August, 1914.] THE ORCHID WORLD. 



245 



Masdeoallia Shutlryana, Chamberlain's variety. 



MR. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. 



PROBABLY no man has done more to 

 popularise the cultivation of Orchids 

 than Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. To 

 almost every person the names of Chamber- 

 lain and Orchids are inseparable, and although 

 this great personality has passed away his 

 name will long remain, not only with one and 

 all by reason of his versatile ability, but more 

 especially with horticulturists on account of 

 his admiration for Orchids. 



Perhaps the true secret of his j)opularity 

 with respect to Orchids was the fact that he 

 invariably wore one in his coat, and whenever 

 his portrait or caricature appeared in print 

 the favourite buttonhole was never forgotten. 

 Whenever a sketch of parliamentary indi- 

 viduals appeared in one of the daily or weekly 

 journals the chief means adopted to distin- 

 guish Mr. Chamberlain was a star-shaped 



flower m his coat. The conceptions of the 

 various artists were frequently amusing, all 

 sorts of diagrams serving the purpose of 

 denoting an Orchid flower. Only a few 

 months ago one of the leading weekly 

 illustrated journals included a portrait sketch 

 of Mr. Chamberlain wearing a large flower, 

 the sepals and petals of which resembled 

 those of a Cattleya, while the labellum was 

 that of a Selenipedium. 



Nor liave descriptive words been nearer the 

 truth. It has more than once been stated 

 that Mr. Chamberlain's Orchids are valued at 

 nearly a million pounds sterling, that he has 

 the choicest and most wonderful collection 

 ever brought together in the history of 

 Orchidology, and that he often spends 

 the week-ends strolling through his Orchid 

 houses, which cover several acres of land. 

 All these statements, however inaccurate, only 

 tended to awaken in the minds of the general 



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