March i, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest 



103 



manage so many home plants, often grow plants which are 

 more difficult to cultivate. A few Orchids in the amateur's 

 collection need not displace old favorites. They usually re- 

 quire just enough management to make them interesting, and 

 in most places are still unique enough to excite general atten- 

 tion. It is unfortunate in many respects that there has been 

 so much artificial glamour thrown about Orchids, as it has 

 greatly impeded their distribution among small growers who 

 are apt to think of them as plants beyond their means or skill. 

 The actual fact is that many of the free-flowering kinds are 

 easily managed and can be bought at a moderate price. A 

 newspaper description of a dinner commonly includes a satin 

 and point-lace table-cover, and the same authority rarely fixes 

 the value of an Orchid at less than a thousand dollars. While 

 every one discounts the first story there is a tendency to accept 

 the latter, and amateurs simply let the plants alone without 

 further inquiry. 



Any one having a window-garden or conservatory not 

 heated by hot air, or a greenhouse, need not hesitate to grow 



easily grown white-flowered Orchid, and one of the most sat- 

 isfactory. Any one should be able to flower Lycaste Skinneri. 

 Of the Cattleyas, C. Trianse is the most common, and seem- 

 ingly the most popular, though the type is of a most depress- 

 ing red-purple. C. Mossiae, C. Percivaliana and C. Dowiana 

 are also easily managed. C. citrina, the curious yellow fra- 

 grant Cattleya, is not apt to be long-lived, but is worth grow- 

 ing. Another yellow-flowered Cattleya, C. chrysotoxa, of the 

 usual family form, is beautiful, and a relief from the purples. 

 Of the Odontoglossums, O. Alexandrse crispum is undoubtedly 

 the handsomest. O. Rossi major is a very satisfactory species, 

 white, with brown spots, easily managed, and very profuse in 

 flower. 



Any of these plants can be had, established in pots or bas- 

 kets, at a moderate price, or at a higher price if select forms 

 are wanted. Sometimes one can do better by buying unflow- 

 ered plants, with a chance for something better than the av- 

 erage. When a plant-collector finds a lot of plants in flower he 

 naturally marks the extra choice, which, of course, are held 



18. — The Mangrove-tree (Rhizophora Mangle) in Florida. — See page 97. 



Orchids, especially the cool kinds. I find considerable satisfac- 

 tion in growing about three dozen plants. They do not re- 

 ceive more special attention than other classes of plants in the 

 same house, and they give a full share of flowers. During the 

 winter there is usually a succession of bloom from even this 

 small collection. As my greenhouse is at some distance from 

 the dwelling, when the plants flower I enjoy them by the sim- 

 ple expedient of hanging them up in the living-room, the air 

 of which does not seem to affect them nearly so much as it 

 does soft-wooded plants. As to temperature, they take their 

 chances with Begonias and similar plants, but I find that those 

 do the best which hang under the glass near the ventilators, 

 where they get plenty of fresh air. Here I have Cattleyas 

 in variety, Laelias and Odontoglossums, the latter only when 

 they are about to flower ; at other nmes they are grown 

 in a cool compartment. Many of the Cypripediums, as C. in- 

 signe, C. barbatum and C. Lawrencianum, as is well known, 

 offer no difficulties in culture. Coelogyne cristata is also an 



for high prices. The general collection will vary considerably, 

 and it is reasonable that the dealer should not sell the best 

 varieties, after testing, at the lowest price. Those who are 

 making collections of Orchids usually buy largely of collected 

 unflowered plants, especially if they think a collector has been 

 in a good district, so that they may select good forms at a fair 

 price, and then sell the discarded plants. This wholesale buying 

 had. however, better be avoided by the amateur beginner, as it 

 leads to business, which it is well to keep free from if pleasure 

 is the object of growing Orchids. ~ .r ^ j 



Elizabeth, N.J. "^ _^ . J.N.Gerard. 



Billbergia Bakeri as a House-plant. 



IT is not easy to say why the Bromeliaceous order is not 

 more favorably regarded by cultivators ; for, though it con- 

 tains many plants of a highly ornamental character, a large 

 part of which require no more care than Geraniums and similar 

 plants, and succeed in a temperature by no means high, we may 



