THE ORCHID REVIEW. 3 
THE HISTORY OF ORCHID HYBRIDISATION. 
PART I. 
Few subjects at the present time are of more importance, or possess a 
greater interest, than the question of Orchid hybridisation. Long ago its 
practicability as a means of originating new and distinct forms, combining 
floriferousness and brilliancy of colouring with vigour of constitution, was 
abundantly demonstrated, and at the present time experiments of one 
kind cr another are in progress in almost every collection of importance. 
Hybrid Orchids occupy a very important place in modern collections, and 
their number is now so great, and so constantly increasing, that a summary 
of the results hitherto obtained in this hee eg field will doubtless prove 
welcome to a large circle of readers. 
It was about the year 1852 that the late Mr. Dominy, acting on the 
suggestion of Mr. John Harris, a surgeon of Exeter, began to make experi- 
ments in hybridising Orchids. He is said to have commenced with the 
genus Cattleya, but the first hybrid which reached the flowering stage was 
Calanthe x Dominii, and as the results of any cross can only be judged 
when flowers are produced, it will be convenient to date our observations 
from this event. 
It was in October, 1856, that Calanthe x Dominii flowered for the first 
time, as was announced by Dr. Lindley, in the pages of the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, in January, 1858. ‘‘On the 28th October,” he writes, ‘‘ Mr. 
James Veitch, jun., of the Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, brought to the writer 
of this memorandum a flower of a Calanthe which combined the peculiar 
hairy forked spur and deeply lobed lip of the white Calanthe furcata, with 
the violet colour and broad middle lobe of the lip of C. Masuca. One might 
have said that the flowers were just intermediate between the two. . . . It 
appears that it had been raised in the Exeter Nursery, by Mr.. Dominy, 
Messrs. Veitch’s indefatigable and very intelligent foreman, between C. 
Masuca and C. furcata. The seed was obtained in 1854 by crossing these 
two species, was immediately sown, and in two years the seedlings were in 
flower. Nor is it the least remarkable circumstance connected with this 
production that it grows and flowers freely, while C. Masuca is a ‘shy’ 
plant. We therefore propose, with much pleasure, that the name of the 
hybrid be Calanthe Dominii, in order to put upon record the name of the 
first man who succeeded in this operation. He is indeed specially entitled 
to this distinction, not only in consequence of having produced other 
Orchidaceous mules, among which we understand are Cattleyas, but 
because of his eminent success in raising such plants from seed, as a 
matter of horticultural business.” 
The event was a remarkable one in several respects, and it appears 
