PROGRESS OF ORCHID CULTURE. 33 



Many collectors were sent, at great cost, to the East 

 and West Indies to procure them, and the number of rare 

 and valuable Orchids received from these sources was 

 very large. 



The cultivation of Orchids was soon attempted on the 

 Continent ; in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and Rus- 

 sia, large houses, devoted exclusively to the cultivation of 

 these plants, were erected, and soon boasted rich collec- 

 tions. France alone manifested little interest in their 

 culture, the only large collection being in the Museum of 

 Natural History in Paris. This fact is the more remark- 

 able, as the French have ever maintained the highest 

 place in all branches of horticulture. 



About 1840, many species, hitherto unknown, were im- 

 ported by French amateurs, and their cultivation was 

 attended with marked success ; this led to further impor- 

 tations, until at the present time the collections are as 

 rich as those of any country. 



From the year 1820, whence we must date the progress 

 of Orchid culture, there has been a constant improve- 

 ment ; difficulties which seemed insurmountable have 

 been gradually overcome, till at the present day there 

 is no bar to perfect success, though even now there are 

 many disputed questions and differences among the most 

 successful growers, as to the best methods of growing 

 some species. As the same species seem to grow equally 

 well under opposite modes of treatment, we can only 

 conclude that the plants very easily adapt themselves to 

 culture, and are by no means as capricious as has been 

 supposed. In fact in the Orchid houses, these plants 

 have acquired a beauty, and grow with a luxuriance 

 wholly unknown to them in their native haunts. 

 3 



