HYBRIDISING ORCHIDS. 47 



just like so much of a tide mark. When the water is all off, 

 place the pot in a saucer of water, with an inch deep of 

 water in it, and hold it to that point till your seedlings are 

 safely on the wing ; put two twigs across the mouth of the 

 pot, and put a square of glass over the twigs, so as to leave a 

 space for air all round the thickness of the twigs. Put the 

 pot where it will not get more dry than it is now, and where 

 the heat is at Calcutta point ; and if 99 out of every 100 of the 

 seeds will not vegetate, and that very soon, why the pollen 

 has not given them the germ of life. I brought 1,000 Orchids 

 into this world j ust that way, but, truth to say, they all of 

 them found the means of getting out of the world by a route I 

 never could fathom." 



Another is as follows : 



" I have seen ripe seed-pods hanging abundantly from 

 Broughtonia sanguinea, from Angrascum funale, and from 

 some of the Oncidiums and Epidendrums in Jamaica ; and as 

 we know, of course, that all the species are naturally reproduced 

 from seed, horticultural science ought to be able to solve the 

 problem of their reproduction here. May we not look for seed 

 packets of the epiphytal Orchids to be advertised for sale 

 before many years as regularly as Balsam and Primula seed, 

 if not quite so cheaply ?" 



Perhaps the best manner of raising seedlings is to sow the 

 seed as soon as ripe, on the surface of pots or blocks that are 

 covered with living Sphagnum. If the seeds are good, in all 

 probability some few out of the thousands that each capsule 

 contains will make their appearance. The time they take to 

 germinate appears to be very uncertain, some requiring only 

 two or three months, while others remain as many years 

 before they show themselves. Disa grandiflora is one of the 

 easiest to obtain from seed ; a friend informs me that he has 



