ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING. 211 
After a single lesson, in the genus Cypripedium 
alone, a young lady of my household amused her- 
self by concerting the most incredible alliances— 
Dendrobium with Odontoglossum, Epidendrum with 
Oncidium, Oncidium with Odontoglossum, and so 
forth. It is unnecessary to tell the experienced 
that in every case the seed vessel swelled ; that 
matter will be referred to presently. I mention 
the incident only to show how simple are these 
processes if the key be grasped. 
Amateur hybridizers of an audacious class are 
wanted because, hitherto, operators have kept so 
much to the beaten paths. The names of Veitch 
and Dominy and Seden will endure when those of 
great savants are forgotten; but business men 
have been obliged to concentrate their zeal upon 
experiments that pay. Fantastic crosses mean, 
in all probability, a waste of time, space, and 
labour ; in fact, it is not until recent years that 
such attempts could be regarded as serious. So 
much the more creditable, therefore, are Messrs, 
Veitch’s exertions in that line. 
But it seems likely to me that when hybridizing 
becomes a common pursuit with those who grow 
orchids—and the time approaches fast—a very 
strange revolution may follow. It will appear, as 
I think, that the enormous list of pure species— 
P 2 
