ORCHIDS I HOW TO GROW THEM SUCCESSFULLY. 3 



flowering condition for many years in succession ; yet, there is nothing 

 very extraordinary in this, as the same difficulty presents itself in 

 regard to other plants. But it is not to those plants which are difficult 

 to manage that I shall now devote attention, there being so large a 

 field of species and varieties of easy culture to choose from. No one 

 therefore need be disheartened if unsuccessful in the first attempt, 

 merely because he may occasionally see some Orchids in a very 

 unhealthy condition, even in gardens of considerable pretensions, 

 where, owing to the gardener's want of knowledge of this particular 

 class of plant, arising very often from no fault of his own, but from 

 the fact that he has previously had no Orchids under his charge, and 

 consequently no opportunity of studying their nature and require- 

 ments. In some cases, it may be the result of the gardener's 

 insensibility to the necessity of obtaining information on the subject; 

 under such circumstances failure must of necessity follow. 



An impression also exists that Orchids are very expensive. This, 

 however, applies only to very new or extremely rare kinds, many of 

 which are not more beautiful than older sorts that are easily procurable 

 at a moderate price say a few shillings. It is the Orchid enthusiast 

 who, wishing to add new introductions of supposed merit to his 

 collection, seeks these new and rare kinds as introduced; and it is 

 well that it should be so, otherwise many most valuable sorts would 

 be very rarely seen. There is a very beautiful species of the popular 

 genus Odontoglossum, named O. crispum (syn. O. Alexandrse), which 

 deserves a prominent place in every collection of Cool Orchids, and 

 which is purchaseable at a very small cost. And it often happens 

 that amongst a quantity of plants of this kind, flowering in this 

 country for the first time, some turn out to be of great value, in 

 consequence of their being recognised as vastly improved varieties ; 

 whereas, others, showing no improvement on those already in existence, 

 are, notwithstanding their attractions, classed among those of com- 

 paratively little value. I by no means advocate the buying and 

 growing of Orchids as a pecuniary speculation, the enjoyment of their 

 great loveliness being the only consideration; still, the fact remains 

 that the selling value of an Orchid is fixed by the exceptional merit 

 and beauty of its flowers, in size, colour, and form. 



I have often heard gardeners, who do not understand the treat- 

 ment of Orchids, declare, as an excuse for avoiding their culture, that 

 these plants deteriorate. This is another erroneous impression which 

 I should like to correct. There can be no manner of doubt that under 

 unskilful and improper treatment Orchids lose vitality and often die, 

 and this result follows with any other plant under similar conditions ; 

 but the same plant taken in hand, if not quite dead, and transferred to 

 a proper temperature, where it is uniformly treated with all that is 

 necessary to infuse life and vigour into it, will sometimes revive and 



