422 JOURNAL BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891, 



malts without intelligent and loving supervision by the owners, is after all a 

 poor apology for gardening in the best sense of the word, and though a 

 beautiful result may possibly be attained, it will generally be found, sooner 

 or later, that the labels of valuable plants have been misplaced ; that the 

 collection is in confusion ; and the plants themselves suffering from want of 

 attention to such minutiae as watering and drainage. 



Ferns and crotons seem to form the chief attractions and to receive the 

 greatest amount of attention in our Presidency gardens, but neither of these 

 afford the pleasure to most people that is given by beautiful flowering forms 

 of the vegetable kingdom, and it is, I think, a great mistake to imagine that 

 a moist and warm climate is only, or chiefly, suitable for the cultivation of 

 foliage plants. 



Old residents in Bombay who had the privilege of visiting- the beautiful, 

 garden of Mr. Lloyd (then Judge of the High Court) will remember the dis- 

 play made there by a profusion of lovely flowering plants carefully selected to 

 suit the climate, and lovingly tended by his own hands — such treasures as 

 Dipladenia's, Allamandas, Poivreas, Combretums, Hoyas, Ixoras, Sonerilas, 

 Anthuriums, Amaryllises, Aphelandras, and a hmidred other choice " stove" 

 flowering gems, to which a fine collection of ferns acted as a most effective 

 background. 



Is it true, as I am informed, that since those days, some twenty years or 

 more ago, no such gardener has arisen in Bombay ? If so, with the greater 

 facilities for obtaining water that now exist, I can quite understand the 

 necessity of Mr. Carstensen's lectures. In the few notices I have seen of late 

 years of horticultural exhibitions in Bombay, I have been surprised to observe 

 the very scanty mention made of orchids, a family of wondrous beauty, and 

 universally admired wherever shown in good condition, a family, too, of which 

 many of those most worth growing, would, I feel sure, thrive admirably under 

 a thin coir matting shed in Bombay. 



Amongst the Indian or Eastern varieties suitable for the Bombay climate 

 I think the following best worth growing -.—brides, Acanthophippiums, 

 AnaBctochilus, Calanthes, hi many varieties, Ccelogynes, Cymbidiums, Cypripe- 

 diums, Dendrobes — the two latter families in a hundred varieties, all beautiful — 

 Saccolabiums and Vandas. Then amongst the still more lovely and rare species 

 from South America and Africa a large selection may be made commencing 

 with Angrcecum sesquipedale — probably the most wonderful of known orchids — 

 from Madagascar, Cattleyas ; from the warm moist valleys of Columbia, Brazil, 

 and Venezuela, several Lselias, and orchis, Peristeria elata, "el spirito santo" 

 of the Spaniards, from Panama, Vanilla Aromatica and all the Miltonias. 



The " cool" Orchids from the New World, such as Odontoglossums, Lycastes 

 and Masdevallias, which thrive so well in the open air under coir matting in 

 my garden, would not be suitable for your climate but most of those termed 

 - stove" orchids shoidd find a congenial air in Bombay, Karachi, Calcutta 



