220 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
twenty-eight have been counted in a twelve- 
inch pot—each bearing perhaps thirty flowers. 
Seden has made two crosses of Chysis, both from 
the exquisite Ch. bractescens, one of the loveliest 
flowers that heaven has granted to this world, but 
sadly fleeting. Nobody, I believe, has yet been so 
fortunate as to obtain seea from Ch. aurea. This 
species has the rare privilege of self-fertilization— 
we may well exclaim, Why ! why ?—and it eagerly 
avails itself thereof so soon as the flower begins to 
open. Thus, however watchful the hybridizer may 
be, hitherto he has found the pollen masses melted 
in hopeless confusion before he can secure them. 
One hybrid Epidendrum has been obtained— 
Epi. O’Briencanum from Eft. evectum x Epi. radt- 
cans ; the former purple, the latter scarlet, produce 
a bright crimson progeny. 
Miltonias show two natural hybrids, and one 
artificial—J/2/. Bleuzana from Mil. vextllaria x Mil. 
Roezlit,; both of these are commonly classed as 
Odontoglots, and I refer to them elsewhere under 
that title. MM. Bleu and Messrs. Veitch made this 
cross about the same time, but the seedlings of the 
former flowered in 1889, of the latter, in 1891. 
Here we see an illustration of the advantage which 
French horticulturists enjoy, even so far north as 
Paris ; a clear sky and abundant sunshine made a 
