5 Che Orchid Review %} 
(2 VoL. XXIII... Fepruary, 1915. No. 266. ey 
eessess| OUR NOTE BOOK, Ber | 
HE time has not come for writing an article on the effect of War upon 
Orchidology, but we have received several letters of sympathy with 
the owners of ccllections within the war area, especially in Belgium, and of 
enquiry as to their safety, to which a reply may be attempted. It is, how- 
ever, very difficult to obtain information, as the doings of Orchidists in 
other lands have been almost completely cut off by the colossal struggle. 
So far as we know these collections are safe, or were so recently, and we 
have information in four cases, but work in them is being carried on under 
enormous difficulties, many men being away at the front, and some even exiles. 
from a land where it was generally supposed that the blessings of peace had 
been secured in perpetuity. It is one of the tragedies of the war that a 
peaceful little nation, whose neutrality the great powers had sworn to 
protect, should be the chief sufferer. This is not the place to discuss the 
merits of the question, but the efforts our own country made to avert the 
catastrophe, and the consequences of its failure, are already matters 
of history. 
We have already alluded to the temporary suspension of- French horti- 
cultural publications, and the remark applies equally to the Belgian, for the 
Revue d’Horticulture Belge and the Tribune Horticole have ceased to appear. 
In France, however, there are signs of renewed activity. The Journal of 
the Société Nationale d’Horticulture de France has again made its appear- 
ance. The present number is dated July-December, 1914, and contains a 
short account of the Society’s doings. When mobilisation was ordered the 
work of the Society was interfered with by the absence of so many of its 
members at the front, and the President, M. Viger, therefore, on August 
8th, called a meeting of those of his colleagues who remained in Paris, and 
it was decided that the meetings and the publication of the Journal of the 
Society should be temporarily suspended. The Society’s Hall was also- 
placed at the disposal of the Red Cross Society. A second meeting was- 
33 
