228 The Wild Garden. 



roots that some species produce have no chance 

 of finding a suitable, steady medium in which to 

 thrive. The pot with its soil is liable to vicissitudes 

 from want of water, and from the hot dry air of 

 summer always playing upon its porous surface. 

 Therefore, though pots are the usual resource even 

 in a botanic garden. Orchids never do well in them, 

 but usually live for a year or two and then perish. 



I succeeded with them by devoting a small bed to 

 their culture, in a somewhat open but sheltered spot. 

 The first thing I did was to dig some chalk into 

 the bed, so as to give the plants the constituent in 

 which they are found most abundantly. Of 

 course, I should not have had to do this if the 

 soil were chalky ; and as numbers of my readers 

 must have gardens upon chalky soils, I may 

 assure them that they will have no difficulty in 

 growing the choicest British Orchids. Then I 

 planted the various kinds, and succeeded with 

 every one of them except the parasitic one, which, 

 indeed, it was vain to attempt. I allude to those 

 kinds that are parasitic on the roots of trees, 

 though apparently depending on their own roots 

 in the ground. 



My only difficulty was to imitate, to some extent, 

 the state of the surface of the ground which exists 



