ODONTOGLOSSUM PULCIIELLUM, ETC. 89 



man}^ years ago, when grafting was not as well understood as now — 

 before we had studied the works of the French, who have carried 

 the art to such perfection — were inarched on old plants. Now he 

 has cuttings blooming in from two to three years, as quickly as a 

 graft and even earlier. After a time, cuttings from old plants 

 seem to retain the properties of the old plants. 



E. S. Eand, Jr., said that the only seedling azaleas he had raised 

 were hardy varieties, which flowered in eight years from the 

 seed. 



Mr. Rand exhibited a plant of Odontoglossum pulchellum, and 

 said that the different species are natives of the cool slopes of the 

 Andes, where at night frost not unfrequently rests on the leaves, 

 some being found at an elevation of 10,000 feet. When first dis- 

 covered, the plants were carried to England by the ten thousand, 

 but probably not one of those imported from 1830 to 1835 is now 

 alive. They were destroj'ed by being subjected to the same heat 

 as East Indian orchids. The great difficulty in growing them here 

 will be the heat of our summers. They may be grown in a green- 

 house where the temperature falls to 45° at night, along with pan- 

 sies and camellias. As each pseudobulb, of the species exhibited, 

 annually produces two, it is rapidly propagated. Its season of 

 growth ends in August, when it should be kept dry until December 

 and afterwards kept cool. The plant shown had been in bloom 

 for five weeks, and had been kept in the hall of JNIr. Rand's 

 dwelling house, where the temperature fell to 45° at night. The 

 flowers are fragrant and graceful, and might be profitably culti- 

 vated by florists, as they can be grown as easily as the lily of the 

 valley. 



Mr. Hovey exhibited specimens of the fruit of Eugenia myrti- 

 folia. He stated that it was a very ornamental plant belonging to 

 an important genus, of which the common allspice, JS . ^imenta, 

 is a species. The fruit is eatable and quite pleasant, forming an 

 agreeable variety for the table. The fruit of Eugenia Jambos is 

 larger and more eatable. All the species are beautiful plants, 

 nearly related to the myrtle, and resemble that genus both in 

 foliage and flower. The flowers of E. myrtifolia are borne in pro- 

 fusion all summer, and though it would require many plants to 

 produce any quantity of fruit for eating, it is borne so abundantly 

 as to be ver}' ornamental on the tree. When pinched into pyra- 



12 



