THE ORCHID REVIEW. 137 
from Siam; forming a scene of beauty not readily forgotten by those who 
have seen it. And considering that these hills are the treasure-house from 
which so many fine things come, it is well worth while for an Orchidist to 
make a winter trip to that favoured spot. What treasures will he find if he 
is energetic and goes far enough into the interior !—not a difficult matter, as 
nature has provided her own roads in the rivers Attaran, Ghine, Salween, 
and other tributaries. 
The rainfall during the year in this district is about two hundred inches. 
The rainy season commences with a few showers in March. The collector 
should therefore gather in all his plants by the end of February. In April 
the showers are more frequent, the monsoon rains bursting in May, with 
exceedingly heavy rains during the summer months. 
Of all the hundreds of varieties of Orchids that grow in the neighbourhood 
of Moulmein, the first to attract attention is Dendrobium formosum. The 
variety which grows here is that known by the gardeners as “ giganteum.” 
Of all the Nigro-hirsute Dendrobiums this bears the largest flowers, and is 
the most popular. 
At almost any time of the year, in Moulmein, but more especially during 
the rains, the traveller will meet the Burmese, bamboo on shoulder, bearing 
two baskets full of the flowers of this favourite Orchid to the Moulmein 
market; always coming from the direction of Amherst, which is the richest 
locality for this plant. The flowers are cut off and brought in with a portion 
of the stem, and so rapid is the growth during the rains, that from the base 
of the cut stem two new shoots will arise which will produce flowers some 
months later during the same year. 
Dendrobiums of the Nigro-hirsute group, called by the botanists section 
Formose, are not always a success in England, which is not to be wondered 
at, as most of the varieties grow under very varying conditions. By giving 
the character of the districts in which the several forms grow, and the 
special conditions of temperature and rainfall, it is possible that some useful 
hints may be gathered, which may help growers to make the cultural con- 
ditions of the various forms of this section in this country agree more nearly 
with those of the various localities in which they grow. 
To begin with this Moulmein form of D. formosum, the commonest of 
all the forms imported. I have frequently gone out on an elephant to the 
low-lying hills on the Amherst road, and gathered the plants that were 
within reach with very little trouble. These plants I invariably found 
growing under the same conditions, generally on the branches of the trees 
where they got abundance of light, heat, and moisture, frequently on the 
extreme tops of the trees, in full flower and fully exposed to the sun. Its 
rays had apparently no burning effect on them during the rains, and the 
flowers were as delicate and as firm as if no heavy rain had had a chance of 
dashing them to pieces. This firmness of the foliage and flowers I attribute 
