2 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



but as there is an unusually complete Index to the work, the 

 advanced grower will suffer no real inconvenience. 



Many of the old ideas associated with Orchids and Orchid 

 culture were, viewed in the light of present knowledge, most 

 extraordinary, and even now there are some excellent folk who 

 find it difficult to believe that an Orchid may be a very beautiful, 

 interesting, and useful plant, and not necessarily a weird some- 

 thing, more reptilian than vegetable, that is ready to ensure its 

 own existence at the expense of some other life. To their minds 

 the plant must be able and willing to do something wonderful in 

 the way of insect destruction, or, at the very least, must be an 

 insidious parasite. Many also believe that an Orchid flower must 

 mimic some bird, beast, insect, or reptile, and unless they can find 

 some fancied likeness to these things, they are not easily convinced 

 that the flower you show them is really an Orchid. 



Very slowly does this idea die ; indeed, it seems to be so 

 deeply seated in the minds of many well-educated people that they 

 will hardly be persuaded that Anthuriums, Tillandsias, Vriesias, 

 Nepenthes, and some other curious plants are /iot Orchids, while 

 they find it hard to believe Cymbidium eburneum, Lycaste 

 Skinnerii, Disa grandiflora, and Phaius grandifolius are 

 Orchids. 



Happily, since glass houses have become so cheap, and 

 modern heating apparatus has so greatly reduced the cost of 

 heating. Orchids have advanced in popular estimation. More- 

 over, the frequency with which Orchids are displayed at the 

 regular exhibitions in London and Manchester, and at the leading 

 provincial shows in the United Kingdom ; in Paris, Ghent, 

 Brussels, and Berlin on the Continent ; and in Boston and New 

 York in America, has drawn attention to their wondrous beauty, 

 merit, and interest, their great diversity of form, colour, and habit, 



