228 THE: ORCHID : REVIEW: ..- [Nov.-Dec., 1918. 
successful competitor for the best list of Orchids arranged according to 
climate, winning by about 20 marks, and that Mr. Wentworth Buller was 
second. There were five competitors, and some of the lists contained some 
1200 or 1300 names of Orchids that are or have been in cultivation.” 
@| SANDER & FILS, ST. ANDRE, BRUGES. & 
ONSIDERABLE anxiety has long been felt as to the safety of the 
numerous Orchid collections in Belgium. The following letter has 
been received from Messrs. Sanders, St. Albans, and we sincerely hope that 
the damage will prove to have been less than was at one time feared. We 
also hope to have news of other collections in the liberated area. 
After just four years, we have received for the first time direct news 
from our manager, Mr. T. Mellstrom, who has been looking after our 
establishment at St. André, adjoining Bruges, in Belgium. During those 
four years we had an occasional indirect message from him, but never a 
direct communication. 
He writes that he is well, and that he has been able to save some plants. 
Unfortunately, however, the head clerk was killed the very day before the 
entry of the relieving Belgian Troops. Very considerable damage has been 
done, especially in the form of broken glass, but that any should be left is 
remarkable in view of the fact that the Belgian Front Line for a time 
passed right through the Commune of St. André, just outside Bruges. 
We do not know and can only hope to save part of the vast stock of 
Orchids which—being expelled by the German C der—we had to 
leave there in 1914. We can scarcely hope that many of the 60,000 
Cattleya hybrids, most of which should now have been of flowering size, can 
have been kept alive, but we do hope that some of the equally large 
quantity of Odontoglossum seedlings may be saved, as they would require 
much less fuel than the warmer Cattleyas. 
Weare glad to hear that the beautiful old town of Bruges itself has 
escaped with practically no damage to the various monuments, although the 
outlying parts adjacent to the docks and other places of military importance 
have been smashed up. 
For a time after the outbreak of war, by permission of the Government, 
we were able to export a certain quantity of plants, but soon I 
communication became impossible, and hence it is with the greatest relief 
we hear that there is something of the Nursery left, which for all we knew 
to the contrary might have disappeared from the face of the earth, as has 
been the case with some nurseries nearer the old front lines. We hope 
such fate will be spared to the many establishments in and around Ghent. 
