THK AMERICAN BOTANIST. 109 



There are three ways in which those who dehght in 

 orchids can help to maintain their local orchid-flora. One 

 is by always directing people's attention away from the 

 best orchid haunts ; another by digging up such plants 

 as grow in conspicuous situations and are likely to cause 

 the basket-fiend to invade the station ; and the third is 

 by thoroughly disseminating the seed. In this latter pro- 

 ceeding I have had great success, sometimes causing a 

 five-fold increase in a year. 



Guelpb, Ontario. 



OUR HOT-HOUSES. 



BY DR. WILLIAM WHITMAN BAILEY. 

 ''pHOSE who really love flow^ers must have them at all 

 J- seasons. Household plants, however, are a care that 

 we cannot personally indulge in. Hot air, gas, the scaly 

 bug and a legion of evils lie in wait for them. We prefer 

 to let some one else do the worrying and are content to 

 glory in the perfected result. We are on good terms with 

 the florists, perhaps from a sort of fellow-feeling. They 

 are often positive, but then, so are we. Most people who 

 own to convictions are. They tell us a deal that we did 

 not know, and could not, for they practically live with the 

 plants. Generally they are modest and unpresuming. To 

 be sure they misapply names in a way that sometimes 

 gives us the fidgets, but any modern text-book is quite as 

 trying. 



A busy, hard-working set of men, up early and late 

 they must learn things about these pets of ours that we 

 see only on their good behavior. Maybe some of them 

 reason in an unscientific way, but it is a good deal to rea- 

 son at all. It is still more to have your eyes open to 

 things about you. A man who acquaints himself with the 

 life history of one plant, has learned a useful lesson. It is 

 connected with the chronicle of all. 



For professional reasons rather than aesthetic, we have 

 for a long time had to visit the conservatories. This 

 formerly even more the case than now. In winter we were 

 dependent upon them for material. Once in a hot-house 



