The Guiana Orchids. 



barriers will prevent their extin6lion until the Guiana 



timbers are appreciated, and then the poor orchids will be 



ruthlessly destroyed without giving pleasure to any one. 



2. — CULTIVATION IN GEORGETOWN. 



As but little has been written about the cultivation of 

 orchids in tropical climates the result of some twenty 

 years' experience may perhaps be useful. When we 

 arrived in Demerara, the conditions necessary for their 

 proper culture were entirely unknown to us, and, although 

 we had seen many colle6lions under glass in England, it 

 took some time, and entailed many losses before any- 

 thing like a system could be formulated. At that time 

 as at present there were some beautiful specimens of 

 Oncidium Lanceanum, Oncidium altissimum and Cattleya 

 superba, growing on trees beside the streets, but these 

 represented, as we discovered later, a meagre " survival 

 of the fittest.^' Thousands of orchids were brought to 

 Georgetown, only to linger for a month or two and then 

 die. They were placed under almost every condition 

 but the right one, with the sad result that few or none 

 survived the long dry season. When not placed on trees 

 they were often put into wire baskets with rotten wood, 

 and hung in galleries or other unsuitable places, exposed 

 to the sun and wind. When they were seen to suffer 

 from such treatment, the opposite course of putting them 

 under the dense shade of trees and creepers, was pursued 

 with equally disastrous results. It has naturally followed 

 that these interesting and beautiful plants have been 

 almost left alone, no one caring to take a lot of trouble 

 and then see their pets die. 



But, after all, the difficulty is more apparent than real. 

 When it is considered that epiphytes live almost entirely 



B 



