A i.'ETK'isi'Kcr 1)1' i;)i;cHii_> culture. 



27 



iucluded species, Dendrohiion Bensow're, T). Wardiwinin, IK cr'iS!<'niod'i^ 

 D. Devonianum, D. litaijlorum, D. MacGarthlai and many others are 

 notoriously short-lived in the orchid houses of Europe. Several fine 

 Dendrobes of the Formos<e (nigro-hirsute) group even when imported 

 in large masses gradually decline after their first flowering till they 

 die outright. The Australian DenJrobes too, a most curious and 

 interesting group, have never, with two or thi'ee exceptions, been 

 successfully cultivated ; but the climate of Australia with all its 

 attendant phenomena is now as well known as that of Wales or 

 Cornwall, and the conditions under which the plants grow are clearly 

 understood; better results than hitherto should thence be looked for. 

 A few more instances must not be passed over — a lovely section 

 of Epidendra, known in gardens as Barkerias, have thus far baffled 

 the efforts of the most experienced cultivators ; the noble group 

 of Zygopetala belonging to the sections Huntleya, Bollea and 

 Warscewic^ella refuse to thrive in our houses ; and lastly such 

 remarkable orchids as Chysis hractescens, Gattleya suiierba, Golax 

 jugosiis, Grammangis Ellisii, Diacrium bicornutuin and others that could 

 be named are still regarded as difficult plants to cultivate, in which 

 category must also be included that wonderful series of orchids with 

 unisexual flowers referred to Catasetum and Cycnoches, and the 

 scarcely less strange but closely alHed genus Mormodes. 



There is thence a wide field still open for the exercise of cultural 

 skill, and a long list of species remain to be rendered tractable to 

 cultivation. It i<, however, satisfactory to note that much is being 

 accomplished in the desired direction and that the records in the 

 horticultural press of the successful treatment of plants hitherto 

 refractory, are becoming more freciuent from year to ycn.r. 



