Preface 



a Belgian collection grown on the new system. It 

 may be all wrong in theory, but in practice some- 

 how it works wonders. 



Evidently, it is desirable that English amateurs 

 should be acquainted with every detail of a dis- 

 covery so important, which, among other advantages 

 claimed, certainly makes a perceptible reduction 

 in the expense and the trouble of culture. They 

 may adopt it or no. It would be a grave responsi- 

 bility to recommend such a drastic change. Cir- 

 cumstances vary. There are excellent gardeners 

 who, having worked all their lives on the orthodox 

 methods with credit, would not willingly give the 

 new a fair trial. And, in truth, the orthodox methods 

 have served us well for more than half a century. 

 Therefore I shall say only this : the Belgians raise 

 finer plants than we, and, on an average, finer 

 flowers. After opposing the heresy with scorn for 

 years, Mr. Godseff is now enthusiastic in its favour ; 

 and it is adopted at St. Albaus. 



I deal with cool orchids alone in this volume 

 the class most interesting to the public. Even 

 thus limited, however, to keep it of a handy size 

 for the era of big books has passed I have omitted 

 botanical details which have no reference to the 

 bloom. Very, very few of those for whom I write 

 need scientific memoranda for identifying a plant 

 by the character of its leaves and pseudo-bulbs, or 

 even by the analysis, in Greek and Latin terms, of 



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