202 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
Here is the largest mass of Catasetum ever 
found, or even rumoured, lying in ponderous bulk 
upon the stage, much as it lay in a Guatemalan 
forest. It is engaged in the process of “ plumping 
up.” Orchids shrivel in their long journey, and it 
is the importer’s first care to renew that smooth 
and wholesome rotundity which indicates a con- 
science untroubled, a good digestion, and an 
assurance of capacity to fulfil any reasonable 
demand. JBeneath the staging you may see 
myriads of withered sticks, clumps of shrunken 
and furrowed bulbs by the thousand, hung above 
those leaf-beds mentioned ; they are “ plumping ” 
in the damp shade. The larger pile of Catasetum 
—there are two—may be four feet long, three 
wide, and eighteen inches thick; how many 
hundreds of flowers it will bear passes computa- 
tion. I remarked that when broken up into hand- 
some pots it would fill a greenhouse of respectable 
dimensions ; but it appears that there is not the 
least intention of dividing it. The farmer has 
several clients who will snap at this natural 
curiosity, when, in due time, it is put on the 
market. 
At the far end of the house stands another piece 
of rockwork, another little cascade, and more 
marvels than I can touch upon. In fact, there are 
