AUGUST, 1922.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 239- 
The writer well remembers visiting a suburb of London and really 
enjoying several hours amongst the plants. They were all cultivated in a 
house which for the greater part of the year received very little sunshine. 
The owner was not ambitious as to acquiring highly coloured Cattleyas. 
He studied a number of interesting species until he became quite an: 
authority on what he delighted to call his own little section of Orchidology. 
The smaller the plant in its habit of growth so much the more did it appeal. 
to him, for, in his own words, he got greater variety of structure and flowers: 
in a very small space. Many of these plants were cultivated in shallow 
pans suspended over the pathway, and it was a frequent pleasure for him, 
on his return home in the evening, to take down a few of them in order to- 
discover whether they had produced some of their microscopic and highly 
interesting flowers during his absence. 
Many of these plants were Masdevallias. They appeared to suit the 
prevailing conditions admirably, and being without pseudobulbs all that was- 
necessary regarding the application of water consisted of a few cans daily 
during the summer and less frequently during the winter. These plants 
require no definite season of resting or so-called drying-off, and their 
simplicity in this respect made cultivation so much easier. Potting was a 
simple process, for the small pots and shallow pans required but a 
comparative trifling amount of compost. Of the many dozens that were 
cultivated, the winter-flowering M. tovarensis with its pure white flowers 
proved very pleasing, as also did the richly coloured and varying forms of 
M. coccinea and M. ignea. One little species, known as M. muscosa, was- 
a perfect wonder in the eyes of this amateur, as indeed it is to-day with: 
many others. . When any small insect enters the flower the lip springs up, 
closing firmly over the column, and imprisons the insect for about a 
quarter of an hour. Nearly all the species in this genus are suitable for 
cool house treatment, and of the few that require a slightly higher 
- temperature it is possible that a place near the boiler end of the house may” 
be found warm enough for them. 
Ccelogyne cristata is easily cultivated in a cool house during the summer 
months, but in winter time it appears to succeed best when placed in a 
somewhat drier place, such as the intermediate house, or the cool end of 
the Cattleya house.’ In other words, it seems to require about the same: 
temperature all the year through. If the bulbs and foliage are over supplied. 
with moisture during the late autumn and winter months there is a likeli- 
hood of the flower-buds rotting. This is one of the plants which appears: 
to succeed best, so far as flowering is concerned, when a large number 
of bulbs are crowded in a pan or pot. Specimens resembling a heaped. 
measure of green plums seldom fail to yield a quantity of bloom in due: 
season. 
