Cypripedium 



Cypripediums are a most interesting family. They 

 represent, as Darwin showed, an early form of orchid 

 which Nature has improved upon and abandoned. 

 Dependent, like all others, for the fertilization of 

 their seed upon insects, they have survived, perhaps, 

 the majority of those species which were adapted 

 for their particular needs, and so their opportunities 

 for reproduction grow constantly more hazardous. 



But no plants are more comfortable in our 

 houses. As though grateful to man for rescuing 

 them from the slow process of extinction, they grow 

 strong and fast with little attention ; fertilized by 

 hand, they multiply as no other orchids will, and 

 they lend themselves cheerfully to hybridization. 



All must be potted ; though not terrestrial, many 

 are found in holes full of rotten wood and leaf- 

 mould, or even in the earth. For this reason some 

 growers mix fibrous loam with the peat and moss 

 in which they are planted ; but the advantage does 

 not seem conspicuous. Having no pseudo-bulbs, 

 how r ever, to retain moisture, they demand more 

 potting material to keep their large, fleshy roots 

 damp. Coarse sand, therefore, or roughly pounded 

 crocks and limestone, should be freely mixed with 

 the compost, or it may get sodden; for whilst 

 growing they can scarcely have too much water, 

 and they must be quite damp when at rest. In 



