44 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
Society in Chiswick Gardens between 1835 and 
1850;” and extracts which he gave from the re- 
ports confirm this suspicion. The number of 
species cultivated at that time was comparatively 
small. People grew magnificent “specimens” in 
place of many handsome pots. We read of things 
amazing to the experience of forty years later. 
Among the contributions of Mrs. Lawrence, mother 
to our “chief,’ Sir Trevor, was an Aerides with 
thirty to forty flower spikes; a Cattleya with 
twenty spikes ; an Epzdendrum bicornutum, difficult 
to keep alive, much more to bloom, until the last 
”) 
few years, with “many spikes;” an Oncidium, 
“bearing a head of golden flowers four feet across.” 
Giants dwelt in our greenhouses then. 
So the want of enthusiasts was satisfied. In 
1852 Mr. B.S. Williams could venture to publish 
“ Orchids for the Million,’ a hand-book of world- 
wide fame under the title it presently assumed, 
“The Orchid Grower’s Manual.” An occupation or 
amusement the interest of which grows year by 
year had been discovered. All who took trouble 
to examine found proof visible that these master- 
works of Nature could be transplanted and could 
be made to flourish in our dull climate witha 
regularity and a certainty unknown to them at 
home. The difficulties of their culture were found 
