THR ORCHID WORLD. 



I February, 19 14. 



admiring crowds of tlie fashionable public 

 of Manchester do homage to the cult. 



In connection with this phase, what 

 splendid devotion has Mr. Wrigley, of Bury, 

 shown. He is always represented by some 

 choice Orchids at every meeting, while two 

 or three tniies a year huge groups are put up 

 from his greenhouses, reminding one of a 

 miniature Temple Show. He has no further 

 ambition, as he often states, than to know 

 that he is giving pleasure to his fellow 

 Orchidists. Would that his health would 

 allow him to personally visit the meetings 

 and witness the glow of admiration that his 

 exhibits enkindle. 



The Lancashire princes are good and 

 plucky buyers ; the best of everything finds 

 its way north, first into the collections, and 

 then on to the Committee's table. The new 

 varieties of Odontoglossum and Odontioda 

 that have recently been submitted for awards 

 are bewildering in their glorious kaleidoscopic 

 tracery of colour. So plentiful have these 

 beautiful varieties of almost solid colour 

 become that the sweet round-flowered 

 xanthotes and virginale forms are a relief to 

 the eye. What a wealth of the newest 

 varieties Mr. Thompson must now possess! 



The Committee should have a critical eye, 

 and a critical eye it has indeed, when a 

 Cypripedium, the favourite Orchid of the 

 North, appears on the table. It is balanced 

 and turned about, and handled with tender 

 hands ; its form, outline, and its colour are 

 carefully measured, its qualities discussed. 

 There is no hurry. There is no human 

 respect. Its faults are condemned, its merits 

 commended. The voting is open, by show 

 of hands, and no one is afraid of voting 

 " straight." 



It may be that the very love they have 

 for their favourite Cyp., its pet name, is 

 partly the reason that Manchester has the 

 reputation of being easier than the Royal 

 Horticultural Society in its awards of merit. 

 They cannot bear to see a plant relegated 

 that appears to be an improvement on 

 existing types, though the advance be slight. 

 Such a plant deserves recognition, which is 

 the raiser's and exhibitor's encouragement. 



ORCHIDS AT BORDE HILL, 

 CUCKFIELD. 



IN the extensive and rapidly increasing 

 collection of Orchids at Borde Hill, 

 Cuckfield, .Sussex, the residence of Col. 

 Stephenson R. Clarke, C.B., are several 

 specimen plants which not only remind us of 

 days long since past, but prove conclusively 

 that Orchids, so long as they are given 

 atmospheric conditions resembling their 

 natural climate, may be cultivated for an 

 indefinite period ; to them the proverbial life- 

 span of three score years and ten remains 

 unknown. 



Among the interesting plants is Cattleya 

 Trianae Clarkeana, now represented by a 

 vigorous specimen. It originally belonged to 

 Col. Clarke's father, in whose honour it was 

 named, and in whose collection at Croydon 

 it frequently received more than usual recog- 

 nition, and more than once was commented 

 upon in the Press. This fine variety was 

 imported by Messrs. Rollison and Sons, of 

 Tooting, who in the year 1876 received a 

 consignment of the species, said to have been 

 selected in their native country with great 

 care. The plant was purchased as an 

 unflowered imported piece, and first bloomed 

 in this country in the Croydon collection, 

 whence it was subsequently removed to the 

 present collection at Borde Hill. 



Another interesting remembrance of the 

 past is Aerides crispum Warneri, a strong 

 healthy plant, abundantly supplied with 

 foliage. This was figured in the Orchid 

 Album, during the year 1888, with the 

 following note by Mr. B. S. Williams : — " The 

 first appearance in this country of Aerides 

 crispum Warneri was a specimen exhibited 

 by us at the last show held by the Horticul- 

 tural Society at Chiswick, June, 1857, before 

 the Society's South Kensington Gardens were 

 in existence, but we cannot find that it has 

 been either figured or described in any publi- 

 cation. The specimen referred to above had 

 been grown by myself in the collection of the 

 late Mr. C. B. Warner, at Hoddesdon, in 

 whose honour the plant was named. At the 

 time it was exhibited Dr. Lindley designated 



