April  18,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
319 
sepals  and  petals  white  tipped  with  mauve  purple,  the  lip  blotched  with 
yellow  and  mauve  purple.  D.  Boxalli  is  named  after  one  of  our  most 
succcessful  Orchid  collectors,  who  discovered  it  in  Burmah  in  1873. 
Laelia  Jongheana  Kromeri. 
The  parent  species  of  this  variety  is  not  at  all  a  common  Orchid, 
■or  at  least  it  was  but  rarely  met  with  until  within  the  last  few  years. 
Its  peculiar  recurved  form  and  soft  rose-lilac  flowers  render  it  pleasing 
to  the  eyes,  and  give  it  the  distinctness  it  possesses.  The  variety 
which  we  here  illustrate  is  very  much  deeper  in  colour  than  the 
specie^,  and  probably  on  that  account  will  commend  itself  to  a 
greater  number  of  fanciers.  The  colour  of  this  L.  J.  Kromeri  might 
be  described  as 
a  bright  rose- 
purple  over 
petals  and  sepals, 
while  the  lip 
is  very  much 
deeper,  even  to 
purple.  It  is  cer¬ 
tainly  a  very 
handsome  va¬ 
riety,  and  large. 
Mr.  Ed.  Kromer, 
Boraima  Nur¬ 
sery,  B  a  n  d  o  n 
Hill,  Croydon, 
obtained  a  first- 
class  certificate 
for  it  when  he 
presented  it  be¬ 
fore  the  Orchid 
Committee  at 
the  Roj  al  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society’s 
meeting  of  the 
26th  March. 
Cypripedium 
inaigne. 
Common  as 
this  species  is, 
and  easy  as  it 
is  to  grow,  it 
might  be  made 
far  more  of  were 
more  care  taken 
in  its  culture.  It 
seems  to  be  the 
rule  in  many 
places  that  easily 
cultivated  plants, 
no  matter  how 
useful,  shall  be 
neglected  in 
some  way,  and 
this  is  true  of  Cypripedium  insigne.  Very  often  the  plants  are  lett 
standing  about,  both  during  the  flowering  season  and  after,  yet  this 
is  exactly  when  thev  need  most  care  and  attention.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  at  the  time  the  flowers  are  in  perfection  the  young 
growths  are  also  starting,  so  that  to  “  rest  ”  the  plants  at  this  season 
is  quite  wrong  treatment. 
What  they  need  is,  as  soon  as  the  flowers  are  past,  to  be  put  at  once 
into  a  gentle  warmth  and  to  be  kept  growing  until  the  young  leads  are 
fiuished.  Then,  about  midsummer  or  later,  according  as  the  individual 
plants  are  early  or  late,  they  should  be  placed  in  sunny  frames  or  a 
light  airy  house,  only  shading  sufficiently  to  prevent  scorching  of  the 
leaves.  A  good  crop  of  flowers  will  follow  this  treatment,  and  it  is  a 
much  more  sensible  and  natural  plan  than  letting  the  plants  be  starved 
into  flowering  by  repotting  only  at  long  intervals  and  allowing  them 
to  get  pot-bound  and  weak  in  consequence. 
Dendrobium  Boxalli. 
Blowers  of  this  pretty  Orchid  come  from  a  correspondent  under  the 
name  of  D.iDevonianum,  a  plant  it  certainly  resembles,  but  is  quite 
distinct  from.  D.  Boxalli  is  probably  a  natural  hybrid  between 
D.  Devonianum  and  D.  crystallinum,  and  is  an  extremely  free 
flowering  plant.  The  blossoms  are  about  2^  inches  in  diameter,  the 
Dendrobium  albo-sanguineum. 
Although  this  pretty  species  cannot  be  described  as  an  easy  plant 
to  grow,  yet  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  in  some  places  it  appears  to 
grow  with  the  minimum  of  care  and  skill.  Speaking  from  my 
personal  experience  of  it,  I  have  had  the  best  results  by  leaving  it 
a  good  deal  alone  when  once  the  plants  are  established.  The  roots 
delight  in  growing  over  and  over  each  other  about  the  rods  of  a  wood 
basket,  each  fighting  for  a  place  with  the  other.  In  no  other  way 
have  I  ever  succeeded  with  it  for  any  length  of  time,  and  I  always 
regret  when  the  time  arrives  for  giving  new  material,  or  rather  for 
renewing  the  baskets,  as  these  roots  must  then  perforce  be  disturbed. 
It  delights  in  a  brisk  heat  with  a  great  deal  of  moisture  in  the 
atmosphere,  the  kind  of  heat  that  is  created  by  damping  all  available 
surfaces  and  closing  the  house  early  on  a  summer  afternoon,  the 
sun  running  up 
the  heat  to  80° 
or  90°,  or  even 
higher.  This  sun 
heat,  and  the 
somewhat  bare 
root  run,  has  the 
effect  of  solidi¬ 
fying  the  growth 
as  it  is  made,  and 
leads  to  freedom 
of  flowering  and 
continued  health 
In  a  heavily 
shaded  house 
with  their  roots 
covered  with  an 
inch  or  more 
of  compressible 
material  the 
plants  are  never 
satisfactory. 
Dendrobium 
isplendidissimum. 
No  one  look¬ 
ing  at  this  fine 
Den  drobium 
would  imagine 
that  it  had  the 
same  parents  as 
D.  Ainsworthi ; 
yet  in  strictly 
botanical  reason 
it  would,  I  sup¬ 
pose,  be  classed 
as  a  variety  of 
this  hybrid. 
Whatever  we 
may  think  of 
it,  there  is  no 
denying  it  is  a 
very  noble  hy¬ 
brid,  especially 
when  in  the  form  shown  at  the  Drill  Hall  on  March  26th.  When 
these  hybrids  are  common  enough  to  be  plentifully  grown  we  shall 
have  gay  Orchid  houses. 
Notes  on  Figs  Under  Glass. 
Early  forced  trees  in  pots  require  the  ventilation  of  the  structure 
increased  when  the  fruits  show  signs  of  ripening,  as  is  the  case  with 
Early  Violet  and  St.  John’s  or  Pingo  de  Mel,  and  exposure  to  the  sun 
greatly  enhances  the  flavour.  Many  fruits,  however,  cannot  have  full 
exposure  to  the  sun,  but  judioious  pinohing,  thinning,  and  tying  the 
branches,  admit  of  their  receiving  a  fair  amount;  and  light,  with  a 
free  circulation  of  air  and  freedom  from  water,  is  absolutely  essential 
to  well-flavoured  Figs.  This  dryness  of  the  atmosphere  greatly 
encourages  the  Fig  tree’s  worst  enemy — red  spider.  It  does  not  make 
much  progress  under  good  syringing,  but  when  the  atmospherio 
moisture  is  reduced  it  spreads  in  a  remarkable  manner,  therefore  no 
effort  should  be  spared  to  have  the  foliage  clean  up  to  ripening  time. 
Brown  scale  also  spreads  rapidly  over  the  young  shoots  and  extends 
to  the  fruits.  There  is  nothing  like  contesting  the  advance  of  these 
Laslia  Jongheana  Kromeri. 
