THE ORCHID REVIEW. 15 
a New Guinea Dendrobium in a collection resting in a Cold house with 
D. nobile (the two had grown well together), and pointed out to the 
gardener how unlikely it was that it would stand such treatment, and 
advised him to take it to a warmer house to rest, which he immediately 
did. I learned afterwards that the plant never recovered: the strain had 
been too great, and it failed to start in the spring, as I had feared. These 
are only examples which show how easy it is to jump at a wrong conclusion, 
and they might be multiplied indefinitely. Even the species of such a genus 
as Cattleya or Masdevallia cannot all be treated exactly” altke, as'every 
gardener knows. 
The case may be put another way. Species ot certain genera which 
are supposed to require different treatment actually grow together in a wild 
state. Thus Oncidiums are found growing with Odontoglossums in one 
locality, and with Cattleyas in another, but the species are quite different in 
the two cases, and the attempt to grow them together will inevitably end 
in disaster. The cultivator might ultimately discover the correct treatment, 
but too often while he is experimenting the plant dies, and even if success 
is ultimately attained by this empirical method, how much more quickly 
and certainly he would have gone to work had he known something of the 
natural conditions under which it grows in a wild state. How many 
failures attended the early cultivation of Odontoglossums because cultivators 
were ignorant of the fact that they grew high up on the mountains in 
a temperate climate, although within the tropics. Bateman, in 1864, 
remarked that from the days of Humboldt and Lexarza species pre-eminent 
in loveliness had mocked the utmost efforts of our most skilful growers ; 
they had invariably succumbed in the stifling atmosphere to which they 
were remorselessly consigned. Here and there an accidental success was 
achieved in a greenhouse, but the hint was turned to no account. Notwith- 
standing the repeated warnings of Mr. Skinner, Warscewicz, and others 
for thirty years we persisted in the incredible folly of growing Cool Orchids 
in hot stoves. At length, however, one or two growers adopted a rational 
method of treatment, and with what success we all know. Looking back 
a little further, we find Lindley, in 1859, remarking that plants which in 
1820 were thought to be uncultivatable had been brought as much under 
command as heaths and ferns. And this is the past history of Orchid 
culture in its broad features. A knowledge of the conditions under which 
these plants grow has been gradually acquired, and their treatment has been 
framed accordingly. Of course, the essential conditions have sometimes 
been discovered by experiment, and even stumbled upon by accident, 
though this does not affect the argument. 
(To be continued.) 
——— et 
