xviii 



PK0CEEDING9. 



in latitude 29° S., which may be taken as a middle point 

 for the range of this species, in the summer there is a dif- 

 ference of 41° between the day and night, and the low- 

 ness of the night temperature throughout the year must 

 greatly depress the average of diurnal temperature. Where 

 this great explorer found an epiphytal Orchid in flower 

 (Cymbidium canaliculatum), the night temperature was as 

 low as 33°, and that of the day not more than 86 D . It is 

 therefore evident that the constitution of plants, placed by 

 nature in such a climate, must be essentially different from 

 that of species from the jungles of India. The following 

 memorandum by the Rev. Mr. Chawner's gardener, brief as 

 it is, explains distinctly the history of this noble specimen : 

 'The plant has been grown in an intermediate house, varying 

 from 45° to 55°, for the last three or four years ; during the 

 summer the house is kept from 65° to 75°. Last May the 

 plant was put in a cold pit and exposed to the sun, with 

 very little water ; in September it was put back into 

 the intermediate house, and has since that time had plenty 

 of water.' Nothing can better express the conditions 

 which are most favourable to the health of this and all such 

 plants. During the season of rest the Dendrobe is stowed 

 away in an unheated pit, where its surface is acted upon 

 freely by air, and such sunlight as the season naturally 

 affords ; at this time it has little water. In the month of 

 September, the beginning of its own natural spring, it is 

 introduced to a better climate, where the heat is 20° or 30 3 

 higher ; water is gradually supplied ; as it fully renews its 

 vegetation it receives this kind of food in abundance. Then 

 it is that the latent vigour acquired during its rest begins 

 to manifest itself; the organisable matter which was formed 

 during a period of dryness and sun-warmth is rapidly con- 

 verted into new parts ; blossoms appear in profusion, and, 

 by the month of February, they gush forth in one vast 

 floral stream. In May the new growth is accomplished ; 

 all the parts are fully organised and charged with the rich 

 fluid which is to furnish further blossoms after some months' 

 digestion in dryness and lethargy, under the influence of sun 

 and air. In May the .plant is transferred to the place 

 whence it was taken in the previous September, and there 

 it remains till the September following. This would be 

 the history (Dr. Lindley further remarked) of all New Hol- 

 land plants, and of half the other plants in gardens, if 

 means existed for carrying out the practice. This is the 

 history of the noble specimens of Azaleas, Cactuses, and 

 other prodigies which grace the Exhibition tents of the 



