THE ORCHID REVIEW. 359 
when I called at such places as Messrs. Veitch’s, Sander’s, and a few private 
places such as Burford in Mr. Spyer’s time, that their houses were always so 
hot that I soon wished myself outside, I took the wrinkle to keep my 
houses warmer than the Calendars said, and now I grow these Orchids 
without losses or deterioration, and get great quantities of flowers. Asa 
present instance, I have just counted 290 flower spikes of Lelia anceps on 
65 square feet of staging, and the white varieties are just as good as the 
coloured sorts. 
Another great cause of failure is want of water in the growing season. 
When I say want of water I don’t mean simply paucity in damping down, 
but in watering the plants. Don’t be afraid of soft water, give it liberally 
and often. 
When visiting Orchid growing establishments I always from outside look 
to see what air is given, if I find lots of top air given (and I often do find it 
so) I look for, and find, the plants looking, bad, leaves yellow and growths 
poor, simply because top air causes a dry atmosphere, and we should know 
that Orchids absorb their life from a moist atmosphere and not from the 
great masses of peat and sphagnum so many wrongfully use. Again see 
how wonderfully well all those fine seedling Oichids grow and don’t go 
back, simply because they.get the best position in houses, namely, hanging 
from the roofs, which is clear evidence that we shade too much as a rule. 
My experience with manure is, of course, limited, as I hope it will be, 
but I feel convinced that soot and lime sprinkled underneath the stages does 
wonders, as the leaves get such a dark colour, and it seems to me that the 
plants like it, as I fancy it is the. roots that absorb the ammonia given off 
by the mixture. I have proved again and again that one handful of 
guano in a 150-gallon tank improves Dendrobes, Cattleyas, Lelias, 
Ceelogynes, and—who would think it ?—Odontoglossums even. 
Jas. HAMILTON. 
Byrkley Gardens, 
Burton-on-Trent. 
THE HYBRIDIST. 
CATTLEYA X ASTREA. 
A HYBRID raised by M. Ch. Maron, in the establishment of M. Fournier, 
of Marseilles, from C. Skinneri x Loddigesii, and flowered in January last. 
Habit of C. Skinneri; sepals and petals clear rose; lip white, with a 
yellow throat aud a purple blotch in front.—Maron in Le Jardin, Oct. 
20, Pp. 309. 
: CATTLEYA X FERNAND Denis. aa 
Raised in the same collection, from C. Aclandie xX Warscewiczil, 
