ORCHID-GROWER'S MANUAL. 



INTRODUCTION. 



HE cultivation of Orchidaceous plants is no longer 

 exclusively the privilege of the few, now that their 

 nature and requirements are better understood 

 than was the case in former years. This has arisen chiefly 

 from three causes : firstly, from the useful information given 

 us by those who have studied the plants in their native 

 habitats ; secondly, from the close study and application 

 by means of which cultivators at home have brought the 

 varied observations of travellers to bear in a practical manner 

 on the culture of the plants when introduced into this country ; 

 and thirdly, from the fact having been discovered that many, 

 at least, of the most ornamental species require less heat and 

 less expensive appliances than was once thought necessary, 

 thus bringing them within the reach of a larger constituency. 

 It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of 

 all who send plants of this order home from foreign lands 

 that every scrap of information respecting the climate — tem- 

 perature, rainfall, altitude — soil, &c., of the locality in which 

 each species is found, is of the greatest importance not only 

 to the scieiitific observer, but also to the cultivator ; not 



