THE ORCHID WORLD 



[April, 191 5. 



amateurs under conditions far less favourable, 

 for it is really wonderful what has and still 

 is being done by our ardent Orchid growers 

 under similar circumstances. I maintain that 

 no class of plants give a better return for the 

 love and care given than Orchids, the interest 

 IS progressive and perpetual in a sense, once 

 the culture (not with a k, please) is grasped 

 nothing in the floral world is easier to grow. 



In conclusion, 1 trust these recollections 

 from early to recent times have not proved 

 wearisome to the reader. 



H. A. Farmer. 



ODONTOGLOSSUM 

 CRISPOTHELL 



(crispum X Othello). 



Take the brown ground from Othello, and 

 substitute the white of crispum, slightly 

 creamy, add the spotting of a Lambeauianum 

 that approaches the Pescatorei markings, and 

 you have the present hybrid. 



Two-thirds of all the segments are prettily 

 spotted with light brown, the lip having a 

 marginal area of dusty spots round two-thirds 

 of the edge. The form is good, Mr. C. J. 

 Lucas, of Warnham Court, having used his 

 fine variety of Othello in raising it. 



de B. Craiusha y, Rosefield, Feb. 2^rd, igi S- 



ODONTOGLOSSUM 

 EXCELATOR 



(excellens x Fascinator). 



A small form of harvengtense crossed with 

 Adrianae in a wild state has often been 

 talked of ; this might have been passed off 

 for such. Mr. C. J. Lucas has made many 

 an experimental cross, and deserves credit for 

 doing so. 



Sepals and petals yellow, with white areas 

 m the centre, the former having large 

 blotches of brown, the latter three or four 

 spots. Lip white, spotted with brown, and 

 with marguial clots, as in Adrianfe. 



de B. C raws hay, Rosefield, Feb. 2^rd, igi S- 



DENDROBIUMS AT 

 PEMBURY. 



SCARCELY have the dull and cold days 

 of winter passed away than we get a 

 pleasant reminder of spring by the 

 flowering of the Dendrobiums. There are 

 but few flowers that prove so welcome, 

 coming, as they do, before many other plants 

 show signs of vitality, and at a time when 

 everyone is eagerly awaiting the arrival of 

 brighter and warmer weather. At few places 

 can a display be seen equalling in beauty 

 that made by the Dendrobes cultivated so 

 successfully m the collection of Mr. J. Gurney 

 Fowler, at Brackenhurst, Pembury. Here the 

 plants are grown in pots secured, by means of 

 suitable wire suspenders, to the brick wall of 

 the corridor connecting the various houses. 

 This method of arrangement proves an ideal 

 one for all Dendrobiums of the well-known 

 nobile habit, the bulbs of which produce 

 flowers from almost their base to the apex. 

 Several rows of plants, one above the other, 

 allow each specimen to show its flowers to the 

 best advantage, and when thus arranged 

 there is one vast bank of bloom, a mass that 

 would indeed be difficult at this early season 

 of the year to produce by any other genus. 



In days gone by, when D. nobile was the 

 principal species cultivated, there was little 

 variation in the colour, but now, thanks to the 

 skill of the hybridist, the range has been 

 considerably extended. Yellow is becoming 

 far more prominent, chiefly through the use 

 of aureum and signatum, while the pure white 

 nobile is one of the most beautiful varieties 

 yet seen. In the Brackenhurst collection 

 there are several select varieties of this 

 albino, as well as many yellow-tmted hybrids, 

 some having the tips of the segments freckled 

 W'ith rose-purple. There is also considerable 

 diversity to be seen in the formation of the 

 flowers, some varieties having the segments 

 twisted m quite an artistic style, while in 

 others the sepals and petals are drawn out to 

 their fullest extent. Even in the well-known 

 nobile there are many varieties worthy of 

 special note, a feature being the dark blotch 

 on the labellum, which in some cases is 



