May, 1923.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 139 
drums of the radicans section grew like weeds and were easily managed. 
Amongst them I had Bourtoni, Gattonense, and -xanthinum. A rarer one 
was arachnoglossum. I had a few plants of vitellinum majus, which I 
bought at an auction sale, but [ could make no headway with these plants. 
To start with they were weak plants, and getting wrong treatment they did 
not survive long. 
Lycaste Skinneri was one of my showy Orchids, one of them deserving 
of a varietal name. Lycaste Deppei did not grow so well in my collection. 
Pleiones were always favourites of mine, and bloomed regularly with me. 
Amongst those I possessed were lagenaria, praecox, and its variety 
Wallichiana. Two other good ones that the amateur might add to his 
collection are Delavayi and yunnanensis. Zygopetalum Mackayi and 
Maxillaria Sanderiana grew strongly in my greenhouse, and never failed to 
give a good account of themselves at flowering time. Easily managed and 
as easily propagated, these two fine species are well worth a: place in the 
amateur’s colléction. I made an attempt to grow Disas, and acquired a 
few plants from Messrs. Flory & Black in 1916, but like others before me I 
failed to grow them. I tried the species grandiflora, and the hybrids Luna 
and Blackii, and of the three, Luna gave the best account of itself, giving 
me a good spike one season. All the same I think that I will grow them 
better at the next attempt. 
Regarding the Vandas, the only one which I was able to bloom was, 
strange to say, coerulea, but never again did it show its lovely flowers. 
Vanda suavis was robust enough, but refused to bloom. This is an 
interesting section. Odontoglossums with Odontiodas were my chief 
plants, and I had, leaving out July and August, always some variety in 
flower, and taking them all over I would say that they did well. I had my 
setbacks always at potting time, and, as I was often away during May and 
September, some of these plants never got a chance. Never again will I 
use polypodium fibre, an excess of oak leaves and livesphagnum in a moist 
condition, in my potting mixture. One watering, and the plants took a 
long time to get dry again, and by that time any roots they possessed had 
gone, and it was some time before one could get the plants established. In 
future I am potting Odontoglossums and Odonticdas in two parts osmunda 
fibre, one part sphagnum moss, and a sprinkling of oak leaves, keeping off 
direct watering for from 4 to 6 weeks. One can always keep the surface of 
the compost moist when necessary with one of the modern sprayers. An 
interesting speculation is to buy plants of this section as unflowered 
seedlings. I purchased a dozen of these from a well-known southern 
grower, and on the arrival of the plants I discovered that each plant had 
part of the old flower stalk remaining. Truly, there is roguery in all trades. 
One often wonders what becomes of the tens of thousands of Orchid 
