April, 1913.] 
THE ORCHID WORLD. 
163 
of 50-60 degrees can be maintained on cold 
nights, and a few extra degrees during the 
daytime, then the field of selection is greatly 
widened, and a really grand display of bloom 
can be secured with but little trouble and 
expenditure. Without any exaggeration, 
many thousands of different varieties of 
Cypripediums may now be obtained, so there 
is a vast selection waiting for the amateur 
who intends taking up their cultivation. 
ORCHIDS. 
(5ee Coloured Plate.) 
AMATEURS are but just beginning to^ 
realise that Orchids, like other plants, 
are capable of being understood by 
anyone who really desires to understand 
them ; and, when once understood, the cool 
species, at any rate, are not less tractable 
than common greenhouse plants. It is 
for the encouragement and assistance to 
amateurs that Mr. James O'Brien has written 
" Orchids," a handy little volume, and one of 
the " Present-Day Gardening " series edited 
by Mr. R. Hooper Pearson. 
The Rise and Progress of Orchid Culture 
is an interesting subject dealt with in the first 
chapter, the author stating that the earliest 
tropical Orchid to flower in the British Isles 
appears to have been Bletia verecunda, which 
bloomed in 1732 on a plant received by Peter 
Collinson from the Bahamas in the previous 
year. At the end of the eighteenth century 
about fifty exotic species were recorded. At 
that time most of the Orchids were imported 
only to perish as a consequence of the unsuit- 
able conditions in which they were grown, 
but no such tragedies need happen again, for 
Mr. O'Brien fully explains all the essentials 
to good culture in the twenty-one chapters 
contained in this excellent work. 
Following a short account of the structure 
of Orchid flowers, a subject formerly only of 
interest to the botanist, but now of value to 
all growers who in these up-to-date times are 
hybridists of no small experience, Mr. O'Brien 
deals with the structure of the Orchid house, 
a most important matter. So far as the 
improvements in present-day Orchid houses 
are concerned, these are not due to the imagi- 
nation of the horticultural builder, but to the 
experience of the Orchid grower. It is owing 
to him that the old-time glass sides, with 
their hinged ventilators on a level with the 
plants, have been abandoned. Ventilation, 
staging, paths, and tanks, etc., all have their 
share of attention, and the method of potting 
and basketing is equally taken in hand. 
We quite agree with the author's views 
regarding manure. It should be distinctly 
understood that, in the case of true epiphytes, 
there is no need for manures, and that arti- 
ficial chemical manures are almost certain to 
bring about disastrous results, the final 
collapse being in proportion to the potency of 
the stimulant used and the recklessness of the 
grower. Although diseases are not of such 
frequent occurrence as in former days, this 
book contains useful hints and remedies for 
the principal complaints to which Orchids, in 
company with other plants, are subject. 
Mr. O'Brien gives much useful informa- 
tion concerning the importing and subsequent 
treatment of plants, both terrestrial and 
epiphytal. Those amateurs who desire to 
distinguish themselves by producing hybrids 
will find many useful notes on the means of 
sowing and raising the seed ; while the 
treatment best suited to the seedling's healthy 
existence has not escaped attention. 
Orchids for the conservatory are not 
forgotten, and the list given shows that quite 
a representative collection may be grown in 
a house not specially built for their cultiva- 
tion. Quite a new interest would open up 
to the owners of such places were they to 
turn their attention to acquiring from time 
to time a few of the Orchids which are now 
to be procured as cheaply as the less suitable 
plants, such as Pelargoniums. Stanhopeas are 
among the kinds recommended for this 
purpose, and we feel sure any amateur 
flowering these plants for the first time will 
be more than delighted with his success. 
An enumeration of the principal genera and 
species in cultivation occupies some 23 pages. 
From this the amateur will easily select plants 
