dA E- ORCHID REVIEW: 
VOU. AX] SEPTEMBER, tg12. [No. 237. 
OUR NOTE BOOK. 
IN recent issues we have published the programme of the Special Orchid 
Show and Conference to be held by the Royal Horticultural Society on 
November 5th and 6th next (pp. 190, 230), and we hope that our readers 
will do their best to make the event a success. The Orchid Conference 
held in 1885 was one of the most successful events in the Society’s history, 
and although twenty-seven years have since elapsed, some of us have still a 
vivid recollection of the magnificent show of Orchids brought together on 
that occasion. The event took place in May, which is probably the most 
suitable time of year for an Orchid Show, but since that period there has 
been such an enormous accession of autumn-flowering Orchids, chiefly from 
the hands of the hybridist, that there is all the materials for a magnificent 
display. We may also mention in this connection the re-discovery of the 
two “‘lost Orchids,’ Cattleya labiata and Cypripedium Fairrieanum, for 
both are autumn flowers, which have produced a series of very useful and 
beautiful hybrids. It would have been interesting to have had additional 
classes for these two species and their hybrids, and there may still be time 
for such an addition, as the arrangements are not complete. We mention 
the matter here, and intend to put it forward in the proper quarter as a 
practical suggestion. , 
It will have been noticed that there is a series of very interesting com- 
petitive classes, and some of them quite small, so that we hope to see them 
better utilised than in the case of the recent International Horticultural 
Exhibition, which was one of the most disappointing features of a magnifi- 
cent Show. Everyone seemed to have devoted their energies to staging 
miscellaneous groups for effect, and the result was that special classes, ~ 
including those for culture, were almost neglected. At the coming Show 
there are a few classes for effectively-arranged yroups of Orchids, but we 
hope they will not completely overshadow the rest of the Exhibition, 
especially as others are provided for definite subjects and for specimen 
plants. The special class for northern growers should attract some of those 
who live at a distance from London. The Conference itself should provide 
257 
