174 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
NATIONAL ORCHID SOCIETY OF INDIA. 
THE formation of this Society, which is due to the initiative of Mr. P. 5S. 
Chattergee, the well-known Calcutta nurseryman, was mentioned in my 
previous notes at page 140, and its first show, which was held at the 
Victoria Nursery, Narcoledangan, Calcutta, from March 6th to 12th last, 
in connection with Mr. Chattergee’s Annual Orchid Show, was really the 
starting point of the Society. Several members exhibited handsome 
collections, so as to give to this first Orchid féte all its beauty; no less than 
eight competitors entered, and, we may say, that it has totally surpassed all 
anticipation. 
The Victoria Nursery is splendidly adapted for such a féte, and its large 
conservatories were laid out—with a great deal of taste—with rock-works, 
artificial undulations of the ground, as well as a lake, all in the very best 
condition for an Orchid show. 
We must first mention M. Chattergee’s exhibit, being the largest, and 
certainly the finest, as far as varieties and number of plants go. It. 
occupied the whole of the first conservatory, a building over 300 feet long. 
Our favourites were suspended amongst foliage plants, an excellent idea, 
which is far superior to crowded groups, where many interesting things are 
often lost from sight. There could be seen beautiful representatives of our 
Oriental Orchid flora, as well as others, and we were much interested in 
noticing the numerous variations amongst one of our commonest Orchids, 
Dendrobium nobile, including D. n. nobilius, Cooksonianum, Sanderianum, 
as well as D. n. album, a beautiful white form, which would be welcome in 
some of our home sale rooms. 
D. aggregatum, and its variety majus, were also conspicuous, together 
with D. Farmeri and D. chrysotoxum. A well-flowered specimen of D. 
undulatum bearing four long spikes, and a few late D. Phalznopsis, were 
also to be seen. Another Dendrobium also attracted our attention, prob- 
ably a variety of D. Johannis. It is a native of Australia, of dwarf habit, 
bearing a spike about 9 to 12 inches long, with brownish flowers in the 
shape of a small D. undulatum. Very handsome also was D. lituiflorum 
var. Fremanni, bearing richly-coloured flowers. It is very seldom seen in 
European collections. : 
Phalznopses were simply delightful, and we appreciated them as a 
home Orchid grower would do, but, as a matter of fact, they do thrive 
wonderfully well over here, and are found in every Indian collection ; 
P. Schilleriana, amabilis and grandiflora were represented by nothing under 
six or seven dozen. No word can express such a beautiful display. 
Paphiopedilums were represented by P. insigne, exul, venustum, Spicer- 
ianum, and callosum, and Oncidiums by some fine specimens of O. 
