2 THE WOODLANDS ORCHIDS 



with the Measures' kin. Forthwith a house, with seven acres 

 of land about it, was purchased at Streatham — 'The Wood- 

 lands,' destined to win renown in the annals of Orchidology. 



But the special variety of plant had still to be selected. 

 It was to be something with a flower, as Mr. Measures 

 understood ; hardy, and so interesting in some way, no 

 matter what, that a busy man could find distraction in 

 studying it. Such conditions are not difficult for one 

 willing to spend hours over the microscope ; but in that 

 case, if the mind were relieved, the body would suffer. At 

 the present day orchids would suggest themselves at once ; 

 but twenty or twenty -five years ago they were not so 

 familiar to the public at large. One friend proposed roses, 

 another carnations, a third chrysanthemums, and a fourth, 

 fifth, and sixth proposed chrysanthemums, carnations, and 

 roses. Though the house and the large garden had been 

 provided, Mr. Measures did not see his way. 



I am tempted to quote some remarks of my own, 

 pubhshed in October 1892. 'I sometimes think that 

 orchids were designed at their inception to comfort the 

 elect of human beings in this anxious age — the elect, I 

 say, among whom the rich may or may not be included. 

 Consider ! To generate them must needs have been the 

 latest " act of creation," as the ancient formula goes — in 

 the realm of plants and flowers at least. The world was old 

 already when orchids took place therein ; for they could 

 not have lived in those ages which preceded the modern order. 

 Doubtless this family sprang from some earlier and simpler 

 organisation, like all else. But the Duke of Argyll's famous 

 argument against the "Origin of Man" applies here : that 

 organisation could not have been an orchid. Its anatomy for- 

 bids fertilisation by wind, or even, one may say, by accident. 

 Insects are necessary ; in many cases insects of peculiar 

 structure. Great was the diversion of the foolish — eminent 



