Orchid Hybridisation 



Orchid Hybridisation 



is a necessity. Increased labour for frequent 

 waterings of pot trees is a necessity, for the success 

 of pot trees depends in great measure upon the 

 attention paid to watering. 



Management. During the winter months, the 

 frost should only just be kept out of the house, for 

 the pot trees must have a similar rest to those in 

 the open. The higher mean temperature will, 

 however, result in an earlier blooming, and it is at 

 this time, when fairly sharp frosts are to be 

 expected, that the hot-water pipes will be found 

 useful. Artificial pollination must be effected by 

 brushing the flowers. The alternatives to this are 

 (1) opening the ventilators widely on bright days 

 to let the bees in, and (2) taking a hive of bees into 

 the house ; this is bad 1'or the bees, but good for 

 the flowers. If desired, the trees may be stood 

 out of doors all the summer, and it is advisable 

 that lightly cropped trees should be thus treated. 

 Experienced cultivators have their trees so well in 

 hand that they rarely fail to get a crop, but it is 

 advisable to have a larger number of trees than 

 the house will hold, so that it can be filled only 

 with those well set with flower buds. The others 

 can be left out all the winter, and they will need 

 but very little water. The pots must, however, be 

 plunged over the rims in coal ashes, or frost will 

 split them. The ashes may well be covered with 

 Bracken or straw litter. In early spring ventila- 

 tion must be free, but not such as to cause cold 

 draughts, which are very injurious. All through 

 the summer plenty of air must be given, and from 

 the beginning of June until frosts threaten in 

 autumn the house should be wide open by night 

 as well as day. Later on, as the fruit begins to 

 ripen, the ventilators should be netted over to 

 prevent the ingress of birds ; if wasps attack, 

 muslin may be used. Heavy fruits may require to 

 be supported witli net bags. Re-potting is best 

 done after the fruit has been gathered, but before 

 the leaves have dropped. (For further particu- 

 lars of pot fruit trees, see PEACH.) Not only 

 will the trees, from which the fruit has been 

 gathered, be all the better for a sojourn outdoors 

 to complete the ripening of the wood, but the 

 house is thus set free for sheltering Chrysanthe- 

 mums, or other tender plants requiring protection 

 from the early autumn frosts. Indeed, the orchard 

 house may well be used as a shelter-house for 

 tender plants until the New Year. The buds of 

 the trees seem to start all the more freely if they 

 have been exposed to a little frost. 



ORCHID HYBRIDISATION. 



The initial process is analogous to dusting the 

 stigma of a Lily with pollen. In Orchids, how- 

 ever, neither stigma nor pollen is so evident as in 

 Lilies or most other flowers. The sexual organs 

 are combined into the central portion of the flower, 

 known as the column, and this is so situated in 

 conjunction with the labellum as to prevent self- 

 fertilisation in the majority of cases, and encourage 

 cross-fertilisation by insect agency (see ORCHIDS). 

 A very large number of Orchids exude nectar at 

 the base of the column, and in search of this an 

 insect has to proceed in a direction and manner 

 that ensures the transference of any pollen masses 

 it may have on its back or head to the sticky 

 stigmatic surface, and also the displacement of the 

 pollen masses in the same flower, which, sticking 

 to the retiring insect, are carried on for the fertilisa- 

 tion of the next flower visited. 



In a Cattleya bloom the prominent column is 

 more or less curved forward, and may be slightly 

 channelled on the lower face. At the tip is the 

 modified anther, consisting of a thin membrane or 

 cap, under which are the pollinia or pollen masses, 

 four in number, each mass composed of many 

 pollen grains. Just below the pollen masses is a 

 small area which exudes a sticky substance when 

 the pollinia are ripe for their mission, and a little 

 further down is the stigmatic surface. In backing 

 out of such a flower an insect large and strong 

 enough to reach the nectar will press its back 

 against the sticky matter, and the pressure, the 

 movement, and the gum will combine to dislodge 

 the pollen masses and cause them to adhere to the 

 retreating insect. The contrivances adopted by 

 Orchids to ensure cross-fertilisation are many and 

 wonderful, the above being a very simple example. 



Artificial hybridisation or cross-fertilisation con- 

 sists in transferring the pollen masses by hand, or 

 rather by the aid of a pointed stick, pencil, or 

 camel-hair brush, to the stigmatic surface. It 

 should always be done with a definite object in 

 view, such as the creation of new shades or com- 

 binations of colours, modification of form, robust 

 habit, freedom of flowering, etc., and only the 

 finest forms of the species operated upon should be 

 used, or the resulting hybrid may, after years of 

 patient care, be scarcely worth house room. 

 Hybridisation merely with a view to securing a 

 certain combination of two species is itself of little 

 value, but when intelligently conducted it is the 

 means of creating beautiful plants. Fortunately, 

 artificially raised Orchid hybrids have almost 

 invariably proved to be of easy culture, and in this 

 respect are often a great improvement upon the 

 weaker or more delicate parent. 



Not only have hybrids been raised between 

 species of one genus, but in several instances two 

 genera have been combined, and there are now 

 such hybrids as Cattleya X Lselia, Sophronitis X 

 Lselia, Sophronitis X 'Cattleya, Epidendrum X 

 Cattleya, Epidendrum X Sophronitis, Epidendrum 

 X Lselia, Phaius X Calanthe, and Zygopetalum X 

 Colax. Bigeneric hybrids may also be crossed with 

 a member of a third, but allied, genus, an instance 

 being Lrelio-Cattleyaelegans X Sophronitis grandi- 

 flora, the product of which is registered as Sophro- 

 Iselio- Cattleya A r eitchii. In some Orchid genera 

 no hybrids have been raised artificially ; at least, 

 none have been flowered and registered as such 

 among Brassia, Coelogyne, and Habenaria. 



The record of Orchid hybridisation forms a most 

 interesting page of horticultural history, but there 

 is not room in this work to do more than briefly 

 refer to a few points in it. Dean Herbert recorded 

 his own efforts at cross-breeding in this natural 

 order in 1847, but it was not until about 1853, when, 

 at the suggestion and under the instruction of 

 Mr. J. Harris, of Exeter, Mr. John Dominy entered 

 heartily into the work, that Orchid hybridisation 

 was commenced in earnest. From 1853 to about 

 I860 lie worked on behalf of the Messrs. Veitch, 

 at Exeter, and subsequently at Chelsea. In ISGG 

 Mr. John Seden commenced, and from then up to 

 the present time lie has been producing for the 

 same firm Orchids of the greatest beauty. Mean- 

 while, other hybridists have entered the field, the 

 I'st including such well-known names as Sander, 

 Cookson, de Barri Crawshay, Linden, Lawrence, 

 Maron, Bleu, Mantin, Cypher, Charlesworth, Chap- 

 man, Ingram, Maynard, and Hollington. So far 

 the greatest successes have been achieved with 



