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Killington, thirty-six years ago, where, in a mossy belt that 

 encircles the peak at an elevation of 3,500 feet, it was as frequent 

 and as strongly intrenched as dandelions on a lawn. 



The pleasures of recent discovery have not all been experienced 

 in Fairlee. They include the sudden view of a sunny hillside in 

 open woods, in Albemarle County, Virginia, fairly studded with 

 prosperous plants of Liparis liliifolia; the finding of Orchis 

 spectabilis in the same woods in bloom on April 30 and of Isotria 

 verticillata not far away, almost in a farm yard, a week later; 

 the meeting of Cypripedium arietimim as frequently as H. 

 Hookeri, in dry woods again, and even on exposed rocks, in 

 Essex County, New York; and the much prized opportunity of 

 studying Aphctrum during one whole summer, from the wither- 

 ing and decay of the old leaves until the appearing in early 

 September of the reddish-brown tips of the next winter's foliage. 

 This plant is perhaps local rather than rare. Its peculiar habit 

 helps to hide it. For three months, the months in which the 

 collector is most busy, one could walk over the temporary graves 

 of this abnormal species without suspicion of its nearness, un- 

 less there had been a flowering scape and some of its ovaries had 

 become fertile. These exceptions are^ infrequent; for only a 

 small percentage of the bulbs send up scapes and, if these are 

 not promptly visited by the proper insects, they shriv^el and die 

 within a few days. If, however, any one of the six to ten flowers 

 on a scape is fertilized all are apt to share the benefit; and the 

 strong stalks with their big capsules become conspicuous during 

 the next summer or in the ensuing spring. Like many of the 

 rarer orchids, Aphctrum is more likely to be found by apparent 

 chance than by search. 



For, orchid-hunting is an adventure always. It is impossible 

 to predict that any species will be found in a certain locality or 

 environment, however right and proper they may seem to be. 

 Some lack or superfluity, in soil or surroundings, the crow^ding 

 of some alien neighbors, the failure of a sheltering umbrage, the 

 disappearance of some insect life may have caused extermina- 

 tion ; or the species may never have found the apparently favor- 

 able habitat, where you seek for it in vain. The orchid-lover in 



