40 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Orange blooms sweeten the air, my children play, and my best 

 poem be written." 



In conclusion I should like to tender my best thanks to the 

 ranchers and other gentlemen who have so graciously given me 

 such able assistance in the way of information, which has 

 enabled me to lay before the Fellows of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society an idea of the resources and advantages of this beautiful 

 country of California. 



SKETCHES OF WILD ORCHIDS IN GUIANA. 



By Eveeaed F. im Thuen, F.R.H.S. 



Neaely twenty-one years ago the Fates led me to Guiana and, 

 nearly ever since, have detained me in the wilder and more 

 remote parts of that region. Throughout I have taken an 

 interest in the plants, and especially in the Orchids ; and of 

 late years whatever time I have been able to afford to botanical 

 hobbies has been devoted almost exclusively to the somewhat 

 arduous task of collecting, drying, dissecting, and drawing 

 Orchids, many of them so small that an entire clump, root and 

 all, and in full flower, would pass without touching through a 

 finger-ring, and in making frantic efforts to grow these in my 

 garden. It has been a long promise to the Editor of the 

 " Royal Horticultural Society's Journal " that I should give him 

 some notes of the experiences thus gained, and he now insists 

 on the immediate performance of this promise. 



I find myself embarrassed by the vast number of the scraps 

 of Orchid lore which ihe abovementioned circumstances have 

 put into my head, and still more by the desultory and 

 unconnected character of the collection. Probably the only 

 feasible way to fulfil my promise at present is to jot down 

 certain pictures which remain in my mind of scenes in which 

 Orchids were a prominent feature, and to leave it to my readers 

 to pick out for themselves the scraps of information as to the 

 natural conditions under which the Orchids mentioned grow, and 

 as to the artificial conditions which may therefore be best applied 

 in the cultivation of these. 



Lest, however, my horticultural readers should after this 



