52 THE: -ORCHID REVIEW. [FEBRUARY, 1922. 
THE AMATEUR’S PAGE, 
REQUEST for a selection of Cypripediums suitable for a cool-house 
comes from an amateur who possesses a greenhouse of the old- 
fashioned type. The rafters are thick and heavy, the squares of glass much 
smaller than now used, and the amount of hot-water piping is only sufficient 
to maintain an average winter temperature of 50°. In addition to this, the 
atmosphere is often polluted with soot from the factories of a large town. 
A greenhouse with the above conditions will be found quite suitable to 
the welfare of many Cypripediums, and, in fact, will yield results not much 
below those obtained in a modern structure if the plants be selected with 
some consideration as to their cultural requirements. 
It may seem elementary advice to recommend the well-known Cypri- 
pedium insigne, for it so willingly accommodates itself to almost every 
kind of soil and treatment. If one felt so desired, a whole house could be 
filled with different forms and varieties, and no two of them exactly similar. 
From the type form right up to the giant variety known as Harefield Hall, 
and from the heavily-spotted varieties to the beautiful clear primrose-yellow 
of the variety Sander, an almost endless series can be acquired. Probably 
in no other Orchid has so much variation been seen. 
C. venustum, with mottled foliage, and C. villosum, with broad glossy 
petals, are both useful species for a cool house. Their real value, however, 
lies in the more attractive hybrids that have been raised from them. Among 
these the primary hybrid nitens (insigne x villosum) and Crossianum 
(insigne X venustum) are both noted for the comparatively low temperature 
in which they may be successfully cultivated. Although C. Spicerianum is 
often grown in a cool house, it is never seen there at its best, for it requires 
a slightly higher temperature to bring out to the fullest extent the attractive 
qualities of its flowers. But there are several excellent hybrids between it 
and the previously mentioned. cool-house plants, and these being inter- 
mediate in character require a temperature only slightly above that needed 
for the insigne section. Several attractive varieties of C. Leeanum (insigne 
x Spicerianum) and of C. Lathamianum (villosum x Spicerianum): are 
readily procured from the trade growers, and as they possess a robust 
constitution, itis not long before larger plants are obtained, and with @ 
consequent increase in the number of flowers. oo 
: A pretty little gem is seen in C. Fairrieanum, which, however, is not in 
itself suitable for cool-house treatment, but many of its charms are carried: 
forward in hybrids between it and the cool-growing insigne. The hybrid 
known as Arthurianum (insigne X Fairreanum) succeeds perfect 
house. Of course, it will occur to every observant cultivator th 
containing in its parentage a species accustomed toa compara 
ly in a cool 
at any plant 
tively higher 
