INTEODUCTION. 7 



add that plant-growers are keenly alive to the advantage of 

 strong sunlight for their plants, but that they are too prac- 

 tical to allow more than is advantageous to them under the 

 artificial circumstances in which they are placed. 



Orchid cultivators, and indeed all lovers of Orchids, lost 

 a good and valuable friend and instructor in the late Dr. 

 Lindley ; and in this particular branch of botany no one 

 amongst us has been found competent to fill up the void. 

 Professor Reichenbach, who was the friend of Dr. Lindley, is 

 undoubtedly the first living authority in regard to the nomen- 

 clature of Orchids, but the fact of his labours being carried 

 on in Germany — no fault of his, but our misfortune — cannot 

 but fail to be disadvantageous to English cultivators. We 

 are bound to thank Professor Reichenbach most cordially, not 

 only for the valuable information he imparts to us, but for the 

 extremely kind and courteous manner in which he gives the 

 desii'ed information to any and all who seek it at his hands. 



Since the publication of the third edition of this book, 

 horticulture has sufiered a great loss by the death of Mr. 

 James Veitch, to whose energy and spirit of enterprise we are 

 indebted for the introduction of an immense number of our 

 choicest plants, including not only those of the order to which 

 these pages are specially devoted, but of others adapted for 

 the decoration of the stove, the greenhouse, and the open 

 garden. It is also a matter of extreme regret that his son, 

 Mr. John Gould Veitch, should have been cut ofi" by death 

 also so soon after his father ; for, though but a young man, 

 he had displayed brilliant talents, both as a keen observer 

 and a judicious collector, and this combined with a sound 

 practical knowledge of horticulture, so that he bid fair to 

 sustain the family reputation. 



In bringing these introductory remarks to a close, I wish 

 to record my deep sense of our obligations to the many 



