24 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JANUARY, 1906. ~ 
worked round with a potting stick, finishing off with sphagnum which has 
either been finely chopped up or rubbed through a half inch sieve. Care 
should be taken not to bury the base of the little plant too deeply, but 
leave it under rather than on the surface of the compost, and below rather 
than above the rim of the pot. A couple of days after potting they should 
be gone over with a watering can and rose, well settling the surface moss, 
which operation can be repeated in the course of another day or two, and 
then afterwards water individually as they require it, but give them a good 
soaking periodically, making sure that water has reached the drainage ot 
them all. An effort should be made to secure the temperature I have 
named as much as possible—by covering the house up with mats or 
blinds—and as this will be difficult to find in any part of the Odontoglossum 
house, a suitable corner in another house should be found, where the right 
conditions are available. 
SK 
NATURE v. THE ORCHID GROWER. 
Mr. Watson asks (vol. xiii., p. 348)—Is Nature’s way the wrong 
way after all? . . . It is certain that she cannot grow seedling Orchids 
as they are now grown by the up-to-date breeders, whose actual successes in 
cross-breeding are beyond the dreams of the Orchid fancier of twenty 
years ago.” I should rather put it that the Orchid breeder can now 
raise seedling Orchids of many kinds as successfully as Nature herself. 
Nature’s primary object is the reproduction of the species, and this she 
accomplishes with complete success, though she cannot always protect 
the young seedlings from enemies and adverse conditions. in the same way 
as does the Orchid grower, who makes this his first.concern. Nature is only 
incidentally a cross-breeder, but even this she accomplishes in some cases 
wit kable success—Odontogl with a success which for years 
was the despair of Orchid growers, who at last have learnt the trick. And 
natural hybrids among Orchids are far more common than is sometimes 
supposed. As regards culture, is Nature such a poor hand at the business 
as Mr. Watson suggests? She can grow all her Orchidic children, but 
there are many which baffle the best growers, because they have not yet 
learnt just how Nature sets about the business in their individual cases. 
Even as regards rest I am not sure that we can afford to ignore Nature’s 
ways, and we are often copying her when we are unconscious of the 
fact. 
On page 357, line 8, “ heat” should read “ rest.” The sentence would 
then be: Imported Cattleyas require ( or take) more rest than those that 
are raised at home.—J.M.B. 
