orchids: how to oiiow them successfully. 47 



structuro iiiiiy lajwcvcr he ciY)ss('d with Jiiorc propiicty ; Cattloyas, 

 Leelias, Sophroiiiti.s uiid Epideiiflruins having a (^losc rcscinblance 

 in structure fertilise more readily. Oncidiums and Odontoglossums 

 also cross freely, and form pods of seeds, but I believe very 

 few hybridists have been successful in raising plants from these 

 crosses. Even Oncidiums and Odontoglossums, if kept to their own 

 genera, are most difficndt to raise from seed, very few instances being 

 as yet rex)orted. C>7>npediums ai-e the most easy to raise, and have 

 been crossed and recross(»d to such an extent that the family is now 

 a very extensive one, and of late years many beautiful hybrids have 

 been produced; as also of Dendrobiums and Cattleyas, and no 

 doubt many more sm-prises are in store, and other treasures will 

 year by year bo seen. It is easy to imagine the anxiety and pleasure 

 of the hybridist when he finds his seedling plants advancing to the 

 flowering state and showing their first bloom buds, and still further 

 their development into full bloom. In order to presei-ve them to a 

 long life the plants should be kept hardy, in exactly the same 

 temperature as the parent plants, and not allowed to suffer from 

 drought. Seedling C}^)ripediums may be j)ricked off at any time 

 when ready, as they make rapid progress compared with other 

 Seedling Orchids, but I do not advise the disturbance of small 

 Seedling Dendrobiums, Calanthes, and Thunias after the middle of 

 August, or Cattleyas later than the middle of Septembe) ; if not done 

 by then let them remain on the surface of the pot in which they 

 were sowti until the following si)ring and then, when growth has 

 commenced, prick oft" into very small thimble pots. 



FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS FOR SEED. 

 When it has been decided which flov.-ers are to be crossed — the 

 blending and harmony of colom\s being the leading points in 

 view- the selected seed-bearing parent should not on any con- 

 sideration be a weakly plant. The pollen may then be taken from 

 the flower, supposing, for instance, it to be Cattleya aui-ea, and 

 placed upon the stigma of, say, Cattleya gigas (such a cross in 

 their native habitats being supposed to have produced the rare 

 natural hybrids C. Massiaua and C. Hardyana). In this case of 

 C. gigas and C. aurea, the former becomes the female or seed- 

 bearing parent, and the latter the male or pollen-giving parent, 

 but the pollen-bearing anthers of the female parent must first be 

 removed. When fertilisation has taken place the flowers will soon 



