282 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
comes into bloom this month, and where there is a dozen or more plants, 
a succession is kept up during this and the next month. Repotting or top- 
dressing may be done soon after the plants have gone out of bloom, as it is 
then that new roots emerge from the base of the last-made bulbs. C. 
Dowiana chrysotoxa and other geographical forms, together with C. Rex, 
should be treated likewise. Very careful treatment is needed after root 
disturbance, especially so far as watering is concerned, an over-dose often 
proving fatal to the plant’s existence at this juncture. It is much better to 
give too little, as then the evil is not so great. A secondary growth often 
makes its appearance at this season, or a little later on, and to hasten its 
development, and to insure its maturing before the winter sets in, plants 
in this condition should be given the most favorable position in the East 
Indian house until these latter have developed. If a sheath is produced in 
these later growths, it is the wisest plan to remove it with a sharp knife 
before the flower-buds appear. Lelia crispa, having flowered during the 
past month, will shortly commence to grow again, but very little difference 
in the treatment will be needed to that in force previously. Of course if any 
of the plants are forward enough to repot, it should be done as advocated 
_ for the other Lzlias and Cattleyas. 
Hybrid Cattleyas and Lzlias, and the hybrids between the two genera, 
have become so numerous that it is impossible to keep count of their 
number other than by notes and references, many being the produce of 
such diverse parentage that is a often a matter of doubt how to treat them, 
but a pretty safe rule to follow is, I think, to treat the hybrid the same as 
one would the parent it most resembles. For instance, when a plant such 
as Lelia x Euterpe takes after L. Dayana more than L. crispa, its other 
parent, its treatment should follow the lines adopted in the cultivation of 
L. Dayana, and so on through the list. If either of the parents have a 
decided partiality for, or disapprobation of a certain course of treatment, 
these traits should be borne in mind when dealing with the progeny, for it 
will be more to the plant’s advantage to study any small or peculiar trait in 
the character of the weakest parent, than to treat the plant on the 
assumption that what the strongest parent approved of the weaker one 
would be sure to appreciate. Take for instance those hybrids such as 
Lelio-cattleya x Ingramii, which has Cattleya Dowiana aurea as one of 
its progenitors ; it is a well-known fact that Lelia Dayana, the other parent, 
has a much better constitution than the former, but to grow the resultant 
cross well, one has to treat it similarly to C. D. aurea. 
A great deal more might be said on this subject, but perhaps these few 
words will provide ideas for the better cultivation of these rare, and often- 
times unique, home-raised Orchids, which are now such a feature of our 
collections. 
