APRIL, 1906.) THE ORCHID REVIEW. m7 
particularly in the embryo. He described what happened during the 
germination of Orchid seed. It seems thata — of any must be pre: 
sent, and this fungus is antag ic to the 
eating up the starch and what not that is formed within re naibiye: Sac, 
and the case seems almost hopeless for the seed, when suddenly it asserts 
itself, falls upon the fungus and devours it. When this fungus is absent 
germination will not take place, and Professor Henslow gave this as the 
reason why the seed must be sown on the surface of a pot in which an 
Orchid is growing, as the fungus would be present among the roots. That 
there isa phenomenon of this kind about most of us who have sown a Jot 
of seed will gladly admit, but the unfortunate affair is that the seed does not 
always germinate when sown on the surface of another plant. In the 
Journal of the Board of Agriculture a good deal has been said during the 
last two years on the i 1 of legumi plants, and although it is 
evident from the results of recent experiments throughout the country, that 
the subject of plant inoculation is still in the experimental stage, some 
positive results have been obtained from the use of “ cultures.”” Could not 
some one of our Orchid-growing scientists take this matter of the fungus up 
and solve it for us in a practical way? Could not this fungus be cultivated 
and handed round so that we could ‘ inoculate” a seed pan as occasion 
required. I do not wish to be pulled up for writing nonsense, but it appears 
to me to be as feasible to cultivate this fungus as it is for the bacteriologists 
to make their cultures from the nodules of the leguminous plants. 
However, with some insistence, we are now raising a good many 
Orchids, fungus or no fungus, and though we may to a large extent be 
working in the dark, the results encourage us to persevere, and the obstacles 
and disappointments that one meets only help to accentuate the triumphs. 
Lelio-Cattleyas have been, and are being, raised in large numbers, and 
a good many different methods are employed. The necessity of sowing 
them on potted plants has been disproved, but that method may be still a 
very good and reliable one, and with the exception of Lelio-Cattleyas I do 
not know that it has been Sime For instance, one never hears of 
di or Od being raised on anything but on the 
” 
surface of growing pious There may be something in having an “eye 
for a likely surface, and the rest must be done with care and devotion as to 
watering, spraying, general healthy surroundings, and the many things 
which go to make up good growing. 
METHOD oF SowiING THE SEED.—Having selected the pots on which 
it is intended to sow, clip over the surface evenly, and then give a good 
watering. Choose pots that are not too large and in which the plants are 
well established and healthy. It is hardly necessary to say that Odonto- 
glossum seed should be sown on pots containing Odontoglossum plants, 
