THE RARE FORMS OF ORCHIDS. 359 



far "West to fertility ; to take in hand on "broad lines the improve- 

 ment of the nation's water-ways ? Governments, honest and able, 

 can do many things for the common interest which the people as 

 individuals are powerless to do for themselves. Honest and able, 

 there's the rub ! The municipal administration of Berlin, a city 

 well-nigh perfect in government, is carried on for a trifle more 

 than the interest on the public debt of New York. Abounding 

 cause is there to fear waste, corruption, and incapacity in any 

 extension of governmental functions which the future may de- 

 velop. Still, it is not so much fear of this kind which prevents 

 that extension, as a lack of perception by the American people, 

 governing and governed, of the great benefits that can follow the 

 organized action of municipalities, counties, States, and the 

 nation itself. There is much deploring of political degradation 

 and political immorality: may we not reckon in the future, among 

 the forces working for reform, that of capital wrongly excluded 

 from vast fields of usefulness and profit ? 







THE RARE FORMS OF ORCHIDS. 



By J. DYBOWSKI. 



THE varieties of plants which, under various titles, charm us 

 as house-ornaments, and give our habitations a character of 

 freshness and life that is always dear to us, are already numerous. 

 Right along with their growing number goes our increasing 

 affection for them. They are not of the kind of things we tire of 

 as soon as we become acquainted with them ; but the more inti- 

 mately we know them the more disposed we are to seek for new 

 ones. They will never become common. We might suppose that, 

 the more numerous rare flowers become and the more fond ama- 

 teurs grow of them, common flowers would fall into neglect. 

 But this is not so. We are not only fond of flowers because they 

 are rare or precious, but we love them also for themselves and for 

 the attractions of their own that they possess. In the grand army 

 of flowers which seem made to impress a tone of the gay on the 

 sober background of our existence, there are some stately ones 

 that appear to constitute a kind of aristocracy of this enchanting 

 world. 



Such flowers are the subject of our present essay. The 

 orchids, conquerors of the light, may well claim pardon for their 

 triumph over their humble companions of the gardens, for their 

 victory is fairly achieved. They astonish us when we first exam- 

 ine them, then charm us. Nature has been liberal with them, 

 and they have everything. Their flowers are full of that curious 



