ventilators  open  to  their  fullest  extent  during  all  weathers  for 
a  few  weeks  is  of  immense  benefit  to  the  occupants  by  securing 
complete  rest,  and,  therefore,  enabling  them  to  respond  more 
readily  to  the  influence  of  fire  heat  when  forcing  begins.  The  soil 
forming  the  borders  too  becomes  thoroughly  sweetened  by  this  full 
exposure  to  frost,  air,  and  sunshine. 
This  is  a  principle,  the  importance  of  which  we  folly  recognise 
in  fruit  culture  in  the  open  air,  and  yet  with  fruits  grown  under 
glass,  upon  which  we  bestow  so  much  care,  this  vital  matter  is  too 
often  neglected,  or  through  the  force  of  circumstances  inevitably 
'*  ignored.  The  difiicnlties  attending  this  matter  are  no  doubt  great 
but  I  think  not  in  every  case  insurmountable.  Writers  there  are 
at  the  present  time  who  wield  facile  pens,  and  describe  in  flowing 
sentences  cut  and  dried  methods  of  culture,  which  the  general 
reader  might  be  tempted  to  think  showed  a  snre  and  easy,  if  not 
a  “  royal  road,”  to  success  ;  but  too  often  I  fear  the  flowing  language 
is  to  many  a  delusion  and  a  snare,  for  in  the  teaching  advanced 
there  is  a  “  missing  link  !  ” — that  link  which  shows  the  way  to 
connect  our  cultural  practices  with  the  “  means  at  our  command,” 
when  the  conveniences  we  should  be  so  glad  to  have  are  absent. 
Having  now  shown  the  difficulties  under  which  so  many  labour,  I 
will  endeavour  to  point  out  how  they  may  be  grappled  with,  and, 
like  the  nettles  when  grasped  firmly,  denuded  of  their  sting. 
“  Grow  only  such  plants  and  flowers  as  are  really  required  ”  is  a 
sentence  that  might  well  be  printed  in  letters  of  gold  in  many  a 
garden.  '  Too  often  there  is  a  tendency  to  grow  a  little  of  almost 
everything  that  can  be  obtained  for  the  sake  of  having  variety. 
This  is  doubtless  an  excellent  plan  to  adopt  in  a  botanical  garden, 
but  the  competition  of  present  times  renders  it  a  very  unsuitable 
method  of  procedure  in  private  gardens.  Find  out  what  plants  and 
flowers  are  the  most  valued  and  expected  ;  grow  such  in  quantity, 
and  leave  curiosities  in  plant  life  to  those  who  have  the  facilities 
for  growing  them.  Do  not  grow  two  plants  when  you  have  only 
room  for  one,  as  the  common  practice  of  overcrowding  is  as  fatal 
to  the  production  of  healthy  vigorous  specimens  in  vegetable  as  in 
animal  life. 
No  matter  whether  our  object  is  to  provide  cut  flowers,  or  plants 
in  pots  for  decorative  purposes,  the  same  principle  applies,  for  one 
well-grown  specimen  is  of  more  value  than  half  a  dozen  inferior 
ones.  To  secure  such  good  cultivators  know  that  each  must  have 
adequate  room  for  light  and  air  to  play  around  it,  and  not  merely 
given  standing  room.  When  matters  are  managed  in  this  way, 
although  it  may  be  necessary  to  grow  plants  in  vineries,  by 
arranging  them  thinly  light  and  air  is  enabled  to  reach  the  surface 
of  Vine  borders,  only,  of  course,  in  a  limited  degree,  but  still  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  either  can  do  when  plants  are  placed 
thickly  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  border.  Temporary  stages 
should  also  be  erected  over  the  borders  whenever  plants  must  be 
grown  in  fruit  houses.  This  is  beneficial  to  both  plants  and  Vines, 
as  the  former  are  brought  nearer  the  glass,  and  the  borders  are 
kept  sweet  by  the  circulation  of  air  beneath  the  plants.  With  a 
little  ingenuity  in  the  matter  of  removing  plants  from  one  house  to 
another,  it  will  often  be  possible  to  allow  one  or  other  of  the  fruit 
houses  to  remain  quite  free  from  plants  for  a  few  weeks,  so  that 
the  free  exposure  I  have  previously  indicated  to  be  so  beneficial 
may  be  practised. 
Much  may  also  be  done  for  the  benefit  of  both  plants  and  crees 
by  giving  abundance  of  air,  provided  actual  frost  is  kept  out  and 
cold  cutting  winds  guarded  against.  It  is  surprising  what  an  amount 
of  ventilation  may  with  advantage  be  given  to  fruit  houses  in 
winter.  A  little  experimenting  in  this  direction  will  often  give  the 
observant  cultivator  a  “  wrinkle  ”  in  plant  growing ;  indeed,  I 
Itotelnbet  26, 1898.'' 
fancy  it  is  sometimes  in  this  way  that  our  greatest  successes  areji;^ 
scored.  Such  are  cases  when  judgment  and  observation  triumph" 
over  reason.  The  distinction  may  seem  a  subtle  one,  but  it  is,  I 
think,  acknowledged  to  exist  by  those  who  study  the  complex 
workings  of  the  human  brain. — ViTis. 
Orchids  in  Flower. 
During  these  dull  wintry  days,  when  outside  everything  wears 
a  dreary  and  melancholy  aspect,  it  is  pleasant  to  turn  to  a  well- 
filled  and  prettily  arranged  house  of  Orchids  in  flower,  and  thanks 
to  the  labours  of  Orchid  collectors  abroad  and  diligent  hybridists 
at  home,  we  have  now  quite  a  plethora  of  good  things  that  bloom 
about  this  time.  The  interest  of  only  a  medium-sized  collection  of 
these  beautiful  plants  need  never  lack,  for  each  succeeding  month 
brings  its  own  quota  of  blossoms  to  keep  up  a  constant  though 
wondrously  variable  diiplay.  Yet  with  all  this  variety  there  ii  a 
distinctive  character  about  an  Orchid  bloom  of  any  kind  that  it  can 
never  be  mistaken  for  anything  else. 
To  take  the  Cypripedium  family  as  an  instance,  a  few  years 
ago,  when  they  were  perhaps  not  ao  much  sought  after  as  at 
present,  the  rising  interest  taken  in  them  used  to  be  styled  a  craz^. 
A  good  deal  of  method  there  must  be  in  the  madness  that  prompts 
a  cultivator  to  get  all  he  possibly  can  of  these  most  useful  and 
beautiful  plants — plants  that  under  the  simplest  culture  thrive,  and 
never  fail  to  produce  a  full  complement  of  blooms,  in  most  cases 
when  they  are  most  in  request,  and  lasting  week  after  week  in  the 
best  of  condition  ;  plants,  too,  that  are  almost  as  beautiful  in 
foliage  aa  in  flower,  and  for  this  reaaon  being  more  than  ever 
worthy  of  consideration 
Among  the  more  recently  introduced  kinds  few  can  vie  with 
C.  Charlesworthi  (see  fig.  90,  page  52.3).  Well  flowered  plants  of 
this  species  with  th-ir  large  and  showy  dorsal  sepals  never  fail  to 
elicit  praise  from  visitors  seeing  them  for  the  first  time.  The 
forms  are  very  variable,  but  all  are  good,  and  doubtless  C.  Charles¬ 
worthi  has  come  to  stay.  G.  Spicerianum,  another  somewhat 
similar  kind,  can  hardly  be  overpraised,  though  it  must  be  con¬ 
fessed  it  is  not  quite  so  easily  grown  as  some  others.  In  some 
places  it  does  remarkably  well,  and  speaking  personally  no  Cypri¬ 
pedium  gives  os  less  trouble ;  but  I  have  seen  it  in  collections 
where  almost  every  other  kind  did  excellently,  yet  this  was  a 
failure. 
What  a  grand  plant,  too,  is  the  old  C.  insigne  !  Even  the  com¬ 
monest  of  the  varieties  is  a  good  all-round  useful  Oichid  ;  while, 
among  the  rarer  and  more  expensive  forms,  there  are  many  that 
their  possessor  would  not  part  with  on  any  account.  It  is  one  of 
the  best  of  all  Orchids  for  table  decoration,  the  colours  showing 
up  well  under  artificial  light,  while  its  lasting  properties  allow  of 
its  being  used  time  after  time,  or  used  and  placed  in  water  to  come 
out  again  as  fresh  as  ever  in  a  week  or  fortnight’s  time.  Among 
the  cheaper  hybrid  kinds  many  fine  flowers  may  be  mentioned 
C.  Harnsiaunm,  C.  Ashburtoniee,  C.  Sedeni,  and  others,  all  possess¬ 
ing  some  distinctive  character,  and  all  alika  useful,  while  the  quaint 
forms  and  delicacy  of  the  beliatulum,  niveum,  and  concolor  tribe 
are  also  well  known. 
Very  charming  too  are  the  deciduous  Calanthes,  the  softness 
and  delicacy  of  their  colouring  making  them  everywhere  favourites. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  rare  hybrid  forms  and  varieties  very 
beautiful  effects  may  be  got  from  the  ordinary  C.  vestita,  C.* 
Veitchi,  and  varieties.  But  how  badly  these  are  often  treated 
while  in  bloom  by  being  placed  about  in  draughty  rooms  and  cor¬ 
ridors  !  This  has  been  the  ruin  of  scores  of  the«e  beautiful  plants 
that  of  all  others  require  comfortable  winter  quarters.  Plants 
highly  fed  and  carefully  treated  during  the  summer  must  of 
necessity  be  kept  warm,  both  while  in  bloom  and  after  the  flowers 
are  past,  otherwise  they  cannot  be  satisfactory. 
The  mention  of  Cattleyas  at  once  brings  the  now  well-known 
C.  labiata  to  mind,  the  re-introduction  of  which  has  done  great 
things  towards  keeping  up  an  autumn  and  early  winter  display. 
The  flowers  are  as  variable  as  can  be  wished  for,  and  among  a 
couple  of  hundred  plants  I  saw  in  bloom  recently  I  could  barely 
have  picked  out  a  dozen  similar  in  every  way.  The  ground  colour 
of  the  blossoms  ranges  from  the  deepest  rosy  crimson  to,  in  some 
cases,  pure  white ;  but  while  the  latter  is  uncommon  there  are 
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