360 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



charm that captivates. Their colors are harmoniously toned, and 

 always bright and elegant. Their odor is sweet and penetrating, 

 but does not cloy. Notwithstanding their thin texture, which 

 gives them a delicate and frail air, they last longer than other 

 ornamental flowers. Nothing, in fact, seems to be wanting to 

 them but a more lively and abundant foliage ; and that can be 

 supplied by mingling fern-leaves with them. 



It was long supposed that these wonderful plants were ex- 

 tremely delicate and capricious. This was a mistake. To their 

 other virtues they join the rare one of simplicity. 



Nearly all the orchids cultivated in greenhouses are natives of 

 the intertropical zone, and it was supposed from this fact that 

 they required considerable heat. But it has gradually been es- 

 tablished that a high temperature really hinders their best devel- 

 opment. A considerable number of them in their native state 

 grow on high mountains, under exposure to a bracing atmos- 

 phere ; and they are now cultivated in moderately warmed and 

 freely ventilated greenhouses. They are therefore relatively 

 hardy plants, well adapted to the decoration of our rooms. 



The genera and species of orchids already known are very nu- 

 merous, but the varieties are more so. The cause of the multiplic- 

 ity of form, shade, and appearance lies chiefly in the organization 

 of the flower. Without going into technical details and descrip- 

 tions, it is enough to say that the pollen is not spontaneously 

 carried to the stigma, and that a foreign agent has to intervene 

 in the fertilization of the seed. The office is discharged by insects, 

 which visit the flowers for their honey and involuntarily load 

 themselves with pollen ; then, flying from one flower to another 

 of different varieties and species, they effect all kinds of mixtures. 

 Consequently, varieties are endlessly multiplied. While many of 

 these may be common, others obtain special hues or streaks, which 

 render them rare and cause them to be sought out by collectors. 

 Now that orchids are in full favor, and are likely to continue so 

 for a long time, enormous prices are paid for the choice varieties. 



A Catileya (Fig. 1), shown at a recent horticultural exhibition 

 in Paris, had a light violet-blue corolla instead of the usual 

 rose- violet. This sport in color was enough to raise the price of 

 the plant to ten thousand or twelve thousand francs. The owner 

 M. Piret, of Argenteuil had himself sought out the variety in 

 the forests of Venezuela. The instance is not a rare one. At a 

 recent sale in Ghent, every specimen of a certain Cypripedium 

 brought six thousand francs ; and like prices are often obtained 

 in England. The ordinary prices in trade are, however, more 

 moderate than this. As the result of numerous explorations, often 

 made at great risk of life, orchids of all kinds and of the more 

 usual varieties have been imported by thousands within the last 



