2 NEW, RARE, AND BEAUTIFUL ORCHIDS OF COSTA RICA. 
feet do best in the so-called cattleya house; and 
Alpine sorts, from about 6000 feet. will prefer 
the cool or odontoglossum house. 
Most of Orchids, principally those with hard 
pseudo-bulbs, as Cattleyas, Leelias, most Epi- 
dendrums, Oncidiums, ete., generally delight 
and flower much more easily if grown in an 
abundance of light, protecting them only from 
the direct rays of sun. 
Yet a word about a certain item which I con- 
sider of importance. I find that the different 
manuals on orchid culture are advocating the 
use of water of the same temperature as the 
house. In view of that general practice, I wish 
to state the undeniable fact that, on the tropic- 
al highlands, where most of the orchids are 
concentrated, rain-showers are ordinarily about 
5 to 10 degrees colder than the temperature of 
the air, slight hail being no rare occurrence at 
the altitude of 4000 feet and more. And a sec- 
ond fact is, that connoisseurs, judging from the 
color and consistency of the roots, are quickly 
aware how the Epiphytes seek for such refresh- 
ments. Iam far from pretending to show such 
authors, practical cultivators, and keen observ- 
ers aS are the Veitchs, the Williams, the Lin- 
dens, ete., how to grow orchids; but sometimes 
one plan has proved to be good, while another 
may be still better; and just in that specia} 
point I wish to say: Try and see. 
Particularities in 
Not a few of my correspondents seem to be- 
lieve that I keep in stock the orchids which I 
am offering. Now, as I said in my article on 
‘The Fertilization of Orchids in the Tropics,”’ 
in Orchid Review, October, 1894, I have special 
and extensive accommodations in my nursery 
at San José for growing Orchids, and am culti- 
vating for home trade and the cut flower larger 
quantities of certain easily grown species. I 
say certain sorts, aS indeed comparatively few 
Orchids can be grown to perfection in the trop- 
ics, while the great majority is entirely averse 
to any artificial treatment, spend on them as 
much care aS youcan. More than that. my ex- 
perience of twenty years in that line has long 
ago convinced me that even the Orchids which 
in appearance do perfectly well under cultiva- 
tion wil] never stand transferring as safely as do 
plants collected fresh from the tree; and in ac- 
cordance with that incontestable fact it is my 
invariable rule never to cultivate Orchids for 
exportation, but to collect, every dry season, the 
sorts which have been ordered. In April and 
May the different orders are generally ready for 
shipping, consisting of plants which are well 
ripened by several months of dryness, and 
therefore specially fit for the journey, so they 
will arrive north in full spring, ready to break 
out into sound and vigorous growth. 
Now don’t forget that the Orchids of my list 
are scattered over an area about 600 miles long 
by an average width of 100 miles. Bear further 
in mind, that that territory is inhabited in only 
Collecting Orchids. 
a comparatively few places; that, therefore, 
most of its surface is not only very mountain- 
ous, but covered with dense, nearly impenetra- 
ble virgin forests, swamps, and jungles—a 
dreadful wilderness inhabited only by wild 
beasts, snakes of every description, and _princi- 
pally with the most fearful enemy of man—the 
invisible microbes of fever and other diseases— 
a fearful solitude crossed by innumerable rapid 
torrents or deep rivers without bridges, and 
traversed by no other means of communication 
than Indian paths, which generally are very 
narrow, and sometimes nearly invisible, and 
which it requires a special keen experience to 
distinguish from the much more numerous 
paths made by the jaguar, the American lion, 
the tapir, and other big carnivorous beasts; 
and, losing his way amid that immense dark 
labyrinth means a slow but inevitable, horrible 
death by the starvation of the unfortunate 
traveler! 
My friends will now fully understand that it 
will not do to go to a place perhaps hundreds of 
miles off, confronting all the mentioned diffi- 
culties and dangers, only to collect and bring 
back afew plants of a certain sort that has 
been ordered—the trouble, expenses, and risks 
being the same for collecting a thousand or only 
one plant of a given sort. In stipulating my 
prices I took as much as possible the London 
auction prices as a basis; and all sorts which 
are from localities of easy access, I offer rather 
cheaper than if they come under the hammer; 
