THE ORCHID REVIEW. 197 
specially impressed with the importance of growing the plants as far as 
possible under natural conditions, and has made a large series of notes of 
the climate, rainy seasons, &c., of the countries from which they come. It 
is well known that different Orchids have different periods of growth, some 
being active in the winter when cultivators would prefer them to be at rest. 
Dr. Hodgkinson believes that these peculiarities should be studied, as he 
attributes many failures to the practice of making the plants grow out of 
their proper season. In fact, he proposes to set apart a house and keep it 
at a growing temperature throughout the year, moving the plants in as their 
season of growth arrives, and then taking them out to mature. 
He also takes a great interest in hybridising, and raising seedlings. At 
the present time many pods of good crosses of various genera are approach- 
ing maturity, while others are in various stages of germination. One 
particularly interesting cross of which seeds are germinating is Lelia 
majalis X cinnabarina, while good seeds of L. Dayana x Sophronitis grandi- 
flora have been sown. A pod of Lelia harpophylla x Dendrobium Wardi- 
anum is swelling, but the reverse cross refused to take. We need not go 
into further details here, because the doctor promises to send some notes on 
this subject, which we are sure will be interesting to our readers. 
A very ingenious method of indicating the qualities of an Orchid deserves 
notice, as we have not seen it in use elsewhere. Most cultivators use a 
series of crosses, from one to as many as six, to indicate quality, but Dr. 
Hodgkinson’s method is much more graphic. He assigns to colour, form, 
and size (taking them thus in alphabetical order), from one to three points 
each—thus, I = average, 2 = above average, 3 = exceptionally good. A 
label may bear the sign ‘‘ 1. 2. 3.” or “ 3. 2. 1.” &c. The first means, colour 
ordinary, form above average, size exceptional; the second, colour excep- 
tional, form above average, size ordinary; which seems to us a decided 
improvement on the old method, and deserves to be widely adopted. 
So much for this very interesting and representative collection, of which 
we hope to hear more on some future occasion. 
CYPRIPEDIUM CALLOSUM SANDER. 
A flower of this beautiful variety has been kindly sent by. R. H. Measures, 
Esq., The Woodlands, Streatham, where it also flowered in October of last 
year. It may briefly be described as a C. callosum from which every trace 
of purple has vanished, leaving the flower light green and white. It is 
splendidly developed, the dorsal sepal being barely under two and a half 
inches broad. Mr. Measures’ plant is believed to be from the same source 
as the one recently shown by Messrs. Sander. A flower of C. Lawrenceanum 
Hyeanum is also sent, showing its similar colour but very different shape. 
It is very curious that the allied C. barbatum should have been in cultivation 
for so much longer a period, and yet no albino of it has hitherto appeared. 
