THE ORCHID VVOKLb. 



number, lead out of ei commodious, spaii- 

 roofed corridor fourteen feet wide. These 

 houses have centre and side staging, are sub- 

 stantially built, and are fitted with gearing for 

 the manipulation of the ventilators ; they are 

 lOO feet in length and 25 feet wide, and have 

 been built some twenty years. 



Three of these houses are well-filled with 

 good, thriving 

 stock, \- i z . , 

 Cattleyas, 

 Calanthes, 

 Odont og 1 o s- 

 sums, etc., only 

 a few of which 

 it will be 

 p (J s s I b 1 e to 

 mention in 

 these notes ; 

 but a steady 

 transformation 

 is gradually 

 creeping over 

 the collection 

 as the Blen- 

 lieiiii raised 

 hybrids arc 

 q u i c k 1 \- 1 n - 

 creasing i n 

 number and 

 size. 



It would be 

 premature to 

 pass an opan- 

 1011 oil these 

 hybrids until 

 theycommence 

 in earnest to 

 flower, but a 



glance through 

 tlie stud book 



The Duke of Marlborough, K.C., P.C 



gives evidence that thought is being piit into 

 the work. I have laboured somewhat in these 

 pages, in my notes on hybridisation, to empha- 

 sise the importance of a careful selection of 

 parents in the beginning, and there are few- 

 places affording the boundless scope of Blen- 

 heim to build up a collection second to none 

 by this means. The Blenheim collection is no 

 new thing, but like other old established 



collections it has |)assed through many vicissi- 

 tudes, and it is not until recent years that it 

 entered upon its present and most promising 

 phase. His Grace is an enthusiastic Orchidist, 

 and Mr. G. Hunter, the head gardener, is an 

 experienced and practical Orchid grower. 



On entering the first of these houses, one 

 noticed a fine flourishing batch of about two 



hundred hy- 

 brid Calanthes 

 with their 

 parents, inclu- 

 ding Bryan, 

 Florence, bella, 

 Wm. Murray, 

 etc. These 

 were exce])- 

 tionally strong, 

 many having 

 two leads, and 

 a few as many 

 as three . 

 They were 

 potted in a 

 compost of 

 equal parts 

 of Osmunda 

 liljre, fibrous 

 loam, and 

 sphagnum 

 moss, and 

 were watered 

 once a week 

 from June to 

 September 

 with weak 

 manure water. 

 This house 

 was mainly 

 lillcd with Las- 

 lio - Cattleya 

 iiybrids jjurchased from many sources and 

 comprising all the best known kinds. Mention 

 may be made of Cattleya Fabia alba, Laelio- 

 Cattleya Canhamiana alba, the albinos of 

 Cattleya Gaskelliana, chocoensis, labiata, and 

 other species. There were also good plants of 

 Brasso-Cattleya Queen Alexandra, C. Dussel- 

 dorfei. Undine, etc. 



Many robust plants of the highly coloured 



