

THE ORCHIDS. 349 
aside, and pointing not to any fixed law of nature. We can 
well afford to take facts as they are given to us, without 
seeking to force our preconceived notions on things around 
us, or going into despair because we discover the falsity of a 
long-established error. 
Attracted by the glorious loveliness of these plants, the 
florist, if he be rich enough, often adorns his establishment 
with them. The terrestrial kinds he does pretty well with ; 
he can grow Cypripediums, Ophryses, Herminiums, Acan- 
thophippiums, and the like, with no special trouble. But 
when he comes to the other form, his cares begin. He must 
hang them up in baskets of dry lumps of peat, upon his 
greenhouse rafters ; or tie them on blocks and sticks and put 
them in high and airy places, or perhaps build a pile of such 
loose peat-lumps and put the bulbs on the top. Nay, some 
are too particular for him to meddle much with them; he 
must import the rock or stick or dead limb with them 
already on it, and then he may not succeed after all. Mrs. 
Loudon complains, that with all the plans of glazing houses 
with colored glass; using double sashes, training vines over 
i roof, etc., it has still been impossible to flower some 
kinds to satisfaction. And all this without saying anything 
of the hot, steamy atmosphere that must be kept up, half 
boiling the gardener alive like a Turkish bath, or anything 
of the more ordinary trouble of importing them from far 
Countries, and having them arrive in doubtful condition, 
requiring every art for their restoration, and constantly 
threatening the loss of all expense incurred. Yet, after all, 
“ome succeed finely, and are rewarded with the wondrous 
loveliness of Stanhopeas, Oncidiums, Catasetums, Cattleyas, 
-*ndrobiums, and Vandas, filling their hands with labor, it 
is true, but their senses with beauty and celestial odors, and 
their hearts with yet more exquisite perfumes. Witness the 
iipressions these plants may create, in the case of the chirm- 
ng Peristeria, the “Flower of the Holy Ghost,” before which 
e Catholic cannot restrain his devotion. In its pure 
