6o 
THE ORCHID WORLD. 
only never be crossed wkh dark varieties but 
not between themselves — unless they are pure 
white. Nature has an unerring instinct of 
working back to type, and a pure white with 
a nearly white variety, or two nearly white 
varieties crossed together, will result m chagrin 
for the raiser after years of care and happy 
anticipation. If there is the slightest colour 
in either parent it will be multiplied a hundred- 
fold in its transmission to the next generation. 
There are a good many instances on record of 
what is called the reversion of " albinos " to 
coloured forms, and although I have had first 
hand knowledge of several cases of this 
reversion I am not satisfied that two /r//e 
albinos ever yet reverted. Cattleya Gask- 
elliana alba x C. Harrisoniana alba was one 
instance, and although as far as one could see 
both parents were perfectly white, all the 
seedlings came coloured ; still I suspect the 
latter of not being a true albino. Another 
instance was C. Mossiae Wageneri x C. 
Schroderas alba, and with the same result ; 
but in this instance the Schroderas betrayed 
colour in after years. And another was C. 
Gaskelliana alba x C. Mendelii alba, both 
apparently pure albinos again, and yet the 
resulting hybrids are coloured ; and in this 
case I suspect the Mendelii of not being a 
pure albino. I could quote other cases of 
which I have had first hand knowledge, but 
these will be sufficient for our immediate 
purpose. 
Now although in these particular instances 
the effort to raise albinos from seed failed, 
I can see no reason why — with a Harrisoniana 
alba that is really true, with a Mendelii alba 
that is really true, and with a Schroderae alba 
that is really true — the same crosses should 
not again be made, and with every hope of 
white progeny. Beoiuse two white varieties 
of two species crossed together do not 
breed true it is premature to dogmatize 
and say that white varieties of these two 
species won't breed true. 
Speaking again within the limits of my own 
experience, I have never known white and 
coloured varieties to flower out of the same 
seed capsule, although I know that such 
instances are on record. We have invariably 
had either all coloured or all white, and the 
number tested has been several thousands. 
This has always seemed somewhat remarkable 
to me — in the light of continental experience. 
There is in the reproduction from seed of 
that chaste accident, the albino, a wide and 
fruitful field, and those instances of failure 
that I have quoted will be sufficient to put 
the wary hybridiser on his guard. He must 
make sure that he is not working with pseudo- 
albinos but with the real things. If there is 
any tinting on the flower stem or leaves, such 
as .seen m most white Cattleya Triana?, it is 
no true albino, no matter how white the 
flower ; and it will not breed true. In fact, 
the real test of an albino is to cross it with an 
albino that has already been tested : if the 
seedlings come white, it was a true albino ; if 
not, then it wasn't ! 
In importations of Orchids the bulk will 
follow a mean average — ^high or low according 
to the strain — ^and above and below this 
average will be some ; and here and there, 
say, out of every five of ten thousand, two or 
three will make their appearance that stand 
clean and clear away from the others. In 
shape they will be perfect, and in colouration 
far above their fellows. These are the super- 
orchids of nature, and their inter-crossing will 
produce the super-orchids of the hybridist. 
It should be the ambition of the Orchid 
breeder to become possessed of these, and 
then he will build up on an unassailable basis. 
Colour is not nearly such an elusive attribute 
as albinism, and shape, with little deviation, 
may be said to be constant. 
To settle down within the narrow confines 
of a promiscuous collection of Orchids — 
gathered together in a haphazard way, and 
without other consideration than the fancy of 
the moment — to cross-breed those things that 
chance to flower together \\ ill not lead, but 
by the remotest accident, to happy results. 
No matter what skill, care and patience are 
bestowed on the crossing, the raising and 
growing, no ascendency can be hoped for, if 
the material is not there to work with. 
All Paderewski's skill would avail him 
nothing on a barrel organ ! 
To be continued. 
