THE ORCHIt) WORLD. 269 
SOME AUTUMN FLOWERING CATTLEYAS AND L/ELIAS. 
DURING the shorter days which autumn 
brings increased interest will be tal^en 
m the occupants of tlie greenhouses, 
and as Orchids are frequently exhibited at 
the autumn shows m this country the question 
is often asked by amateurs : " What kmds 
shall 1 grow or buy that will produce a supply 
of bloom at that season of the year ? " i he 
question is not without reason, for the great 
number of plants mentioned in a nursery- 
man's catalogue only increases the difficulty 
of selection. Some collections are situated 
near large manufacturing towns where a great 
amount of poisonous fumes and smoke 
renders the atmosphere so unsuitable to the 
welfare of the plants that many of the weaker 
Orchids are prevented from opening their 
buds. For these collections it will be advis- 
able to procure only strong plants containing 
a large amount of reserve nutritive material 
and vigour which will support them through 
the trying time. 
In some instances the Orchids which flower 
in the autumn are placed by amateurs in 
either a very dry or else too cold an 
atmosphere for the purpose of retarding the 
opening of the flower to ht in with the date 
of the local flower show. This treatment may 
have the desired effect so far as the show is 
concerned, but if the owner wonders why his 
plants do not do so well duiing the following 
season he should remember that he cannot 
upset the normal ways of Nature without 
experiencing some ill effects. 
In other cases the plants, when they have 
finished flowering, are put away on a shelf, 
sometimes underneath the staging, and almost 
forgotten about until a miserable new growth 
makes its appearance m the spring time. It 
is after the loss of nutritive material con- 
sumed in flowering that the Orchid requires 
the greatest attention and help to enable it to 
recuperate its lowered vitality. If this careful 
treatment cannot be given it is much the 
better plan to discard the plant altogether 
and to replace it by purchasing a newly 
imported or fully grown plant during the fol- 
lowing season. Orchids should be a pleasure 
to us, not a worry which before long will 
cause the owner to give up their culture. Too 
much IS frequently expected from them, and 
too little correct attention returned. 
The following species of Cattleya can be 
recommended : — 
Cattleya Bowringiana is a beautiful free 
flowering species for the autumn. The bulbs, 
which are somewhat swollen at the base, 
frequently produce from 1 2 to 15 rosy-purple 
flowers which are most useful for decorative 
work. This species is easy to grow and has 
produced many attractive hybrids. 
C. Dowiana is a native of Costa Rica, and 
is acknowledged to be one of the finest 
species in the genus. The large flowers are 
golden-yellow, the sepals and petals fre- 
quently suffused with crimson and the lip 
richly marked with crimson-purple and 
streaked with gold. It cannot be considered 
one of the easiest to grow, but wherever 
possible one or more strong plants should be 
in every collection. 
C. aurea is collected in Colombia and differs 
from the above chiefly in the lack of crimson 
colour on the sepals and petals. By some 
Orchidists it is considered only a geographical 
variety of C. Dowiana, but there are other 
points of difference by which it can be dis- 
tinguished, and it is certainly worthy of 
specific rank. Both species are best grown in 
rather shallow pans suspended in the best 
growing portion of the hot house. 
C. guttata is a free flowering Orchid which 
grows to a height of two feet. It has slender 
terete stems bearing two oblong fleshy leaves, 
and usually carries about ten flowers. The 
sepals and petals are yellowish, prettily 
spotted with crimson, the lip white stained 
with purple. 
C. labiata will give a large supply of the 
flowers so often described as " those lovely 
mauve Orchids." This species is of compara- 
tively dwarf growing habit, an easy one to 
grow, and one that should be represented in 
every collection by several plants. It is a 
native of Brazil, and' was at one time con- 
siderably rare, but now enormous quantities 
VOL. I. 
35 
