Noy.-Drc., 1917|. THE ORCHID REVIEW. * 249 
the complete set), with the accompanying Orchid Stud-Book on the left. 
Similar sets may be found on many library shelves, and they may be said to 
contain the history of Orchid culture for the last quarter of a century, with 
innumerable records from the past. What is now wanted is a general 
index to the whole. The matter had been largely selected when a 
disastrous war broke out, and the arrangements had to be postponed, but 
when normal times return we aim at including the twenty-five volumes, and 
trust that the necessary support will be forthcoming. 
>) 
al CALAN THE: VERDC tit, Be 
E have previously mentioned the interesting “‘lecturets ’’ that used to 
be given at the meetings of the R.H.S. by Mr. James Bateman, and 
of his curious aversion to hybrids. Both points are illustrated in the 
following, which is taken from an address given on November 21st, 1865 
(Gard. Chron., 1865, p. 1109) :— 
“In reference to the charming Calanthe Veitchii, which, it may be 
recollected, is a hybrid between Limatodes rosea and Calanthe vestita, Mr. 
Bateman said that he hoped that Orchids constituted a royal race into 
whose preserves the hybridist would not dare to enter, and that much as he 
appreciated his labours in other departments of Flora’s dominion, he never- 
theless felt a kind of inward satisfaction whenever failure attended his 
attempts to raise cross-bred Orchids. In the case before him, however, he 
was forced to admit, though it nearly choked him to do so, that a 
magnificent result had been obtained, inasmuch as the hybrid in question 
was certainly one of the finest winter-blooming Orchids in cultivation, a 
fact which all who had the good fortune to see Mr. Rucker’s glass-houses at 
the present time would confirm, for they are said to be quite gay with the 
rich rosy flowers of the Calanthe Veitchii.” 
By a fortunate coincidence we find that an account of Mr. Rucker’s fine 
collection at Wandsworth had appeared some months earlier, where the 
following note on this Calanthe is given (p. 55) :— 
“At this dull season, when flowers are everywhere scarce, the display 
made by the charming Calanthe Veitchii, in one of Mr. Rucker's Orchid- 
houses, is well worth travelling miles to see. This glorious plant, a hybrid 
raised at Mr. Veitch’s Exeter Nursery, between Limatodes rosea and 
Calanthe vestita greatly surpasses both parents in grandeur of appearance, 
having a constitution even more robust than that of the Calanthe, and a 
colour much brighter than that of the Limatodes. Had Mr. Dominy 
raised no other seedling Orchid than this, he would have been entitled 
to the best thanks.” 
