DECEMBER, I¢03.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 357 
Returning to Orizaba, “the following day was spent arranging and 
repacking plants, strutting about the outskirts of the town, and ina garden 
I noted some fine healthy plants of Dendrobium nobile, established on the 
lower branches of an Ash much cultivated in the parks and gardens of the 
uplands of tropical Mexico. This Dendrobe seemed quite at home, and 
was flowering finely, though certainly it never gets the drying-off in 
Orizaba that appears to be necessary in cultivation. The owner informed 
me that he bought the plants in Mexico City at an auction sale of a 
small collection, and took them from the little baskets they had been 
cultivated in and tacked them on to the io in question some ive years 
previous and had never touched them since.’ 
‘Returning to my lodging, I finished the afternoon resting preparatory 
to the climb up the Cerro of San Cristobal, towards whose upper flanks, 
more or less streaked with lines of mist and fleecy clouds, I cast occasional 
glances. There amidst those cool vapours and not infrequent showers, was 
the home of Odontoglossum Rossii, O. bictoniense, O. nebulosum, Cattleya 
citrina and Epidendrum vitellinum, all beautiful and showy Orchids— 
veritable gems, and I was now to see them in their native habitat. 
‘The following morning, after an early cup of coffee, we again sallied 
forth, crossing level fields. Half a league’s walk brought usto the base of 
the Cerro; here conditions change almost at once. From fields of deep soil 
the immense rock masses rise abruptly, all cultivation ceases, and we take 
the narrow rocky trail, soon finding out what is meant by good wind and 
| sinews, but notwithstanding the arduous climbing, objects of interest 
command our attention at every step. . - Here I collected 
Cypripedium Ireapeanum and a pretty Bletia th flowers similar to B. 
hyacinthina, the Cypripedium detected by its withered stems, while the 
latter was in full flower. 
“At about 500 feet above Orizaba we found Oncidium Cavendishij 
fairly abundant, and soon had collected all we could well carry, placing the 
plants in a safe place to gather up on our return.” 
On ascending 1,000 feet higher the temperature ‘‘ became sensibly cooler, 
mists and vapours began to surround us, and soon we came upon fine masses 
of Lycaste Deppei, here and there fine clumps of Oncidium ornithorhyncum, 
O. incurvum, Cecelia sp., Arpophyllum sp., Stanhopea oculata and S. tigrina, 
and many other Orchids I did notknow. Ascending yet another 1,000 feet 
or thereabouts, we at last arrived at the zone of Odontoglossum Rossii and 
its many varieties growing in quantity and in full bloom; a sight worth 
coming far to see. Every tint from pure white to rose colour was met with, 
the flowers varying much in size from little fellows one inch to large ones 
nearly two and a half inches in expansion.” This was at an altitude of 
about 2,500 feet above Orizaba, and here also, ‘“ in dense shades growing 
