THE ORCHID WORLD. 
in our worldly scheme of things, it ought most 
to appeal. At the fortnightly meetings of 
the Royal Horticultural Society probably no 
class of plants is so much admired as the 
orchid — and none so little understood. " Wc 
can't grow them," or " I'm afraid my gardener 
doesn't understand them," are quite frequent 
remarks, and these remarks give furious to 
think. 
A very excellent head-gardener whom I 
knew many years ago in Yorkshire, and who 
was in charge of an extensive and famous 
garden in that county, was fond of telling his 
men that he had never yet known an orchid 
grower who was a good gardener. This, on 
reflection, I have since discovered was really 
an apology for his own shortcomings, as the 
orchids under his charge were in a most 
deplorable state, while all the other depart- 
ments in the garden were most commendable. 
I now reply to that head-gardener that I have 
rarely known a good gardener (in the sense 
he meant) a good orchid grower (in the sense 
I mean), and this is the simple if melancholy 
explanation why orchids are so rarely seen in 
quantity, of good quality, and in productive 
health in large gardens, and why, in compara- 
tively small gardens, where the gardener is 
an orchid specialist, the orchids are of high 
quality, are extensively grown and, lastly, are 
productive. In fact, these smaller gardens 
have become in the main the repositories of 
what is choice in orchids, and their owners 
and gardeners are the orchid experts. 
The attitude of the head-gardener who is 
ignorant of orchids and their culture is natu- 
rally antagonistic, for he is afraid of them. 
And it follows that this resistance keeps those 
charming plants out of the very places whose 
owners would welcome them if they were 
encouraged. Introduce orchids to a garden 
and let them be well grown, and they will 
claim their share of interest ; nay, more, they 
will soon become the feature of the garden, 
and prize vegetables and large bunches of 
grapes will recede in importance. All I 
ask for them is a fair field and no favour, and 
this includes that they be well grown and 
understood'. The ordinary head-gardener is 
as little able to direct the orchid specialist in 
all the intricacies of his work as the farm 
bailiff IS able to superintend the other depart- 
ments of the garden. And this is not all. He 
is unable to discuss the orchid craft intelligibly 
with his employer. There is a wealth of 
interest to adduce from a collection of orchids 
apart from the periodical supply of seasonable 
flowers, and it is impossible for an employer 
who takes but even a passing interest in his 
gardens to fail to be attracted and entertained 
by them if, in conjunction with the general 
culture, hybridisation is being followed. This 
is what most of our great private gardens are 
deprived of. 
Now I should like to make an appeal on 
behalf of the orchid grower, and at the same 
time find a remedy for this deplorable state 
of affairs. It is to take the orchids from under 
the charge of the head-gardener and put them 
in charge of an orchid specialist. Give him 
an independent and dignified position, pay 
him a salary that will make him self- 
respecting, and create for him by all this some 
sense of permanency, and this will be a good 
beginning — or shall I say a recommencement ? 
This will not be creating a precedent. It has 
already been tried in more than one large 
garden, and with overshadowing success. 
How few opportunities the orchid grower gets 
of testing himself in places of unlimited 
resources ! Orchids are mismanaged in many 
large gardens not from want of intelligence 
on the part of the gardener, but through in- 
sufficiency of experience of the right kind. 
As soon as the right man gets an independent 
charge of the orchids, their furtherance, their 
ascendency and their stability as a permanent 
and individual part of the garden is assured. 
Orchid growing in its higher branches, with 
the handling of valuable plants, their propa- 
gation and hybridisation, is as far removed 
from the general routine of a garden as the 
artisanship of the watch-maker is removed 
from that of the blacksmith. 
To be continued. 
%% U 
Hexamethylenetetramineguaiacol. This is 
not a new orchid, but a solid compound in- 
tended to replace guaiacol, since, having a 
much higher melting-point, it is more con- 
venient to handle and more pleasing to take. 
Tharm, Zeit., 1910, 55, 67. 
