The Garden of British Wild Flowers. 331 



The common Orchis maculata, found almost every- 

 where in the British islands, is one of the freest to 

 grow in a. garden; it makes large tufts of the 

 greatest beauty in a stiff good loam, and I havfi; 

 found it grow with ease in almost any position. 

 It wants no chalk, though it does not refuse to 

 grow in it. The best wild spread of it I have 

 ever seen was in some meadows in Buckingham- 

 shire, where there was a strong bloom of this 

 sweetly-coloured Orchid for almost every flower- 

 head of grass in the fields ; and I need hardly say 

 the effect was of the most beautiful description. 

 Lately nurserymen have been offering a plant 

 which they think a variety of this, under the 

 name of O. maculata superba. This is in reality 

 the true British Orchis latifolia, a noble species, 

 easy to grow in a moist spot, and producing long 

 spikes of bloom. O. militaris and O. fusca are 

 among the handsomest species ; but all are inte- 

 resting, even when not pretty, from the early- 

 spotted O. mascula to the Butterfly Orchis, both 

 of which are of easy culture in a garden. 



Perhaps the rarest and finest of all the British 

 Orchids is the Lady's-slipper, nearly extinct, but 

 still probably to be found in the North, though too 

 rare to be looked for in the hope of transferring it 



