DECEMBER, 1907.| THE ORCHID REVIEW. 373 
AN AMATEUR’S COLLECTION. 
WE have received a very interesting letter from a correspondent, showing 
what an amount of pleasure can be obtained from even a small house of 
‘Orchids. ‘I have hada small house built,” he writes, ‘‘and already have 
some pretty varieties. Cattleya X Mantinii and Cypripedium Xx Evelyn 
Ames are just bursting into flower. C. xX Maudie magnificum, C. insigne 
Harefield Hall, C. i. Wm. Millie Dow, and other yellow varieties, I have just 
cut, and C. i. Sandere, C. x Arthurianum and others are in bloom. 
Probably next year I shall have them in fine condition, and a few more good 
varieties in Odontoglossums. Of these I have already some good varieties, 
and others unflowered.”” He has also commenced hybridisation experiments, 
and intends to send a few seeds to another correspondent who had expressed 
a wish to try his hand at raising seedlings while his own capsules are 
ripening. It is pleasant.to see a friendly feeling of this kind, for our corres- 
pondent remarks: “I find the majority of people are afraid of parting with 
a few seeds.” But there may be mutual advantages in an exchange of this 
kind, for it gives an increased chance of the seedlings germinating, and this 
is really the most difficult part of the business. It is surprising what an 
amount of pleasure can be got out of a small house of Orchids, and the 
raising of seedlings and watching their gradual progress until the flowers 
appear is the most fascinating of hobbies. 
ORCHIDS IN SEASON. 
Flowers of two handsome Leelio-cattleyas are sent from the collection of 
Major G. L. Holford, Westonbirt, Tetbury, by Mr. Alexander. L.-c- 
Barbarossa (L.-c. callistoglossa X C. Trianz) is a remarkably large and 
handsome thing, with broad rosy-lilac sepals and petals, and the lip rich 
amethyst purple to near the base, somewhat darker on the disc, and with a 
little dull orange deep in the throat. L.-c. Golden Oriole (L.-c. Charles- 
worthii x C. Dowiana aurea) has deep orange-coloured sepals and petals, 
and a reddish purple lip, which is veined throughout with orange-coloured 
veins, as in the pollen parent. The latter species is represented to the 
extent of three-fourths, and the plant promises to develop into a very showy 
thing. A flower of the handsome Cypripedium x nitens-Leeanum vat. 
Hannibal, which gained a First-class Certificate from the R.H.S. on 
November 12th, is also sent. It is very large and of excellent shape, with 
the lip and petals suffused with shining purple-brown, and the base and 
centre of the dorsal sepal green, heavily blotched with brown, and the broad 
margin white. 
A fine spike of Dendrobium superbiens bearing nineteen well-developed 
flowers is sent from the collection of A. J- Oakshott, Esq., Lower Bebing- 
