121 
August'  7,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF 
- - -L  ■  •  - A-'- - 
HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
lie  finishing  up  now,  and  nothing  short  of  a  thorough  roasting  in 
the  sun  seems  to  satisfy  these  truly  deciduous  species.  As  soon 
as  the  foliage  is  ripe  there  can  he  no  harm  in  placing  them  in  the 
full  sun  and  exposing  them  to  plenty  of  air.  Plants  that  are  not 
thoroughly  ripened  by  some  such  means  will  never  flower  satis¬ 
factorily. — H.  R.  R. 
- - 
liSelio-Cattleya  Broomfieldense. 
This  bigeneric  hybrid  was  certificated  in  1894,  and  comes  as 
a  cross  from  Cattleya  aurea  chrysotcxa  and  Lrelia  pumila-  Dayana. 
In  habit  it  is  intermediate.  The  sepals  and  petals  are  rose-purple, 
and  a  lip  that  is  even  brighter  than  they,  being  also  frilled  and 
wavy.  The  forefront  part  is  deep  .crimson-purple,  the  throat 
being  marked  frith  gold  and  crimson.  It  is  not  at  all  common. 
The  Week's  Cultural  Notes. 
The  present  is  not  a  particularly  busy  season  for  the  Orchid 
grower,  as  the  work  is  largely  of  a  routine  character.  Some 
growers  apparently  find  it  monotonous  to  go  on  day  after  day, 
watering,  shading, 
damping  and 
cleaning,  and  in 
proof  of  the  old 
saying  about  idle 
hands,  begin  to 
pull  about  plants 
at  the  root  that 
are  far  better  left 
alone.  But  there 
is  no  need  to  be 
idle.  Orchids 
have  the  pecu¬ 
liarity  of  being 
almost,  if  not 
quite,  as  interest- 
ing  when  i  n 
growth  as  when 
in  flower,  and  the 
daily  round  may 
be  made  profit¬ 
able  by  examin¬ 
ing  the  progress 
made  by  the  spe- 
c  i  m  e  n  s  ,  a  n  d 
checking  any¬ 
thing  that  may  be 
going  wrong. 
The  Cattleya 
Iiouso  will  bo 
especially  inter¬ 
esting  now  in  the 
matter  of  growths, 
and  a  little  re¬ 
arrangement  will 
probably  seem 
necessary  to  the 
careful  grower. 
Plants,  for  in¬ 
stance,  cf  Catt- 
eya  Mossiee,  that 
have  been  placed 
in  the  coolest  and 
shadiest  part  of 
the  house  for 
flowering,  will 
now  be  moved  to 
a  better  position, 
for  this  popular 
species  has  its  Laelio  =  Cattleya 
season  s  growth 
still  to  make  ;  not 
like  C.  Gaskelliana  and  others,  that  flower  upon  the  current  year’s 
pseudo-bulb.  This  is  only  one  instance  out  of  many  that  will 
come  under  the  eye  of  an  interested  grower. 
Among  the  Dendrobiums  some  plants  will  in  all  probability 
be  growing  in  a  manner  not  acceptable.  Before,  or  as  soon  as, 
the  growths  are  completed,  a  new  cue  will  start  from  the  base  of 
the  one  just  maturing,  and  obviously  it  will  be  quite  impossible  to 
finish  it  this  season.  What  is  to  be  done  with  it?  The  best 
thing  to  do  is  to  allow  the  primary  growth  time  to  finish  properly 
and  treat  the  precocious  youngster  as  if  it  had  no  existence, 
placing  the  plants  in  a  cool  light  house  at  once  when  this  occurs,  j 
Probably  this  will  have  the  effect,  of  checking  its  growing  propen¬ 
sities  until  spring  and  more  suitable,  conditions  arrive.  In  the 
case  of  D.  Wardianum,  which  is  one  of  the  principal  offenders  in 
this  way,  the  growths  come  away- again  all  right,  though  I  have 
no  doubt  that  if  it  could  be  kept  to  more  normal  seasons  it  would 
be  a  longer  lived  species  under  cultivation. 
Those  singular  Orchids,  Catasetuins  and  Mormodes,  will  also 
Freesias  for  the  Winter. 
None  of  the  many  bulbous  flowers  now  grown  for  winter  and 
spring  use  are  more  appreciated  than  Freesias.  They  are  so 
easily  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  greenhouse  treatment, 
that  quite  a  prolonged  season  may  be  had  cf  decorative  plants 
i  or  vase  flowers  in  a  cut  state.  By  adopting  a  successive  practice 
j  in  potting,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  having  flowers  for. about  four 
I  months  without  much  cost  in  firing  or  the  purchasing  of  stock. 
Non -success  in  dealing  with  imported  bulbs  a  few  years  since, 
raised  an  impression  that  they  were  unremunerative  and  not 
easy  to  manage. 
Later  experience 
dispels  these 
thoughts,  for  last 
winter  in  particu¬ 
lar,  the  imported 
bulbs  gave,  much 
the  stronger 
plants  and  the 
finest  racemes 
g  r  o  w  n  u  n  d  e  r 
exactly  the  same 
conditions  as  the 
home-saved  stock. 
To  obtain 
flowers  at  Christ¬ 
mas,  the  potting 
of  selected  bulbs 
need  be  carried 
out  in  July,  so 
that  time  is 
allowed  for 
steady  advance¬ 
ment,  and  the 
necessity  of  hard 
forcing  averted.  In 
•potting,  some  take 
no  care  to  select 
the  bulbs  by  sift¬ 
ing  the  larger  from 
the  smaller,  while 
others  make  this  a 
rigid  practice. 
Last  year  we  saw 
a  large  batch  of 
Freesias,  which,  in 
their  potting,  had 
been  simply  sown 
in  their  flowering 
size  on  the  surface 
of  the  prepared 
soil,  which  three- 
parts  filled  the 
pots.  They  came 
up  as  a  conse¬ 
quence  as  thick 
almost  as  Mustard 
and  Cress,  and 
what  was  not  a 
Broomfieldiense.  little  surprising, 
they  flowered  won¬ 
derfully  well. 
Now-,  while  some  would  at  once  condemn  this  apparently 
“  slack  style  ”  of  potting,  there  was  not  an  atom  of  doubt  in  their 
ultimate  use  that  they  were  far  better  fitted,  because  more 
decorative,  than  those  having  the  rule  of  thumb  number  of 
eight  or  twelve,  according  to  the  size  cf  pot  employed.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  that  there  were  a  good  proportion  of 
large,  saved,  flowering  bulbs,  or  this  success  would  not  have 
been  allowed- 
Freesias,  though  intensely  appreciated  by  my  employers  in  a 
cut  state,  are  set  a  lower  value  on  when  grown  a  few  bulbs  in 
a  pot  (as  a  vase  plant),  and  since  the  success  of  those  just- 
referred  to  are,  remembered,  there  is  a  feeling  set  up  that  a 
little  more  freedom  cf  small  roots  will  advance  their  utility  as 
pot-grown  plants.  For  cutting  purposes  particularly,  later 
batches  can  be  grown  more  freely  and  with  less  effort  in  shallow 
boxes.  These  afford,  tco,  a  means  of  raising  a  stock  of  flower¬ 
ing  bulbs  from  the  very  small  offsets  which  cluster  so  thickly 
round  the  old  roots. 
