130 GENERAI, liKVIKW OF TflE oi;(iril»F>.'E, 



nbstnictioii AvlicMi I attciii[)t to write for you. I UidU^lii it would 



liiivc been a much easier task, but I am painfully deceived, for although 



I tried every day to S(|ueeze something out of my Ijraiii nothing came 



except the little MS. sent herewith." 



We insert the contents of the little MS. with feelings of unfeigned 



respect j to this short narrative there must ever be attached an 



exceptional interest as the latest production of the venerable amateur 



who lias watched the progress of orchid culture through the greater 



part of the century. 



Early Struggles. — " I was devoted to orchids long before I kiicw 

 Avhat an orchid was, indeed, the word itself was quite strange to me 

 when I heard my mother apply it to a beautiful plant with spotted 

 leaves and speckled flowers which I had gathered in a country lane 

 and regarded with great admiration. ' That,' she said, ' is an orchis ' 

 (C. rnascula). I must have been then about eight years old, but I 

 Avas more than eighteen when, the scene being shifted to Oxford, I 

 stepped into a nursery situated where Keble College now stands and 

 kept by the veteran Fairbairn, who had been gardener to Prince 

 Leopold and Sir Joseph Banks.* This sealed my fate! Presently Mr. 

 Fairbairn drew my attention to a curious plant with a few leathery 

 leaves and several stout roots feeling their way amongst a number of 

 small pieces of wood to which it Avas expected they would become 

 permanently attached. ' Here,' he said, ' is a piece of the famous 

 Chinese air-plant {Renanthera coccinea) which flowered under my care 

 Avhen gardener to H.K.H. Prince Leopold, at Bushey Park ; would 

 you like to see a drawing of \tV * As you please.' It was certainly 

 a vision of Ijeauty that Mr. Fairbairn, opening a volume of the 

 Bottmirul Magazine, t. 2997 — 2998, shewed me, for here Avas a perfect 

 portrait of the Chinese; air-plant, full size and correctly coloured. Of 

 course I fidl in love at first sight, and as Mr. F. only asked a 

 guinea for bis plant (high prices Avero not yet in vogue), it soon 

 changed hands and travelled Avith me to Knypersley Avhen the Christmas 

 holidays began. I had caught my orchid, but Iioav to treat it I 

 kncAv not." 



This Avas the beginning of the collection afterwards formed by 

 Mr. Bateman at Knypersley Hall^ in Cheshire, Avhich he enriched by 

 sending a collector at his OAvn expense to Demerara in 1833, but 

 although the mission fell short of expectation, the success Avas 

 sufficient to encourage others to cnibark in similar adventures. He 

 Avas soon afterwards more than compensated for the disappointment 

 by Mr. (jeorge Ure Skinner, a merchant trading with Guatemala, at 



* /S'cc p. 112. 



