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(Continued from p. 10) 
of seeing the minute germs swell up, become green, and show two tiny tips — the 
first indications of future leaves. 
There he is, more proud than ARTABANUS, revelling in enchanters’ dreams, enjoying 
in anticipation the triumph which he will achieve in five years perhaps, more likely 
seven or eight, may, even ten or fifteen years — patience being the cardinal virtue 
of the raiser — when the marvellous hybrid will flower, and will bear down to 
posterity the glory of his name. He should refresh his memory by again reading the 
fable of Perrette and her Milk Pail, and one fine morning as he proceeds to view 
his treasures, he perceives that the seedlings — the source of his pleasure and pride 
— have vanished as if by enchantment. 
It is sufficient that an untimely watering followed by a too sudden fall in tempe- 
rature, or a too ardent sunray, unless the scale with its protecting coat or the horrible 
thrip, or one of those tiny slugs, the more formidable because they conceal themselves 
so readily, may have been the cause of the disaster. 
But after all, perhaps the difficulty in raising seedling Orchids is a blessing in 
disguise from an amateut’s point of view. If all the seeds were to germinate and only 
one plant out of a thousand seeds sown were to reach maturity, the greenhouses of 
Europe in a few years would be encumbered with hybrids which would soon .lose 
all value because of their too great abundance. Now, in view of the number of hybrids 
increasing each day, and appearing in competitions and at meetings of horticultural 
Societies; in view of the thousands of seedlings growing on with nurserymen and 
amateurs, the opinion is beginning to gain ground that there is no longer much _to 
be done in this way. It would be possible to support this view with a semblance 
of reason in regard to such genera as Cattleya, Laelia, and Cypripedium to which 
raisers have hitherto been a little too much confined. But a simple calculation may 
re-assure the adepts in hybridisation. 
Take for example the genus Cypripedium of which about 60 distinct species are 
known. These 60 crossed one with another may give rise to 60 X 59 = 3540 hybrids ; 
about 400 of these have already seen daylight, and thus more than 3000 hybrids of the first 
- degree still remain to be produced. If the 400 already existing hybrids be crossed either 
among themselves or with the 60 type species, the result will be 400 x 459 = 183,600 
possible combinations representing hybrids of the second or third degree. If we pass 
on to the combinations of these latter a number of thousands of millions will be reached. 
There is still therefore good times in store for raisers of Cypripediums, and they may 
for several generations to come give themselves over to their favourite hobby, before 
attaining, by the commingling of all the various bloods, the archetype of Cypripediums. 
which will doubtless be a marvel — that is unless it prove a monstrosity, as nature abhors 
to be violated indefinitely. 
Other genera may be submitted to a similar calculation, and one may well stand 
aghast at the number of possible combinations. Duplicates therefore need not cause any 
anxiety, and one always has a chance of producing a novelty if not a beauty — that is the 
point, to produce « the beauty. » 
Of what use is artificial fertilisation if the resulting hybrid be inferior to the parents 
which produced it? How many hybrids, among Cypripediums especially, have seen the 
light within recent years, and are only fit to disappear again. The knowledge or 
(Continued on p. 14) 
L meg | 
eVia 
