34 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Jarger and shyer birds such as quail and blue jays should 
have a more secluded spot with a platform nearer the 
ground. 
In the trees near the house should be hung rib bones, ham 
bones, and bacon rinds which the chickadees, nuthatches 
and woodpeckers will feast on. 
It is not wise, however, to feed the birds too far from 
the house or to give them more than they will eat for one 
may then be helping unawares their enemies the rats, mice 
and squirrels. 
In Germany they make many patent feeding boxes for 
birds which discharge a small amount of seed whenever the 
bird alights on the perch. These, of course, need little at- 
tention. 
Now is a good time to make bird boxes to be put up on 
poles or on the house. They should be six by eight by six 
inches square and if intended for wrens should have a hole 
January, 1911 
not larger than a silver quarter of a dollar. For other 
birds they should, of course, be larger. 
For chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, blue birds, 
etc., nothing is better than a knot hole in a rotten tree. 
Many of these should be left in woods and orchards and 
more might be made out of partly decayed logs and 
branches. 
To help the birds in summer, nothing is better than 
tangles of thorny shrubs interspersed with others bearing 
fruit that the birds like. The mulberry tree, eleagnus, wild 
cherry, pepperidge, blackberries, cornus, viburnum and 
many other shrubs have seeds which are eagerly eaten by 
birds. 
If birds must be kept they should be caged in the nesting 
season, say from Memorial Day to mid July, because cats 
yearly destroy more birds than are killed in any other way. 
at this extra dangerous season for the young. 
The Romance of Orchid Hunting 
By P. Harvey Middleton 
to cross yawning chasms upon flimsy. Sei 
boo bridges, to swim swirling, wide rivers, 
to spend nights in tree tops for protection 
from floods, to brave wild beasts and peril- 
ous landslides, just to pluck a pretty para- 
site from a tree trunk in some fever- 
stricken haunt—surely this is madness. But if so, it is a 
form of insanity that never 
lacks followers among the 
reckless adventurers still to be 
found in many parts of this 
prosaic world. 
The primeval forests of 
Central America, the deso- 
late table lands of Mexico, 
the jungles of India, the 
swamps of savage Africa, and 
the Dead Heart of Australia, 
these are a few of the fields 
explored constantly by the 
hunter after the aristocrat of 
flowers, the Beau Brummels 
of blossoms. Scores of men 
have perished in the pursuit, 
and millions of dollars have 
been spent in the acquisition 
of these fantastic flowers, that 
mimic radiant birds, and gor- 
geous butterflies. 
Twenty-five years ago 
the orchid was practically un- 
known in America except to 
botanists and collectors with 
very long purses, but during 
the last decade its cultivation 
in this country has grown into 
an important industry. With- 
in a few miles of New York 
there are seven or eight orchid 
growers who cut from the 
plants in their hothouses about 
three hundred specimens 
4 Orchid, Cattleya Hardyana, one of the rarest orchids of South America 
day to meet the constant and increasing demand for this 
beautiful and fascinating flower as a suitable decoration 
at millionaires banquets and other important functions. At 
fashionable weddings it is coming into evidence more and 
more, gradually stealing away the glory from other mem- 
bers of the floral kingdom. Nor is its supremacy to be attri- 
buted solely to its cost, but rather to its own exquisite grace 
of form, beauty of color and its subtle fragrance. A dozen 
dollars will buy a dozen 
American Beauties. A dozen 
dollars will buy as many 
orchids, too, at some seasons 
of the year, but they may ali 
spring from a single stem and 
form a mere nosegay. Twelve 
such often enter into a bou- 
quet before it assumes the con- 
ventional proportions for the 
boudoir or the dinner table. 
And these are bargain prices, 
for it is no uncommon thing to 
pay five dollars for a single 
blossom at certain times of the 
year. 
The quest of the orchid by 
the American collector began 
some seventeen years ago in 
South America—which is the 
great supply source. John 
E.. Lager, of Summit Nea, 
went to the Republic of Col- 
ombia, whence come the most 
beautiful varieties. The news 
of his arrival in the orchid 
country spread like wildfire, 
and the natives flocked to him 
from miles around, all eager 
to start with him on an expe- 
dition into the mountains in 
search of the precious flowers. 
Soon a picturesque cavalcade 
of men and youths, three 
hundred strong, started from 
