THE PROGRESS OF ORCHID CULTURE IN AMERICA. 149 



and admirable essaj- — which, as a record of what has been 

 done, would find no superior. 



The vote was passed unanimously. 



President Walcott said tliat the paper was one well deserving 

 a full discussion, and called on William Robinson, gardener to 

 F. L. Ames. 



Mr. Robinson said there was one point he should like to refer 

 to, in regard to collections of Cypripediums. He thought that 

 Mr. Ames has as large a collection of this genus as any grower 

 in thp United States, and as large as any private individual has 

 grown anywhere. He had given to Mr. Beard, as the number in 

 Mr. Ames's collection, about seventy-one species ; but did not in- 

 clude varieties or American species, so probably Mr. Coming's 

 and Mr. Ames's might have come pretty nearly together as to 

 numbers, if he had counted the varieties and American species in 

 the latter collection. 



Speaking of what Mr. Beard had said about keeping the temper- 

 ature down to fifty-five degrees at night, he thought it a little 

 difficult, particularly in view of such weather as last week's, to 

 keep the house at that temperature during the night and raise it 

 again in the day time so many degrees. Such a temperature may 

 be had and such changes made, provided you have your house so 

 constructed that 3'ou can run it without absorbing the moisture by 

 such rises in temperature. Conditionall}'^, he would grant that 3'ou 

 can keep the house at fifty-five degrees, and then run it up in the 

 day time ; but bethought few orchid houses are so constructed 

 that this can be done. 



He thought that the greatest preventive of green flies is 

 putting tobacco stems on the floor and on the pipes. No one 

 trying this will be troubled much with green flies afterwards.. 



Mr. Beard said his own experience had been that tobacco used 

 as recommended by Mr. Robinson is no less effective than in the 

 form of smoke. Ferns are liable to be injured b}' the tobacco in 

 either form, but when fumigation is employed they can be taken 

 aut, and returned to place after the process is concluded. He 

 remembered that Mrs. Morgan's collection, some years ago, was 

 overrun with the yellow thrip, which is much worse among orchids 

 than any other insect, with the exception of cockroaches ; but she 

 put in several barrels of tobacco stems, which were constantly 

 dampened and replenished, and the result was that in a short time 



