TAH eoORGHH IRV LEW 
VoL. XX. ] MARCH, tg12. [No. 231. 
OUR NOTE BOOK. 
THE question of Orchid Awards cropped up again at the Annual General 
Meeting of the R.H.S. A Fellow pointed out that the First-class Certifi- 
cate was seldom given to what were called “ florists’ flowers,” and then 
generally after an Award of Merit had been obtained first. But with regard 
to Orchids it was different, for out of forty-five First-class Certificates 
awarded last year, thirty-seven were given to Orchids, and he drew the 
inference that there was something amiss in relation to the awards given by 
the different Committees. We should rather regard it as affording an indi- 
cation of the enormous progress that is being made in the improvement of 
these beautiful plants, and considering the constant stream of novelties of 
sterling merit that appear at the meetings the wonder is that the number 
of those awards is not greater. 
A reference to Plant Nomenclature appears in the Report of the Council 
of the R.H.S. for r911. The Rules adopted by the Brussels Horticultural 
Congress having been published, the Standing Committee are requested to 
adopt them in the Society’s work. Fellows, and especially Exhibitors, 
are asked to make themselves familiar with these rules for naming their 
plants, and to act on their guidance, as by so doing they will materially 
help to clear up that confusion and duplication of names which, not only 
causes so much difficulty in horticultural work, but is also productive of not 
a little disappointment and soreness to buyers. ? 
We hope that both Committees and Exhibitors will bear the point in 
mind, for much of the confusion could be avoided if a little more care was. 
taken at the outset. For example, Mr. Crawshay writes to point out that 
the hybrid between Odontoglossum crispum and O. eximium, which was 
recently certificated by the Manchester Orchid Society, under the name of 
O. Delhi, and is figured at page 44 of our last issue, was certificated by 
them a few months earlier as O. Orpheus, while at the Temple Show in 
1910 the same hybrid was certificated by the R.H.S. as O. Promereus. 
The latter name, however, is erroneous, and requires to be amended to 
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