414 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  5,  1903. 
springing  in  a  semi-erect  position  from  the  upper  portion  of  the 
plant.  It  is  only  suitable,  of  course,  for  large  houses,  but  in 
these  it  is  a  noble  addition  to  any  collection.  V.  Bensoni  grows 
freely  in  any  tropical  house;  is  about  a  foot  high,  and  bears 
large  erect  spikes  of  flowers.  These  are  white  on  the  reverse  of 
the  sepals  and  petals,  yellow  inside,  dotted  with  red-brown,  the 
lips  with  a  rich  violet  centre. — H.  R.  Richards. 
Oncidium  Gardner!. 
The  figure  of  this  very  attractive  Orchid  came  to  us  from 
Mr.  Charles  Jones,  gardener  at  Ote  Hall,  Burgess  Hill,  Sussex. 
We  quote  the  description  and  remarks  made  with  reference  to 
it  in  Watson’s  “Orchids  and  Their  Management”; — “A  hand¬ 
some  species,  with  moderately  large  flowers,  very  near  O.  Forbesi 
and  O.  curtum,  from  which  it  diffens  in  the  form  and  crest  of  the 
lip,  and  in  having  very  small  column-wings.  It  has  oblong-ovate, 
furrowed  pseudo-bulbs,  2in  to  Sin  long,  and  dark  green,  rather 
broad  leaves,  which  are  purplish  on  the  under  side.  Flower-spike 
long,  branching,  many-flowered ;  sepals  and  petals  lin  long, 
broadly  ovate,  with  short,  stalk-like  bases,  the  margins  wavy, 
shining  brown,  with  yellow  edges;  lip  kidney-shaped,  Hin 
across,  very  wavy,  with  two  small  basal  lobes ;  colour  bright 
yelloAV,  with  broad  blotches  of  brown  in  a  ring  round  the  margin. 
The  flowers,  which  last  several  weeks,  are  produced  in  summer, 
about  July,  and  are  fragrant.  Placed  on  a  teak  raft  or  in  a 
basket,  in  the  cool  house,  this  species  grows  well  and  flowers 
annually.  It  is  found  wild  on  forest  trees  on  the  Organ  Moun¬ 
tains,  in  Brazil,  whence  it  was  introduced  in  1843.” 
The  Week’s  Cultural  Notes. 
Angrmcum  sesquipedale  is  not  in  all  cases  a  succe.ss,  and  I  am 
of  opinion  that  the  winter  treatment  meted  out  to  it  is  often  the 
cause  of  the  trouble.  Too  much  atmospheric  rnoisture  at  a  time 
when  days  are  short  and  dark  is  not  at  all  to  its  liking ;  and  if 
there  is  a  dry,  warm  corner  in  any  of  the  houses  where  the 
specimens  of  this  unique  species  can  be  accommodated,  they 
ought  to  be  placed  there.  In  one  well-known  Orchid  nursery 
they  used  always  to  be  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  Cattleya  house, 
at  a  point  where  the  hot  water  pipes  turned  at  right  angles,  so 
that  nearly  double  the  amount  of  heat  radiated  from  them, 
causing  a  drier  heat  in  winter. 
These  planks  were  remarkably  healthy,  well  furnished  with 
leaves  to  the  surface  of  the  compost,  and  they  flowered  mag¬ 
nificently  every  year.  There  is  something  in  the  appearance  of 
the  grey-green,  hard-looking  foliage  of  this  plant  that  suggests 
a  dry  atmosphere,  and  collectors  tell  us  that  in  Madagascar  there 
are  two  distinct ,, types  of  plants — one  growing  exposed  to  sun 
and  air  on  the  top  of  the  tallest  trees,  the  other  in  hot,  shady 
valleys.  Although  the  latter  grow  much  more  luxuriantly,  and 
are  leafy  and  green,  they  never  flower  with  anything  like  the 
freedom  that  the  exposed  plants  do.  This  should  be  a  cue  for 
thoughtful  cultivators. 
Of  a  different  character  is  the  bulky  growing  A.  eburneum 
and  its  beautiful  variety  A.  e.  superbum.  These  are  free  flower¬ 
ing  in  the  extreme,  and  nothing  seems  to  injure  their  health 
provided  they  have  ample  heat  and  moi.sture  all  the  year  round. 
A.  e.  virens  is  not  so  vigorous,  and  I  have  had  more  difficulty 
with  this  than  either  the  type  or  A.  sesquipedale.  Considerable 
care  is  needed  in  the  treatment  of  the  small  growing  sorts,  of 
which  A.  modestum  is  a  well-knowm  example.  Their  treatment 
is  more  like  that  recently  described  for  the  dwarf  Phalsenopsis, 
both  at  the  roots  and  in  the  atmosphere. 
Anguloas,  and  other  deciduous  kinds  of  a  similar  habit,  mu.st 
be  kept  well  on  the  dry  side  now  and  until  the  new  shoots  appear. 
A  shelf  near  the  glass  suits  them  well  in  a  temperature  akin  to 
that  of  the  Mexican  house.  Catasetums  and  Cycnoches,  resting 
Chysis,  and  West  Indian  Oncidiums  must  have  more  warmth, 
but  all  like  the  light,  and  none  of  them  need  any  more  moisture 
than  will  keep  the  pseudo-bulbs  plump.  Any  plants,  of  course, 
that  have  not  quite  finished  growing,  will  be  treated  accordingly 
and  given  water  in  lessening  quantities  until  the  last  leaf  falls. 
— H.  R.  R. 
Notes  on  Vandas. 
Vanda  Amesiana  is  a  plant  that  delights  in  sun,  being 
found  in  exposed  positions  in  the  Shan  States.  Cool  treatment  is 
best,  but  not  the  same  conditions  under  which  Odontoglossums 
and  similar  Orchids  thrive.  The  Mexican  house,  or  a  position 
close  to  a  ventilator  in  a  house  where  Cattleyas  thrive,  is  better. 
As  a  rule,  specimens  of  this  delightful  species  are  made  up  by 
placing  four  or  five  stems  in  a  flattish  reoeptacle,  but  single¬ 
stemmed  plants  are  best  in  small  baskets  suspended  near  the 
light.  It  has  thick  leathery  leaves,  and  flowers  at  vai’ious  times 
during  the  year  upon  loose  spikes,  the  flowers  being  very 
fragrant,  white,  with  a  rosy  suffusion  on  the  sepals  and  petals, 
and  a  deep  rose  lip.  A  pure  white  form  has  also  been  described. 
Of  quite  a  different  character  is  V.  Batemani,  a  stately  plant, 
growing  6  feet  or  more  in  height,  bearing  immense  spikes  of 
bright  yellow  blossoms,  spotted  with  crimson  and  violet-purple. 
Sir  William  Jackson  Hooker. 
{Concluded  from  jtage  d05.) 
“  The  works  jiublished  by  my  father  when  in  Glasgow  are 
very  numerous.  A  complete  list  of  them,  with  details  regarding 
the  more  important,  will  be  given  at  the  end  of  the  sketch.  They 
may  be  grouped  under  four  headings  :  British  Botany,  American 
Botany,  Miscellaneous  Works,  and  Serials. 
“  In  the  British  Botany  there  was  the  ‘  Flora  Scotica,’  the  new 
edition  of  Curtis’s  ‘Flora  Londinensis,’  four  editions  of  the 
‘  British  Flora,’  and  many  contributions  to  a  knowledge  of  British 
plants  in  the  volumes  of  his  botanical  journals.”  Numerous  other 
works  under  the  classificatory  headings  mentioned  above  are  then 
enumerated. 
“  In  the  same  year  (1827),  finding  that  his  extensive  correspon¬ 
dence  with  botanists  and  travellers  abroad  provided  him  with 
information  of  great  value  that  might  otherwise  never  see  the 
light,  and  that  his  herbarium  was  at  the  same  time  teeming  with 
plants  unknown  to  science,  my  father  formed  the  plan  of  himself 
editing  a  periodical  for  the  diffusion  amongst  botanists  of  the 
information  obtained  from  these  sources.  As  a  model  he  took 
Konig  and  Sims’s  “  Annals  of  Botany,”  of  which  two  volumes 
only  had  been  published  (London,  1805-6).  He  never  stopped  or 
stooped  to  calculate  the  time,  rvorry,  and  cost  that  this  under¬ 
taking  would  entail  upon  him,  which  occupied  him  for  the  next 
thirty  years  of  his  life  ;  for  he  had  throughout  no  assistant  editor, 
and  was  dependent  solely  on  my  mother,  and  at  intervals  on 
myself  when  at  home,  for  aid  in  proof-reading,  &c.  The  heavy 
correspondence  it  entailed  was  conducted  by  himself  alone. 
“  Including  the  continuation  of  the  series  issued  from  Kew, 
these  periodicals  embrace  twenty-eight  volumes  with  548  plates,  of 
which  seven  volumes  with  247  plates,  the  greater  number  of  them 
drawn  by  himself,  were  issued  from  Glasgow.  These  w'ere  the 
‘  Botanical  Miscellany,’  three  volumes  with  152  plates  (1830-3), 
the  ‘Journal  of  Botany,’  two  volumes  with  44  plates  (1834  and 
1840),  and  the  ‘  Companion  to  the  Botanical  Magazine,’  two 
volumes  with  51  plates  (1835-6).  In  the  interval  between  the 
publication  of  the  ‘  Companion  to  the  Botanical  Magazine  ’  and 
the  resumption  of  the  ‘  Journal  ’  he  undertook  the  editorship, 
with  Sir  William  Jardine  and  others,  of  Taylor’s  ‘  Annals  of 
Natural  History,’  which  for  three  years  (1837-1840)  was  the  re¬ 
cipient  of  much  of  his  botanical  matter;  but  the  latter  became 
too  copious  to  be  included  in  the  numbers  of  the  ‘  Annals,’  and, 
the  result  proving  otherwise  embarrassing,  that  editorship  was 
abandoned. 
“After  leaving  Glasgow  for  Kew  he  resumed  the  ‘Journal,’ 
three  volumes  (1840-2)  of  which  were  followed  by  the  ‘London 
Journal  of  Botany,’  seven  volumes  (1842-7),  and  that  by  the 
‘  Journal  of  Botany  ’  and  ‘  Kew  Garden  Miscellany,’  nine  volumes 
(1849-57).  .  .  .  As  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  botany 
during  three  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  these  periodicals 
ivere  unique  ;  no  period  or  subsequent  decade  of  that  century 
can  show  so  rich  a  store  of  valuable  botanical  material. 
“  Towards  the  end  of  his  Glasgow  life  my  father  resumed  a 
systematic  study  of  Ferns,  which  he  had  begun  with  Greville 
soon  after  his  arrival  there,  the  first  result  of  which  was  the  com- 
inencement  of  an  ‘  Enumeration  of  all  known  Ferns  ’  published 
in  the  ‘  Botanical  Miscellany.’  Tlie  issue  in  parts  of  Hooker  and 
Bauer’s  ‘  Genera  of  Ferns  ’  was  begun  in  1838 ;  it  originated  in 
his  having  been  shown  the  beautiful  analyses  of  many  genera  of 
the  order  by  the  veteran  botanical  artist,  Francis  Bauer,  who 
offered  the  loan  of  these  for  publication  to  my  father;  not  that 
the  Order  had  in  the  meantime  been  neglected  by  him,  as  is 
proved  by  the  numerous  genera  and  species  described  and  figured 
in  his  journals,  in  the  ‘  leones  Plantarum  ’  and  other  works,  and 
by  his  publication  of  J.  Smith’s  ‘  Genera  of  Ferns.’  As  I  propose 
to  give  in  an  appendix  to  this  sketch  of  his  life  a  complete 
account  of  my  father’s  works,  I  shall  not  dwell  here  on  those 
devoted  to  Ferns.” 
The  concluding  chapter  of  Mr.  Lynch’s  abridgement  of  the 
biography  records  incidents  in  Sir  William  Jackson  Hooker’s 
tenure  of  office  as  Director  of  the  Royal  Gardens  at  Kew  (III. 
West  Park  and  Kew,  1841-1865),  during  which  period  the 
gardens  were  changed  from  nothingness  to  what  they  are  now. 
When  he  accepted  the  commission,  the  Treasury  looked  upon 
these  gardens  only  as  a  drain  upon  finances,  and  only  the 
earnestness  of  strong-minded  scientists  .saved  them  from  reduc¬ 
tion,  if  not  oblivion.  Sir  William  Jackson  Hooker  died  on 
Saturday,  August  12^  1865,  in  his  eighty-first  year. 
