130 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



than many other plants. Ample moisture in the growing season, 

 atmospheric moisture being absolutely necessary, cleanliness, fresh 

 air, and (except in the winter time, from December to March, when 

 most orchids rest), a clear bright light without exposure to the 

 direct sunlight, are the essentials of good culture; but I will 

 refer to this later. 



Thousands of the " cool" orciiids from the high mountains of 

 South America have been destroyed, in this country and in Eng- 

 land, b}' the application of too much heat. Many of these cool 

 orchids come from altitudes ten and twelve thousand feet above 

 the sea level — regions of perpetual moisture, and where ice 

 forms — so that our tropical summers combined witli overheated 

 glass houses in winter have swept them off in large quantities. 

 But the culture of this class of orchids is now understood, and, as 

 a proof of this, at Mr. Ames's place at North Easton ma}' be 

 found a house over one hundred feet in length, facing the north, 

 and containing, I think, the finest grown lot of cool orchids in this 

 country. This house is always cool and moist, in summer as well as 

 winter, and the conditions which surround these plants at home 

 are well imitated. 



These, superficially stated, are some of the 'features of general 

 interest peculiar to orchids ; though pages more might be written, 

 full of interest even to the novice. There is no denying the 

 peculiar fascination which surrounds orchid culture. The strange 

 forms of the flowers, displaying in every species more or less diver- 

 gence from those of others, the fantastic habit of growth, the un- 

 deniable beauty of most of the flowers, and, not least, the fact 

 that the plants are comparatively rare and expensive, and conse- 

 quently not likely to become common — all these are reasons for 

 the enthusiasm which characterizes the orchidist at home, as well 

 as abroad. 



The growth of Orchids was attempted abroad years before any 

 attention was given them in this country. In the records of the 

 Botanic Garden of Harvard University at Cambridge, Mass., 

 mention is made of a single orchid which the garden possessed 

 in 1818. It was the well-known P/ia»<s gfraHdi/o/m.?, still grown 

 in many collections. The first orchid exhibited in this country, 

 of which we have any record, was Oncidium Jlexnosuvi^ still a 

 favorite, and a good orchid. This was shown by Marshall V. 

 Wilder before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, June 24, 



