108 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
HYBRIDISING DENDROBIUMS. 
AN appeal for help from a brother amateur so far removed as Chicago, is a 
strong inducement to give any assistance I am able to do, but I cannot but 
think Mr. Le Moyne might be better advised than by me. 
It would be an assistance to us all if one of our well-known amateur 
raisers of seedlings would answer his questions, for perhaps it is asking too 
much to expect the professional gardener to make public property of 
essential details acquired in the pursuit of his business, and representing 
so much capital ; still, any stimulus that can be imparted to the buying 
community (and seed raising is a valuable aid in keeping up the interest) 
must tend to the advantage of the sellers. 
The point made that the emission of an odout palpable to our sense by 
some flowers is an indication of their receptive condition, it appears to me, 
so far as our experiments are concerned, may be dismissed by the 
consideration that within reasonable limits as to time, the pollen once 
placed on the stigmatic surface, even at an unsuitable moment, would 
remain there unaltered to effect its purpose later on when the conditions 
were favourable, and this remark applies equally to the question of time of 
day, and presence of sunlight, but as regards the majority of Dendrobiums 
I should think plenty of light is an essential condition to fertilisation. My 
own practice is a convenient one, viz., to operate when I have time. 
There are some very interesting letters in your earlier volumes from the 
late Mr. Pfau and others on the fertilisation of Orchids in the tropics, 
from which may be gleaned that in their native habitats the flowers are 
visited by the insect medium as soon as they open; but these accounts all 
refer to New World species, and I do not remember seeing any similar 
contribution respecting Old World plants, the subjects now dealt with. 
My experience, gained in this comparatively sunless district, is that it is a 
mistake to fertilise Dendrobiums as soon as they are expanded—you lose 
your flowers in the usual way, and the pedicels quickly follow suit. The 
only success (partial) I have had with varieties which are short lived has 
been when experiments have been made with flowers already fading. 
The same observation applies to the pollen employed. I am inclined to 
think it can scarcely be too old, and success has followed the use of flowers 
which have been plucked for several days and allowed to wither before the 
pollen was taken. Much useful experience in this direction, but respecting 
the hybridisation of Cattleyas, was given in your fourth volume by Mr. 
Mead, of Oviedo, Florida. 
Again as to the amount, I may say I have never used the pollen of more 
than one flower, and sometimes have divided that between two desirable 
subjects when I have been short of it, and most of my pods have, when 
