20 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
slots and Oncidiums. At these rates he has 
now a fine collection, many turning up among the 
lot for which he asks, and gets, as many pounds 
as the pence he gave. For such are imported, of 
course, and sold at auction as they arrive. This 
is not an article on orchids, but on “ My Garden- 
ing,” or I could tell some extraordinary tales. 
Briefly, I myself once bought a case two feet long, 
a foot wide, half-full of Odontoglossums for 8s. 6d. 
They were small bits, but perfect in condition. 
Of the fifty-three pots they made, not one, I think, 
has been lost. I sold the less valuable some years 
ago, when established and tested, at a fabulous 
profit. Another time I bought three “strings” of 
O. Alexandre, the Pacho variety, which is finest, 
for 15s. They filled thirty-six pots, some three to 
a pot, for I could not make room for them all 
singly. Again—but this isenough. I only wish to 
demonstrate, for the service of very small amateurs 
like myself, that costliness at least is no obstacle if 
they have a fancy for ‘this culture: unless, of 
course, they demand wonders and “ specimens.” 
That Cattleya Mosste@ was my first orchid, 
bought in 1884. It dwindled away, and many 
another followed it to limbo ; but I knew enough, 
as has been said, to feel neither surprised nor 
angry. First of all, it is necessary to understand 
