234 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
swell and ripen, and in due time burst, with every 
appearance of fertility ; but, of course, there is no 
seed. Beginners, therefore, must not be too 
sanguine when their bold attempts promise well. 
From that day Mr. Cookson gave his leisure to 
hybridization, with such results as, in short, are 
known to everybody who takes an interest in 
orchids. Failures in abundance he had at first, 
but the proportion has grown less and less until, 
at this moment, he confidently looks for success 
in seventy-five per cent. of his attempts; but this 
does not apply to bi-generic crosses, which hitherto 
have not engaged his attention much. Begin- 
ning with Cypripedium, he has now ninety-four 
hybrids—very many plants of each—produced 
from one hundred and forty capsules sown. Of 
Calanthe, sixteen hybrids from nineteen capsules ; 
of Dendrobium, thirty-six hybrids from forty-one 
capsules ; of Masdevallia, four hybrids from seven- 
teen capsules ; of Odontoglossum, none from nine 
capsules; of Phajus, two from two capsules; of 
Vanda, none from one capsule ; of bi-generic, one 
from nine capsules. There may be another in- 
deed, but the issue of an alliance so startling, and 
produced under circumstances so dubious, that Mr. 
Cookson will not own it until he sees the flower. 
It does not fall within the scope of this chapter 
