116 GENKKAL REVIEW OF THE ORCHIDE^. 



became, as it were, the ouly orthodox oue and was g-enerally persisted j 

 iu, ill all its essential points, for a lont>' series of years, so that when 

 Mr. Bateman, about the year 1837, formulated a course of treatment , 

 for tropical orchids in the introduction to his Orchidacece of Mexico I 

 and (ruatemala it differed but little from Dr. Lindley's recom- 

 mendations except an important direction to give the plants a 

 season of rest by reducing the temperature in winter and to 

 attend to the condition of the atmosphere of the house. It is, ' 

 however, only just to the memory of Dr. Lindley to add that 

 when later, as more correct information came to hand respecting 

 the habitats (»f orchids and their environment in situ he never \ 

 hesitated to give cultivators a friendly warning — thus in the Botanical \ 

 Register for 1835 under tab. 1699 {Oncidiuin ampliatum) Ave find the j 

 following remarks : — 



"It i.s well known thai the most considerable part of the epiphytal | 

 Orchiue.e i.s found in the greatest vigour in damp sultry woods of ' 

 tropical cDiuitries ; and aecordingly we endeavour in our artificial 

 eultivatiiin to form an atmosphere for them as nearly as possible that 

 wliieli tliey would naturally breathe in such stations. That this is j 

 attended with very great success is obvious from such plants as the 

 one now figured {Oiicidluiii anqiliatam), and from the numerous splendid 

 .specimens which are from time to time appearing in the collections j 

 of Earl Fitzwilliam, Lord Grey of Groby, the Messrs. Harrison, ! 

 l>ateman, Huntley, Loddiges, Ivnight and the Horticultural Society. I 



" But it is sufficiently evident that although this kind of treatment ^ 

 is admirably suitetl to a considerable number, there are others which 

 grow most unwillingly, or scarcely survive under such circumstances. 1 

 For instance Djiidrobiiun spcciosum languishes in situations where the ■ 

 Stanhopeas are in their greatest splendour ; and the Chinese Bletias 

 almost perish by the side of Eulophia and Zygopetalum. This arises : 

 from the great difference in their respective constitutions, which are ; 

 each adapted to distinct conditions of life, and our failure arises from 

 our mistaking a general principle for a universal law. If a great ^ 

 majority of the epiphytal Orchide.e sAvarm in damp tropical forests, 

 there is a considerable minority which live in an entirely different j 

 climate. Thus in the genus Oncidium, 0)i. nuhigennm is only found j 

 on the cool mountains of Peru (Ecuador) at the height of 13 — 14,000 | 

 feet; it Avill tliercfnie rc(|uire a treatment altogether distinct from ■ 

 many others of tht; genus. Detidrahiuin nioniliforiiie again occurs only '. 

 in Japan as far north as 37'' or 38° or the parallel of Lisbon and 

 is periodically subject to a very Ioav temperature." I 



And during his long editorship of the Gardeners' Chronicle Lindley j 



