OUR NATIVE CYPRIPEDIUMS. 



this most beautiful genus of flow- 

 ers. One of them, C. Arietinuni 

 is only of botanical interest, as 

 it is rather small to be an effective 

 garden flower, but the other four 

 are among the most beautiful 

 and desirable of all hardy plants, 

 and can easily be transplanted 

 from their native haunts to our 

 garden borders. Of these, the 

 most beautiful, most abundant, 

 and singularly enough, consider- 

 ing the great contrast between 

 its habitat and the most favor 

 able spot in a garden, the most 

 easily cultivated is C. spectabik 

 or showy Ladies' Slipper, a large 

 pink and white flower. The 

 moccassin or, as it is botanicall) 

 called; the lip, two inches long 

 by one and a half wide, borne 

 in pairs or sometimes singly on 

 the top of rather coarse leafy 

 stalks 1 8 to 24 inches high. It 

 is found only in sphagnum bogs 

 sometimes in small clumps of a 

 few plants, but often in great 

 abundance. The most wonderful pj„ ii-,4 

 floral display I ever saw was in an 

 open glade in a bog thirty miles north 

 of Ottawa, where two to three acres were 

 literally covered with this magnificent 

 flower, many thousands of them being 

 in bloom at the time, the last week in 

 June. The best time to transplant it is, 

 of course, when the roots are dormant, 

 but as they are difificult to find then, the 

 next best time is after flowering, when 

 the leaves begin to wither, or as they 

 show themselves above the moss in the 

 spring. I have known them to be suc- 

 cessfully transplanted in the blooming 

 season by taking up a liberal portion of 

 the surrounding bog, so as to disturb 

 the roots as little as possible ; but the 

 nearer you can get to the dormant 

 period the greater will be your measure 



vo\UIL, liuir photo. Ijy K ]!. Whyte, 

 (1 educed one iialf). 



of success. The best location in the 



garden is under the partial shade of 



trees, or on the north side of a close 



fence. The soil must be moist and 



rich, and should never be allowed to 



become dry in the growing season. 



They will not thrive in a dry soil or if 



exposed to the full glare of the sun. 



C. acaule. — The stemless Ladies' 



Slipper is a good deal like speclahile in 



appearance, the lip is a little longer and 



narrower, over two inches by one inch 



across, with a deep fold inwards along 



the top ; the color is a good deal darker, 



more of a purple than a pink, and the 



white is not so clear. Its habit is quite 



different ; instead of the strong leafy stalk 



of spectabile, two large leaves lie on the 



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