ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING. 245 
the capsule, two inches long and_ two-thirds 
of an inch diameter, will burst. Mr. Maynard 
will cut it off, open it wide, and scatter the 
thousands of seeds therein, perhaps 150,000, over 
pots in which orchids are growing. After experi- 
ments innumerable, this has been found the best 
course. The particles, no bigger than a grain of 
dust, begin to swell at once, reach the size of a 
mustard-seed, and in five or six weeks—or as 
many months—they put out a tiny leaf, then a tiny 
root, presently another leaf, and in four or five 
years we may look for the hybridized flower. 
Long before, naturally, they have been established 
in their own pots. 
Strange incidents occur continually in this 
pursuit, as may be believed. Nine years since, Mr. 
Godseff crossed Catasetum macrocarpum with 
Catasetum callosum. The seed ripened, and in 
due time it was sown; but none ever germinated 
in the proper place. A long while afterwards 
Mr. Godseff remarked a tiny little green speck ina 
crevice above the door of thissame house. It grew 
and grew very fast, never receiving water unless by 
the rarest accident, until those experts could identify 
a healthy young Catasetum. And there it has 
flourished ever since, receiving no attention; for 
it is the first rule in orchid culture to leave a plant 
