54 ORCHID HYBRIDS. 



fact that they select one of their leaves of the six- 

 company, transform it by sacrificing additional organs, 

 and mark it with the loveliest of color for the most noble 

 of purposes. In this grand commonwealth of such 

 household, in the organization of their parts to serve 

 one purpose, giving the outward appearance as if they 

 were members of the thousand-year younger tribe of five- 

 membered plants; there is given unto us a hint of what 

 was placed beyond the common reach of the Monocotyle- 

 dones, what only in the Dicotyledones can be accom- 

 plished, in future perfected. " Les extremes se touchent." 

 The way in which a nation makes at home art and 

 science at her hearth, is the way we judge its place in 

 civilization. The way in which a gardener chooses his 

 culture, he proves his taste, his character. 



It is with deep reverence that I again go through those 

 lines of thought dotted down eight years ago this month. 

 They formed the leading idea for a book on orchids 

 written in the days of enthusiasm, finished almost and 



contracted for and, then . I again hear the sound 



of the ocean at my ear, I lose my thoughts on the un- 

 ending stretch of that enormous water. Let this passage 

 be the only one to give witness of days when youth and 

 enthusiasm were at their height, when everything was 

 within reach of a loving heart, nothing crippled with 

 an idea of impossibility of perfection. These sentences 

 were put down when the soul was in full enjoyment of 

 work, friendship and success. They were read to a circle 

 of like-minded fellows, all enthusiastic and willing to 

 burden themselves with their shares of adversity, to 

 occupy the foremost rank, if it should be as a lost picket. 

 A pity the foreign tongue hampers the expression, 

 brightened up by the old ardor under the recollection of 

 increased happiness and divided sorrow. 



