'l-l ORCHID-GROWER S MANUAL. 



describing. There are not very many of the collectors of the 

 present day who have a thorough knowledge of Orchids ; and 

 those who have it not should get some one well acquainted 

 with the species they have brought home to name them for 

 them if possible ; or if not known they should be sold as 

 unnamed species, by which means the buj-er takes his chance, 

 and the collector gets no blame. 



Those who have carefully studied the Orchids, and are 

 acquainted with their peculiarities, can usually tell the 

 species, unless it be something new that has not come under 

 their notice before ; even then it is often possible to give 

 a very good guess, especially if the genus that it belongs to, 

 the country it comes from, and such other points as become 

 familiar to an observant eye, are known. The old adage, 

 " Knowledge overcometh difficulties," justifies itself in this 

 case. There are persons who have grown Orchids but a few 

 3'ears, and who think they know more than those who have 

 had large collections always under their charge, and who are 

 acknowledged to be close observers of the different species and 

 varieties, and who besides have had the opportunity to get 

 acquainted with all the old Orchids as well as the new ones. 

 There is, if Orchidists w^ould only admit it, a great deal to be 

 learned from cultivators of these plants, as almost every person 

 has some ideas of his own upon the subject, and these ideas 

 can often be adopted by others with good results. 



We are sometimes apt to think we can easily pick out the 

 different varieties of families by their general aspect, but 

 experience teaches us otherwise ; we may be able to do so 

 with some kinds, but it is quite a chance, a great deal depending 

 upon the locality and the situation in which the specimens are 

 grown. In some places the bulbs will be short, in others 

 quite different. Cattleyas and Lmlias, for instance, are often 

 brought home grown in this way, which makes it difficult to 



