10 ORCHID HYBRIDS. 



a time that he gave up ever hearing about the realization 

 of my plan, though he had given me in good faith and 

 with pleasure the use of his "record" in the hybrid 

 raising community of orchid growers. 



" After all." Let me too vociferate thus, and breathe 

 a sigh of relief. I was nothing more or less than one 

 of those hundreds of young enthusiasts, to be found 

 where orchids have a home in the glass-structures of the 

 plant-loving nations. But it was only a short while 

 until I perceived the necessity of keeping track of those 

 " mules " springing up all around us ever since Dominy 

 and Seden achieved their first successes. The nucleus 

 of my collection of notes on orchid hybrids was formed 

 in the year 1884; just ten years ago this month. Did you 

 not read about the stick of tropic-grown wood washed 

 upon the shores of your Isle of Wight? So with me. I was 

 reared and grew up thousands of miles away from where 

 I landed in this my resting place. Like the stick that 

 you picked up and tried to trace the origin of, so have 

 1 been tossed about by the gulf-stream of fate, and grew 

 rugged and rough, dancing and floating in the whirl- 

 pools of this life's waters. But hidden under the smooth, 

 indiscernible outside of water-worn bark, I had concealed 

 the marrow of my strength, the value of my life. The 

 sheltering spinal column grew crooked, and the capability 

 of erection is very much impeded, but in this dwarfed state 

 of brain and life I still retain the character of my kind. 

 You can still tell by the grain of your stick where the 

 soil should be found that gave nourishment to its roots. 

 It is but a trifling addition to our knowledge, this my 

 hybrid list. But it is the best I am able to produce 

 under the circumstances. You who knew about my 

 plan, do not call little the effort made by me. I have 

 guarded and nourished carefully and lovingly the nu- 



