228 THe OtTtTrawa NATURALIST. [March 
THE CULTIVATION OF OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS. 
By J. H. C. Dempsey, Hamilton, Ont. 
About four years ago I was shown a specimen of Cypripedium — 
pubescens by Dr. Douglas Storms, of Hamilton. Often as I had 
been rambling around the mountain and ravines in our neighbor- 
hood, I had never found it; but I made up my mind to discover 
its retreat, no matter how secluded. So one Sunday a couple of 
friends joined me in an expedition up the ravine leading from the 
“Valley Farm,” where Mr. Hendrie keeps his racing stable near 
the Valley Inn on the Waterdown road. We came on it in all its 
glory, a truly fairy flower, with its canary-colored sabot, and its 
- red-veined corkscrew sepals standing straight out. It looked so 
odd, so out of place, that being unacquainted with it before we 
declared it more beautiful than any rose. It proved quite plenti- 
ful in this particular spot, the shade was not too dense, and the 
sun flickered through the foliage, the land had been undisturbed, 
saving that the big forest trees had been thinned out; and just 
enough space and light and sunshine for their proper growth and 
to paint the blossoms in their brightest hues, and not have them 
looking sickly from being in too much shade. 
Through the ravine ran a stream, and about thirty feet up the 
hillside on a substratum of red clay with a top soil of leaf-mould 
it grew. Occasionally we found a stem with two blooms on it. 
On the hill-top, in an oak wood, we found the “‘ bird-on-the- 
wing,” a lovely lavender-pink orchid-colored flower much like an 
orchid. We brought away about thirty plants of Cypripedium 
pubescens, and next year they all bloomed and some have borne 
seed. I planted them in a fern bed in a shady spot where they 
got the sun part of the day for a few hours, as I have found them 
under similar conditions. 
Since finding Cypripedium pubescens | have found Cypripedium 
parviflorum at Lake Medad and planted it on similar ground, and 
it was in blossom last year about the end of April, and grows 
successfully and multiplies. i 
Last year I went fora drive with some friends to a conces- 
sion back of Lake Medad about three miles, and found the Cyprz- 
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