SPEAKING for a moment of Andre's new scarlet Anthurium, alluded to in my "Notes" of the November number of the 'Gardener,' I forgot to say that it was at Mr Bull's nursery where I saw this plant so fine. Such an impression did its big spathes and great velvety green leaves make upon me, that I specially took my wife to see them, - she, while not unmindful of other duties, being - as all gardeners' wives should ever be - deeply interested in plants and flowers. I think, if I were M. Andre, I should make a special pilgrimage from Paris to Chelsea to see my foundling; for of all men there are few who have more interest and affection for a plant than has the man who collected it, or introduced it for the first time into Europe. What a blaze that plant will make amongst the white-flowered Orchids when more plentiful, - when the little guinea and two guinea plants now so numerous become strongly established ! And yet another word on the potentialities of the thing. "A little bird whispered to me" of the "lots of seed" hanging on the spadices of this Anthurium in another place, adding maliciously, "I'll not say with what they were fertilised." Naughty, tantalising little bird ! May your softest perch be a furze bush, and I hope the servant may give you buckwheat-chaff instead of hemp-seed for your supper ! Even then may "no song no supper" be your lot until the crack of doom, bad birdie !

Of all the notes in the last number of the 'Gardener,' none could possibly be more interesting, or more to the point, than that on page 524, referring to Calanthe Veitchii, and its pale and dark varieties.

Here we have both forms, and I can corroborate the facts of the case; as also does Mr H. Knight (in 'Gard. Chron.,' Nov. 5, p. 594), now of Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames. Facts of such practical import are especially useful at the present time - indeed at all times - seeing that a good variety is as easily and as cheaply grown as a bad one, the ultimate results being in every way superior; i.e., one thus by good selection obtains what one may fairly call a heavy additional interest upon the same amount of capital.

The late Provost Russet's collection of Orchids seems to have been formed on similar lines - best varieties only being retained. And of all the collections of cultivated Orchids I ever saw, his, as originally formed at Mayfield, near Falkirk, was by far the best in point of culture.

Of all Orchids now in flower, there are but few that can in any way equal the old double-sheathed Cattleya labiata, which generally with us puts in its appearance about the first week in November. This is of course the true old "autumnal flowering" variety, - as superior to all other Cattleyas of the labiata and Warneri sections, as is the true Oypripedium Maulei to our old and ever-welcome friend, C. insigne. Our Cattleya labiata, with four enormous rich rose-petalled flowers on each of its stout spikes, is now the gem of our little collection - an excellent form of the Tiger Odontoglot, Odontoglossum grande, serving as a remarkable contrast with it in point of colour.

Now that selection is the rule, here is a short list of Cattleyas worth having: Cattleya Exoniensis, C. labiata (true), C. Mendelii, C. Dowiana, C. aurea, and C. gigas. Strong pieces of these obtained now, and well grown for ten years, or even less than that terra, would yield a good return on capital and labour if then sold. Orchids are to-day more plentiful than ever, and yet at no period in the history of their cultivation did really sound specimens of good varieties fetch more money when disposed of.

Looking over some wonderful dried specimens of big Pitcher-plants (Nepenthes) some time ago in an "upper room" in the Chelsea nurseries of Messrs Veitch, I was not very much surprised when one gentleman present exclaimed, "Why, dear me, the day of really fine Pitcher-plants is yet to come ! " And such, without a doubt, is the fact of the matter. It is not every one who goes into that " upper room." I suppose a blank cheque, all signed and delivered, would not get some people within fifty yards of the stairs, charmed they never so wisely. Ah, my friend, a wonderful place is that "upper room," with its little bales of what Schlieden playfully called " hay for the botanical asses;" its clusters of big pitchers, of marvellous size and form, to which here and there hang in rustic caligraphy, in black pencil or ink, on curious sun-stained paper, the description of colour and habitat, as given by the hand of the collector who plucked them from marsh or mountain-side.

"Oh ! but I say, isn't this a wopper?" (the speaker being a Cambridge man accounts for the classical and expressive language.) The "wopper" in question was a pitcher of N. Rajah - the giant Pitcher-plant of Kina Balu or "Chinese Widow Mountain" in Borneo. And certainly that pitcher "was big," as the American said when he heard of a 40-foot conger-eel from a "go-to-meetin' Injun." Anent that " upper room," I was once talking with a man who has reaped many honours and rewards as an artist, but whose heart, instead of being "in the Highlands" or "over the water," is generally in his garden. "Of all men, I envy only one," said he, "and that is Mr Harry Veitch." "And why Mr Veitch?" I asked. "Why ! do you say? and you a lover of plants ! Why ! why, because with his something like a dozen collectors raking the ends of the world for him, his mails of letters and specimens, the hopes and discoveries of these enthusiasts must be delightful. Talk of the gardening papers, forsooth ! why, with that man's letters before me, I would not execute a commission for the biggest and richest cotton man I ever saw until I had read every line of them ! "

I hope, now that this same Nepenthes Rajah has appeared in public, and has "won his spurs " in the shape of a first-class certificate from the Royal Horticultural Society, that we may see him more often in private. I am inclined to think that it will grow best in a basket of fresh loam fibre and well-washed granite grit, with not too much sphagnum growing above. My plant, kindly presented by the owner of the "upper room," did not grow half so well during the recent hot summer weather; but when chilly nights came, he shot away another larger leaf or two, in a temperature and atmosphere where Odontoglots and Masdevallias do well. And yet one must be careful during winter, when cold houses run down so rapidly sometimes; but in summer a cool, moist, and moderately airy house seems to suit it well. A very slight shading from direct sunlight is essential.