2 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
carefully thinks over the various problems as they arise, 
and, profiting by experience, does his best to avoid former 
failures, will obtain a measure of success far exceeding 
his expectations. To those who know anything about 
the ordinary processes of growth and flower the plants 
tell their own tale. They show when actively growing 
the period when a reasonable amount of heat and moisture 
is required, and, on the completion of growth of the de- 
ciduous species and the turning yellow of the leaves, they 
tell just as plainly when the resting period has arrived. 
It is so in all the important stages of their existence. 
The extent of the present work having been determined 
by others in the same series, the object has been to get 
as much useful information into it as possible, to confine 
the matter to practical subjects and to avoid repetition. 
It has therefore been arranged in a series of chapters, each 
dealing with an important matter, and available for reference 
when any question on the subject crops up in another 
portion of the book. Short notes follow on the principal 
genera known in gardens, but the cultural remarks may 
be supplemented by reference to the cultural chapters. 
Anything like an enumeration of the more important species 
could not be attempted. So also in the matter of hybrid 
Orchids, the question is discussed in two chapters dealing 
with the practical question of raising seedlings, but only 
slight reference could be made to the species used in 
hybridising or to the numerous hybrids themselves.1. The 
amateur who engages in Orchid culture and in the rais- 
ing of seedlings will find that “practice makes master.” 
1 Readers may be referred to List of Orchid Hybrids, published by F. Sander 
and Sons, 
