IHI-: ORCHID WORIJ). 



[Octobt-r, 191 5. 



doubtless be even finer the following season. 

 It is of interest to note the bicolor used was 

 the same plant which yielded the beautiful 

 Cattleya ir'idescens (bicolor x Eldorado), 

 another of Messrs. Hassall and Co.'s attractive 

 novelties. 



§1 



Cypripedium PAPUANUM. — Among- the 

 plants collected on Dr. Wollaston's recent 

 expedition to Dutch New Guinea is a new 

 Cypripedium which Mr. H. N. Ridley, who 

 worked out the collection, has named C. 

 papuanum. The Gardeners C hronicle, in its 

 issue of August 28th, 1915, contains a 

 photographic illustration of the plant and 

 flower as it appeared in the Hon. N. C. 

 Rothschild's garden at Ashton Wold, Oundle. 

 It is described as a small plant with thick, 

 leathery, tessellated leaves and a tall single- 

 flowered scape. The colour of the flower is a 

 rather dull crimson tinged with green or 

 greenish-yellow. It is evidently nearly allied 

 to C. violascens, recently described by 

 Schlechter, which differs in the colour of the 

 flower, relative proportions of sepals and 

 petals, and in having larger leaves. Dr. A. B. 

 Rendle, the author of the note, concludes with 

 a detailed description, in English, to which is 

 appended Mr. Ridley's diagnosis in Latin. 



iJ'f^ 



Vandas at Bridge Hall, Bury. — There 

 are a few Orchids that always give the 

 grower more or less anxiety, and among 

 them may be included V. coerulea and V. 

 Sanderiana, which only in rare instances 

 flourish with healthy vigorousness. In 

 Mr. O. O. Wrigley's collection at Bridge 

 Hall, Bury, quite a Vanda exhibition has 

 been in existence during the last few weeks, 

 as many as three dozen spikes being in 

 perfection at the same time, while about a 

 dozen smaller spikes were removed so that 

 the plants should not be unnecessarily 

 weakened. When these flowers were 

 exhibited at the Manchester Orchid Society, 

 September 2nd, 1915, a Special Vote of 

 Thanks was accorded the owner, while 



Mr. E. Rogers, the able cultivator, received 

 a First-class Cultural Certificate. It has 

 been our pleasure to receive examples of 

 the above, one spike of coerulea with 15 

 and a second with 13 richly coloured flowers, 

 the largest measuring 4 inches across. 

 The glorious V. Sanderiana is also well 

 cultivated ; in fact, Mr. Rogers is of opinion 

 that this species is much easier to cultivate 

 than V. coerulea. Four plants are in the 

 Bridge Hall collection, and each season they 

 produce three or four handsome spikes. 

 The specimens kindly sent fully prove what 

 a gorgeous sight a well-grown plant must be. 



Preserving Flowers. — What promises 

 to be a useful method of preserving flowers 

 and at the same time retaining their colours 

 is described by Dr. Claud F. Fothergill in the 

 R.H.S. Journal, Vol. XLI., p. 40. The 

 following extract explains the operation : — 

 " Absorbent cotton-wool is placed in three 

 layers, forming two compartments, between 

 two grids, so to say, consisting of a wire 

 meshwork with half-inch squares, rather more 

 or less, with a heavy encircling band. The 

 necessary pressure is obtained by fastening 

 one or two straps, preferably of webbing, 

 around the . grids and tightening them as 

 required. The flowers to be pressed and 

 dried are placed between the layers of cotton- 

 wool ; more than three layers should not be 

 used, otherwise insufficient heat and air reach 

 the flowers, and the drying being delayed a 

 bad result is obtained. The whole press, 

 consisting of cotton-wool containing the 

 flowers, the two grids, and encircling straps, 

 is suspended in front of a hot fire, or when 

 the weather is fine out of doors in the air, in 

 the hottest possible sun. The success of the 

 method is due to the process of drying being 

 so rapid that the pigment is fixed instead of 

 being slowly decomposed. By the old 

 blotting-paper and boards method it took 

 some four to six weeks before the dried 

 specimen was obtained, and involved the 

 laborious work of changing and drying the 

 blotting-paper, and naturally the pigment had 

 slowly decayed meanwhile." 



