228 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
THE HISTORY OF ORCHID CULTIVATION. 
(Continued from page 168). 
Our last paper brought us down to the end of 1837, the annus mirabilis of 
Orchidology, and we may mention that this year saw the commencement of 
Mr. Bateman’s big book before alluded to, as the first plate, Oncidium 
leucochilum, bears the date July, 1837. This remarkable work is unique in 
its way, and is long likely to remain so. The bound volume measures 
nearly 24 feet long by over 1} feet wide, and its ponderous size is amusingly 
caricatured by George Cruikshank at the end of the introduction, where a 
number of men are making a more or less successful attempt to move it 
with ropes and pulley. The work contains forty plates, representing as 
many species, life size, with appropriate descriptions, and an essay on the 
“Culture of Tropical Orchidacez ” as then practised, with plans of the 
epiphyte houses in the gardens of Sigismund Rucker, Esq., of Wandsworth, 
and of the Rev. John Clowes, Broughton Hall, Manchester, together with 
the sketch of the interior of the epiphyte house at Knypersley. The work 
was not completed until 1843 and was dedicated to Her Most Gracious 
Majesty, Queen Adelaide. Many of the plants were new, those described 
here for the first time being :—Barkeria Lindleyana and B. spectabilis, 
Brassavola glauca (now Lelia), Cattleya Skinneri, Cycnoches ventricosum 
and Egertonianum, Cyrtochilum bictoniense (now Odontoglossum), Epiden- 
drum alatum, aloifolium, aromaticum, erubescens, and Stamfordianum, 
Odontoglossum hastatum (now Oncidium), Oncidium Cavendishianum, 
Insleayi (now Odontoglossum), and leucochilum, Peristeria Barkeri (now 
Acineta), Sobralia decora, Stanhopea saccata and tigrina. comin others. 
were also figured here for the first time. 
The introduction of the beautiful Sobralia macrantha is thus described 
(t. 37) : Although repeatedly gathered by botanical collectors, it was never 
introduced into this country until 1841, when through the care and exer- 
tions of Mr. Hartweg and Mr. Skinner, a few plants survived the hitherto 
fatal ordeal of the voyage. Placed in a moist heat, and treated like Bletia 
or Phaius, these plants were found to thrive amazingly, and from one of 
them, which flowered in the garden of the Horticultural Society, Miss 
Drake was permitted to prepare the accompanying plate. The splendour 
of the subject speaks for itself. 
The name of Mr. Skinner figures very prominently in this work as an 
introducer of novelties, and under Cattleya Skinneri (t. 13) is a very 
interesting account of how, when Guatemala was a terra incognita to the 
admirers of Orchidacee, Mr. Bateman heard accidentally that some insects 
had been received in Manchester from a gentleman of the name of Skinner, 
the owner of extensive estates in Guatemala, and the partner in a flourishing 
