136 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



rage for them as they become better known and the siippl}' in- 

 creases is likely to spread to other cities. The kinds which 

 are most profitably grown for trade purposes are — Cattleya 

 Triance, C. Mossice, C. Mendelii, Ccelogyne cristata, Ladia anceps, 

 L. au(um))aUs, Cypripediuvi insigne, C. Spicerkinum, C. Harris- 

 iaiiiim, C. villosuvi, Lycaste Skinneri, Odontorjlossum crispum-, 0. 

 Pescatorei\ 0. liossi major, and Dendrobium nohile. Many more 

 can be added to this list, but good collections of these kinds, well 

 grown, are more profitable than mixed collections of less reliable 

 and more expensive varieties. If the present demand for orchids 

 proves to be a steady and growing one, their cultivation for cut 

 flowers on a large scale will prove profitable. Florists in the 

 vicinity of New York judge that the fashion for orchid flowers is 

 in its infancy, though it must be confessed it is confined almost 

 entirely, at present, to the ultra fashionable society of New York, 

 where a craze is often as ephemeral as it is sudden. 



There are but two botanical gardens in the United States that 

 maintain collections of orchids. That at Cambridge, Mass., 

 before referred to, had the honor of growing the first orchids of 

 ■which we have record in this country, awa}- back in 1818. This 

 garden has held many fine plants in its time, but they have not 

 always been successfully grown ; and man}- rare and valuable kinds 

 have been lost through bad treatment. With the present new 

 houses well adapted to them, and with treatment on the part of 

 the present gardener, W. A. Manda, calculated to insure a 

 robust growth, the collection is decidedly improving. In 1883 it 

 contained 273 plants and 167 species and hybrids ; but now, only 

 three years later, the garden has 828 plants in 378 species and 

 hybrids. There are a stove, an intermediate, and a cool house 

 devoted to them. 



The United States Botanic Garden at Washington, under the 

 care of William K. Smith, dates its collection of orchids from 

 1852, when there was a small lot grown. Aih'ides odorata and 

 Vanda teres were grown there as far back as ISao. The collec- 

 tion of 120 species remained stationary' for a long time, but has 

 been increased in later years untir it now embraces 52 genera 

 and 247 si)ecies and varieties. There are 32 species and varieties 

 of Dendrobiums and 22 species and varieties of C3'pri[)odiums. 

 The collection contains some fine groups of Cattleyas, etc. 



The private collections of this country which are sufli- 



