June 5, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
637 
by wise judgment/and so’when her immense collection 
came to the hammer, it did not bring anything like 
the original cost. In this country, where the culti¬ 
vation of these plants is not so general as in England, 
prices for imported Orchids have not ruled high ; but 
within the past year the rage for Orchid flowers has 
tended to increase the demand and enhance the value 
of plants. A large number of the Orchids in this 
country were imported from England, where there are 
large horticultural establishments, one of which has 
employed from ten to fourteen men at one time 
collecting Orchids in- the tropics. The sale of Orchids 
by auction in New York has increased largely within 
the last five years, most of the plants sold in this way 
being newly imported, and thousands of these are sold 
by one firm, from April to November, about twelve or 
fifteen sales taking place in this period. 
The growth of Orchids was attempted abroad years 
before any attention was given them in this country. 
In the records of the Cambridge Botanic Garden 
mention is made of a single Orchid which the garden 
possessed in 1818. It was the well-known Phaius 
grandifolius, still grown in many collections. The first 
Orchid exhibited in this country of which we have any 
record was Oncidium flexuosum, still a favourite. It 
was shown by Marshall P. Wilder before this society 
June 24, 1837. We find the first trace of any Orchid 
collection in America about 1837, John Wright Boott, 
whose garden occupied the ground where the Revere 
House now stands owning a small lot of Orchids sent 
from England. This collection was scattered, but in 
1846 Caleb Cope, of Philadelphia (who still lives) had a 
house devoted to Orchids, and he was the first to flower 
the Victoria regia in this country. In September, 
1849, James Dundas and Robert Buist were awarded 
the first and second premiums for Orchids exhibited 
before the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society at Phil¬ 
adelphia, but the species are not named. 
In the meantime small collections had grown up 
around Boston, and in 1854 Edward S. Rand owned 
what was considered at the time a fair collection, and 
many of the plants were of considerable size. Previous 
to 1850 Erastus Corning, of Albany, N. Y., owned 
some Orchids, and about 1850 he brought from England 
thirty species, and thus laid the foundation of his 
wonderful collection, which is without doubt the finest 
in America, and one of the best in the world. Isaac 
Buchanan, of Astoria, Long Island, one of the oldest 
florists in this country, who still lives, and whose love 
for Orchids is as keen as ever, brought Cattleya Mossise 
from England, and gradually increased his collection 
until, about 1860, he had a large number of plants. 
He never lost an opportunity to add to them, and 
(though buying and selling continually) he had as 
many as two thousand Orchids in his collection at one 
time, and probably many more than this number. 
This collection was largely dispersed some time ago, 
though he still retains some of his plants. Thomas 
Hogg maintained a fine collection near New York about 
1850, but this was dispersed some years ago. The col¬ 
lection of Cornelius Van Voorst, of Jersey city, was a 
noted one in its day, and doubtless the best in the 
country at that time. It existed from 1857 to 1870. 
Mr. Lienau, of the same city, maintained, after the 
dispersion of Van Voorst’s collection, the best lot of 
Orchids in this country, but in 1873 this also 
was broken up. There were several other Orchid 
growers in this country previous to 1860 ; among them 
General John F Rathbone, of Albany, N. Y., who 
founded his collection about 1853, and still maintains 
it in fine form. Louis Menand, of Albany, had a few 
species as early as 1846, and has kept pace with the 
progress of their culture ; and he and Mr. Buchanan 
are considered the pioneers of Orchid culture in this 
country. 
From about 1865 up to the present time, Orchid 
growing in America has become more general and 
widely diffused over the country ; so that in place of 
the twelve or fifteen collections kept up twenty years 
ago, we now find good collections scattered all through 
the northern States and in Canada. Many of these 
collections number from a thousand to fifteen hundred 
plants, and are rich in fine varieties and large speci¬ 
mens. The most rapid growth of Orchid culture has, 
however, been within the last ten years. In that 
period, English nurserymen have enormously increased 
the importations from the tropics, and as a result of 
the activity of their trained agents, most of them ex¬ 
perienced botanists, familiar with the Orchid family, 
unexplored sections have been penetrated, and pre¬ 
viously unknown species brought to light. Many 
more exist which collectors have not found, or have 
not succeeded in introducing alive. An estimate has 
been made, by good authority, that not less than five 
thousand species exist, of which two thousand are, or 
have been, in cultivation. In the former statement 
there is much of conjecture, but of the latter there is 
no doubt. 
The increase of trade collections in America has not 
been'in proportion to the growth of amateur collections. 
American florists, with very few exceptions, have found 
it difficult to keep up a profitable trade in Orchid 
plants, owing to the competition of English nursery¬ 
men and the large auction sales in New York ; so that 
at present there are but seven or eight trade collections 
worthy of mention, the largest being probably that of 
A. Breckenridge of Govanstown, Maryland. 
In New York city, Orchid flowers have become so 
popular, that the few who grow them find it difficult 
to meet the demand. A year ago they w r ere not in 
such request ; and though the demand seems to be 
confined to New York, the rage for them, as they 
become better known and the supply increases, is likely 
to spread. 
The number of private collections in this country 
which may be classed as large is about fifteen. As 
before stated, that of Mr. Corning, at Albany, is at 
present the finest in the country. Next to it in point 
of fine varieties is that of Frederick L. Ames, at North 
Easton, Mass., though that of William S. Kimball, at 
Rochester, N. Y., contains a larger number of plants. 
The collection of John Wallace, at Paterson, N. J., is 
an example of what an enthusiast in Orchid-growing 
can do ; it contains twelve or thirteen hundred plants, 
and he takes care of them successfully himself, though 
he goes to business daily. In the Western States, as a 
rule, Orchids are not numerous, though many amateurs 
there are forming the nuclei of collections which, in all 
probability, ten years hence will closely rival those of 
the Eastern States. There is no trade or amateur 
collection south of Washington, except a small one at 
New Orleans. 
There are but two botanical gardens in this country 
maintaining any collection of Orchids. That at Cam¬ 
bridge, Mass., where the first Orchid of which we have 
any record in this country was grown, now 828 plants, 
comprising 378 species and hybrids. The United 
States Botanic Garden, at Washington, dates its collec¬ 
tion from 1852, and now embraces fifty-two genera, 
comprising 247 species and varieties. 
The great obstacles to the successful growth of 
Orchids are, first, the lack of proper and constant 
atmospheric moisture during the season of active 
growth ; second, the want of a constant supply of fresh 
air during growth, and particularly during the resting 
period, from November to April ; third, the lack of 
cleanliness; fourth, overshading the houses during 
growth, as well as during the resting period. These 
four points are the cardinal ones in Orchid culture ; all 
other requirements, such as potting material, proper 
receptacles for growth, &c., are of little moment beside 
them, and want of proper knowdedge of some or all of 
them is the cause of all failures, to a greater or less 
extent. Our climate is naturally dry and arid, com¬ 
pared with that of England, from whence we have had 
most of the handbooks and rules for Orchid culture ; 
and the inexperienced are prone to believe, after reading 
upon the subject, that too much atmospheric moisture 
and air can be given. In this respect, however, Orchid 
culture has made great progress. The most successful 
grower now does not hesitate to leave open both top 
and bottom ventilators of the Orchid house during the 
season of growth, and when the outside temperature 
ranges above 55°, except when there may occur a rapid 
fall of temperature of the outside air. In consequence, 
all kinds of Orchids may be freely syringed overhead 
even twice a day during growth, and the walks and 
benches thoroughly saturated. Thousands of “ cool ” 
Orchids from the high mountains of South America 
have been destroyed in this country, and in England, 
by the application of too much heat. Many of them 
come from altitudes ten or twelve thousand feet above 
the sea level ; regions of perpetual moisture, and where 
ice forms ; so that our tropical summers, combined with 
over-lieated glass-houses in winter, have swept them off 
in large quantities .—From a paper read before the 
Massaclmsets Horticultural Society, on March 6th, by 
Edward L. Beard. 
THE DEFENCES OF PLANTS. 
Besides meeting the attacks of animals in different 
ways, plants have to cope with other dangers, and 
require for these another system of defences, which are 
more associated with peculiarities of environment. 
They are assailed continually by varying conditions of 
climate and temperature, and have in many cases very 
curious modifications of structure and habit to corres¬ 
pond with these. A danger that threatens most plants, 
except in a few regions of the world, is that of having 
their pollen injured by rain. To meet this many 
varieties of form of corolla have been developed. Many 
have a long narrow tubular shape, the claws of the 
petals cohering together, while the free limbs can curve 
outwards in fine weather, but arch over the tube when 
wet. Others have a campanulate form, with the base 
of the bell up-wards, so that rain falling on the flower 
cannot get near the stamens, but is shot off as by a 
roof. In others the stamens are covered over by 
development of another part of the flower, as in the 
Iris ; the filament of the stamen, too, may be broad, 
and bear the anther on its under surface, as in the 
Naiadacece. It is rather curious that flowers that pro¬ 
duce large quantities of pollen have not such defences 
against this danger as those which form but little, 
while the most complete adaptations are found in the 
cases of plants that inhabit damp climates. 
Many flowers are defended by habit rather than 
structure. In wet weather they do not open their 
corollas at all, and not a few, even in fine weather, 
keep open for a very little while, only a few hours in 
many cases. 
Besides rain, other meteorological conditions are 
fraught with danger. One of the most commonly oc¬ 
curring is frost; and allied to this is the loss of heat 
by radiation during the night. The power of resistance 
to these conditions varies very much, but in many 
whose constitution makes them peculiarly susceptible 
to damage thereby there has been developed the so-called 
power of sleep. The term is no doubt a misnomer, but 
it has been adopted and associated with certain well- 
defined movements which the leaves of the plants per¬ 
form at the close and at the beginning of day. The 
movements differ very greatly with different plants, but 
they bring about such a position of the leaves as will 
protect the upper surface from radiation. Some of them 
are of a very complex nature, particularly those shown 
by certain of the Leguminosae, which have pinnate 
leaves. It is in this natural order that the property of 
sleep is most prevalent, certain of the Oxalidacese and 
their allies coming next to them. 
A similar mechanism protects very many plants from 
excess of sunlight, which is injurious to the chlorophyll. 
In bright sunshine the leaves assume a position which 
has been called “diurnal sleep.” In it they present 
their edges and not their faces to the light. In other 
leaves the chlorophyll corpuscles themselves move, 
taking up a position on the lateral walls of the cells 
rather than on the front ones, or so placing themselves 
that their profile and not their surface is exposed to 
the sun. In some of the Algae, as Mesocarpus and 
Vaucheria, this sensitiveness is seen. 
Other protective devices may be seen by studying the 
adaptations of plants to their conditions of life. Thus 
the leaves of submerged plants are preserved from being 
broken by the currents of water by being minutely 
sub-divided, so that they adapt themselves easily to 
the motion, and do not oppose a resistance. Desert 
plants are protected from drought by the develop¬ 
ment of a succulent habit. Aerial parts of plants, 
again, are protected in many cases from becoming 
moistened by water by a deposition in the cuticular 
layers of the epidermis of varying amounts of wax or 
resin. — Nature. 
-oeg*-- 
FLORICULTURE. 
Herbaceous Calceolarias at Reading.— Being 
on business in this old Berkshire town recently, and 
having a little spare time on hand, I took the oppor¬ 
tunity of visiting Messrs. Sutton’s London Road Nur¬ 
sery. I knew the Calceolarias would be in bloom, and 
as the firm has a great reputation for this among other 
things, I naturally expected to see them in good dress ; 
but I must say that they far exceeded my expectations, 
although their beauty was just on the wane. At the 
time of my visit a man was going over them with the 
brush, setting every bloom, and in a large house of big 
