A RKTIJOSI'ECT OF ORCHID rri.TlUM:. 123 



the admission of fresh wanned air in lieu of no ventilation at allj 

 to say nothino- of tlie sniolce and noxious vapours that were constantly 

 escapiuii^ tliroug-li the cracks and fissures of the flues. 



With better appHances and with a more copious record of experience 

 gained by different cultivators^ and especially with the aid of more 

 accurate information respectino- the habitats and climate in which 

 the species naturally occur, the cultivation of epiphytal orchids could 

 scarcely fail to make some progress, but the progress was slow and 

 along certain lines only, so that looking back upon the state of 

 orchid culture forty years ago and upon what we are now 

 accustomed to see daily, one can scarcely suppress a feeling of 

 astonishment that its history should present to us the phase it 

 does. During the decade 1 840 — 50 the existence of the beautiful 

 Laelias, Odontoglots, Oncids and other orchids inhabiting the highlands 

 of Mexico and (iuatemala had become well known from the discoveries 

 of Skinner, Karwinsky, Galeotti and others ; and the mission of 

 Linden to Colombia in 1842^3 revealed to science and to horti- 

 culture the surprising wealth of Cattleyas and Odontoglots inhabiting 

 the Cordilleras of that region, the existence of which had been 

 foreshadowed in the beginning- of the century in the works of 

 Humboldt and Bonpland. These plants which are now found to be 

 among- the easiest of orchids to cultivate were, during the period 

 under review, brought to Europe in considerable numbers but 

 only to perish under the barbarous treatment in the hot-houses to 

 which they were consigned. 



Nevertheless epiphytal orchids in increasing numbers continued to 

 arrive both from the east and west. Communications to the horti- 

 cultural press respecting them became more frequent and more 

 copious, and courses of cultural treatment were formulated for them 

 by well-known cultivators. One of the most elaborate of these was 

 communicated by Gordon and published in the Journal of the 

 Horticultural Society for 1849, and which may thence be assumed 

 to be the method of culture approved by the Council of the 

 Society at that epoch. The system advocated in that paper was 

 undoubtedly in advance of its time and was^ as Gordon himself 

 admits, at variance in some points with the methods commonly 

 followed. Some of the fundamental principles of orchid culture 

 enunciated by Gordon were vitiated by assumptions that became 



