HOMELY REMARKS ON HOME FLOWERS. 
23 
At the present time, exotic Orchidaceae receive a very large 
proportion of the favours of the horticultural world, and I must 
allow, deservedly. Collectors are despatched to explore un¬ 
known districts in search of novelties to enrich the collection 
at home, with a spirit and energy that deserves the highest 
commendation. May every one who undertakes the arduous 
task, return successful! Knowing something of the enthusiasm 
that is now so prevalently attached to this the exotic class of 
the order, I am induced to consider it as the most fitting period 
at which an endeavour to direct some little attention to our 
native kinds can be made. Often have I bent over their fragile 
forms, and regretted they should be left to — 
“ Blush unseen, 
And waste their sweetness on the desert air; ” 
and I am positive, could your readers be induced to bestow 
only a small share of the attention now so liberally given to 
their exotic brethren, they would be found most grateful reci¬ 
pients. I am aware some little difficulty has been experienced 
in the attempts hitherto made to grow British Orehideae; but, 
in this age of advancement, obstacles of this sort are regarded 
merely as incentives to further exertion, giving a tone to the 
renewed energy. Indeed, my love of these flowers makes me , 
sanguine enough to believe, that not only may they be grown 
as they now are, but that, with patience and perseverance, a 
great improvement may be effected among them. Surely in 
this enlightened age, when floriculture is so rapidly advancing, 
it will not be admitted that these lovely things shall still live 
unnoticed, or that their improvement is an impossibility. 
Let us think of the difficulties found when the culture of the 
exotic species was first tried, and then turn, to view, with ad¬ 
miration, the splendid objects that the same class of plants now 
presents: or, as a still more familiar instance, look at the beau¬ 
tiful varieties of the Pansy which now grace our floral exhi¬ 
bitions ; thousands of varieties of them may be found, of as many 
shades of colour, from the deepest and richest purple to the 
most delicate and pure white, of approved form and texture; 
and, after acknowledging their eminent claims to beauty, we 
must recollect (for the sake of those on whose account I write) 
that all these are descendants of the little, ugly, despised wild 
pansy. Now', if we suppose that Orchis fusca could be grown 
