vill PREFACE 
necessary for the Palms, Ferns, and other species usually 
employed for the purpose. 
Orchid-growing in the past has been looked upon 
too much as a craze. Ruinously high prices have been 
asked for novelties, and “collectors” have been ready 
enough to pay them in the hope of obtaining unique 
varieties. This fact alone has frightened off average 
people. 
It is hoped that the present volume will induce thou- 
sands to commence the culture of the cooler species, as 
it clearly indicates the simplicity of the cultural principles 
whilst explaining in full all the principal details. 
Thanks to the experiments of former workers, we are 
no longer dependent entirely on the introduction of plants 
from other countries. Seedling Orchids are raised as freely 
as seedling Fuchsias, and home-raised seedlings, as a rule, 
thrive better than introduced species in the artificial cultiva- 
tion we have to offer them. Readers will find the details 
of cross-breeding and seed-raising set out in the following 
pages at considerable length. 
The author is one of the greatest Orchid specialists 
the world has known. As a practical cultivator in the 
old Pine Apple Nurseries of Messrs. Henderson, he 
had the good fortune to flower many species for 
the first time after their introduction, and ever since 
those early days he has continued to specialise in these 
plants. He is secretary of the Orchid Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, and in 1897 he was included 
in the first sixty horticulturists who were selected to receive 
