janiiar}-, 1916.] 



Till': ORCHID WORLD. 



91 



DenJrohium nobile virginals, a specimen iiilh 220 flowerb," as grown by Mr. H. G. Alexander, in the 

 collection of Lieut.-Col. Sir George Holford, K.C.V.O., Westonbirt, Glos. 



DENDROBIUMS. 



THAT Dendrobiums are really decorative 

 plants when well grown and flowered 

 no one will deny, but M'hether the 

 attention and popularity they once enjo}'ed 

 will again be theirs is not so certain. On one 

 point, however, there can be no doubt, the 

 specimens cultivated in many present-day 

 collections are far superior to those grown 

 under the somewhat unsuitable methods 

 that prevailed in days gone b)-. When 

 importations were received with considerable 

 regularity, and the plants arrived in fine 

 condition, it was a comparatively easy matter 

 to produce an extensive display of bloom for 

 the first two or three seasons ; after this the 



plants gradually lost their vigorous constitu- 

 tion, and if not meeting with an early death 

 they were destroyed to make room for fresh 

 plants from a new consignment. 



Cultivators of the past usually placed the 

 plants in an unreasonably high temperature 

 during the summer months, expecting b\- this 

 means to reap the finest results. But it is 

 questionable whether this treatment was really 

 as suitable as many then believed, for there 

 appeared to be too great a difference between 

 the summer temperature and the compara- 

 tivel)- low one existing m winter time. 

 Judging from more recent results, it is 

 apparent that Dendrobiums of the nobile 

 section give the most satisfactory results when 

 moderation is exercised in the matter of heat 



