1HE PROGRESS OF ORCHID CULTURE IN AMERICA. 129 



In this country, where the cultivation of these plants is not so 

 general as in England, prices for imported orchids have not ruled 

 high, but it is noticeable that within the past year the rage for or- 

 chid flowers has tended to increase the demand for plants and en- 

 hance their value. It is not probable that the prices of good orchids 

 will ever rule lower than at present ; while for fine varieties of spe- 

 cies connoisseurs are always ready to pay fancy prices, one plant 

 of an exceptionally fine variety bringing twenty times the cost of 

 an ordinai-y variety of the same species. A large number of the 

 orchids in this country were imported from England, where there 

 are large horticultural establishments, one of which has employed 

 from ten to fourteen men at one time collecting orchids in the 

 tropics. The collection of orchids in this way has been noticeably 

 increased within the last five or seven years. As a consequence, 

 man}' species which cost large sums of mone}' are now worth much 

 less, but, as I have stated, the price of good orchids is about at 

 its lowest ebb, and there is likel}' to be an upward turn. 



The sale of orchids by auction in New York has also increased 

 largely within the last five years, most of the plants sold in this 

 wa}' being newly imported ones ; and thousands of these are sold 

 by one firm from April to November, about twelve to fifteen 

 sales taking place in this period. In their auction room, which 

 is the haunt of most of the orchid growers, maj* be found 

 hundreds of imported orchids just as the}' have been gathered 

 from the trees ; and very dry, uninteresting, and valueless they 

 appear to the uninitiated, but the expert in such matters can 

 tell at a glance the value or quality of this or that shrivelled 

 clump of bulbs, which, under conditions of moisture and warmth, 

 will soon plump up and start into growth. The competition 

 among growers for these dj-y bits is often spirited when some 

 especially rare variety is offered, and I have seen from S50 

 to $75 offered for what most persons would have consigned to the 

 rubbish heap ; but, under care and cultivation, this in a year or two 

 was likely to be greatly increased in value over the first cost, though 

 it must be added that many imported orchids never recover after 

 removal from their native haunts, and die in sjDite of the most 

 skilful culture. No collection is exempt from losses in this way, 

 even established plants dying off mysteriously, and without 

 apparent reason ; yet the majority of orchids are hard to kill, and 

 with proper cultural conditions they are no more difficult to grow 

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