8 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (January, 1916, 
ES WINTER-BLOOMING CYPRIPEDIUMS. Eee] 
E have recently been told that Cypripediums are a little out of fashion. 
Such an impression might be formed by a visit to one of our big 
summer Shows, when Odontoglossums and the brilliant Cattleya group 
appear in such overwhelming numbers, but during the dull season 
Cypripediums come into their own again. The reason for this popularity 
is not far to seek. They are easily grown under warm greenhouse 
conditions, very floriferous, and their flowers Jast long in perfection, and 
have a fog-resisting quality possessed by few other Orchids, which is a 
matter of the highest importance in localities where winter fogs are 
prevalent. They also bloom at a time when flowers are scarce, and their 
quaint shape and the exquisite beauty of the markings in many cases 
compensate for a little want of brilliancy of colour. We have heard 
them called studies in green and mahogany, but there is also plenty of 
white and yellow, and more brilliant colours are not entirely lacking. In 
short, they possess a combination of qualities that render them the Orchids 
par excellence for the beginner and the small amateur, Beniies being 
extensively grown in most of the larger establishments. 
The qualities of this particular group are largely due to C. insigne, 
probably the most easily-grown: of all Orchids, and correspondingly 
popular. It fully merits the remark made by Messrs. Veitch that it is one 
of the most useful horticultural plants ever introduced, and at the same 
time one of the easiest to cultivate. We have seen it thriving in an 
ordinary greenhouse, and Mr. F. Boyle has recorded that he once looked 
into a show of window-gardening in the precincts of Westminster Abbey, 
and among the plants there, treasures of the poorest, he found a 
Cypripedium insigne—very healthy and well-grown, too. And speaking of 
a house of them in flower, he remarked: “ The spectacle is as pretty as 
curious when hundreds are open at once, apple green, speckled with brown, 
and tipped with white.” And he adds: “ But to my taste, as a grower, the 
sight is pleasant at all seasons, for the green and- glossy’ leaves encircle 
each pot so closely that they form a bank of foliage without a gap all 
round.” And we may cite a more recent example, for an amateur friend 
has just written: ‘I saw a magnificent sight ten days ago. One longish 
house with 250 pots of C. insigne Sanderianum, best robust type, all in 
bloom on one side of the house—in one case with two flowers on a stem— 
and nearly the same number of C. insigne Harefield Hall var. opposite. 
They are grown nearly as cool as Odontoglossums.” We can easily 
imagine the effect of such a mass of flowers. e 
