AUGUST, 1y07.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 229 
suggested that one important factor was abundance of light in winter, the 
sea being only about seven miles away, yet the situation not low. Other 
important matters are the constant attention to the details of temperature, 
shading, ventilating and watering, the result of long experience. 
In this house a few good O. sceptrum were in flower. A plant of O. X 
mulus bore a pannicle with three side branches and forty-six flowers, 
fourteen being on the leading branch. A strong O. Pescatorei had thirteen 
branches and over a hundred flowers, the plant being a picture of robust 
health. We noted also O. luteopurpureum and a good O. X Ruckerianum. 
The next house was parallel to this and of similar size, with openings in 
the party wall separating them, and looking along we noticed that the 
leaves were constantly moving with the current of air. Here we noticed a 
very fine O. crispum with a spike of twenty flowers, there being a side 
branch near the base, also plants of O. Lindleyanum and O. cirrhosum, 
one of the latter bearing three pods as the result of crossing with Cochlioda 
Neetzliana. Oncidium incurvum was throwing up some fine spikes. There 
were also four good O. macranthum in flower, with Odontoglossum xX 
excellens, O. gloriosum, and others. 
The third house is similar, and on one side we noticed a solid stage over 
the pipes, covered with breeze for moisture-retaining purposes. In this 
house a number of good O. crispum were in bloom, including an exception- 
ally fine white form with few spots on the sepals, some pretty rosy forms, 
and four good blotched varieties. One very strong crispum spike bore 
eighteen buds. We also noticed examples of O. x Adrianz, while the very 
Tare O. ramosissimum album was pointed out, this not being in flower. A 
plant of O. c. Pittianum, which is being taken care of here, had three large 
bulbs and one growth, while a fine O. x Wilckeanum Pittiz has recently 
produced three spikes, two of them with an aggregate of thirty-three 
flowers from the same bulb. Here we saw a nice batch of seedlings, 
including some from O. Pescatorei X crispum, both being fine spotted 
forms. A number of capsules told of hybridisation experiments, but more 
of this presently. 
We now passed successively through four other large houses, on some 
of which, at least, we noticed that the shading was of tiffany, and there 
were closed stages for moisture-retaining purposes below the open ones. 
Here the same excellent culture was apparent, and Mr. McBean turned out 
a plant that had been potted only seven weeks, and showed that the com- 
post was already full of roots. In the second of these houses we saw a lot 
of seedlings, mostly in small cases on shelves close to the glass. The tiny 
pots were bedded out in cocoanut fibre, and the two half sheets of glass 
were arranged in a shallow span, with the sunny side whitened beneath, a 
chink of air being given by the insertion of a small lath. Mr. McBean 
