DECEMBER, 1922.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 369 
above. It was about this time that war was declared, and for the next four 
or five years the Orchids, although not altogether neglected. did not receive 
the same constant personal attention, and I attribute to this the long time 
occupied by the seedlings in reaching the flowering stage. However, during 
the past couple of years the plants have received better care, and responded 
wonderfully. I repotted most of them into the smallest pots possible, and 
now they are nearly all in vigorous growth. 
I found great difficulty in this dry climate in keeping the smaller pots 
of seedlings uniformally moist, but eventually adopted the plan of placing 
eich small pot in a larger one with ample drainage of broken crocks and 
packing round the surface a layer of sphagnum. Since adopting this plan a 
year or so ago most of these small, backward plants have doubled in size. 
My experience shows that in each batch of seedlings there are a number of 
plants that are slow to germinate and afterwards appear to have no vigour. 
I am carefully nursing these weak plants, hoping to get something extra 
choice from them. Asan instance of tke slow germination and growth of 
Cypripediums, I have just been top-dre sing a plant which was used asa 
mother plant to sow seed on six years ago, and was surprised to find half-a- 
dozen seedlings growing in the surface moss. These plants have two or 
three leaves and are up to two inches across; when the seed germinated I 
cannot say, but it must have remained dormant for at least three years 
after sowing. 
Eight years after I sowed the first of my crosses I flowered a few plants, 
this year over thirty have bloomed, most of them for the first time eight to 
ten years after the seed was sown. I have still 200 unflowered seedlings, so 
I shall be kept busy classifying and recording them for the next two or 
three years. It will be readily understood that I am having a very 
interesting time with my plants. I know of no more delightful experience 
for the amateur gardener than to watch the gradual unfolding of the first 
flowers on seedlings he has himself raised from seed of his own crossing, 
thus seeing the results of years of labour. — 
It may fairly be asked what have been the results of this long waiting? 
With me on the whole they have been distinctly good. While some of the 
crosses have only reproduced ordinary types, others are much above the 
average, and are either distinct improvements on the parent plants, or else 
are so distinct as to be practically new varieties. All my crosses were 
carefully labelled and recorded when the flowers were worked, and also 
when the seed was sown and the resulting seedlings transplanted. But the 
diversity of the varieties apparently from the one batch of seedlings makes 
one wonder if a mistake has been made, or whether there is always great 
variation with certain crosses when hybrids are used as parents. One of 
my most successful and variable crosses was, according to my records,. 
