REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 127 



States and seldom equaled anywhere. The halls of the Society are 

 not well adapted for exhibitions of this kind, especially where skill 

 in display counts, or rather we would say there are few good posi- 

 tions, and some exhibitors are always handicapped in this respect. 

 It is difficult for judges to compare groups where the positions of 

 display are so different, so that the element of effectiveness of dis- 

 play never enters finally in a decision. Decisions have to be based 

 on other predominating qualities such as the number of genera 

 or the rarity of the plants. 



The Julius Roehrs Company of Rutherford Park, New Jersey, 

 took the first prize, $1000.00 and a Gold Medal, in Class No. 1, 

 for a display of orchid plants in bloom, to fill a space of four hun- 

 dred square feet, arranged for effect, embracing at least twenty 

 orchid genera and bi-generic hybrids, and unlimited as to number 

 of species, varieties, and hybrids. This was probably the most 

 remarkable group of orchids ever put together in the United States, 

 and in some respects anywhere else. The grouping was very good 

 in the matter of keeping species together and in the massing of 

 colors effectively; but for the wealth of material at the disposal 

 of those who made the arrangement it was not as effective as it 

 might have been. There is nothing so destructive of effectiveness 

 of display as waste of material, which means in many cases re- 

 dundancy of color, for too much is always worse than too little. 



Notable plants in this group were Cattleyi Mossiar aurea; C. 

 Mossiae Mrs. Julius Roehrs, pure white sepals and petals, lip 

 splashed rosy purple and margined with white, a most beautiful 

 variety; C. Mossiae Reineckiana; C. Mossiae Gravesiana, nearly 

 white with yellowish throat; Laelio-Cattleya luminosa; L.-C. "Fas- 

 cinator"; Brasso-Cattleya "Queen Alexandra," white; B.-C. 

 Maroni, a very handsome hybrid of rich bronzy yellow tone and 

 yellow throat; Cypripedium callosum Sanderae, an albino hybrid; 

 C. Emodi, another valuable albino (C. callosum X Sanderae X 

 Lawrenceanum var. Hyeanum); C. Lawrenceanum; Coelogyne 

 speciosa, rare; Another beautiful albino is Cypripedium Rossetti 

 (Cypripedium insigne Sanderae X Lawrenceanum Hyeanum aureum; 

 Odontoglossum eximea, pale claret with white lipped sepals and 

 petals; 0. Caulstonii, densely spotted lilac margined white (Alex- 

 andrae X Hardyana); 0. album, creamy white; 0. Reichcnheimii, 



