190 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[October,. 



ORCHIDS AT HOME. 



Epiphytal Orchids are essentially heat 

 lovers ; like Palms, they are children of the 

 sun. One may often travel a long way in 

 Borneo and other Malayan islands, where 

 these plants are most abundant, without 

 catching a glimpse of them, and this is espe- 

 cially true of Phahvnopxis yntndiflora, which 

 is of all Orchids perhaps the least obtrusive 

 in its native habitats. This trait is, however, 

 the unobtrusiveness of high birth ; they do 

 not care to touch the ground, but rather 

 prefer a sphere of their own high up in the 

 trees overhead. The plants have a charm- 

 ing freedom of aspect as thus seen naturally 

 high up in mid-air, screened from the sun by 

 a leafy canopy, deluged with rains for half 

 the year or more at least, and fanned by the 

 cool sea-breezes or monsoons, which doubt- 

 less exercise some potent influence on their 

 health — an influence which we can but rarely 

 apply to them artificially; and the greatly 

 modified conditions under which we must 

 perforce cultivate them may not render this 

 one so desirable as it appears to be abroad. 



In the lowland forests near the Equator a 

 peculiar phase of vegetation is not unfre- 

 quently seen. Trees one hundred or two 

 hundred feet in height tower upward on all 

 sides, and one walks in the shade, — diffused 

 light is, perhaps, the more correct expression, 

 — the tree-trunks being the pillars of Na- 

 ture's cathedral, and the leafy branches high 

 up above representing the roof. All the 

 vegetation you see around you, on earth, 

 rocks, or fallen trunks, is represented by a 

 few Ferns, Lindsayas, with bright, steel-blue 

 fronds a yard high, broad-leaved aroids or 

 ginger-worts, but Epiphytes of all kinds 

 seem totally absent ; and the truth is that, 

 like lovable "Tom Bowling" of Dibdin's 

 iniiistrelsy, they too have " gone aloft." 



Above you is a world of light and air and 

 sunshine, which birds and insects and flowers 

 alike enjoy. You feel very small and help- 

 less as you try to catch a glimpse of the 

 plants and flowers so high above you, and 

 almost envy the long-armed red monkeys 

 that swing themselves so easily from bough 

 to bough. The monkey, however, has a rival 

 in the human natives of these forest wilds, 

 and it would be extremely puzzling to find a 

 tree so thick or tall, or otherwise so difficult 

 to climb, that the lithe and dusky native 

 would not reach its summit. 



This is in the forest primeval ; but near 

 clearings or on the skirts of the forest near 

 rivers, which let in the light and air, the 

 the Phalsenopsids and other Epiphytes are 

 less ambitions, and they may then be found 

 i ii positions but little above the more plebeian 

 kinds of terrestrial vegetation. This is also 

 the case when, as sometimes happens, they 

 are found on the trees which fringe little 

 islands ; and then not only do the plants 

 receive a good deal of sunshine as it streams 

 through the leafy twigs of the branches to 

 which they cling, but it is also reflected back 

 again from the glistening sea. The intense 

 light in which they thus exist, added to the 

 fervent heat and the deluge of rain which falls 

 during six or seven months of the year, ac- 

 counts for the enormous root and leaf growth 

 made by these plants in their natural habi- 



tats. The flowering is not so extraordinary — 

 indeed, rather disappointing, after the result 

 which may be seen in English gardens. It- 

 is not so much the paucity of flowers pro- 

 duced, however, as their early destruction, 

 caused by "unbidden guests" the Orchids 

 are made to entertain. 



High up overhead the most lovely Orchids 

 hold their court in the sunshine ; here they 

 are really "at home," to their winged visi- 

 tors. Now and then you come across a newly 

 fallen tree — a very monarch of the woods — 

 which has succumbed to old age and rough 

 weather at last, and has sunk to the earth 

 from where it sprang a seedling generations 

 ago, its branches laden with everything in- 

 animate which had there made a home. 

 Some of these ruined trunks are perfect 

 gardens of beauty, wreathed with graceful 

 climbing plants and gay with flowers and 

 foliage. — Burbidye's " Garden of the Sun." 



iPil JJife. 



LIVING FROM THE GARDEN. 



The greatest pleasure in life consists, after 

 all, in the hope of the good the future may 

 bring, in the anticipations of our expected 

 successes, and in planning for the ways and 

 means to attain the desired results. In gar- 

 dening especially, half of the battle consists 

 in properly matured plans and systematic 

 methods of work. Many fail because they 

 undertake too much ; yet, as every failure 

 leaves us richer in exx>erienee and better 

 prepared to avoid similar ones, there is a 

 gain in failures even. 



There is something fascinating and charm- 

 ing in the courageous enthusiasm and assur- 

 ing hopefulness of the beginner in practical 

 gardening, which only those can fully realize 

 who for many years have been pent up in a 

 large city and finally find their long deferred 

 wish of the possession of a country home 

 gratified. The following letter from our cor- 

 respondent, "East Dedham," is so life-like, 

 and describes so vividly the first year's gar- 

 dening experiences and expectations of many, 

 that we give it in full : 



"I live in a good neighborhood, close to 

 a country station, ten miles from the city, 

 where each house has its garden, and every 

 man might have as much land to cultivate as 

 he chose, rent free. The families are not 

 rich, but intelligent and of good tastes. 

 They like to make their salaries go as far as 

 possible, to have something for concerts and 

 journeys. No true American thinks himself 

 bound to save anything nowadays on a limited 

 income. Each one raises Potatoes enough 

 for the year, summer berries and Green Corn 

 and Peas for the season. Every house has 

 its flower-border, gay with Gladiolus, Scarlet 

 Geranium, Petunias, and autumn Dahlias. 

 Everybody says a garden is a great help ; 

 yet no one thinks of making as much by it 

 as he can. 



"It is a fact that one cannot find a head 

 of Lettuce in the town, unless brought from 

 Boston, at six cents apiece ; nor a Tomato 

 plant, nor an early Radish or peek of Spin- 

 ach, nor bunch of fresh Thyme, or a leaf of 

 Tarragon — though, by the way, you can't 

 find that in all Boston, save at rare inter- ! 

 vals. The middle of August, everybody is 



out of Green Peas and early Sweet Corn ; 

 the late has not come on, the Tomatoes are 

 drying up, and the Irishwomen who board 

 the factory hands have to pay six cents a 

 quart for every Tomato they use. You can't 

 buy a quart of Blackberries or Raspberries 

 anywhere, save as a favor. 



"Now, this state of things, not at all un- 

 common, but rather the rule in country 

 places, is a shiftless disgrace. We bought 

 our place and moved out in May, so that 

 things are not as we would have them. But 

 if I pay fifty cents a dozen for Tomato 

 plants, and go without Lettuce next year, as- 

 I have this, and as the neighbors did, I shall 

 not think much of myself. I came into the 

 country to live as well as nature allows. I 

 propose to have Lettuce as fine as the market 

 affords all the year around, with the aid of 

 cold frames and hot-beds, and I want fresh 

 herbs to add flavoring to the Salad. A hun- 

 dred feet of herb-border is started already,, 

 with not only Sage and Thyme, but nearly 

 all the herbs that figure in seed lists. I have 

 sent for the earliest and the latest Strawber- 

 ries I can hear of, to have three months of 

 that delightful fruit in place of one. Rad- 

 ishes shall last the year round, like Lettuce,, 

 and Pea?end with frost ; but by sheltering 

 Tomato vines we will have them in Novem- 

 ber. Egg Plant and Okra, Salsify, Celery, and 

 Celeriae, fresh Turnips, Carrots, Onions, Kale, 

 besides spring and fall Asparagus and fruit of 

 every denomination the garden will hold, are- 

 to furnish our table with what every Ameri- 

 can household ought to have. With Chick- 

 ens, Rabbits, Ducks, and Pigeons of our own 

 raising, I trust we shall not know hunger or 

 lack variety. 



" What is there in this modest list any 

 house in the country should not have ? The 

 boys hang about all summer, complaining it 

 is so dull they don't know what to do with 

 themselves. Why are they not taught to 

 take pride and pleasure in keeping a garden ? 



' ' I have gone so far as to plan an orchard- 

 house, that we may have the pleasure of ripe 

 fruit in winter. If I choose to stay at home 

 all summer, instead of going to the mount- 

 ains, and save the money to build such an 

 addition to the home, and bring Florida to- 

 my doors for the rest of my winters, who- 

 will say it is not a wise thing ? I wish to find 

 my home pleasanter than any spot I am likely 

 to see, and all that tree, plant, and flower can 

 do for it is to be done. There is economy in 

 it. People here spend more in railway fares; 

 on journeys to insipid places, in butchers' 1 

 meat at ten per cent, over town prices, and 

 cheap forms of diversion which to me are in- 

 tolerable, to give themselves the material 

 luxuries of the wealthy. I see the house of 

 my millionaire neighbor across the valley 

 without envy. She can have no finer Roses 

 than 1 do from my little conservatory ; no 

 finer fruit than I grow for myself ; no better 

 books than the great libraries give me ; no 

 prettier home than mine, with its flowers 

 and shrubbery when grown ; no pleasanter- 

 table ; no better bed than mine, with its 

 lavendered linen sheets. Yet I have these 

 within the compass of $2000 a year, thanks 

 to my garden. It pays for the manure and 

 plants I buy from what we sell of surplus 

 fruit and vegetables, leaving my flowers, 

 which are my luxury, clear of expense. A 

 good deal of brains go into it, and much 

 hard work ; but I don't know where one- 

 could find better return." 



