So on the whole I suppose that I should consider
myself fortunate in this importation, which possibly
may contain some treasure. Yet I do not think that
I will venture on another, since, for a small, private
grower, the risk is too great. He would, at any rate in
the case of Odonts. Crispum, be wiser, I feel sure, to
buy semi-established plants from some dealer, who will
have endured all this loss and anxiety. Probably the



NOVEMBER 365

cost of the stock that actually survives would be about
the same, while the chance of getting something good is
as great, and two years or so will be saved from the
time that must elapse between the arrival and the
blooming of the Crispums. With Cattleyas, which
stand transport much better, the case is somewhat
different. What I have to pay my kind friend for this
consignment I do not yet know, for up to the present
the account is not to hand.
I have been to look at a neighbour's Chrysanthe-
mums, some of which are going to the Norwich show
(where subsequently they took a second prize). They
are very large and fine indeed, especially W. K. Church,
a noble bronze ; Nellie Pocket, a beautiful, round white ;
Mrs. Mease, a large, pale primrose ; Sir H. Kitchener,
another big bronze ; Ella Herkheimer, pink, with yellow
centre ; an incurved green named Edmond Roger ; and
two excellent seedlings raised by the gardener himself,
one pale blush and the other pink.
