!23o The Wild Garden. 



were to be planted like a bedding plant, it would 

 soon perish. I made the ground quite firm, then cut 

 a straight deep little trench with a straight trowel, 

 and against the flat side of this little cut placedt 

 lengtliwise of course, the spreading hand-like roots 

 of my Orchids, pressing the soil firmly but gently 

 against them, and being particular that the "neck" 

 or collar of the plant was nicely pressed round and 

 firm — a thing that is worth attending to in every 

 case of planting. If you examine a plant after 

 some people have inserted it, you will find the 

 whole of the top of the ball loose, and perhaps un- 

 covered by soil — a state most conducive to an early 

 death or stunted growth if the weather prove dry ; 

 therefore always plant firmly, and try and place the 

 roots and neck of the plant as much as possible in 

 the condition that plants enjoy in a wild state. 



Well, in this way I have grown and freely 

 flowered the most curious and beautiful Bee Orchis, 

 the Spider Orchis, the Fly Orchis and a dozen others 

 less difficult to cultivate. The marsh Epipactus 

 palustris is one of the easiest native Orchids tp 

 cultivate, growing well in an artificial bog or mois,t 

 border ; whilst most of the Orchises will do well 

 under the treatment above described. The Bee, Fly, 

 ,and Spider Orchids belong to the genus Ophryg. 



