THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[April, 1914- 



not traced. In two instances it was (for 

 indix iduals) immediate and clear, flowers of a 

 certain type being bodil}- removed. 



IS ^ U 



MiLTONiA Warscewiczii. — Last year one 

 of my plants of this very distinct Miltonia 

 made a remarkably fine growth and pseudo- 

 bulb, which has this year produced a spike of 

 bloom of such abnormal size that I made 

 measurements and note of details of the 

 bloom. When cut to bring indoors the flower 

 scape measured 2 ft. 7 in. in height, and had 

 eight branches, six of which carried four 

 blooms each, and two with three blooms each; 

 there were also four single blooms at the end 

 of the spike, making m all thirty-four blooms. 

 During the many years I have grown this 

 Orchid I have never had a flower scape of 

 such dimension as that produced this year, 

 nor do I recall having seen one approaching 

 it in size in any other grower's collection. — 

 /. T. Bcnnclt-Foc, V.M.H. 



^ 



Orchid Paintings.— I consider it high 

 time that something should be done with the 

 correct recording of Orchids by means of 

 paintings. However carefully an artist may 

 copy a flower, either in regard to size and 

 form, or in the matter of colour, he but rarely 

 knows the condition of the spike from which 

 it was obtained ; and so far as he is personally 

 concerned it little matters, for so long as he 

 makes a faithful representation of the single 

 flower put before him nothing can be said 

 against his work. It is the owner of the plant 

 who IS responsible for the material sent to the 

 artist. The size of the flowers varies greatly, 

 as everyone knows full well ; not onh' are 

 those on the base of the spike much finer 

 than those near the apex, but the removal 

 of the majority of the flower-buds when in 

 their early stage of development, usually 

 termed disbudding, very much increases the 

 size and im])ro\es the quality of the blooms 

 situated on the remaining portion of the spike. 

 Now, it seems hardly fair to select one of 

 these extra fine and, shall we say, artificially- 

 improved flowers for the purpose of having a 



permanent record of the variety preserved by 

 means of a painting. It frequently happens 

 that this painting is subsequently used as a 

 means of obtaining a buyer for the plant. In 

 fact, it adds a false commercial value to the 

 plant, and what is really of far greater 

 importance, the buyer is greatly disappointed 

 when he flowers the plant w^ith a full, natural 

 spike to find that the blooms are considerably 

 poorer in quality and size than the one shown 

 b\' the painting. So far as I can see, the only 

 satisfactory solution of the difficulty is to state 

 on the painting the number of flowers carried 

 on the spike. The owner of the plant will 

 then be able to readily form a correct opinion 

 of its real merit. I believe the R.H.S. Orchid 

 Committee has already had this matter . 

 brought before them, and I would suggest 

 that whenever an award is given to a full\- 

 developed plant which carries a disbudded 

 s])ike, that the number of flowers remaining 

 on the spike should be duly recorded on the 

 official-painted record. This necessity has 

 been brought about by the permission now 

 given to exhibitors to enter disbudded plants 

 for the purpose of receiving awards. — R.H.S. 

 C omiuittccinan. 



Cool-house Orchids. -During the last 

 few weeks several spring flowering Orchids 

 of the cool-house section have made an 

 attractive display of bloom with Mr. A. G. 

 Veal, of Beresford Road, Upper Parkstone, 

 Dorset. A photograph of a neat group shows 

 Dendrobium infundibulum with many of its 

 large, pure white flowers ; this species is 

 eminently suitable for amateurs, for no more 

 than ordinary Odontoglossum temperature is 

 needed for its cultivation. Lycaste Skinneri 

 is another species which grows well under \lx. 

 Veal's care, the elegant flowers lasting a long 

 time in perfection. Cymbidium eburneum, as 

 its specific name denotes, produces ivory- 

 white flower-, which are of wax-like texture 

 and extremel)- useful for button-hole work. 

 Odontoglossums also give satisfactory results, 

 one having thirty-four flowers on a spike. 

 Od. Pescatorei and Od. maculatum, the latter 

 carr}-ing two spikes, each with twelve flowers, 

 must also be mentioned. 



