258 THE ORCHID REVIEW. (SEPTEMBER, 1904, 
would have made quite a stir or received a First-class Certificate. Rapid 
strides are being made among Odontoglossums, and quite a number have 
already flowered and been recorded this year. Foremost among them 
must be mentioned the three striking forms from’M. Vulysteke, which 
were figured on page 209, each of which received a First-class Certificate 
at the Temple Show. The novel violet-purple colour introduced in O. xX 
ceeruleum and O. X gandavense came as a surprise, of which there may 
be many more in the future. Mr. Crawshay has also flowered several 
interesting things, whose decorative value can be better judged in the 
future, when the plants become stronger. ‘Several others might be men- 
tioned, especially the blotched forms of O. crispum raised by Messrs. 
Charlesworth and a few others, which are evidently only the first of a long 
series. 
The articles at pages 225 and 228 are particularly interesting in this 
connection. I have long been profoundly puzzled as to why Odontoglossum 
seedlings were so difficult toyraise, for they obviously germinate freely 
enough in a wild state, and an explanation once made by one who had suc- 
ceeded that he did not know why, or how his present treatment differed from 
that of the days when he could not get a seed to germinate, only deepened 
the mystery. The necessity for the presence of some special fungus hardly 
met the case, for where Odontoglossums are grown this fungus must be 
there all the time, so the cause must lie deeper. Now I begin to see day- 
light. It is all very well to say it is a matter of getting the conditions right 
—anybody could say that—the question is what are the right conditions? 
I need not repeat them, but anyone who is interested in the raising of 
seedling Odontoglossums—and who of my readers is not ?—should study 
the articles in question. When we are told that at Streatham Odonto- 
glossums are now raised with almost the same ease and certainty as 
Cattleyas, we can realise that the key of the situation has been found. It 
is not altogether a question of growing Odontoglossums well, for some who 
have succeeded in that have failed to grow seedlings with any degree of 
certainty, in which connection the experience of Messrs. McBean is intet- 
esting, and points to the need for rather more shade and humidity for young 
seedlings than is generally given to established plants. In order to secure 
this special “‘cases”’ are provided, which Mrs. Thwaites has not found neces- 
sary, probably because such conditions are secured in the whole house 
in which the seedlings are grown. Double shading, when necessary, and con- 
stant attention to the humidity of the atmosphere, by spraying and damping 
all available surfaces, would naturally secure this. Under such conditions 
the seedlings make rapid progress, and after reaching a certain stage they 
are less susceptible to injury from fluctuations of temperature and humidity. 
tae a 
