118 GENERAL REVIEW OV THE ORCHIPE.E. 



mentioned as by the intelligence and sagacity of a few practical 

 gardeners on whom had been laid the responsibility of cultivating 

 the costly collections of their employers. One of the first of these 

 was Joseph Cooper, gardener to Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth, 

 near Rotherham, Yorkshire. Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Hooker 

 who visited the orchid house at Wentworth in 1835 was surprised 

 at the degree of success with which the plants were cultivated there, 

 and adds : — " I must confess that the sight of this collection, whether 

 the vigorous growth and beauty of the foliage, or the number of 

 splendid species blossoming at one time be considered, far exceeded 

 my warmest anticipations." ^Cooper's chief deviations from the 

 established practice consisted in growing the orchids in a lower 

 mean tempei'ature and the admission of fresh air into the house. 



Contemporary with Cooper and residing at a comparatively short 

 distance from him was a far more eminent horticulturist and of 

 whom it is not too much to say that through him was brought about 

 in the course of time a greater improvement in orchid culture than 

 was ever effected by any single man. This was Joseph Paxton, 

 gardener to the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth. The Chatsworth 

 collection began to be formed about the year 1833, and three years 

 later it contained upwards of 300 species. In 1837 the Duke of 

 Devonshire sent Gibson on a mission to the Khasia Hills which 

 resulted in the addition of a large number of species from that 

 region, many of them introduced for the first time into European 

 gardens. The collection was also being constantly increased from 

 various sources so that within ten years from its first formation it 

 became the largest private collection in the country. With so large 

 a range of subjects for observation and experiment and with the 

 ample resources of Chatsworth at his command, Paxton gradually 

 put into practice a more rational method of culture which eventually 

 led to the cultural system now followed, although years elapsed before 

 his example and teaching had any marked influence. 



In 1834 Paxton commenced the publication of his Magazine of Botany 

 which he continued to edit luitil December, 1849, when it was dis- 

 continued in the form in which he had founded it, but was followed 

 for a short peiiod by a similar serial edited by Dr. Lindley and called 

 Paxton's Floioer Garden, throughout which orchids occupy a prominent 



* Bot. Mag. sub. t. 3395. 



