128 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Nothing could be more gratifying to the staff at Kew than the 

 fact that their work had attracted the attention of men dis- 

 tinguished in the craft. There was one difficulty to contend with 

 at Kew — they had somewhat antiquated houses, over the con- 

 struction of which they had no control. They could not, 

 therefore, like Mr. Veitch and others, separate Indian from 

 American Orchids. This was a difficulty which would also exist 

 in private gardens. He thought Mr. Veitch had given an his- 

 torical retrospect which must have cost him a good deal of 

 trouble, and though some of what they had heard was already known 

 to Orchid growers present, the paper contained many rare and 

 interesting items of information. Nothing could be mere in- 

 structive than the contrasts between the past and present which 

 Mr. Veitch had put before them. There was no reason to 

 despair. A more careful study of the physical conditions under 

 which Orchid plants grew in their native country would materially 

 advance the cultivation. Collectors, as a rule, made raids upon 

 a country and bore away new plants without stopping to inquire 

 into their habits or climatic environments. A year's residence 

 would do more good than any number of these raids. Epiden- 

 drum bicornutum, a beautiful species, had been very successfully 

 grown at Kew, and for this they were indebted to the fact that 

 they had carefully studied its requirements. He ought to refer 

 to a subject which was occupying the minds of Orchid cultivators 

 in this country, and that was the future naming of Orchids now 

 Prof. Reichenbach was dead, who had accentuated the loss 

 to Horticulture by practically burying his herbarium for the next 

 quarter of a century. The late Professor was in the habit of 

 receiving specimens for identification from all parts of the world, 

 but more especially from this country, and his decisions were 

 regularly published in the Gardeners' Chronicle, but as the types 

 of these species were in his private herbarium, they were practically 

 lost to the majority of living cultivators. However, with the co- 

 operation of Orchid growers it would be possible to substantially 

 repair the loss, for there must be many of the species still in the 

 possession of cultivators in this country, and if specimens of these 

 were regularly forwarded to Kew as they flowered, a collection of 

 named Orchids would soon be established here that would 

 practically replace all we had lost in the Reichenbach 

 herbarium. 



