EXPLOEATOEY NOTICES FOE JUNE. 



As many of the beautiful tribe of Orchidice are to be 

 found in full perfection this month, it may be useful 

 to the neophyte to give a hint how to preserve them 

 in perfection. Their stems abounding in nutriment, 

 the moisture remains a long time in them after being 

 gathered, and thus the ovaries increase in size, and 

 the flowers proceed slowly to wither, as if still grow- 

 ing in the open air. Some of them, too, certainly the 

 Bee Orchis (Oplirys apiferce), ripen their seeds even 

 in this artificial state, the carpels elongate, distend, 

 burst, and finally scatter their minute and almost 

 innumerable seeds within the sheets of paper in which 

 they are placed. I have calculated that a single luxu- 

 riant Bee Orchis may produce more than ten thousand 

 seeds. They probably remain a considerable time in 

 the soil before they vegetate, but in favourable seasons 

 this takes place very profusely, as I remember once 

 gathering with two botanical friends, more than 

 seventy plants within the space of a few square yards. 

 However, from the circumstance I have mentioned, 

 unless the vitality of the withered plants are quickly 

 destroyed, the flowers lose all their beauty, and be- 

 come entirely shrivelled up. This difficulty is to be 

 obviated by the application of a knife and a moderately 

 hot iron. First, an incision should be made in the 

 ovary, and the seeds carefully extracted, even those 

 of the unexpanded flowers. The plant is then to be 



