Cypripedium 



Cypripediuuis are a most interesting family. They 

 represent, as Darwin showed, an early form of orchid 

 wliich Nature has impruve<l upon and ahanddned. 

 Dependent, like all iithers, for the fertilization of 

 their seedupmi insects, they have surviAed, perhaps, 

 the majority of those species which were adapted 

 for their particular needs, and so tlieir opportunities 

 for reproduction grow constantly more hazardous. 



But no plants are more comfijrtable in our 

 houses. As tliough grateful to man fir rescuing 

 them from the slow process of extinction, they grow 

 strong and fast A\itlr little attention ; fertilized by 

 hand, they multiply as no other orchids will, and 

 they lead themselves cheerfully to hybridization. 



All must be potted ; though not terrestrial, many 

 are found in holes full of rotten wood and leaf- 

 mould, or even in the earth. For this reason some 

 growers mix fibrous loam with the peat and moss 

 in which they are planted ; but the advantage does 

 not seem conspicuous. Having no pseudo-buDjs, 

 liowever, to retain moisture, they demand more 

 potting material to keej) their large, fleshy roots 

 damp. Coarse sand, therefore, or roughly pounded 

 crocks and limestone, should be freely mixed with 

 the compost, or it may get sodden ; for whilst 

 growing they can scarcely have too much water, 

 and tliey must Ije quite damp when at rest. In 



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