8 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



and find our coloured plate. And thus we complete the circle, but where 

 is the history ? Perhaps the author anticipates some such query when he 

 observes that " many experts will wish that I had described some which are 

 passed over and omitted some described." We might do so, but we hardly 

 know under which head to include the last two examples. " Described " 

 they are not, but one can hardly call them " passed over." But our space 

 is exhausted. Mr. Boyle has certainly produced an interesting book from 

 which Orchid growers, no less than the general reader, will derive 



ANGECTOCHILI. 



These charming little plants have the reputation of being difficult to keep 

 in health for long together. Mr. James O'Brien has recently been dis- 

 cussing the subject {Gard. Chron., 1901, xxx., p. 410), and remarks as 

 follows: — "These plants I, like others, fourjd to be very difficult to keep 

 alive for any great length of time. The plants would -row well for a time, 

 continually extending their creeping stems ; then suddenly they went off. 

 Ultimately, I made it a rule to take off every point as soon as a root was 

 made at the base of the leaves. This was placed in a small Orchid pan, in 

 loam fibre and sphagnum moss, and suspended like any other Orchid in a 

 moist tank-house. I do not remember that one of these died so long as 

 this practice was continued, and the old stumps gave a good supply of fresh 

 growths to treat in the same manner. This method meets the difficulties 

 of our being unable to give these plants the same conditions that they get 

 at home, and serves to perpetuate the plant in the same manner as propaga- 

 tion by cutting or dividing may perpetuate an annual without sowing every 



This brought a very interesting reply from Mr. J. K. Budde, Curator of 

 the Utrecht Botanic Garden, as follows (p. 463) : — " If Mr. James O'Brien 

 wishes to see a fine collection of Ancectochili, let him come to the Botanic 

 Garden of Utrecht, where they have been grown for the last ten years with 

 great success. Nothing else is used as potting materials than peat and 

 sphagnum moss, with a little sand. The principal point is: give them a 

 place on the north side of a small house, and they will grow like weeds." 



We should like to know the names of the species alluded to. Our 

 experience is that some kinds are much more easily grown than others, 

 probably because of differences in their requirements. One has to remem- 

 ber that the plants called Anoectochili in gardens belong to several different 

 genera, and do not all grow under the the climatic conditions, which per- 

 haps explains some of the difficulties experienced by those who attempt to 

 grow them under identical conditions. 



