THE CYPRIPEDIUM HOUSE 



Perhaps our collection is most famed for its Cypripeds, 

 During twenty years and more the owner has been securing 

 remarkable hybrids and varieties — labouring on his own 

 account also to produce them. But the pretty house which 

 lodges these accumulated treasures is not more than 48 feet 

 long and 1 7 wide. No room here for vulgar beauties ; only 

 the best and rarest can find admission. There are, to be 

 precise, 980 plants upon the stages, 169 hanging from the 

 roof. They are close packed certainly, but a glance at the 

 vivid foliage satisfies even the uninitiated that they have 

 space enough. Orchids generally are the most accommodat- 

 ing of plants — the best-tempered and the strongest in con- 

 stitution ; and among orchids none equal the Cypripeds in 

 both respects. It is pleasant to fancy that they feel grati- 

 tude for our protection. Darwin convinced himself that the 

 whole family is doomed. In construction and anatomy it 

 preserves ' the record of a former and more simple state of 

 the great orchidaceous family,' now outgrown. Such sur- 

 vivals are profoundly interesting to us, but Nature does not 

 regard them kindly. They betray her secrets. All the 

 surrounding conditions have changed while the Cypriped 

 clings to its antique model — at least, it has not changed in 

 proportion. Few insects remain, apparently, adapted to 

 fertilise it and it cannot fertilise itself. In the struggle for 

 existence, therefore, it is terribly handicapped. Man comes 



