MY GARDENING. 17 
Despairing of horticulture indoors as out, I 
sometimes thought of orchids. I had seen much 
of them in their native homes, both East and 
West—enough to understand that their growth is 
governed by strict law. Other plants—roses and 
so forth—are always playing tricks. They must 
have this and that treatment at certain times, the 
nature of which could not be precisely described, 
even if gardening books were written by men used 
to carry all the points of a subject in their minds, 
and to express exactly what they mean. Expe- 
rience alone, of rather a dirty and uninteresting 
class, will give the skill necessary for success. 
And then they commit villanies of ingrati- 
tude beyond explanation. I knew that orchids 
must be quite different. Each class demands 
certain conditions as a preliminary: if none of 
them can be provided, it is a waste of money to 
buy plants. But when the needful conditions are 
present, and the poor things, thus relieved of a 
ceaseless preoccupation, can attend to business, it 
follows like a mathematical demonstration that if 
you treat them in such and such a way, such and 
such results will assuredly ensue. Iwas not aware 
then that many defy the most patient analysis of 
cause and effect. That knowledge is familiar now ; 
but it does not touch the argument. Those cases 
C 
