SELECT ORCIlinS IN CULTIVATION— ACANTHOPHimUiM. ' 73 



160 guineas and 1G5 guineas, and tlieve are nianj- other species which 

 have equally valuable varieties. 



Hj-brid Orchids, now becoming somewhat plentiful, also realise high 

 prices, and this appears to us to be a far safer investment than paying 

 very large sums for imported plants, because, in the latter case the 

 market is liable to a large and sudden inilux of plants, which at once 

 brings the most beautiful species and varieties down. Take, for example, 

 the rapid fall in price of Vijpripedlwm Spirerinnuni. and moi-e recently of 

 CaUleya lahiata, but with hybrid forms the case is different, for if other 

 persons than the original raiser of a particularly good form have seedling 

 plants derived from the same cross they will necessarily have to flower them 

 before they can be offered as the same plant; and we know from experience 

 the length of time requix-ed to bring many of the hybrids to this state. 

 ^Moreover, as Orchids do not increase under cultivation with the rapidity 

 that many plants do, the stock of any one plant remains limited for a 

 considerable amount of time, but the prices of these, as with every other 

 class of plants, is liable to great variations, brought about by the demand 

 and supply. 



SELECT ORCHIDS IN CULTIVATION. 



11 7E next proceed to give a popular description of the best Orchidaceous 

 ' ' plants now cultivated in our gardens. The distinctive features of 

 each genus are first given, and these are followed by an account of the 

 mode of treatment which we have found, after many years, to be best 

 adapted to their successful cultivation, and supplepiented by descriptions 

 of the choicer species and varieties. The genera and species are arranged 

 in alphabetical order for facility of reference. 



ACANTHOPHIPPIUM, Slume. 



(Ti-Hir Bletieae, mhtriie EpiJendreae.) 



This is a genus of Asiatic Orchids belonging to the Epidendreae. 

 They arc terrestrial plants, with oblong pseudobulbs, and strongly ribbed 

 leaves. The scape is erect, and bears from three to seven somewhat 

 large flowers, which are ventricose, and furnished with a blunt spur. 



