Orchid Prices 



petals four times as broad. This is Platytmnium. 

 The value of it can be measured only by the sum 

 which certain of the richest men on earth are willing 

 to pay for a treasure which all covet. Of its legiti- 

 mate parent — Cyp. Stonci — you might buy hundreds 

 at the price a morsel of this eccentric offspring 

 fetches. 



" So the uEridcs Laiurenciw, in possession of Sir 

 Trevor Lawrence, brought 255 guineas. It is a 

 very rare species. There are not more than a dozen, 

 perhaps, in cultivation, though many yEr. Sandc- 

 riaiia pass under that hallowed name. 



" Perhaps I should do well, however, to confine 

 my remarks to one species, and Lcelia ancc2)s is the 

 most convenient — cheap, familiar for sixty years, 

 easily grown, flowering in winter, and universally 

 admired. In the first place, no orchid has a more 

 steady sale or a price better established. Five 

 shillings is the charge for a flowering plant at every 

 dealer's, and — remark — at that rate he would as 

 soon sell one which has not yet opened its buds in 

 this country as one which he has seen and proved 

 to be nothing uncommon. So rare are exceptional 

 varieties that it is not worth his while to refuse a 

 customer who offers five shillings, on the chance 

 that any given plant may turn out a marvel worth 

 a hundred pounds. 



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