XXIV. 



A SPOTTED ORCHIS. 



LIKE Mr. Chamberlain, I too am an orchid- 

 grower. I own three acres (without a cow) 

 on a heather-clad hilltop, and no small 

 proportion of that landed estate is "down 

 under orchids." Not that I mean to say 

 the species I cultivate, or rather allow to 

 grow wild, on my wild little plot would 

 excite the envy of the magnate of Highbury. 

 They are nothing more than common 

 English spotted orchids, springing free and 

 spontaneous among the gorse and heather. 

 But, oh ! how beautiful they are ! how much 

 more beautiful than the dendrobiums and 

 cattleyas, the flowering spiders and blossom- 

 ing lizards of the rich man's hothouse ! 

 183 



