THE ORCHID \\()KI,1). 



[March, 1915. 



pleasing" to hear the praise and wonderment 

 bestowed on this plant, for Orchids in those 

 days were few and far between at local shows. 

 I fancy, too, I can hear now a remark made 

 by a doubting spectator : " I don't believe an 

 amateur grew that, it wants a long purse and 

 hothouses to grow those things." But you see 

 he did not know the circumstances. 



Time went on with varying success and 

 failure ; some of my Orchids puzzled me a 

 good deal, and do all my little knowledge 

 allowed a few of them would never respond 

 to their treatment, yiarticularly L^eha fur- 

 furnacea, an obstinate subject — it not only 

 refused to go forward, but was persistent in 

 its retrograde movement until it died. 

 Miltonia spectabilis troubled me a lot, it 

 always looked a sickly yellow, partly charac- 

 teristic of the species especially if grown in a 

 strong light, which I learnt afterwards was 

 the chief cause of its yellowish appearance. 

 This plant never flowered with me. Miltonia 

 Rcezlii I succeeded with, also Lycaste 

 Skinneri, Odontoglossum cirrhosum, O. 

 gloriosum, and the ever beautiful O. crispum, 

 not the true Pacho type though, but forms 

 one would scarcely look at now, still, they 

 satisfied me then. Cypripediums were a 

 delight, so easy to grow and so beautiful m 

 their bloom, especially the old insigne, of 

 which I had a good specimen. 



One Cypripedium m my collection inter- 

 ested me very much on account of its beautiful 

 foliage, it was a very small plant in a 60-pot. 

 At that time I thought the flowers would not 

 be of much importance, the deficiency being 

 made up by the leaf variegation, much after 

 the style of a coleus. The plant had been 

 growing for about a couple of years when one 

 day, while looking over my pets, I noticed a 

 thickening in the heart of a growtli. Hullo ! 

 I remarked, that looks like a flower coming, 

 so that plant received a little more attention 

 than usual. An interval of two weeks 

 confirmed my suspicion, it was indeed a flower 

 coming, but, my word ! I thought the stem 

 would never cease growing, but " all things 

 come to him who will but wait," at least, so 

 we are taught, and in the plant's own time 

 the bloom developed on top of a .stem about 



I 5 inches in height, much about the length of 

 C. tonsum. Not having seen a flower like it 

 I looked up the subject and diagnosed it as 

 C. Argus, which turned out correct. I took 

 the plant up to show my employer, who was 

 delighted when told it was probably C. Argus. 

 That plant went back there and then to its 

 original home, for it turned out to be the only 

 one of its kind in that collection. I never 

 regretted giving it up, for the loss of the plant 

 to me was more than compensated for, and 



then 1 knew how delighted Mr. was to 



possess something new to him. 



Happy years followed and m\' love for 

 Orchids never waxed cold, but rather 

 increased, the more I knew about them. I 

 well remember a visit to one of the summer 

 shows of the Royal Botanic Society, held in 

 their grounds at Regent's Park. My wife 

 accompanied me to what was to us a revela- 

 tion. I had never been to a first-class show 

 before, and the sight presented has never 

 faded from my mind. My employer exhibited 

 an undulating bank of Miltonia vexillaria, 

 then known as Odontoglossum vexillarium, 

 arranged on a grassy slope in quite a natural 

 manner ; there must have been a couple of 

 hundred blooms of varying shades peculiar to 

 this species. I recollect H.R.H. the late 

 Duchess of Teck, mother of our gracious 

 Queen Mary, viewing with admiration this 

 exhibit, for no doubt it was one of the features 

 of the show. It was good, also, to see the 

 beam of pleasure on my employer's face. 

 These plants were beautifully grown, some 

 being specimen plants. They always, attracted 

 my attention in the house they were grown 

 by their pleasant silver\'-grey foliage. If I 

 remember right, Miltonia vexillaria was rather 

 expensive in those days and much sought 

 after. Doubtless there may be some readers 

 who can call to mind the occasion. 



Referring to my little collection. After a 

 time I tried my hand at seed production, and 

 recollect fertilising Dendrobium nobile with 

 ils own pollen, which resulted in a fine pod of 

 seed, but I cannot recall what become of it. 

 Cypripediums then came under my operations, 

 and one plant in particular produced a fine 

 fat pod with abundance of seed. Not having 



