THE ORCHID REVIEW. 117 
L.-c. x Cassandra in eleven; L.-c. x Mylamiana in thirteen, which was 
also the period required for the development of Cattleya x Mitchellii; while 
Lelio-cattleya x caloglossa brings up the rear with a period of no less than 
nineteen years—an inordinately long period to wait—though fortunately 
quite exceptional. 
The time required for the maturing of the capsule after the flower 
is fertilised is also subject to considerable variation. Calanthe requires 
from three to four months, Masdevallia four, Phalaenopsis and Zygopetalum 
six, Lelia purpurata nine, while Dendrobium, Chysis, Anguloa, Cypri- 
pedium, and Cattleya are mentioned by Mr. Veitch as requiring about 
a year before the seed is ripe. 
Usually the seed is sown as soon as ripe, and before long the seeds 
begin to swell. A tiny leaf may push forth within five or six weeks, or 
it may require as many months, or even longer, but it is on record that 
in some cases the young plants have been pricked off within two or three 
months from the date of sowing the seed. This as well as most other 
details is subject to great variation, and many of the facts are not yet on 
record, though we hope that now that our pages are open to the subject 
they will soon be forthcoming. 
From the foregoing considerations it is clear that the hybridist cannot 
hope to see the results of his labours until some three or four years 
have elapsed since commencing his experiments, though after that time 
a succession of events may be anticipated. Meantime, the pleasure of 
watching their gradual development from the minute seed is sufficient 
reward. 
(To be continued.) 
To-day my gardener has shown me eight different lots of Cypripedium 
seedlings which are just germinating. The seed was sown, in every instance 
on a pot in which a Cypripedium plant is growing, and the compost consists 
of pure fibrous peat, without the addition of any sphagnum at all, nor is 
any living sphagnum allowed to grow on the surface of the peat. 
The following are the various crosses (the seed-parent being placed 
first), and the exact date when the seed was sown:—C. callosum x bella- 
tulum, sown August 14th, 1893; a second lot sown October 13th; C. 
insigne x Spicerianum, sown October toth; C. callosum x venustum, 
sown October 13th ; C. Dayanum x insigne Chantinii, sown October 13th; 
C. Lawrenceanum x Boxallii atratum, sown November 4th; C. Lawrence- 
anum x bellatulum, sown November 14th; and C. barbatum giganteum x 
Druryi, sown November 25th. 
All the seed capsules were ripened in my Cypripedium house, which is a 
lean-to with an eastern exposure, and the plants which bore these capsules 
