ORCHID CULTURE PAST AND PRESENT. 



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Mr. D. Morris (Treasurer B.H.S.) characterised Mr. Veitch's 

 paper as eminently practical and instructive. Keference had 

 been made to Phaius grandifolius, an East Indian Orchid, which 

 is now thoroughly naturalised in Jamaica and other West Indian 

 Islands. This is possibly the most striking instance we 

 po ssessed of the naturalisation of an Orchid. It is now found in 

 mountainous parts of Jamaica, away from cultivation, and at 

 first sight it would be taken for an indigenous plant. Its 

 h istory, however, is well known. It was introduced from China 

 or Japan to the West Indies about 1797, under its old name of 

 Bletia Tankervillese. Mr. Thiselton Dyer has referred to the 

 successful cultivation at Kew of Diacrium (Epidendrum) bicornu- 

 tum. This plant in a wild state is found growing on rocks or 

 small islets (Bocas), near Trinidad, so close to the sea that they 

 must often be bathed by salt spray. The pseudo -bulbs are 

 hollow and inhabited by a small ant. The best conditions for 

 the successful culture of this Orchid are found in a hot moist 

 treatment during growth, followed by plenty of sunlight to ripen 

 the pseudo-bulbs. There was a well-founded fear that Orchids 

 in the future would not be obtainable in the natural forests so 

 plentifully as in the past. Mr. Veitch was practically meeting 

 this by his wonderful hybridisation of Orchids, and by producing 

 plants that were marvellous both in form and colour. 



Dr. Masters wished to emphasise what Mr. Thiselton Dyer 

 had said regarding the nomenclature of Orchids. He knew that 

 many duplicate dried specimens of the Orchids submitted to the 

 late Prof. Beichenbach were preserved in this country, some by 

 Messrs. Veitch, some by Messrs. Sander, and some by private 

 individuals, and in those very few cases, where only one specimen 

 had been obtained, he thought they might afford to wait twenty- 

 five years. He would like to point out that much might be 

 gained, from a cultural point of view, by studying the anatomy of 

 Orchids. The structure of the leaf was very variable in different 

 species, and afforded indications as to the proper treatment in 

 regard to light, shading, and moisture. 



Baron Schroder said he had listened with a great deal of 

 pleasure both to Mr. Veitch's interesting and instructive paper and 

 to the discussion which had followed it. He was rather a large 

 grower of Orchids himself, and took a great interest in their 



