DECEMBER, 1906. | THE ORCHID REVIEW. 359 
ORCHIDS AT WILDERSPOOL, WARRINGTON. 
It will be remembered that our January issue contained an account, by 
Mr. H. Thorpe, of the fine collection of Orchids of William Bolton, Esq., 
at Wilderspool, Warrington (pp. 3-6). Mr. Crawshay has recently visited 
the collection and has recorded his impressions (Gard. Chron. 1906, ii. 
PP- 317, 318), and the opinions of such a keen grower of Odontoglossums 
are interesting. Mr. Crawshay remarks :—‘‘ Speaking of the plants 
generally, I may say they are growing like weeds, and particularising, I 
wish to commend the details of the Odontoglossum growing to the careful 
consideration of all who specialise in this genus, which has now par 
excellence become the most highly valued of all genera of Orchids.” 
After a note on the situation, he proceeds :—‘‘ The Odontoglossum 
houses are somewhat unique, as the following description will prove. You 
enter a central corridor 70 feet long by 4 feet wide and g feet high, 
which runs north and south. Running east and west of it are four pairs of 
span roof houses 55 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 8 feet high to the ridge 
inside, separated by spaces of 3 feet; the ends are all free, there being no 
doors in them. At the end of the corridor there is one house (which is 
equal to one of the pairs) having no door opposite the end of the corridor. 
‘‘The ventilation of these houses is remarkable, for at first sight there 
appears to be none at all, as there are neither top lights nor side wall 
ventilators to open at all. The ventilation is gained by a few panes of 
glass being open at the ends, and the use of only two doors from the 
corridor into the spaces between the houses, but there are no doors from the 
corridor into the houses themselves to control the admission of air if the 
‘space doors are opened. These space doors do not allow of much 
ventilation, being only two, one on each side of the corridor, not opposite 
each other, but if opened for any cause, of course, there is an inlet of air, 
but this is not the usual course practiced for ventilating purposes. 
‘‘The heating is also remarkable, being one 8-inch pipe under each 
side stage, a thing I have never seen before in any Orchid-growing 
establishment. The stages are 3 feet g inches wide, and only two feet 
from the ground, which has nothing of any sort on it; it is bare, to exhale 
anything which Nature may have put into it or drain off the water from 
the stages.” The stages are lower than in any establishment which Mr. 
Crawshay has seen. 
“The plants stand directly on the slate stages, which are covered 
I to 2 inches deep in cinders crushed to the size of large peas or beans 
The side walls of the house are 3 feet high, and are 1 foot above the stage 
level. From that height the roof runs to the ridge. The shading IS one 
ordinary lath blind, and the hot water has this year been in disuse from 
