302 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
ORCHID CERTIFICATES. 
A VERY important question has come before the Committee of the Manchester 
and North of England Orchid Society, namely, whether a First-class 
Certificate should be awarded to every sufficiently meritorious Orchid which 
is brought before it, irrespective of whether the award has previously been 
given to the same variety, or not; and as both sides of the question have 
found adherents we have been invited to offer any suggestions on the 
subject. It is urged that under the existing system the member who gets 
his plant in first runs away with the certificate, to the exclusion of others 
who may have an equally meritorious plant, while if it were given to 
excellence alone it would be open to every member owning a good thing to 
get it “‘ Hall-marked,” and a value would then attach itself to the plant if 
it were disposed of when out of bloom. Each member would then have 
an equal chance of getting a good plant certificated, which is not the case 
at present, and thus the question affects the exhibits, and consequently the 
welfare of the society, for under existing circumstances it is obviously 
useless to send up a variety which has been already certificated. The 
only point that seems to be urged against the suggested change is that it 
would have a tendency to reduce the value of the certificate. 
It seems to be a question of policy which must be decided by the society 
itself, but one or two suggestions may help the members in coming to a 
decision. The very existence of the difficulty shows that Orchids can 
hardly be dealt with like many other plants. We believe that the First- 
class Certificate originated as a recognition of superior merit in some 
particular variety or race of plants, mostly of garden origin, which could 
afterwards be propagated and widely distributed, and thus anyone might 
obtain a part of the original stock, and the award, having served its purpose, 
would not need to be given again. In the case of a natural species which 
can be progagated rapidly and distributed, the same remarks apply ; and to 
some extent also to that of an importation in quantity of any particular 
plant, as for example when the Royal Horticultural Society awarded a 
First-class Certificate to Cypripedium Charlesworthii. That award was a 
recognition of merit in the species which would appeal to many growers 
who purchased plants before seeing it. But there are good and poor 
forms in most species, and the First-class Certificate has come to be awarded 
in this sense also, and as many Orchids can only be propagated very slowly 
an enhanced value is attributed to the individual obtaining it which does 
not apply to one in a neighbouring collection, which may be of equal or 
even superior merit, yet is precluded from obtaining the Certificate under 
existing conditions. 
The requirements of the case would perhaps be met by a certificate of 
