INTRODUCTORY 



3 



made an earnest attempt to cultivate it. This he has 

 done very successfully, so that at the present time 

 thousands of living tubers have been propagated, and at 

 the flowering season hundreds of splendid spikes of 

 bloom may be seen in his greenhouse. Mr Cornish took 

 his keynote, so to say, from the following information. 

 Disa grandiflora is found on Table Mountain, growing 

 on the margins of streams and ledges of waterfalls, and 

 during the growing season it flourishes in very wet 

 spongy soil, which consists of peat, sand, and sphagnum 

 moss. The plant may almost be said to grow in water, 

 the soil being so wet. As the dry season progresses, the 

 water gradually recedes, until, at the flowering time, the 

 soil is not nearly so wet, and shortly afterwards the 

 water quite disappears, and the plants are left compara- 

 tively dry until the wet season again comes round. The 

 dry season is the period of rest, but even during that 

 time the plants are not without moisture at the roots, 

 the soil in which they grow being sufficiently damp 

 to preserve them in vigour until the growing wet 

 season arrives. I could relate many such instances of 

 successful cultivation, based on study of native con- 

 ditions. 



It is said that the word Orchid is a stumbling-block 

 to many amateurs, and, although their gardeners grow to 

 perfection the inmates of the ordinary stove and green- 

 house, they hesitate about undertaking the culture of 

 Orchids. However this may be, I am sure that some of 

 the more useful kinds are of easy cultivation, and no 

 intelligent gardener with ordinary means at hand need 

 fail with them. Some consider it imperative to build 

 special houses for them, such houses running east and west, 

 whilst many consider it necessary that a lean-to or three- 

 quarter span facing north is necessary for the cool growing 

 Orchids. From my own experience, I should say that 

 anyone having houses which he wishes to devote to 



