THE CYPRIPEDIUM HOUSE 173 



in our collection. But it must be remembered, in the first 

 place, that there is no authoritative list as yet ; each in- 

 quirer must get information as he can. In the second place, 

 that the number increases daily. Such a list could be framed 

 only by an international committee of botanists, for in 

 France and Belgium orchid-growers are as enthusiastic as 

 our own ; whilst in Germany, Italy, Austria and the United 

 States, if the workers be comparatively few they are very 

 busy. 



It has often been suggested that an Orchid Farm would 

 pay handsomely, if established in some well-chosen district 

 of the Tropics and intelligently conducted. A gentleman 

 resident in Oviedo, Florida, Mr. Theodore S. Mead, has 

 carried the notion into practice on a small scale with startling 

 results. I quote from the Orchid Review, June 1896 : 



' I have built a small platform in the top of a live oak, 

 about 45 feet from the ground . . . where I propose to try 

 seeds of some thirty or forty different orchid crosses, includ- 

 ing pods from Vanda coerulea and Cattleya citrina, which 

 are thought difficult to manage under glass. . . .' 



In September 1897 we hear further : — 



'The season has been a very trying one, and though my 

 orchid-eyrie in the live oak-top promised great success in 

 June, it was very difficult to keep the compost in good con- 

 dition during the hot, muggy days of July. Still, out of 

 thirty-two crosses planted on a space of peat, 1 6 inches long 

 by 1 2 broad, I obtained plants having first leaf of twenty- 

 two of them — mostly Cattleyas and Laelias ; — though a good 

 many died when it was necessary to transplant them, on 

 account of mould and algae threatening to swamp the tiny 

 plants. A single plant of Vanda coerulea x V. Amesiana 

 appeared, and is now showing its third leaf. This year I 

 have repeated the cross Bletia verecunda x Schomburgkia 

 tibicinis and have several plants in their first leaf; and also 



