oe THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
form of the same hybrid. The photograph here reproduced shows its 
general character, but the plant is still very small, and the petals do not 
seem quite fully developed. As already remarked the flower sent by Mr. 
Keeling was very handsome. 
ORCHIDS AT BRADFORD. 
Aw illustration of a house of Odontoglossums in Messrs. Charlesworth & 
Co.’s Nursery, at Heaton, Bradford, appears in The Garden for July 13th 
(page 33), together with some interesting notes on the establishment and 
the Orchids cultivated there. It is described as an Orchid Nursery only, 
and its rise and progress are attributed to the growing popularity of this 
beautiful class of plants. A note on the use of leaf-mould in the establish- 
men is so interesting that we reproduce it :— 
“Mr. Charlesworth firmly believes in the new Orchid compost that is 
now becoming so popular with Orchid growers, namely, leaf-soil. This 
must be good and ‘leafy,’ having all the dust and small particles removed 
by a coarse-grained sieve. Mr. Charlesworth hopes in the course of a 
short time to cultivate practically the whole of his Orchids in this compost, 
and to dispense with peat and sphagnum as a rooting medium. The results 
obtained so far with Odontoglossums and Cypripediums in particular are 
veryremarkable. The small and usually delicate Lady’s Slippers in the new 
compost grow with a surprising vigour, while Odontoglossums make growths 
that in the ordinary compost appear to be almost impossible. Miltonias, 
too, with many are often poor growers, the leaves being of a sickly greenish 
yellow, and would hardly be recognized when established in the leaf-soil. 
Orchids that have refused to thrive ina mixture of peat and sphagnum, and 
indeed were quickly dying, have, when provided witha compost of leaf soil, 
not only recovered, but have made astonishing progress too. Cattleyas also 
and other genera are partially cultivated by Mr. Charlesworth in this new 
_ soil that he has so much faith in, and justly so. 
“ There seems to be a probability of Orchid culture being practically 
revolutionized, if the leaf soil continues to prove a success, which so far it 
undoubtedly has done. The culture of Orchids will at least be brought within 
the reach of many more than has hitherto been the case, if it can be proved 
and made generally known that some, at any rate, of the most popular genera 
can be grown under the same treatment as that accorded to ordinary green- 
_ house or warm house plants. That such will prove to be possible in the 
near future we are sufficiently optimistic to believe; it will, at any rate, be 
most interesting to watch what developments follow when the more general 
use of leaf soil for Orchids has been widely advocated.” 
