62 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
with them in his modest “bit of glass” has no 
cause to envy Dives his flaunting Cattleyas and 
“fox-brush” Aerides. I should like to publish it 
in capitals—that nine in ten of those suburban 
householders who read this book may grow the 
loveliest of orchids if they can find courage to 
try. | 
Odontoglossums stand first, of course—I know 
not where to begin the list of their supreme merits. 
It will seem perhaps a striking advantage to many 
that they burst into flower at any time, as they 
chance to ripen. I think that the very perfection 
of culture is discounted somewhat in this instance. 
The gardener who keeps his plants at the me plus 
ultra stage brings them all into bloom within the 
space of afew weeks. Thus in the great collections 
there is such a show during April, May, and June 
as the Gardens of Paradise could not excel, and 
hardly a spike in the cool houses for the rest of 
the year. At a large establishment this signifies 
nothing ; when the Odontoglossums go off other 
things “come on” with equal regularity. But the 
amateur, with his limited assortment, misses every 
bloom. He has no need for anxiety with this 
senus. It is their instinct to flower in spring, of 
course, but they are not pedantic about it in the 
least. Some tiny detail overlooked here and there, 
