j The Orchid Review & 
4) OL. XXIII. OcTosBeR, 1915. No. 274. £0) 
Reiss OUR NOTE BOOK. ec} 
HE arrangements for the new certificate for meritorious seedlings 
announced at page 287 have quickly taken shape, and on September 
14th the first ‘‘ Seedling Commendation,” as the new certificate is to be 
called, was given to Cattleya Ashtoni# alba, a very promising seedling 
derived from C. O’Brieniana alba and C. Dusseldorfii Undine, and bearing 
a single white flower in which the characters of the parents are well 
combined. The need of such a certificate has long been felt, for it is well 
known that seedling Orchids have rarely reached their full development at 
their first time of flowering, yet many of them are so interesting as to be 
exhibited at the first opportunity, and in the past the alternative has been 
either to pass them over or to give a certificate to which they are not yet 
entitled, though neither alternative has been felt to be quite satisfactory. 
The Certificate of Appreciation, which was a personal matter, and not 
given to the plant itself, did not meet the case. The new certificate 
provides a way out of the difficulty, but we must express the hope that it 
will be made a condition of its award that full particulars of parentage be 
given in all cases. 
3 ve ay 
Whether the other proposed certificate, for rare species that may not 
come under the class for which a Botanical Certificate is now awarded, 
will work out in the same satisfactory way remains to be seen, but there are’ 
many very interesting and even fascinating little Orchids that are not 
adapted for general culture for decorative purposes, and it is desirable that 
their culture may be encouraged. The Botanical Certificate answered its. 
purpose in a way, for it was sometimes given to such interesting plants, 
but the idea that it was only given to plants not worthy of general cultiva- 
tion tended to discourage it, and its transfer to the Scientific Committee has. 
Practically abolished its use, at all events as a means of encouraging the 
culture of a very interesting class of Orchids, which we know are still 
largely grown, but are not exhibited to the extent they might be if some: 
289 
