248 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[Auj,vust, 1915. 



altering their names every month in the year. 

 For purely commercial purposes, then, 

 garden names once established should not be 

 suddenly altered." 



An additional point of interest is the means 

 by which \'arious varieties of the same hybrid 

 have been produced. Turning to Cypripedium 

 Helen II. we find the parentage given as 

 bellatulum x insigne, while in the Westonbirt 

 variety of the same insigne Harefield Hall was 

 used, and in the Oakwood variety insigne 

 SanderjE. All these details cannot fail to be 

 of utility to amateurs who desire to raise any 

 particular cross in their own collection. Some 

 idea of the extent to which hybridisation has 

 been carried may be obtained from a work of 

 this kind. Cattleyas number more than 400, 

 Laelio-Cattleyas over 900, Odontoglossums 

 about 500, and Cypripediums over 2,000. 



That such a book of reference is devoted 

 to the work accomplished by the hybridist in 

 one single family of plants shows the 

 enormous amount of time and energy that 

 has been devoted to the subject. What would 

 the pioneers of half a century ago have 

 thought of such results? The whole Orchid 

 world has been revolutionised and astounding 

 results have been obtained. Hybrids that 

 were considered specially valuable in the 

 eighty's and ninety's, and which would now 

 be unworthy of inclusion in many collections, 

 have been replaced by infinitely better 

 Orchids. Notwithstanding the many good 

 results already obtained we feel certain that 

 progress will continue, while in many 

 instances even better types will be produced. 

 The numbers of seedlings now growing in the 

 various establishments as well as in private 

 gardens are legion. Many will he the 

 disappointments and reversions to types of 

 small value and little beauty, but if only a 

 small percentage are improvements the 

 aggregate of these will surely continue to 

 make our exhibitions and meetings of the 

 greatest interest to all lovers of Orchids. 



A perusal of this volume shows that the 

 subject of Orchid breeding is an international 

 one. Certainly our own country stands out 

 pre-eminently in this respect, and numerous 

 hybrids have been raised in France and 



Belgium, while during recent years some very 

 promising results have been achieved m the 

 United States, from which country many 

 meritorious additions will doubtless be 

 obtained. 



The work is brought up to as recent a date 

 as July 15th, 191 5, and additional blank pages 

 are interleaved to enable subsequent hybrids 

 to be recorded m their respective sections, as 

 they occur from time to time, with any 

 descriptive notes that it may be deemed 

 advisal:)le to add for future reference. The 

 whole work is well and strongly bound in 

 half-roan, and published at one guinea, a very 

 moderate sum for so abundant a supply of 

 reliable and most useful information. As a 

 guide and reference it has no equal, and to 

 every amateur and grower of Orchids it will 

 prove an absolute necessity. 



ORCHIDS IN CALIFORNIA. 



OUR reproduced photograph shows a 

 house of Cattleya Mossias in Mr. J. A. 

 Carbone's establishment at Berkeley, 

 California, U.S.A., where Orchids are largely 

 cultivated for cut-flower purposes. At the 

 time when the photograph was taken no less 

 than 5,000 flowers were open, many being 

 produced three and four on a spike and 

 measuring from 8 to 9 inches across. In 

 the middle of the house are two splendid 

 specimens, one with 1 74 flowers and the other 

 with 202, all of which were open at the same 

 time and thus making a truly gorgeous 

 display. These plants, which began to flower 

 during the latter part of March, supplied the 

 florists of San Francisco with all the Cattleyas 

 needed for their Easter requirements, and 

 during the following six weeks there was a 

 sufficient supply to meet the demands of 

 customers along the whole of the Pacific 

 Coast. This illustration helps to show how 

 the cultivation of Orchids has spread into 

 practically every civilised country of the 

 world, and how much these beautiful and 

 noble flowers are appreciated by florists, as 

 well as amateurs, both great and small. 



