44 Upon the Cultivation of Epiphytes of the Orchis Tribe, 



known that the stoves of Messrs. Loddiges of Hackney, Messrs, 

 Richard and Arnold Harrison of Liverpool, and Mr. Cattley 

 of Barnet, are unrivalled in the number of species that they con- 

 tain, and that the total number now found in the gardens of Great 

 Britain is certainly not less than two hundred ; while the Catalogue 

 of the Jardin du Roi at Paris, made up to last year, enumerates 

 but nineteen. 



In instituting this enquiry, the obvious question was, what are 

 the conditions of soil and climate, under which these plants flourish 

 in their native place? but it was found exceedingly difficult to 

 answer this question with any degree of precision. The data that 

 existed upon the subject were imperfect, and the conclusions that 

 were drawn from them were necessarily proportionably unsatisfac- 

 tory. It was only known that generally their native climate was 

 the tropics, and their food the decayed vegetable soil that collects 

 upon trees. 



All our earliest experiments were consequently unsuccessful ; 

 we lost our plants as quickly as we received them, and when we 

 preserved a single species out of an entire collection we thought 

 we had met with great success. By degrees, however, we dis- 

 covered better means of management, and acquired more precise 

 information upon the subject of their native places of growth, the 

 substance of all which may be said to amount to this, that a well 

 drained soil, shade, a very high temperature, and an atmosphere 

 nearly saturated with humidity are the conditions that are requisite 

 to ensure their successful cultivation, and that soil itself is of little 

 importance to them; we have used common garden earth, lime 

 rubbish, gravel, decayed vegetable matter and moss, and all with 

 equal success, provided the drainage was effectual, and we have 

 found all these equally useless when the drainage was not attended 

 to ; a circumstance which is no doubt due to the succulent nature of 

 the plants, and to the very imperfect means that most of them 



