CHAPTER XIX. 



HISTORY OF ORCHID CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



ORCHID culture in the United States dates from 

 an early day ; and the first Orchids were grown in 

 Boston about the year 1838, when comparatively few 

 Orchids were known in England, and those chiefly from 

 the importations of Messrs. Loddige, in whose "Botan- 

 ical Cabinet " they were first figured. Mr. James Boott, 

 then resident in London, sent to his brother, John Wright 

 Boott, a collection of Orchids. 



Mr. Boott had a small greenhouse in the yard of 

 his house on Bowdoin Square, which occupied the site 

 where the Revere House now stands. He was an en- 

 thusiastic lover of flowers, and cared for his greenhouse 

 personally as a recreation from business. During the 

 next few years he imported more Orchids, and the more 

 common species of Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, and Epiden- 

 drums were found in his collection, which, however, con- 

 sisted chiefly of Orchids from the Western Continent, 

 as previous to 1845 comparatively few of the East In- 

 dian Orchids had been introduced to cultivation. 



Mr. Boott died about 1842, and bequeathed his collec- 

 tion of Orchids to John Amory Lowell, who at that time 

 resided upon the old Lowell estate on Heath Street, Rox- 

 bury, which he had inherited from his father. 



During the next ten years, the Orchids remained in 

 the possession of Mr. Lowell, who built an Orchid house 



