a theme for
articles and books, even in the hands of a smattering amateur like myself.
The public has no suspicion how far this novel manufacture has been
carried already. There is a hint in the tiny volume compiled by Mr. R. H.
Measures 'for private circulation,' showing the number of hybrids in the
genus Cypripedium of which he could hear. It contains more than eleven
hundred items. Of these we have upwards of eight hundred in our
collection. But it must be remembered, in the first place, that there is
no authoritative list as yet; each inquirer must get information as he
can. In the second place, that the number increases daily. Such a list
could be framed only by an international committee of botanists, for in
France and Belgium orchid-growers are as enthusiastic as our own; whilst
in Germany, Italy, Austria and the United States, if the workers be
comparatively few they are very busy.

It has often been suggested that an Orchid Farm would pay handsomely, if
established in some well-chosen district of the Tropics and intelligently
conducted. A gentleman resident in Oviedo, Florida, Mr. Theodore S. Mead,
has carried the notion into practice on a small scale with startling
results. I quote from the _Orchid Review_, June 1896:--

'I have built a small platform in the top of a live oak, about 45 feet
from the ground ... where I propose to try seeds of some thirty or forty
different orchid crosses, including pods from Vanda coerulea and Cattleya
citrina, which are thought difficult to manage under glass...'

In September 1897 we hear further:--

'The season has been a very trying one, and though my orchid-eyrie in the
live oak-top promised great success in June, it was very difficult to keep
the compost in good condition during the hot, muggy days of July. Still,
out of thirty-two crosses planted on a space of peat, 16 inches long by 12
broad, I obtained plants having first leaf of twenty-two of them--mostly
Cattleyas and Laelias;--though a good many died when it was necessary to
transplant them, on account of mould and algae threatening to swamp the
tiny plants. A single plant of Vanda coerulea x V. Amesiana appeared, and
is now showing its third leaf. This year I have repeated the cross Bletia
verecunda x Schomburgkia tibicinis and have several plants in their first
leaf; and also one of Bletia verecunda crossed with our native Calopogon
pulchellus...'

In March 1899:--'... My seed-planting was very successful afte