ORCHIDS: 
- THEIR CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT. 
CEE Pt ek 
CULTURE. 
IN no department of horticulture has such progress been 
made as in that of Orchid-growing. A few years ago, 
Orchids were cultivated in only a few gardens where an 
elaborate and costly system of treatment, then considered 
indispensable in their cultivation, could be provided. The 
difficulties of importing the plants in quantity, and in 
a healthy condition, were much greater at the time we 
refer to than now. The absence of precise information 
from reliable observers on the conditions under which the 
plants were found wild, rendered the management of im- 
ported plants precarious. Examples of new and beautiful 
kinds, for which high prices were paid, often succumbed 
to wrong treatment. All this tended to make the possession 
of a collection of Orchids the privilege of the few, and 
the amateur who could not afford more than a small 
greenhouse or two, or to pay more than a few shillings 
B 
