lotch of
deep purple in the centre of the lip, and its little dot of the same on
each wing. Doubtless this is a natural hybrid betwixt the Antioquia form
and _Odontoglossum Roezlii_, which is its neighbour. The chance of
finding a bit of _superbum_ in a bundle of the ordinary kind lends
peculiar excitement to a sale of these plants. Such luck first occurred
to Mr. Bath, in Stevens' Auction Rooms. He paid half-a-crown for a very
weakly fragment, brought it round, flowered it, and received a prize for
good gardening in the shape of seventy-two pounds, cheerfully paid by
Sir Trevor Lawrence for a plant unique at that time. I am reminded of
another little story. Among a great number of _Cypripedium insigne_
received at St. Albans, and "established," Mr. Sander noted one
presently of which the flower-stalk was yellow instead of brown, as is
usual. Sharp eyes are a valuable item of the orchid-grower's
stock-in-trade, for the smallest peculiarity among such "sportive"
objects should not be neglected. Carefully he put the yellow stalk
aside--the only one among thousands, one might say myriads, since _C.
insigne_ is one of our oldest and commonest orchids, and it never
showed this phenomenon before. In due course the flower opened, and
proved to be all golden! Mr. Sander cut his plant in two, sold half for
seventy-five pounds to a favoured customer, and the other half,
publicly, for one hundred guineas. One of the purchasers has divided his
plant now and sold two bits at 100 guineas. Another piece was bought
back by Mr. Sander, who wanted it for hybridizing, at 250 guineas--not a
bad profit for the buyer, who has still two plants left. Another
instance occurs to me while I write--such legends of shrewdness worthily
rewarded fascinate a poor journalist who has the audacity to grow
orchids. Mr. Harvey, solicitor, of Liverpool, strolling through the
houses at St. Albans on July 24, 1883, remarked a plant of _Loelia
anceps_, which had the ring-mark on its pseudo-bulb much higher up than
is usual. There might be some meaning in that eccentricity, he thought,
paid two guineas for the little thing, and on December 1, 1888, sold it
back to Mr. Sander for 200l. It proved to be _L. a. Amesiana_, the
grandest form of _L. anceps_ yet discovered--rosy white, with petals
deeply splashed; thus named after F.L. Ames, an American amateur. Such
pleasing opportunities might arise for you or me any day.

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