44 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
of lime are put into a tub with twelve gallons of water, and, after being 
thoroughly mixed, the liquid is allowed to stand for about three days, when 
it is ready for use. In practice the tub is re-filled with water, soot and lime, 
after the necessary quantity has been used, so that the mixture always 
stands three or four days before it is required again. No care is taken to 
use only the clear liquid, for the thick mixture seems to act just as well, and 
is even thought to give off its ammonia more slowly than the clear liquid 
does. When the mixture is ready for use, and the appointed day has 
arrived, it is spread over the cindered stages of the Orchid houses, at the 
rate of about three gallons to a glass house containing 4,000 cubic feet of 
air space. In smaller houses a proportionately less quantity must be used. 
Before finishing this note, | may explain that all the stages are con- 
structed in one way. They are solid erections of iron, brick, and slate, — 
covered with rough cinders to the depth of about three or four inches, and 
above these cinder-covered stages are pitch-pine lattices, on which all the 
Orchid pots stand. The liquid is put down just before the gardeners leave 
off work for the day, and it gives off its vapour gradually until the morning. 
when little or no smell is left. In the course of a year the cinders become 
clogged with soot, and they are then removed and replaced with fresh ones. 
Bridge Hall, Bury. O. O. WRIGLEY. 
CYPRIPEDIUM CHARLESWORTHII ABNORMAL. 
AN abnormal flower of Cypripedium Charlesworthii in my collection shows 
the following peculiarities :—The sepals are much twisted, the lower one 
split throughout its entire length ; the petals are much displaced, and one 
side of the labellum appears as if cut away with a sharp knife. A third 
stamen (infertile) has its origin near the base of the column, on the under 
side, and one half of the stigma is petaloid. The cause of these peculiarities 
is a small body in the ovary, which body is oval-shaped, and about as large as 
the pollen mass of an ordinary Cypripedium. Above it there are no ovules. 
It is about a quarter of an inch from the summit of the ovary, and its origin 
is still obscure. 
OAKES AMES. 
North Easton, Mass., U.S.A. 
[It is difficult to suggest an explanation of the peculiarities of this flower 
without seeing it, but it may be that the body found within the ovary 
represents one of the missing parts, which has become displaced, possibly 
one of the side-lobes of the lip. And the third infertile stamen may be the 
one numbered a 3 in the Darwinian notation, which is absent in the normal 
flower.—Ep. | 
