82 



'IHl-: ORCHID WORLD. 



jaiuiary, 1914. 



THE ORCHID COMMITTEE. 



DURING the present year the Orchid 

 Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society will complete the first twenty- 

 five years of its existence, and although a few- 

 members have been closely associated with it 

 throughout its useful career, there may not be 

 many i)resent-day cultivators of Orchids who 

 are conversant with its early history and 

 development. 



In the Society's early days all the Orchids 

 were jjlaced before the Floral Committee, 

 which at that time worked satisfactorily, and 

 considering the comparatively small number 

 of plants exhibited the Committee was able 

 to give careful consideration to the matter. 

 In course of time, with the increase of the 

 exhibits and the work which hybridists were 

 producing, it was found difficult to keep pace 

 with the advance and to fully understand the 

 plants. No one realised this difficulty more 

 than Sir Harry Veitch, who promptly set 

 matters right by establishing a committee of 

 experts to deal specially with these plants. 

 At first, this body of Orchidists was known as 

 the Orchid section of the Floral Committee, 

 but soon after it assumed its present name. 

 Several members were selected from the 

 Floral Committee, and many other well- 

 known amateurs and trade growers were 

 nominated. 



The Orchid Committee was established 

 March 26th, i88g, and the following is the 

 first official list of its members: — Chairman: 

 Sir Harry J. Veitch. Vice-chairmen : J. 

 Douglas, Dr. Masters. Honorary Secretary : 

 James O'Brien. Members : T. Baines, H. 

 Ballantine, L. Castle, de B. Crawshay, N. C. 

 Cookson, S. Courtauld, John Dominy, T. B. 

 Haywood, E. Hill, W. B. Latham, Sir Trevor 

 Lawrence, R. Lindsay, F. Moore, F. A. Phil- 

 brick, C. Pilcher, H. M. Pollett, F. Sander, 

 Baron H. Schroder, H. J. Smee, F. G. Tautz, 

 and H. Williams. 



On the occasion of the first sitting Sir 

 Trevor Lawrence occupied the chair, and 

 thirteen members were present. A large 

 number of Orchids were staged by various 

 exhibitors, the awards including First-class 



Certificates to Oncidium superbiens and 

 Dendrobium micans ; Aw ards of Merit 

 to Dendrobium melanodiscus, Cattleya 

 Schroderae alba and C. Trianas var. Bruce 

 Findlay; Botanical Certificates to Masdevallia 

 Chestertonii and M. triangularis; Cultural 

 Commendations to Odontoglossum Stevensii, 

 O. crispum, Oncidium macranthum and 

 Cymbidium eburneum ; while Votes of 

 Thanks were accorded for Cattleya citrina, 

 Cyrtopodium Saintlegerianum and Odonto- 

 glossum triumphans. A Cymbidium and 

 Cyrtopodium species were referred to the 

 Scientific Committee. 



The Award of Merit. The year 1889 also 

 saw the inauguration of the Award of Merit. 

 The annual report of the Society for the year 

 1888 included the following paragraph: — " It 

 IS also thought very desirable to give greater 

 value to the First-chiss Certificate of the 

 Society, and, with this object in view, the 

 Council have constituted another order of 

 Commendation, to be called the Award of 

 Merit, in the hope that the committees will be 

 able by its use to discriminate between what 

 is really a first-class introduction, or novelty, 

 and what is simply a meritorious advance on, 

 or variation of, some well-known and estab- 

 lished plant." The first Orchid, according to 

 the Society's official report of the time, being 

 Odontoglossum Pescatorei, Jackson's variety, 

 although m recent editions of the Society's 

 " Orchid Awards " a First-class Certificate is 

 stated to have been given. 



Interesting Exhibits. During the year 1889 

 many notable Orchids were exhibited. These 

 included some finely grown plants from the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, Diacrium bicornutum 

 with ten sprays being considered " a marvel 

 and a triumph of good culture of this difficult 

 plant." Many terrestrial Orchids were also 

 shown from Kew. It is to be regretted that 

 the practice of showing plants from these 

 gardens has been discontinued. 



On April 23rd, 1889, Mr. R. Brooman- 

 White sent a handsome pearly-white form of 

 Cattleya Mendelii, named Arddarroch variety. 

 It was described as being near to the plant 

 known in gardens as C. Mendelii Bluntii. 

 From the collection of Mr. F. G. Tautz came 



