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FEBRUARY, 1913.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 43 
most of the difficulty centres round the specific name. The rule provides 
that the specific name of a hybrid (as of a species) shall consist of a single 
word, two short words being permissible when they can be joined by a 
hyphen. Varietal names can then be added as necessary. The latter 
are not limited to a single word, though here also short names are 
recommended. Cattleya Jonesii is correct, but Cattleya John Jones (or 
Mrs. John Jones) is not correct—at all events if applied to a primary hybrid. 
Occasionally we get such names as Cattleya John Jones fulgens, which 
is incorrect, and looks as if the varietal name had got in front of the specific. 
Another point provided by the rules is that incorrect names are to be 
rejected, dropped, or modified (the latter meaning put into correct form). 
This rulehas been completely misunderstood, as we havealready seen. The 
question of the name of generic hybrids, which also figured prominently in 
the discussion, can be dealt with in a sentence. Such names as Zygo-Colax 
and Sophro-Cattleya are not in accordance with the rules. They were 
originally written Zygocolax and Sophrocattleya, which is the correct form. 
The rules are perfectly explicit on these matters, and we appeal to 
hybridists and recorders to adopt them.—Eb.]. 
WATER FOR ORCHIDS. 
An American correspondent writes :—‘‘ We are using the water from the 
Missouri River, and the City Authorities use chemicals for cleaning the 
water. I saw the City Chemist, and was informed that while they use 
alum and chloride of lime for the purifying process the water is not injurious 
to Animal life. The water as we get it contains 200 parts of lime to 
1,000,000 gallons, or 12 grains of lime to 1 gallon of water. I would ask if 
this amount can hurt the Orchids? The Cypripediums seem to be doing 
quite well, but all the epiphytes are not looking so well as two years ago 
when less chemicals were used and the water was almost always dirty. I 
have read your valued paper for several years but very little is said about 
the water used for watering. Is it a general rule to use rain water 
exclusively for Orchids? I shall thank you very much for some light on 
this subject.” 
[Rain or soft water is invariably recommended for Orchids, and in many 
cases tanks are specially provided for storing the rain water collected from 
the roofs. The hard water of some districts is distinctly injurious to 
Orchids, and in such cases it is generally only used for damping down. 
River water is seldom as hard as well water, and if the latter contains lime 
it is injurious to epiphytal and humus-loving Orchids. We do not know 
how far the purifying process mentioned will affect the value of the water 
for Orchid culture, and should be glad to receive the experience of 
our readers.—ED.] 
