FEBRUARY, 1922.| THE ORCHID REVIEW. 5t 
intense heat, as after flowering in April they flowered again in September, 
and the bulbs being unripened the flowers and stems were stunted. This 
month I have a Lycaste Skinneri with five blooms, two of which are on one 
stem, and both good specimens. Cypripedium nitens Drewitt’s variety, G. 
Archimedes, and C. Leeanum var. Chester Rogerson are now in bloom, 
and each plant has two blooms on one stem, in addition to one. or 
two others. My Calanthes, which include C. Sanderiana and C, 
William Murray, have all shed their leaves, but have not flowered this 
last autumn. 
Now a word as regards books. Up till now I have not found one 
up-to-date. All of them say Orchid peat, so much, and sphagnum moss, 
so much, etc. I have yet to discover where Orchid peat comes from, and 
what it is like. Messrs. Charlesworth, however, tell me that osmunda is 
now used where peat was used in the old days. I wonder whether anyone 
has experimented with peat-moss. Last April I put anodd piece of Cypri« 
pedium insigne in this material, and the root growth is surprisingly good. 
I also tried a piece of Coelogyne cristata, but have not yet examined this 
plant as regards the root action. Last week I bought an Odontoglossum 
from a small nurseryman who had purchased some a few years ago at a 
private house sale. The pot was half full of very ordinary garden soil and 
Stones, not forgetting two or three worms. Apparently the plant had 
looked in a bad state, so he had filled up the pot with woodland moss. I 
found no roots at all in the soil, but very nice new roots had spread 
themselves in all directions in this moss, showing very clearly that moss 
was to its liking, even though of the wrong sort. 
By the way; is there any process by which sphagnum moss can be 
treated to rid it of small slugs and snails before being used. I am wonder- 
ing if laying it on wire netting with vaporite underneath would do it; as. I 
have suffered a bit from them, the damage being done to the flower before 
the stem was long enough to put cotton wool around it. 
I hope this letter will catch the eye of some people living in towns who 
have a little greenhouse, probably facing north, and that it will have the 
effect of starting them on what I consider the most interesting of hobbies, 
and not an expensive one. _I find the general idea still is that one must be 
a millionaire to buy Orchids, and to possess hot-houses eating up coal mines 
to grow them in. It is a great pity to my mind, and I think that the 
subject should be more discussed in the papers, and possibly by means of 
lectures given at local horticultural societies. Also, in due course, cups and 
prizes to amateurs who do not employ any gardener for their Orchids, 
PANISEA TRICALLOSA, a native of Assam, bears flowers of pale, trans- 
lucent, yellowish green, with three yellow calli on the disc. 
