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acres of open moorland similarly clothed with a few species of 

 dwarf plants, like the common Ling , but in the tropics every 

 few square yards is a small botanic garden. This is shown by 

 the fact that a dozen different species of Orchids have been found 

 growing upon one tree, and it is estimated that over 300 species 

 have been introduced from Java alone. Concerning this region 

 Mr. F. W. Burbidge has written most interestingly in his 

 " Gardens of the Sun," arid some charming passages occur in 

 reference to the plants and orchids. As regards the temperature 

 of this district, and Java may be taken as an example of several 

 others, it has been recorded that on the Northern coast it is 

 excessively hot and sultry, but elsewhere, and especially in the 

 higher regions, it is much cooler, or even cold. In the dry 

 season, from April till October, the average temperature is about 

 86 deg., while in the wet season, from November till March, it 

 ranges from 83 deg. to 90 deg. Upon the Indian continent, in 

 Burmah, and contiguous countries, where Orchids are also found 

 in considerable numbers, the seasons are similar, namely, in wet 

 and dry periods the former the season of growth, and the latter 

 that of rest; but the further inland the situation, the greater are 

 the extremes of temperatures, and in some places the rainfall is 

 excessive, amounting to hundreds of inches a year. 



Turning to the tropics of the New World, we have almost 

 similar conditions in Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and 

 Brazil, and then again Orchids are found luxuriating in the 

 greatest profusion, but owing to the vast extent of the South 

 American Continent and its high mountains there is a greater 

 range of temperature ; and often from the same region plants are 

 obtained which require the two extremes of cool and tropical 

 treatment. Thus, the " Orchid of the Clouds," Oncidium nubi- 

 genum, has been found upon the mountains of Peru, at an 

 elevation of 14,000 feet above the sea level, and from this, the 

 highest recorded orchid, there is every gradation to the inhabi- 

 tants of the lowlands ; but large numbers are found in cool 

 moist situations, from 6 to 8,000 feet above the sea, such as our 

 elegant and chaste Odontoglossum Alexandras. To these and 

 similar regions in Mexico, indeed, we owe the majority of the 

 " cool orchids," which are fast becoming such favourites in 

 gardens. 



Brazil produces a dense vegetation, and in its almost im- 

 penetrable forests are found the gorgeous Cattleyas, the noblest 

 of a noble family, and countless others of imposing beauty or 

 strange structure, like the Catasetums. The West Indies 

 produce a good proportion of species, some of the earliest in- 

 troduced epiplytes having been brought thence. Certain orchids 

 in this region have peculiar positions, as with the charming 

 Epidendrum bicornutum, which is described by one who has 



