142 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
is evident that the number of individual plants of each has to be 
severely limited. This has to apply to even the showiest of them. In 
consequence, the Orchid Houses do not always present that brilliantly 
gay appearance which people associate with these structures, but 
which is only possible where the finest species and hybrids alone 
are grown. On the other hand, a large number of species flower at 
Kew every year that cannot be seen elsewhere. It is not, perhaps, 
generally known that there are orchids with as little beauty of flower 
as the duller weeds by the wayside. Yet many of these, in their 
remarkable mechanical contrivances to secure cross-fertilisation by 
insects, have as deep a scientific interest as the gaudiest or most 
costly. It is impossible in these pages to deal with the Kew orchids 
in any detail. They are grown chiefly in the east wing (Nos. 13 and 
14) of the T-Range, and in a series of pits in a private yard close by. 
Owing to the excessively humid atmosphere which at certain seasons 
is essential to their proper cultivation, they are not suitable plants 
for houses open to the public where doors are continually being 
opened and cold draughts admitted. It is only a small propor- 
tion of the species, therefore, that is exhibited at any one time. 
The houses open to the public are used for the display of species 
in flower, and for growing those of more robust constitution only. 
