26 COOL ORCHID GROWING. 



they are apt to differ from the parent plant ; more especially is 

 this the case when these varieties are again cross-fertilised, 

 producing other plants even more diverse than themselves. I 

 willingly allow that local circumstances and conditions affect 

 plants, and cause variety in individuals to a certain extent,. 

 when they exist under different surrounding influences, but 

 the great bulk of our best varieties owe their beauty to cross- 

 breeding, as effected by insect agency. We are well aware- 

 that nearly all the seedling Orchids raised in this country, with 

 the exception of Disa grandiflora and Cypripedium Schlimmii,. 

 have proved on flowering to be more or less distinct from 

 their parents, and this is a pretty conclusive proof that cross- 

 fertilisation in their native habitats is the origination of all the- 

 beautiful varieties introduced from the tropics. This extreme 

 variability in Orchidaceous plants adds an additional charm ta 

 their cultivation, for with what unfeigned anxiety does the 

 amateur or professional cultivator watch an imported plant 

 showing its flower-spike for the first time ! How carefully he 

 compares its pseudo bulbs or foliage with those of its relatives, 

 and if its external habit of growth does not betray him, if it 

 really is a new species, or an extraordinary variety, with what 

 genuine pleasure does he watch the delicate stranger unfold 

 its floral treasures. Seeing, therefore, that Orchids vary so 

 much in a wild state, and even under cultivation, need it be 

 wondered at that portraits of such plants vary ? The difference 

 that exists between representations of the same plant in dif- 

 ferent books has often been a matter of complaint ; but the 

 disparity in question is not by any means greater than may 

 be found to exist in the different varieties of the plants them- 

 selves, from which the drawings were originally made. 



