THE @RCHID REVIEW, 
VoL. Ald AUGUST, 1903. [No. 128. 
DIES ORCHIDIANI. 
SPECIMENS of exceptional culture among Orchids are always interesting, 
and the two figured in your June issue fully merit this title. Odontoglossum 
crispum is not particularly easy to grow on into a specimen, and such a 
record as that given at page 169 is surely hard to beat. A plant bearing six 
racemes and an aggregate of 128 flowers, or an average of over 21 each, is of 
itself very remarkable, but especially so when we find that little over a year 
earlier it was a small imported piece with one lead, having in the interval 
made two sets of growth and five good bulbs. The award of a Cultural 
Commendation was appropriate, and as Mr. Alexander describes the method 
of treatment it will enable others to experiment on the same lines. It is 
significant that a good proportion of rough leaves was used in the compost, 
but one cannot ascribe such remarkable vigour to this circumstance alone, 
as it is used for Odontoglossums generally in the collection. It will be 
interesting to watch the further progress of the plant. 
The specimen of Cattleya Schroedere figured at page 177 is another 
example of good culture, and remarkable as showing the unusual number of 
seven flowers on a spike, but in this case there is no evidence of the kind of 
treatment adopted. In any case such examples of good culture are worthy 
of being illustrated, as they afford standards for comparison, and show some 
of the capabilities of the various species under suitable treatment. Well 
grown Orchids are always a pleasing sight, even when out of flower, and 
some whose flowers are individually small are very effective when seen in a 
mass. It is satisfactory to find that the cultural side of Orchidology is 
being so well kept to the front. 
The group of Hybrid Phaius from the group of Norman C. Cookson, 
Esq., given at page 136, was also interesting, and shows the utility of the 
group as decorative plants, as well as the steady progress that is being made 
in hybridising Orchids. It now appears (page 174) that the matter has been 
carried a stage further, the secondary hybrid Phaius xX Clive having been 
again crossed with P. simulans, apparently with the idea of obtaining a 
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