44 ORCHID HYBRIDS. 



N. C. Cookson's head gardener, I owe the most thorough 

 supplies of information received from any source. Many 

 thanks also to Mr. R. H. Measures, for his list, and to 

 Mr. W. B. Latham, for telling me so exhaustively about 

 the queer Cypripedium medea monstrosa x. Mr. W. H. 

 White, Sir Trevor Lawrence's man, dealt extensively 

 with all the questions put; also W. Stevens, for Mr. 

 Thompson, Stone. On this side of the water, Mr. Robert 

 M. Grey and Win. Grey deserve special gratitude; also 

 many thanks again to Mr. William Robinson, of Mr. 

 Ames' collection, Mr. H. T. Clinkaberry, with Mr. 

 Roebling, Trenton, and Mr. R. Gardner, at Newport. 

 Messrs. Pitcher & Manda showed a spirit of favor and 

 debonnairness, which in rny experience stamps them 

 the Veitch firm on our side. 



There are two reasons, though, for which a person 

 might be under obligation: one for positive, the other 

 for negative assistance. The latter may not be generally 

 practised, but either of the two is valuable; the latter 

 specially, if its proffered "xenia" might be as the 

 wooden horse of the foes of Troja. Messrs. F. Sander 

 <fe Co.'s bastards in the orchid line are so impertinent 

 and rude in insisting to obtrude our ways, that their 

 clamor for recognition forced me to address their sanctum 

 for condescending information. Alas, we all are aware 

 how notoriously irregular and insecure the mail service 

 is. My missive, therefore, never reached its destination, 

 and I thus was deprived of the crowning lot of knowl- 

 edge to link with truth the faulty lines possessed. To 

 be serious, I have given their crosses the places which 

 they claim, according to the information going with 

 them at the time of exhibition. How much is that? I, 

 who knows, think: the less the better. If we cannot 

 cross a Cattleya Trianee without calling it Leeana, an 



