l62 
THE ORCHID WORLD. 
CULTURE RECORDS. 
Under this title it is proposed to record 
details, either past or present, of specimen 
plants, number of flowers on a spike, size of 
individual blooms, etc., etc. We therefore 
invite our readers to send all such particulars 
for publication in this column. 
Dendrobium nobile. — At the Royal Horti- 
cultural Society, on April 2ist, 1885, Mr. 
Prinsep exhibited a splendid example of this 
plant. It had 48 growths, all more or less 
leafy, and bore 630 expanded flowers. 
Renanthera coccinea. — In the gardens 
belonging to A. Palmer, Esq., at Cheam, about 
the year 1845, a plant of this species carried 
seven spikes, each bearing from 100 to iio 
flowers, and in the possession of R. S. Holfoid, 
Esq., of Westonbirt, was an equally strong 
plant, on one spike of which were 1 1 7 of its 
showy scarlet flowers. 
Odontoglossum nevadense. — A plant of this 
species with four spikes and 52 flowers, 
was exhibited by J. S. Moss, Esq., Wintershill 
Hall, Bishop's Waltham (gr. Mr. Kench), at 
the Royal Horticultural Society, on January 
31st, 1911. 
Odontoglossum amandum. — A cut spike of 
this hybrid (Wilckeanum x Pescatorei) having 
ten branches, with a total of 60 flowers, was 
exhibited by J. S. Moss, Esq., at the Royal 
Horticultural Society, on March 14th, 191 1. 
Cattleya Trianse Hydra. — A large specimen 
plant, with numerous bulbs, bearing 22 spikes 
with an aggregate of 96 flowers, received a 
Cultural Commendation when shown by Mr. 
H. G. Alexander, Orchid grower to Lieut- 
Col. Sir George Holford, K.C.V.O., Weston- 
birt, at the Royal Horticultural Society, on 
February 14 igi i. 
Ansellia africana. — A grand specimen plant 
of this showy Orchid, with many spikes and 
407 flowers, was exhibited by the Hon. Mrs. 
Foley, Packham, Fordingbridge, at the Royal 
Horticultural Society, March 14th, 191 1. 
Gongora bufonia. — A strong plant with two 
flower spikes, one' having 34, the other 30 
blossoms. Flowered in Messrs. Charlesworth's 
establishment, March, 191 1. 
Odontoglossum Rolfeae. — A wonderful 
spike with 13 branches carrying in all 90 
flowers. Grown by Messrs. Charlesworth and 
Co., Hay wards Heath, March, 191 1. 
The Propagation of Orchids in India. By 
Capt. Charles Giberne, in a letter to the 
Vice-Secretary of the Horticultural 
Society, dated Belgaum (70 miles E. of 
Goa), October 20th, 1845. 
As I believe the propagation of Terrestrial 
Orchids to be still a great desideratum with 
English gardeners, I am induced, on the sug- 
gestion of a friend, to detail two or three 
experiments I have made with that view, and 
in which I have met with some success. 
In July I took up a Platanthera .Susannae 
when about three inches high, removed the 
old tuber, leaving the rest of the root attached 
to the plant, and then set them separately. 
In about six weeks the plant had sent down a 
new tuber, the old one having also, in the 
meantime, formed a new one which had sent 
up a single leaf for nourishment. I then broke 
off from the latter the old tuber a second time, 
and reset it separately, but on examining it a 
few days ago 1 found it had rotted. Two 
perfect tubers have, however, been thus 
formed from one plant ; and I do not despair 
of obtaining three, or even four, another year 
by removing the old tuber at an earlier period ; 
but the new one will not then, in all proba- 
bility, have obtained sufficient size or strength 
to perfect its flowers till the second or third 
year. 
In the course of the same month, finding 
that the tuber had rotted off a Platanthera 
Susannte, I pulled up the stem, cut off the lower 
end, and reset it. In about a month, the cut- 
ting beginning to fade, I took it up and found 
that a small and perfect tuber had been pro- 
truded through the sheath of the stem from 
the lower joint of the cutting. 
I have since made cuttings of two or three 
stems, leaving two joints on each ; but as it 
is very late in the season, and the plants have 
only their seeds to perfect, I much doubt if 
sufficient vitality remains to enable them to 
put forth fresh tubers. 
