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WARM ORCHIDS. 105 
example. To my mind the colouring is insipid, 
as a rule, and the general effect stark—fashion 
in orchids, as in other things, has little reference to 
taste. I repeat with emphasis, as a rule, for some 
priceless specimens are no less than astounding in 
~ “tHeir blaze of colour, the quintessence of a million 
uninteresting blooms. The poorest of these plants 
have merit, no doubt, for those who can accommo- 
date giants. They grow fast and big. There are 
specimens in this country a yard across, which 
display a hundred and fifty or two hundred flowers 
open at the same time for months. A superb 
show they make, rising over the pale sea-green 
foliage, four spikes perhaps from a single bulb. 
But this is a beauty of general effect, which must 
not be analyzed, as I think. 
Odontoglossum vexillarium is brought from 
Colombia. There are two forms: the one—small, 
evenly red, flowering in autumn—was discovered 
by Frank Klaboch, nephew to the famous Roezl, 
on the Dagua River, in Antioquia. For eight 
years he persisted in despatching small quantities 
to Europe, though every plant died; at length a 
safer method of transmission was found, but simul- 
taneously poor Klaboch himself succumbed. It is 
an awful country—perhaps the wettest under the 
sun. Though a favourite hunting-ground of 
