April  24,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Odontoglossum  x  Adrianae  Memoria  Yictorise  Reginse. 
Baron  Sir  H.  Sclirocler,  of  The  Dell,  Egham  (gardener,  Mr.  H. 
Ballantine),  exhibited  this  small  floAvered,  bnt  very  'richly 
coloured,  variety  before  the  Orchid  Committee  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society,  at  the  meeting  in  the  Drill  Hall,  on 
April  8.  The  flowers  are  of  perfect  shape  and  possess  much 
substance,  the  fringed  sepals  and  petals  being  evenly  blotched 
with  dark  chestnut  colour  on  a  Avhite  ground.  The  lip  is 
crimpled  and  fimbriated.  The  plant  bore  a  very  . strong  raceme, 
and  was  accorded  a  First  Class  Certificate.  Our  illustration  is 
from  a  sketch  by  Mr.  Geo.  Shayler. 
Angraecum  sesquipedale. 
The  illustration  of  this  Orchid,  which  appeared  in  last  Aveek’s 
issue  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  shoAvs  the  plant  AA'hen 
in  flower  last  February"  in  the  Gardens  at  Carton,  Co.  Kildare. 
The  main  stem,  measuring  from  the  surface  of  the  basket  to 
the  top  leaf,  Avas  3ft  lOin  ;  a  young  shoot  groAving  from  the  base 
of  the  mahi  stem  is  noAv  20in  higli,  and  this  carried  four  floAver 
spikes  Avith  three  blooms  on  each,  the  old  stem  having  three 
K  . 
Odontoglossum  x  Adrianfe  memoria  Victorite  Reginae.) 
spikes.  Altogether  the  seven  spikes  carried  tAventy-tAvo  blooms. 
Last  year  it  had  six  spikes  and  seventeen  blooms.  The  plant  is 
kept  "in  the  Avarm  end  of  an  Orchid  house,  Avith  a  night  tem¬ 
perature  not  under  6Udeg,  by  day  65deg  to  68deg  during  the 
Avinter  months ;  and  in  summer  temperature  at  night  is  G5deg, 
by  day  70deg  to  80deg.  The  potting  compost  consists  of 
sphagnum,  rough  crocks,  and  lumps  of  charcoal.  The  plant  is 
never  freely  AAatered,  but  kept  in  a  moderate  damp  state,  not 
alloAving  it  "to  get  dry  even  in  Avinter,  although  much  less  Avater 
is  then  required. — A.  Black. 
The  Week’s  Cultural  Notes. 
Bright  hot  days  and  gold  frosty  nights  are  a  combination  that 
■  rather  bother  the  amateur  groAAer  of  Orchids,  especially  if  he 
be  one  of  the  rule-of-thumb  cultivators,  aa’Iio  like  everything 
very  regular,  and  think  that  a  slight  drop  in  tlie  temperature 
spells  destruction  to  his  favourite  plants.  I  am  far  from  recom¬ 
mending  a  careless  method  of  culture,  but  I  have  long  since 
found  that  it  is  far  better  to  alloAv  the  slight  drop  toAvard 
morning  than  to  push  the  fires  on.  A  hot  dry  night  tempera¬ 
ture  is  vei-y  bad  for  Orchids,  unnatural,  and  tends  to  give 
increase  of  those  insect  iiests  that  most  affect  them. 
It  is  not,  of  course,  possible  to  forecast  overnight  Avhat  the 
Aveather  Avill  be  in  the  morning.  At  night  it  may  look  clear  and 
frosty,  and  it  may  be  dull  and  muggy  aftenvards;  so  if  the  fires 
Avere  banked  up  fairly  strong  there  Avould  be  too  much  heat  on 
the  pipes  in  the  moming.  But  iii  most  cases  noAV,  Avheii  in  doubt, 
it  is  best  to  leave  the  fires  rather  Ioav,  for  the  nights  are  short 
and  the  sun  soon  puts  things  to  rights  in  the  morning.  In 
ordinarj'  AA-eather  a  safe  rule  is  to  keep  the  AAater  gently  moving 
in  tlie  pipes,  and  ventilate  as  early  as  possible  in  the  monung. 
I  have  receicmd  seA-eral  complaints  of  late  about  that  peculiar 
"Orchid  Fpidendrum  falcatum,  or  Parkinsonianum,  as  it  is  some¬ 
times  labelled.  A  frequent  cause  of  ill-success  and  a  non- 
flonferous  state  is  giving  too  much  heat  and  moisture  Avith 
insufficient  light,  groAvth  being  in  such  cases  very  fair  but  floAvers 
conspicuously  absent.  Tdie  best  plants  I  ever  had  Avere  groAA  ii  in 
an  almost  unshaded  position  in  a  house  devoted  principally  to 
the  Mexican  section  of  Lselia.  These  Avere  in  shalloAv  Avood 
baskets  of  small  size  in  comparison  Avith  that  of  the  plants,  and 
an  open  compost  of  peat,  moss,  and  charcoal. 
Ainple  moisture  supplie.s  are,  of  course,  necessarj"  in  such  a 
position,  as  it  is  iimportant  that  no  check  to  groAvth  occurs,  and 
Avhen  the  plant  has  done  groAving  for  the  season  it  must  have  as 
long  a  rest  as  possible.  Keep  it  cool  and  on  the  di-j"  side 
during  Avinter,  and  in  all  probability  it  Avill  bloom  freely  on  the 
iieAV  growth  the  en.suing  spring,  xiinguloas  that  have  floAvered 
should  be  repotted  at  once,  and  so  should  any  plants  that  it  is 
plain  are  not  going  to  floAver  this  season,  for  the  longer  they  are 
left  in  the  old  compost  the  more  danger  there  Avill  be  of 
damaging  the  roots  in  the  operation. — H.  R.  R. 
Cypripedium  x  Purum. 
Ip  “American  Gardening”  of  March  22  an  illustration  and 
description  of  this  cross  Avas  furnished.  It  AA'as  tlien  floAvering  in 
the  Wyndhurst  collectioai  at  Lenox,  Mass.  It  is  the  result  of 
a  cross  betAveen  C.  superbiens  x  callosum  Sanderae,  and  AA’as  bougnt 
under  the  name  C.  Purum.  This  is  the  second  time  it  has 
floAvered,  but  this  year  it  is  superior  in  every  Aiay,  the  plant 
stronger  and  the  floAvers  mnch  larger.  The  dorsal  sepal  is  similar 
to  C.  callosum,  but  the  radiating  green  lines  are  much  more  pro¬ 
nounced,  undoubtedly  through  the  influence  of  callosum  Sandei-ae, 
but  the  general  contour  and  form  of  the  floAver  resembles 
Morganae;  the  influence  of  C.  superbiens,  liOAveA’er,  is  particularly 
noticeable  in  the  petals,  the  upper  half  being  a  bright  pea  green, 
loAA’er  half  almost  Avhite  at  the  base,  shading  to  light  purple,  tips 
Avhite,  the  AA’hole  irregularly  spotted  Avith  medium-sized  broAvii 
spots,  becoming  smaller  and  much  more  numerous  at  the  base, 
spots  on  margin  hairy ;  staminode  AA’hitish,  Avith  green  A'eins, 
pouch  large  and  briglit  purple — altogether  a  beautiful  floAver. 
— Alfhed  J.  Loa’eless.” 
- - 
Growing  for  Exhibition. 
Good  dishes  of  Peaches  and  Nectarines  are  always  telling  in 
collections,  and  in  the  single  dish  classes  such  large  numbers  are 
generally  staged,  that  it  is  only  the  really  superior  samples  that 
enter  into  close  competition  Avith  each  other.  The  great  point  to 
aim  at  is  to  get  very  highly  coloured  fruits  of  good  size,  with  that 
beautiful  “  gloss  ”  on  them  which  indicates  high  culture,  and 
samples  can  only  be  produced  by  correct  treatment  from  start  to 
finish.  The  man  AV’ho  starts  the  season  Avith  Avood  Avhich  Avas  Avell 
i-ipened  during  the  previous  autumn,  and  with  soil  permeated 
Avith  fibrous  roots,  should  liaA’e  little  difficulty  in  groAving  superior 
fruits,  and  yet  there  are  many  Avho  begin  the  year  Avith  such 
advantages  and  yet  fail  to  realise  their  high  anticipations.  The 
principal  causes  of  such  partial  failures  are  in  my  opinion  three¬ 
fold — insufficient  thinning  of  the  fruits,  improper  manipulation 
of  the  groAving  shoots,  and  too  little  feeding  at  critical  stages. 
I,  therefore,  purpose  to  advance  a  feAv  remarks  on  such  matters 
Avhich  I  have  proved  over  and  oAmr  again  to  be  sound. 
So  soon  as  the  fruit  is  set,  disbudding  the  young  shoots  and 
thinning  the  fruit  should  begin.  When  the  Avood  is  someAvhat 
uneven  in  character  it  is  an  excellent  plan  to  disbud  the  strong 
branches  first;  not  only  those  on  the  upper  part  of  the  trees, 
but  Avher6A"er  they  may  be  situated.  The  greater  amount  of 
groAvth  thus  left  on  the  Aveak  shoots  Avill  help  to  draw  the  sap 
more  strongly  in  such  directions.  The  weaker  shoots  can  then 
be  disbudded  ten  days  or  a  fortnight  later.  Some  Avriters  advo¬ 
cate  going  over  each  set  of  shoots — i.e. ,  the  strong  and  Aveak 
ones — ah  least  three  times,  but  I  have  never  found  any  draAvback 
to  the  isractice  of  completing  the  disbudding  in  tAvo  operations. 
RemoA’e  about  half  the  young  groAvths  on  each  shoot  during  the 
first  operation,  and  at  the  final  one  leave  a  leader  to  each,  with 
another  groAvth  near  the  base,  to  form  the  fruiting  shoot  next 
year,  the  old  shoot  being  removed  after  the  fruit  has  been 
gathered.  When  a  vacant  space  occurs  through  the  dying  off  of 
a  branch,  additional  young  shoots  should,  of  course,  be  retained 
to  fill  up  such  A’aeant  spaces;  and  before  a  young  tree  has  covered 
its  allotted  space  extra  shoots  must  be  retained  near  the  points 
of  the  branches — and  sometimes  other  parts  of  a  tree — so  as  to 
coA"er  the  available  space  Avith  Avood  evenly  disposed  from  4in  to 
Gin  apart.  Sometimes  there  is  room  on  a  main  branch  for  a  spur, 
but  too  little  room  for  a  shoot;  in  such  instanoe.s  alloAv  an  extra 
shoot  to  groAv  for  a  time,  then  pinch  it  back  closely  to  form  a  siuir. 
Noav  let  me  pass  on  to  the  management  of  the  shoots  through¬ 
out  the  groAving  season,  as  this  is  to  my  mind  a  most  important 
matter.  Some  cultivators  complain  of  the  troublesome  behaviour 
of  very  strong  shoots  in  young  trees,  but  I  have  ncA'er  yet  met 
Avith  an  instance  in  Avhich  their  behaviour  could  not  be  corrected 
by  due  attention  to  stripping  during  the  groAving  season,  and 
occasionally  root-pruning  slightly,  and  it  ean  generally  he  done 
Avithout  resorting  to  the  latter  operation  When  strong  shoots 
