AN ORCHID SALE. 41 
were superior in any respect to those we now 
- receive, and he will be absolutely sure that they 
were landed in much worse condition. But the 
average cost of the most expensive at the present 
day might be 30s., and only a large piece would 
fetch that sum. It is astonishing to me that so 
few people grow orchids. Every modern book on 
gardening tells how five hundred varieties at 
least, the freest to flower and assuredly as beautiful 
as any, may be cultivated without heat for seven 
or eight months of the year, It is those “legends,” 
I have spoken of which deter the public from 
entertaining the notion. An afternoon at an 
orchid sale would dispel them. 
