18 orchid-grower's manual. 



We are sometimes apt to think we can easily pick out the different 

 varieties of families by their general aspect, but experience teaches us 

 otherwise ; we may be able to do so with some kinds, but it is quite a 

 chance, a great deal depending upon the locality and the situation in 

 which the specimens are grown. In some places the bulbs will be short, 

 in others quite different. Cattleyas and Laelias, for instance, are often 

 brought home grown in this way, which makes it difficult to distinguish 

 them, and there are also other kinds of Orchids, such as Odonioglots, to 

 which the same remark applies. Sometimes a particular species may 

 have dark-coloured bulbs, and at other times light green ones, and yet 

 be of the same variety with the same flowers. This adds to the difficulty 

 of identifying the difierent kinds . In the case of Odontoglossum Alexaitdrae 

 there are some bulbs that will enable the observer to tell if the varieties 

 are likely to be good as to form and size, but one cannot tell the colour. 

 There are no doubt localities where the best species and varieties have 

 been observed to abound, and when this is the case bad kinds very rarely 

 appear in these spots, even through insect agency. Collectors should 

 endeavour to avoid sending home the bad strains of these plants. 

 Many of them are acquiring more knowledge of the localities where the 

 best varieties are to be found, and they begin to see that the good forms 

 pay the best, since they take up no more room than the bad ones, and 

 buyers are willing to pay more for them instead of growing the poor 

 varieties, of which there are so many sold in auction rooms. Even 

 purchasers now appear to know more than they did of the quality of the 

 plants by the appearance of the bulbs, though sometimes they are dis- 

 appointed. On the other side there is the chance of picking up new 

 ones among those which are not considered to be of the right sort, so 

 that it is advisable not to destroy any until they have flowered ; even 

 then, if the plant is weak, though the flowers may be poor* yet if there 

 is form and substance in them, it is best to grow them on and flower 

 them again, and then it is more than probable they majr be approved. 



