re ORO Pee) CEN we, 
VoL. XXI.] FEBRUARY, 1913. [No. 242. 
OUR NOTE BOOK. 
‘* A BANK of wondrous flowers crowned by sweeping sprays of dainty 
blooms in every shade of white, yellow, mauve, lavender, blue; to the left 
another range of colour centred by vivid scarlet in profusion; on every 
side graceful artistic clumps of flowers soaring some twelve feet aloft ; long 
ranges beyond in every shade of colour; some plants set amidst delicate 
ferns, others relying for background on their own restful natural foliage. 
The scene is the show of autumn-blooming Orchids connected with the 
Royal Horticultural Society’s show at Westminster—a scene set amid a 
group of fashionable folk talking on every subject under the sun, from 
Orchids to hats and umbrellas. The show was one of the best of its class 
to be seen in the world, and showed the wonderful advance of the hybrid, 
which formed about two-thirds of the exhibition.” 
This cutting, for which we are indebted to a friend, was taken from 
Bladud, the Bath Society paper, for December 25th, and quite explains 
itself. The writer then inquires. ‘‘ Why should more ladies not make the 
cultivation of the Orchid their hobby or their serious occupation ? there 
could be no more delightful task. The taste is a growing one, the fashion 
of the flower makes conquests every day. The idea that extreme heat and 
care are necessary is quite erroneous in many branches. The Odonto- 
glossum, for instance, which figures here so large, only needs a Cool house 
with an average temperature of 50°, plenty of fresh air, but no frost or fog. 
The work, too, has none of the gritty side of gardening, the potting is 
cleanly work, merely osmunda fibre and sphagnum moss. The reward is a 
feast of colour in the home such as no other flower can yield. The hobby 
is far more satisfactory than the present rage for the rock garden, and may 
be taken up at far less outlay.” 
The author was doing so well as a descriptive writer that it is a pity 
am incursion was made into history. He remarks: “It was Julius Linden 
who discovered the Orchid, and he is said to have nearly two hundred 
classes of this plant, divided into something like twelve hundred different 
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