"254 ‘THE ORCHID REVIEW. [AUGUST, 1909. 
.' .A magnificent form: of ‘Cattleya Gaskelliana alba,’ called Richard 
Ashworth’s var., is sent from the collection of A. Warburton, Esq., Vine 
House, Haslingden, by Mr. Dalgleish, together with a flower of the 
handsome Odontoglossum X ardentissimum Robsonz, which received 
.a First-class Certificate at the Temple Show two years ago, and was 
figured at page 241 of our fifteenth volume. The plant has this year borne 
two spikes, each with five very fine flowers. 
- RAISING HARDY ORCHIDS FROM SEED. 
A CORRESPONDENT asks if there. is any. way of raising hardy Orchids from 
seed. The question may be answered in the affirmative, and in fact was 
dealt with very fully in our first volume (pp. 246-248), where the methods 
adopted by three different raisers were detailed. One of them is M. Moé, 
Curator of the Botanic Gardens at Christiana, who is said to have succeeded 
in raising nearly all the Orchids indigenous to Scandinavia, including 
Epipactis. 
_ The essential points seem to be to provide a suitable soil and situation, 
and to prevent the seedlings from being choked with taller things and from 
being disturbed when at rest. A few Orchises are often grown in a border 
-or on a rockwork, and are occasionally found where they are not known to 
have been planted, particularly in clumps of dwarf-growing things which 
have not been disturbed for some time. It is believed that these are self-sown 
seedlings, which have not been noticed until large enough to flower, and 
the fact affords a useful hint. A few compartments of the rockwork might 
be planted with various dwarf alpines, among which the Orchid seeds could 
-be scattered. The alpines would form a carpet to the soil, and give shade 
to the young seedlings, also protecting them from disturbance when at rest, 
-and all the grower need do would be to give a little water when necessary 
and await the result. A difficulty might often be found in obtaining seeds, 
unless one had already a stock of plants. Some species will only succeed 
in-a calcareous soil, but one raiser remarks that a mixture of two parts of 
_loam, one of leaf mould and one of sand, with an admixture of a little lime, 
is sufficient for most kinds. The species also differ in their requirements 
with respect to shade and moisture, but suitable spots could often be chosen 
in accordance with these varying needs. 
A carpet of some dwarf vegetation seems necessary, bah for shade and 
to protect the surface from disturbance when the plants are at rest, for a 
bare spot almost invites disturbance, with disastrous results to any tiny 
tubers that may be underneath. . 
The seeds of these hardy Orchids mature and ripen very quickly as 
compared with the tropical epiphytic species, and we have seen capsules 
