70 
.lanur.ry  22,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURF 
AXD  COTTAGE 
GA  RDENER. 
Keep  the  festoons  as  high  np  the  candlestick  as  possible, 
without  coming  in  contact  with  the  flames,  and  let  them 
droop  down  in  the  centre  to  within  15in  from  the  cloth,  or 
lower,  in  proportion  to  the  height  of  the  ornaments  used. 
Some  little  colour  may  be  used  upon  the  cloth.  The 
brightest  coloured  Schizanthus  intermixed  with  Smilax 
forms  an  exquisite  combination  if  used  sparingly.  At  the 
present  season  of  the  year  a  more  useful  plant  than  the  well 
known  Begonia  Gloire  de  Lorraine  would  be  hard  to  find, 
as  it  has  such  a  splendid  effect  under  strong,  artificial  light, 
and  can  be  used  in  many  ways,  with  always  the  same  good 
effect. — G.  H.  Cook,  Milburn,  Esher. 
[Supplementary  to  Mr.  Cook’s  suggestion  at  line  sixty- 
seven,  we  rejirint  a  paragraph  from  our  representative’s 
report  of  the  floral  decorations  at  the  dinner  of  the  National 
Bose  Society  in  December,  as  follows: — “The  arrangement 
of  the  Boses  was  of  interest,  insomuch  that  they  separate'y 
appeared  to  be  mystically  standing  erect,  or  inclinedly,  u'it/i- 
out  amj  support.  The  secret  was  that  half  needles  had  been 
fixed  here  and  there  along  the  centre  of  the  table,  and  the 
soft  base  of  the  pithy  stems  of  the  Roses  had  been  pressed 
down  upon  them.  The  idea  is  novel,  and  well  worth  the 
noting.” — Ed.] 
- - 
The  Vegetable  Seed  Order. 
f  ('on<'hidcd  from  pnrje  L>d.) 
Tomatoes 
Here  we  find  Holmes’  Supreme,  Becker’s  XL  All,  Lister’s 
Prolific,  and  Chemin  Rouge  great  favoiu’ites  with  market 
growers.  These  all,  have  smooth,  brightly  coloured 
medium-sized  fruits,  that  possess  every  desirable  point. 
Ham  Green,  Crimson  King,  Duke  of  York,  Chiswick  Peach, 
Winter  Beauty,  Magnum  Bonum,  and  Up-to-Date  are  other 
well-proved  sorts. 
Lettuces, 
though  so  exceedingly  numerous,  do  not  puzzle  one  so 
much  to  choose  the  necessary  variety.  One  that  pleased  us 
much  as  any  last  summer  with  us  was  Sutton’s  Little  Gem. 
This  could  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  Cabbage  variety,  so 
dwarf  is  its  growth.  There  is.  however,  such  a  solidness 
about  it,  coupled  with  a  pleasing  crispness  and  flavour,  that 
inquiries  will  be  sure  to  be  made  for  it  again  when  its 
season  comes  round.  Intermediate  is  similar,  except  for  its 
brown  colour.  Superb  White  Cos,  White  Heart,  and  Bath 
Cos  and  Paris  White  are  a  few  reliable  sorts  in  the  Cos 
section.  The  Cabbage  varieties  are  much  more  numerous. 
Commodore  Nutt,  Tom  Thumb,  All  the  Year  Round,  Har- 
bingei’,  Paris  Market,  Golden  Queen  are  old  favourites. 
For  summer  cutting  the  curled  sections  are  the  best  drought 
resisters,  the  Favourite  being  a  good  type.  New  York, 
Emperor,  and  Neapolitan  are  others  similar  in  habit  of 
growth.  Tender  and  True,  Marvel,  Perfect  Gem,  Stand- 
well,  Webb’s  Wonderful,  and  Williams’  Little  Gem  are 
others  from  which  a  choice  may  be  made. 
Indian  on  Sweet  Coen 
is  a  vegetable  that  is  popularised  in  this  country  by 
American  settlers.  Eno-lish-grown  Sweet  Corn,  we  learn 
from  those  accustomed  to  that  of  America,  bears  but 
little  comparison  in  flavour,  yet,  though  this  may  be  true, 
it  still  has  to  be  grown  for  a  change  of  diet.  Crosby’s  is 
a  strong  growing  kind,  and  Sutton’s  Early  Dwarf  is  cor¬ 
rectly  named.  Those  who  are  expected  to  furnish  Sweet 
Corn  need  to  grow  more  than  one  or  two  sorts,  in  order 
to  prove  by  trial  which  are  the  better  suited  to  the  garden 
and  soil.  Most  seedsmen  catalogue  several  varieties  to 
meet  the  demands  of  their  patrons.  Adam’s  Early,  Darl¬ 
ing’s  Early  Sugar,  Extra  Early,  Tom  Thumb,  Triumphant 
Sweet,  Quarantain,  and  Moore’s  Early  Concord  give  some 
idea  of  the  extent  of  variety  there  is  available.  It  is  unsafe 
to  trust  to  outdoor  sowing  of  this  crop  ;  a  better  course 
is  that  adopted  with  outdoor  Tomatoes,  except  that  the 
seeds  should  be  sown  in  Gin  pots,  to  be  afterwards  planted 
when  the  weather  is  safe  and  the  plants  strong.  A  gentle 
heat  and  plenty  of  light  is  a  necessary  provision  while  they 
are  under  glass.— Kitchen  Gaedenee. 
Odontoglossum  x  Waltoniense. 
Tliis  is  undoubtedly  to  bo  one  of  the  most  charming  hybrid 
Odontoglcs.sums  under  culture,  its  colour  being  so  delightfully 
soft  yc't  clear.  We  have'  described  it  as  of  a  light  canary-yellow 
sliade,  with  a  darker  hue  on  the  lip,  which  also  bears  a  reddish- 
chestnut  blotch.  The  pollen  bearer  in  the'  parentage  was 
O.  crispum  (whose-  form  is  strongly  marked  in  the  progeny)  and 
th?  seed-hearer  O.  polyxanthum.  Mr.  Shayler’s  drawing  of  one 
of  the  flowers  saves  a  description  of  the  form.  A  First-  Class- 
Certificate  was  awarded  for  it  to  W.  Thompson,  Esq.  (gardener 
Mr.  W.  Steevens),  Walton  Grange,  Stone,  Staffordshire,  by  the 
Orchid  Committee  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  at  the 
meeting  in  the  Drill  Hall,  Wc-stminstcr,  on  January  13.  The 
plant  was  of  fair  size. 
Orchids  at  Kew. 
The  Calanfhes  in  the  liouse  devoted  to  them  at  the  Royal 
Gardens  have  furnished  a  very  excellent  display  of  flowers  during 
the  past  tuo  months,  and  are  still  considerably  effective.  One 
two-year.s-imported  pseudo-bulb  threw  seme  strong  racemes., 
ferty-two  flowers  being  carried  on  the  best  one  of  the.se.  In 
the  coo!  Cypripedium  and  Odontoglos.su m  house  there  are  now 
some  floriferous  flowers.  A  C'.  insigne  in  a  loin  pan  bears  forty 
very  fine  plants,  and  the  whole  collection  is  entirely  creditable 
to  Mr.  Page,  as  deputy  foreman,  and  liis  a.ssistants.  C.  Eury- 
adcs  has  four  flowers,  C’.  Leeanum,  four;  C.  L.  superbum,  six; 
and  C.  nitens,  eight.  Among  Dendrobiums,  the  fragrant  D. 
aureum,  in  a  basket,  is  well  worth  a  visit  for  itself  alone,  and 
of  other  interesting  Orchids  we  would  notice  Sophronitis  vio- 
lacea,  with  purple-crimson  flowers',  Aerides  vandarum,  noiv 
coming  into  flower  ;  also  a  beautiful  j'cllow  form  of  Cypripediiqu 
insigne,  with  two  large  flowers  on  one  stalk,  and  Masdevallja 
Tovarensis  clustered  with  its  pretty  and  delicate  white  flowers. 
The  Eulophiella  Elizabethse  has  been  placed  in  the  Nepenthe,s 
house,  and  is  slowly  making  lieadwaju  It  is  a  slow  grower,  like 
that  other  uncommon  and  magnificent  Orchid,  Moorea  irrorata, 
which  is  throwing  five  leads  in  the  Phalrenopsis  house.  i 
A  Good  Cattleya  Bowringiana.  ! 
A  finely  flowered  plant  of  this  Orchid  was  recently  figured  in 
“The  American  Florist,”  from  the  collection  of  Dr.  R.  Schiff- 
mann,  St.  Paul,-  Minn.  The  p^.ant  was  in  a  12in  pan  and  had 
fifty  bulbs  with  eight  flowering  growths  bearing  ninety-six 
flower, 5,  each  measuring  tin  across.  The  petals  of  the  species  aye 
of  a  very  rich  magenta-  colour.  Tlie  four  strongest  growths 
measured  2ft  9in  from  the  top  of  the  pan  to  the  top  of  the  flower 
spike,  were  a  full  inch  in  diameter,- and  bore  sixty  flowers;  the 
largest  growth  bore  eighteen  flowers.  The  plant  wa.s  purchased 
■some  years  ago  from  the  late  Erastus  C'orning,  of  Albany,  N.Y., 
who  bought  the  same  of  James' Veitch  and  Sons,  Liniitcd,  of 
London,  in  1883,  as  the  label  shows.  It  is  grown  with  a  genera! 
collection  of  Cattleya.s,  and  the  treatment  differs  none  from  tlie 
ordinary  course  of  Cattleya-  growing,  warm  and  moist  all  the 
year  round,  always  avoiding  too  much  water  at  the  roots, 
csnccially  if  overpotted.  The  potting  material  is  peat  and 
sphagnum.  The-  plant  is  a  complete  mat  of  live  roots,  ,  tlte 
delight  of  all  Orchid  growei'.s.  The  plant  was  considerably  larger, 
but  at  each  repotting  period  several  pieces  were  removed  fqr 
increase  of  stock.  Dr.  Schiffmann’s  collection  is  also  ricli  in 
hybrid  CattleyasT  .Laelio-Cattleyas,  and  Phal8enop.sis  in  variety. 
Of  PhalcTenopsis  amabilis  there  are  alone  over  500  'plants,  many 
already  far  advanced  in  spike  and  promising  a  grand  crop  of 
flowers.  .  I 
Cattleya  Harrisoniae. 
A  portrait  accompanies  some  notes  on  this  species  in  a  recent 
issue-  of  “  American  Gardening,”  and  is  reproduced  from  a  photo¬ 
graph  taken  in  the  collection  of  Messrs.  Siebrecht  and  Son,  New 
Rochelle,  N.Y.,  where  the  collection  of  Orchids  under  the  charge 
of  Mr.  Baldwin  has  been  brought  into  a  high  .state  of  efficiency. 
The -entire  stock  of  Messrs.  Siebrecht  and  Son  is  grown  wholly 
in  peat,  and  it  do-es  not  .seem  to  be  necessary  to  advocate  the 
use  of  leaf  mould  for  improving  their  condition.  Cattleya  Harri- 
sonise  is  a  variety  of  C.  Loddigesi,  and  is  one  of  the  olde.st  in 
cidtivation,  yet  it  holds  its  own  and  to-day  does  not  appear  likely 
to  be  easily  outranked.  This  particular  variety  was  introduced  to 
.England  in  1836.  The  type  flowers  through  August  and  Septem¬ 
ber,  but  the  yariety  Harri-sonise  is  rendered  particularly  valu¬ 
able  because  of  the'habit  it  sometimes  has  of  producing  flowers 
in  the  spring  of  the  year.  The  species  is-  a  native  of  Southern 
Brazil  over  a  wide  ‘territory  and  shows  several  variatio 
