362 THE ORCHID REVIEW, 
esting fact that, so far as I have observed, Cypripedium x Leeanum does 
much better in the cold house, so that the Spicerianum blood does not at 
all interfere with its hardiness. A basket of Vanda ccerulea, grown as I 
tried to describe it the other day in my lecture at the Drill Hall, is now 
in bloom here, and finer than usual. It has seven long spikes of huge 
deeply coloured flowers, from thirteen to fourteen each, the blooms touching 
in some cases five inches across. I have never seen this Orchid good near 
any large town or in any smoky neighbourhood. I believe that position, 
treatment, and air, have more to do with the size and colour of this Orchid 
than variety, and I intend to get some so-called bad forms and see what 
happens, as I have never had possession of such as I see in some other 
gardens, where conditions may not be quite so favourable. Nothing grows 
freer than the old Oncidium incurvum, which I may say has gone on 
for more than a generation. It is a capital plant for the greenhouse. 
Oncidium crispum, however, is a plant which I find difficult to grow. 
EpwarpD H. WooDALL. 
St. Nicholas House, Scarborough. 
(We should say that Vanda ccerulea is unquestionably a cool Orchid, 
as we pointed out in detail at p. 306 of our last volume, and we are glad to 
receive this confirmation of the fact. It grows in the Khasia Hills at a 
little lower elevation than Cypripedium insigne, and therefore cannot 
require a very different climate. But there is a certain amount of variation 
in the species, both in size and colour, and some of the Burmese forms are 
a distinct improvement on the Khasian ones. We suspect our correspondent 
has the latter. With regard to culture, Dr. (now Sir Joseph) Hooker points 
out in his Himalayan Fournals, how totally at variance with its native 
habitat in the Khasia Hills is the cultivation thought necessary for it in 
England. “The dry grassy hills which it inhabitats are elevated 3,000 to 
4,000 feet; the trees are small, gnarled, and very sparingly leafy, so that _ 
the Vanda which grows on their limbs is fully exposed to sun, rain, and 
wind. There is no moss or lichen on the branches with the Vanda, whose 
roots sprawl over the rough bark. The atmosphere is, on the whole, humid, 
and extremely so during the rains; but there is no damp heat or stagnation 
of the air, and at the flowering season the temperature ranges between 60° 
and 80°, there is much sunshine, and both air and bark are dry during the 
day. In July and August, during the rains, the temperature is a little 
higher than above, but in winter it falls much lower, and hoar frost forms . 
on the ground.” Somewhat similar conditions prevail where it grows in the 
Shan Hills, and those who do not succeed with it should modify their treat- 
ment in accordance with the above.—Eb.| 
