2 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
lightenment is a slow process, and he will make 
many experiences before perceiving his true bent. 
How I came to grow orchids will be told in this 
first article. 
The ground at my disposal is a quarter of an 
acre. From that tiny area deduct the space 
occupied by my house, and it will be seen that 
myriads of good people dwelling in the suburbs, 
whose garden, to put it courteously, is not sung by 
poets, have as much land as I. The aspect is due 
north—a grave disadvantage. Upon that side, 
from the house-wall to the fence, I have forty-five 
feet, on the east fifty feet, on ‘the south sixty feet, 
on the west a mere vwe//e, Almost every one who 
works out these figures will laugh,and the remainder 
sneer. Here’s a garden to write about! That 
area might do for a tennis-court or for a general 
meeting of Mr. Frederic Harrison’s persuasion. 
You might kennel a pack of hounds there, or beat 
a carpet, or assemble those members of the cul- 
tured class who admire Mr. Gladstone. But grow 
flowers—roses—to cut by the basketful, fruit to 
make jam for a jam-eating household the year 
round, mushrooms, tomatoes, water-lilies, orchids ; 
those Indian jugglers who bring a mango-tree to 
perfection on your verandah in twenty minutes 
might be able to do it, but not a consistent 
