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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17155-8.txt b/17155-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49e1f40 --- /dev/null +++ b/17155-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5749 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of About Orchids, by Frederick Boyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: About Orchids + A Chat + +Author: Frederick Boyle + +Release Date: November 26, 2005 [EBook #17155] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT ORCHIDS *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State +University Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: VANDA SANDERIANA +Reduced to One Sixth.] + + + + + ABOUT ORCHIDS + + _A CHAT_ + + BY + + FREDERICK BOYLE + + _WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LTD. + 1893 + + [_All rights reserved_] + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED, + ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL, E.C. + + + + + I INSCRIBE + THIS BOOK TO MY GUIDE, COMFORTER + AND FRIEND, + JOSEPH GODSEFF. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + PAGE + MY GARDENING 1 + + AN ORCHID SALE 24 + + ORCHIDS 42 + + COOL ORCHIDS 60 + + WARM ORCHIDS 103 + + HOT ORCHIDS 138 + + THE LOST ORCHID 173 + + AN ORCHID FARM 183 + + ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING 210 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + VANDA SANDERIANA _Frontispiece_ + + ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM ALEXANDRÆ 67 + + ONCIDIUM MACRANTHUM 88 + + DENDROBIUM BRYMERIANUM 127 + + COELOGENE PANDURATA 160 + + CATTLEYA LABIATA 173 + + LOELIA ANCEPS SCHROEDERIANA 197 + + CYPRIPEDIUM (HYBRIDUM) POLLETTIANUM 210 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The purport of this book is shown in the letter following which I +addressed to the editor of the _Daily News_ some months ago:-- + +"I thank you for reminding your readers, by reference to my humble work, +that the delight of growing orchids can be enjoyed by persons of very +modest fortune. To spread that knowledge is my contribution to +philanthropy, and I make bold to say that it ranks as high as some which +are commended from pulpits and platforms. For your leader-writer is +inexact, though complimentary, in assuming that any 'special genius' +enables me to cultivate orchids without more expense than other +greenhouse plants entail, or even without a gardener. I am happy to know +that scores of worthy gentlemen--ladies too--not more gifted than their +neighbours in any sense, find no greater difficulty. If the pleasure of +one of these be due to any writings of mine, I have wrought some good in +my generation." + +With the same hope I have collected those writings, dispersed and buried +more or less in periodicals. The articles in this volume are +collected--with permission which I gratefully acknowledge--from _The +Standard_, _Saturday Review_, _St. James's Gazette_, _National Review_, +and _Longman's Magazine_. With some pride I discover, on reading them +again, that hardly a statement needs correction, for they contain many +statements, and some were published years ago. But in this, as in other +lore, a student still gathers facts. The essays have been brought up to +date by additions--in especial that upon "Hybridizing," a theme which +has not interested the great public hitherto, simply because the great +public knows nothing about it. There is not, in fact, so far as I am +aware, any general record of the amazing and delightful achievements +which have been made therein of late years. It does not fall within my +province to frame such a record. But at least any person who reads this +unscientific account, not daunted by the title, will understand the +fascination of the study. + +These essays profess to be no more than chat of a literary man about +orchids. They contain a multitude of facts, told in some detail where +such attention seems necessary, which can only be found elsewhere in +baldest outline if found at all. Everything that relates to orchids has +a charm for me, and I have learned to hold it as an article of faith +that pursuits which interest one member of the cultured public will +interest all, if displayed clearly and pleasantly, in a form to catch +attention at the outset. Savants and professionals have kept the +delights of orchidology to themselves as yet. They smother them in +scientific treatises, or commit them to dry earth burial in gardening +books. Very few outsiders suspect that any amusement could be found +therein. Orchids are environed by mystery, pierced now and again by a +brief announcement that something with an incredible name has been sold +for a fabulous number of guineas; which passing glimpse into an unknown +world makes it more legendary than before. It is high time such noxious +superstitions were dispersed. Surely, I think, this volume will do the +good work--if the public will read it. + +The illustrations are reduced from those delightful drawings by Mr. Moon +admired throughout the world in the pages of "Reichenbachia." The +licence to use them is one of many favours for which I am indebted to +the proprietors of that stately work. + +I do not give detailed instructions for culture. No one could be more +firmly convinced that a treatise on that subject is needed, for no one +assuredly has learned, by more varied and disastrous experience, to see +the omissions of the text-books. They are written for the initiated, +though designed for the amateur. Naturally it is so. A man who has been +brought up to business can hardly resume the utter ignorance of the +neophyte. Unconsciously he will take a certain degree of knowledge for +granted, and he will neglect to enforce those elementary principles +which are most important of all. Nor is the writer of a gardening book +accustomed, as a rule, to marshal his facts in due order, to keep +proportion, to assure himself that his directions will be exactly +understood by those who know nothing. + +The brief hints in "Reichenbachia" are admirable, but one does not +cheerfully refer to an authority in folio. Messrs. Veitch's "Manual of +Orchidaceous Plants" is a model of lucidity and a mine of information. +Repeated editions of Messrs. B.S. Williams' "Orchid Growers' Manual" +have proved its merit, and, upon the whole, I have no hesitation in +declaring that this is the most useful work which has come under my +notice. But they are all adapted for those who have passed the +elementary stage. + +Thus, if I have introduced few remarks on culture, it is not because I +think them needless. The reason may be frankly confessed. I am not sure +that my time would be duly paid. If this little book should reach a +second edition, I will resume once more the ignorance that was mine +eight years ago, and as a fellow-novice tell the unskilled amateur how +to grow orchids. + +FREDERICK BOYLE. + +North Lodge, Addiscombe, 1893. + + + + +ABOUT ORCHIDS. + + + + +MY GARDENING. + + +I. + +The contents of my Bungalow gave material for some "Legends" which +perhaps are not yet universally forgotten. I have added few curiosities +to the list since that work was published. My days of travel seem to be +over; but in quitting that happiest way of life--not willingly--I have +had the luck to find another occupation not less interesting, and better +suited to grey hairs and stiffened limbs. This volume deals with the +appurtenances of my Bungalow, as one may say--the orchid-houses. But a +man who has almost forgotten what little knowledge he gathered in youth +about English plants does not readily turn to that higher branch of +horticulture. More ignorant even than others, he will cherish all the +superstitions and illusions which environ the orchid family. +Enlightenment is a slow process, and he will make many experiences +before perceiving his true bent. How I came to grow orchids will be told +in this first article. + +The ground at my disposal is a quarter of an acre. From that tiny area +deduct the space occupied by my house, and it will be seen that myriads +of good people dwelling in the suburbs, whose garden, to put it +courteously, is not sung by poets, have as much land as I. The aspect is +due north--a grave disadvantage. Upon that side, from the house-wall to +the fence, I have forty-five feet, on the east fifty feet, on the south +sixty feet, on the west a mere _ruelle_. Almost every one who works out +these figures will laugh, and the remainder sneer. Here's a garden to +write about! That area might do for a tennis-court or for a general +meeting of Mr. Frederic Harrison's persuasion. You might kennel a pack +of hounds there, or beat a carpet, or assemble those members of the +cultured class who admire Mr. Gladstone. But grow flowers--roses--to cut +by the basketful, fruit to make jam for a jam-eating household the year +round, mushrooms, tomatoes, water-lilies, orchids; those Indian jugglers +who bring a mango-tree to perfection on your verandah in twenty minutes +might be able to do it, but not a consistent Christian. Nevertheless I +affirm that I have done all these things, and I shall even venture to +make other demands upon the public credulity. + +When I first surveyed my garden sixteen years ago, a big Cupressus stood +before the front door, in a vast round bed one half of which would yield +no flowers at all, and the other half only spindlings. This was +encircled by a carriage-drive! A close row of limes, supported by more +Cupressus, overhung the palings all round; a dense little shrubbery hid +the back door; a weeping-ash, already tall and handsome, stood to +eastward. Curiously green and snug was the scene under these conditions, +rather like a forest glade; but if the space available be considered and +allowance be made for the shadow of all those trees, any tiro can +calculate the room left for grass and flowers--and the miserable +appearance of both. Beyond that dense little shrubbery the soil was +occupied with potatoes mostly, and a big enclosure for hens. + +First I dug up the fine Cupressus. They told me such a big tree could +not possibly "move;" but it did, and it now fills an out-of-the-way +place as usefully as ornamentally. I suppressed the carriage-drive, +making a straight path broad enough for pedestrians only, and cut down a +number of the trees. The blessed sunlight recognized my garden once +more. Then I rooted out the shrubbery; did away with the fowl-house, +using its materials to build two little sheds against the back fence; +dug up the potato-garden--made _tabula rasa_, in fact; dismissed my +labourers, and considered. I meant to be my own gardener. But already, +sixteen years ago, I had a dislike of stooping. To kneel was almost as +wearisome. Therefore I adopted the system of raised beds--common enough. +Returning home, however, after a year's absence, I found my oak posts +decaying--unseasoned, doubtless, when put in. To prevent trouble of this +sort in future, I substituted drain-pipes set on end; the first of those +ideas which have won commendation from great authorities. Drain-pipes do +not encourage insects. Filled with earth, each bears a showy +plant--lobelia, pyrethrum, saxifrage, or what not, with the utmost +neatness, making a border; and they last eternally. But there was still +much stooping, of course, whilst I became more impatient of it. One day +a remedy flashed through my mind: that happy thought which became the +essence or principle of my gardening, and makes this account thereof +worth attention perhaps. Why not raise to a comfortable level all parts +of the area over which I had need to bend? Though no horticulturist, +perhaps, ever had such a thought before, expense was the sole objection +visible. Called away just then for another long absence, I gave orders +that no "dust" should leave the house; and found a monstrous heap on my +return. The road-contractors supplied "sweepings" at a shilling a load. +Beginning at the outskirts of my property, I raised a mound three feet +high and three feet broad, replanted the shrubs on the back edge, and +left a handsome border for flowers. So well this succeeded, so admirably +every plant throve in that compost, naturally drained and lifted to the +sunlight, that I enlarged my views. + +The soil is gravel, peculiarly bad for roses; and at no distant day my +garden was a swamp, not unchronicled had we room to dwell on such +matters. The bit of lawn looked decent only at midsummer. I first +tackled the rose question. The bushes and standards, such as they were, +faced south, of course--that is, behind the house. A line of fruit-trees +there began to shade them grievously. Experts assured me that if I +raised a bank against these, of such a height as I proposed, they would +surely die; I paid no attention to the experts, nor did my fruit-trees. +The mound raised is, in fact, a crescent on the inner edge, thirty feet +broad, seventy feet between the horns, square at the back behind the +fruit-trees; a walk runs there, between it and the fence, and in the +narrow space on either hand I grow such herbs as one cannot easily +buy--chervil, chives, tarragon. Also I have beds of celeriac, and cold +frames which yield a few cucumbers in the summer when emptied of plants. +Not one inch of ground is lost in my garden. + +The roses occupy this crescent. After sinking to its utmost now, the +bank stands two feet six inches above the gravel path. At that elevation +they defied the shadow for years, and for the most part they will +continue to do so as long as I feel any interest in their well-being. +But there is a space, the least important fortunately, where the shade, +growing year by year, has got the mastery. That space I have surrendered +frankly, covering it over with the charming saxifrage, _S. hypnoides_, +through which in spring push bluebells, primroses, and miscellaneous +bulbs, while the exquisite green carpet frames pots of scarlet geranium +and such bright flowers, movable at will. That saxifrage, indeed, is one +of my happiest devices. Finding that grass would not thrive upon the +steep bank of my mounds, I dotted them over with tufts of it, which have +spread, until at this time they are clothed in vivid green the year +round, and white as an untouched snowdrift in spring. Thus also the +foot-wide paths of my rose-beds are edged; and a neater or a lovelier +border could not be imagined. + +With such a tiny space of ground the choice of roses is very important. +Hybrids take up too much room for general service. One must have a few +for colour; but the mass should be Teas, Noisettes, and, above all, +Bengals. This day, the second week in October, I can pick fifty roses; +and I expect to do so every morning till the end of the month in a sunny +autumn. They will be mostly Bengals; but there are two exquisite +varieties sold by Messrs. Paul--I forget which of them--nearly as free +flowering. These are Camoens and Mad. J. Messimy. They have a tint +unlike any other rose; they grow strongly for their class, and the bloom +is singularly graceful. + +The tiny but vexatious lawn was next attacked. I stripped off the turf, +planted drain-pipes along the gravel walk, filled in with road-sweepings +to the level of their tops, and relaid the turf. It is now a little +picture of a lawn. Each drain-pipe was planted with a cutting of ivy, +which now form a beautiful evergreen roll beside the path. Thus as you +walk in my garden, everywhere the ground is more or less above its +natural level; raised so high here and there that you cannot look over +the plants which crown the summit. Any gardener at least will understand +how luxuriantly everything grows and flowers under such conditions. +Enthusiastic visitors declare that I have "scenery," and picturesque +effects, and delightful surprises, in my quarter-acre of ground! +Certainly I have flowers almost enough, and fruit, and perfect seclusion +also. Though there are houses all round within a few yards, you catch +but a glimpse of them at certain points while the trees are still +clothed. Those mounds are all the secret. + + +II. + +I was my own gardener, and sixteen years ago I knew nothing whatever of +the business. The process of education was almost as amusing as +expensive; but that fashion of humour is threadbare. In those early days +I would have none of your geraniums, hardy perennials, and such common +things. Diligently studying the "growers'" catalogues, I looked out, +not novelties alone, but curious novelties. Not one of them "did any +good" to the best of my recollection. Impatient and disgusted, I formed +several extraordinary projects to evade my ignorance of horticulture. +Among others which I recollect was an idea of growing bulbs the year +round! No trouble with bulbs! you just plant them and they do their +duty. A patient friend at Kew made me a list of genera and species +which, if all went well, should flower in succession. But there was a +woeful gap about midsummer--just the time when gardens ought to be +brightest. Still, I resolved to carry out the scheme, so far as it went, +and forwarded my list to Covent Garden for an estimate of the expense. +It amounted to some hundreds of pounds. So that notion fell through. + +But the patient friend suggested something for which I still cherish his +memory. He pointed out that bulbs look very formal mostly, unless +planted in great quantities, as may be done with the cheap sorts--tulips +and such. An undergrowth of low brightly-coloured annuals would correct +this disadvantage. I caught the hint, and I profit by it to this more +enlightened day. Spring bulbs are still a _spécialité_ of my gardening. +I buy them fresh every autumn--but of Messrs. Protheroe and Morris, in +Cheapside; not at the dealers'. Thus they are comparatively inexpensive. +After planting my tulips, narcissus, and such tall things, however, I +clothe the beds with forget-me-not or _Silene pendula_, or both, which +keep them green through the winter and form a dense carpet in spring. +Through it the bulbs push, and both flower at the same time. Thus my +brilliant tulips, snowy narcissus poeticus, golden daffodils, rise above +and among a sheet of blue or pink--one or the other to match their +hue--and look infinitely more beautiful on that ground colour. I venture +to say, indeed, that no garden on earth can be more lovely than mine +while the forget-me-not and the bulbs are flowering together. This may +be a familiar practice, but I never met with it elsewhere. + +Another wild scheme I recollect. Water-plants need no attention. The +most skilful horticulturist cannot improve, the most ignorant cannot +harm them. I seriously proposed to convert my lawn into a tank two feet +deep lined with Roman cement and warmed by a furnace, there to grow +tropical nymphæa, with a vague "et cetera." The idea was not so +absolutely mad as the unlearned may think, for two of my relatives were +first and second to flower _Victoria Regia_ in the open-air--but they +had more than a few feet of garden. The chances go, in fact, that it +would have been carried through had I been certain of remaining in +England for the time necessary. Meanwhile I constructed two big tanks of +wood lined with sheet-zinc, and a small one to stand on legs. The +experts were much amused. Neither fish nor plant, they said, could live +in a zinc vessel. They proved to be right in the former case, but +utterly wrong in the latter--which, you will observe, is their special +domain. I grew all manner of hardy nymphæa and aquatics for years, until +my big tanks sprung a leak. Having learned by that time the ABC, at +least, of _terra-firma_ gardening, I did not trouble to have them +mended. On the contrary, making more holes, I filled the centre with +Pampas grass and variegated Eulalias, set lady-grass and others round, +and bordered the whole with lobelia--renewing, in fact, somewhat of the +spring effect. Next year, however, I shall plant them with _Anomatheca +cruenta_--quaintest of flowering grasses, if a grass it must be called. +This charming species from South Africa is very little known; readers +who take the hint will be grateful to me. They will find it decidedly +expensive bought by the plant, as growers prefer to sell. But, with a +little pressing seed may be obtained, and it multiplies fast. I find +_Anomatheca cruenta_ hardy in my sheltered garden. + +The small tank on legs still remains, and I cut a few _Nymphæa odorata_ +every year. But it is mostly given up to _Aponogeton distachyon_--the +"Cape lily." They seed very freely in the open; and if this tank lay in +the ground, long since their exquisite white flowers, so strange in +shape and so powerful of scent, would have stood as thick as blades of +grass upon it--such a lovely sight as was beheld in the garden of the +late Mr. Harrison, at Shortlands. But being raised two feet or so, with +a current of air beneath, its contents are frozen to a solid block, soil +and all, again and again, each winter. That a Cape plant should survive +such treatment seems incredible--contrary to all the books. But my +established Aponogeton do somehow; only the seedlings perish. Here again +is a useful hint, I trust. But evidently it would be better, if +convenient, to take the bulbs indoors before frost sets in. + +Having water thus at hand, it very soon occurred to me to make war upon +the slugs by propagating their natural enemies. Those banks and borders +of _Saxifraga hypnoides_, to which I referred formerly, exact some +precaution of the kind. Much as every one who sees admires them, the +slugs, no doubt, are more enthusiastic still. Therefore I do not +recommend that idea, unless it be supplemented by some effective method +of combating a grave disadvantage. My own may not commend itself to +every one. Each spring I entrust some casual little boy with a pail; he +brings it back full of frog-spawn and receives sixpence. I speculate +sometimes with complacency how many thousand of healthy and industrious +batrachians I have reared and turned out for the benefit of my +neighbours. Enough perhaps, but certainly no more, remain to serve +me--that I know because the slugs give very little trouble in spite of +the most favourable circumstances. You can always find frogs in my +garden by looking for them, but of the thousands hatched every year, +ninety-nine per cent. must vanish. Do blackbirds and thrushes eat young +frogs? They are strangely abundant with me. But those who cultivate +tadpoles must look over the breeding-pond from time to time. My whole +batch was devoured one year by "devils"--the larvæ of _Dytiscus +marginalis_, the Plunger beetle. I have benefited, or at least have +puzzled my neighbours also by introducing to them another sort of frog. +Three years ago I bought twenty-five Hyloe, the pretty green tree +species, to dwell in my Odontoglossum house and exterminate the +insects. Every ventilator there is covered with perforated zinc--to +prevent insects getting in; but, by some means approaching the +miraculous, all my Hyloe contrived to escape. Several were caught in +the garden and put back, but again they found their way to the open-air; +and presently my fruit-trees became vocal. So far, this is the +experience of every one, probably, who has tried to keep green frogs. +But in my case they survived two winters--one which everybody +recollects, the most severe of this generation. My frogs sang merrily +through the summer; but all in a neighbour's garden. I am not acquainted +with that family; but it is cheering to think how much innocent +diversion I have provided for its members. + +Pleasant also it is, by the way, to vindicate the character of green +frogs. I never heard them spoken of by gardeners but with contempt. Not +only do they persist in escaping; more than that, they decline to catch +insects, sitting motionless all day long--pretty, if you like, but +useless. The fact is, that all these creatures are nocturnal of habit. +Very few men visit their orchid-houses at night, as I do constantly. +They would see the frogs active enough then, creeping with wondrous +dexterity among the leaves, and springing like a green flash upon their +prey. Naturally, therefore, they do not catch thrips or mealy-bug or +aphis; these are too small game for the midnight sports-man. Wood-lice, +centipedes, above all, cockroaches, those hideous and deadly foes of the +orchid, are their victims. All who can keep them safe should have green +frogs by the score in every house which they do not fumigate. + +I have come to the orchids at last. It follows, indeed, almost of +necessity that a man who has travelled much, an enthusiast in +horticulture, should drift into that branch as years advance. Modesty +would be out of place here. I have had successes, and if it please +Heaven, I shall win more. But orchid culture is not to be dealt with at +the end of an article. + + +III. + +In the days of my apprenticeship I put up a big greenhouse: unable to +manage plants in the open-air, I expected to succeed with them under +unnatural conditions! These memories are strung together with the hope +of encouraging a forlorn and desperate amateur here or there; and surely +that confession will cheer him. However deep his ignorance, it could +not possibly be more finished than mine some dozen years ago; and yet I +may say, _Je suis arrivé_! What that greenhouse cost, "chilled +remembrance shudders" to recall; briefly, six times the amount, at +least, which I should find ample now. And it was all wrong when done; +not a trace of the original arrangement remains at this time, but there +are inherent defects. Nothing throve, of course--except the insects. +Mildew seized my roses as fast as I put them in; camellias dropped their +buds with rigid punctuality; azaleas were devoured by thrips; "bugs," +mealy and scaly, gathered to the feast; geraniums and pelargoniums grew +like giants, but declined to flower. I consulted the local authority who +was responsible for the well-being of a dozen gardens in the +neighbourhood--an expert with a character to lose, from whom I bought +largely. Said he, after a thorough inspection: "This concrete floor +holds the water; you must have it swept carefully night and morning." +That worthy man had a large business. His advice was sought by scores of +neighbours like myself. And I tell the story as a warning; for he +represents no small section of his class. My plants wanted not less but +a great deal more water on that villainous concrete floor. + +Despairing of horticulture indoors as out, I sometimes thought of +orchids. I had seen much of them in their native homes, both East and +West--enough to understand that their growth is governed by strict law. +Other plants--roses and so forth--are always playing tricks. They must +have this and that treatment at certain times, the nature of which could +not be precisely described, even if gardening books were written by men +used to carry all the points of a subject in their minds, and to express +exactly what they mean. Experience alone, of rather a dirty and +uninteresting class, will give the skill necessary for success. And then +they commit villanies of ingratitude beyond explanation. I knew that +orchids must be quite different. Each class demands certain conditions +as a preliminary: if none of them can be provided, it is a waste of +money to buy plants. But when the needful conditions are present, and +the poor things, thus relieved of a ceaseless preoccupation, can attend +to business, it follows like a mathematical demonstration that if you +treat them in such and such a way, such and such results will assuredly +ensue. I was not aware then that many defy the most patient analysis of +cause and effect. That knowledge is familiar now; but it does not touch +the argument. Those cases also are governed by rigid laws, which we do +not yet understand. + +Therefore I perceived or suspected, at an early date, that orchid +culture is, as one may say, the natural province of an intelligent and +enthusiastic amateur who has not the technical skill required for +growing common plants. For it is brain-work--the other mechanical. But I +shared the popular notion--which seems so very absurd now--that they are +costly both to purchase and to keep: shared it so ingenuously that I +never thought to ask myself how or why they could be more expensive, +after the first outlay, than azaleas or gardenias. And meanwhile I was +laboriously and impatiently gathering some comprehension of the ordinary +plants. It was accident which broke the spell of ignorance. Visiting +Stevens' Auction Rooms one day to buy bulbs, I saw a _Cattleya Mossiæ_, +in bloom, which had not found a purchaser at the last orchid sale. A +lucky impulse tempted me to ask the price. "Four shillings," said the +invaluable Charles. I could not believe it--there must be a mistake: as +if Charles ever made a mistake in his life! When he repeated the price, +however, I seized that precious Cattleya, slapped down the money, and +fled with it along King Street, fearing pursuit. Since no one followed, +and Messrs. Stevens did not write within the next few days reclaiming +my treasure, I pondered the incident calmly. Perhaps they had been +selling bankrupt stock, and perhaps they often do so. Presently I +returned. + +"Charles!" I said, "you sold me a _Cattleya Mossiæ_ the other day." + +Charles, in shirt-sleeves of course, was analyzing and summing up half a +hundred loose sheets of figures, as calm and sure as a calculating +machine. "I know I did, sir," he replied, cheerfully. + +"It was rather dear, wasn't it?" I said. + +"That's your business, sir," he laughed. + +"Could I often get an established plant of _Cattleya Mossiæ_ in flower +for 4s.?" I asked. + +"Give me the order, and I'll supply as many as you are likely to want +within a month." + +That was a revelation; and I tell the little story because I know it +will be a revelation to many others. People hear of great sums paid for +orchids, and they fancy that such represent only the extreme limits of +an average. In fact, they have no relation whatsoever to the ordinary +price. One of our largest general growers, who has but lately begun +cultivating those plants, tells me that half-a-crown is the utmost he +has paid for Cattleyas and Dendrobes, one shilling for Odontoglots and +Oncidiums. At these rates he has now a fine collection, many turning up +among the lot for which he asks, and gets, as many pounds as the pence +he gave. For such are imported, of course, and sold at auction as they +arrive. This is not an article on orchids, but on "My Gardening," or I +could tell some extraordinary tales. Briefly, I myself once bought a +case two feet long, a foot wide, half-full of Odontoglossums for 8s. 6d. +They were small bits, but perfect in condition. Of the fifty-three +pots they made, not one, I think, has been lost. I sold the less +valuable some years ago, when established and tested, at a fabulous +profit. Another time I bought three "strings" of _O. Alexandræ_, the +Pacho variety, which is finest, for 15s. They filled thirty-six pots, +some three to a pot, for I could not make room for them all singly. +Again--but this is enough. I only wish to demonstrate, for the service +of very small amateurs like myself, that costliness at least is no +obstacle if they have a fancy for this culture: unless, of course, they +demand wonders and "specimens." + +That _Cattleya Mossiæ_, was my first orchid, bought in 1884. It dwindled +away, and many another followed it to limbo; but I knew enough, as has +been said, to feel neither surprised nor angry. First of all, it is +necessary to understand the general conditions, and to secure them. +Books give little help in this stage of education; they all lack detail +in the preliminaries. I had not the good fortune to come across a friend +or a gardener who grasped what was wrong until I found out for myself. +For instance, no one told me that the concrete flooring of my house was +a fatal error. When, a little disheartened, I made a new one, by glazing +that _ruelle_ mentioned in the preliminary survey of my garden, they +allowed me to repeat it. Ingenious were my contrivances to keep the air +moist, but none answered. It is not easy to find a material trim and +clean which can be laid over concrete, but unless one can discover such, +it is useless to grow orchids. I have no doubt that ninety-nine cases of +failure in a hundred among amateurs are due to an unsuitable flooring. +Glazed tiles, so common, are infinitely worst of all. May my experience +profit others in like case! + +Looking over the trade list of a man who manufactures orchid-pots one +day, I observed, "Sea-sand for Garden Walks," and the preoccupation of +years was dissipated. Sea-sand will hold water, yet will keep a firm, +clean surface; it needs no rolling, does not show footprints nor muddy a +visitor's boots. By next evening the floors were covered therewith six +inches deep, and forthwith my orchids began to flourish--not only to +live. Long since, of course, I had provided a supply of water from the +main to each house for "damping down." All round them now a leaden pipe +was fixed, with pin-holes twelve inches apart, and a length of +indiarubber hose at the end to fix upon the "stand-pipe." Attaching +this, I turn the cock, and from each tiny hole spurts forth a jet, which +in ten minutes will lay the whole floor under water, and convert the +house into a shallow pond; but five minutes afterwards not a sign of the +deluge is visible. Then I felt the joys of orchid culture. Much remained +to learn--much still remains. We have some five thousand species in +cultivation, of which an alarming number demand some difference of +treatment if one would grow them to perfection. The amateur does not +easily collect nor remember all this, and he is apt to be daunted if he +inquire too deeply before "letting himself go." Such in especial I would +encourage. Perfection is always a noble aim; but orchids do not exact +it--far from that! The dear creatures will struggle to fulfil your +hopes, to correct your errors, with pathetic patience. Give them but a +chance, and they will await the progress of your education. That chance +lies, as has been said, in the general conditions--the degree of +moisture you can keep in the air, the ventilation, and the light. These +secured, you may turn up the books, consult the authorities, and +gradually accumulate the knowledge which will enable you to satisfy the +preferences of each class. So, in good time, you may enjoy such a thrill +of pleasure as I felt the other day when a great pundit was good enough +to pay me a call. He entered my tiny Odontoglossum house, looked round, +looked round again, and turned to me. "Sir," he said, "we don't call +this an amateur's collection!" + +I have jotted down such hints of my experience as may be valuable to +others, who, as Juvenal put it, own but a single lizard's run of earth. +That space is enough to yield endless pleasure, amusement, and indeed +profit, if a man cultivate it himself. Enthusiast as I am, I would not +accept another foot of garden.[1] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: It is not inappropriate to record that when these articles +were published in the _St. James' Gazette_, the editor received several +communications warning him that his contributor was abusing his good +faith--to put it in the mild French phrase. Happily, my friend was able +to reply that he could personally vouch for the statements.] + + + + +AN ORCHID SALE. + + +Shortly after noon on a sale day, the habitual customers of Messrs. +Protheroe and Morris begin to assemble in Cheapside. On tables of +roughest plank round the auction-rooms there, are neatly ranged the +various lots; bulbs and sticks of every shape, big and little, withered +or green, dull or shining, with a brown leaf here and there, or a mass +of roots dry as last year's bracken. No promise do they suggest of the +brilliant colours and strange forms buried in embryo within their +uncouth bulk. On a cross table stand some dozens of "established" plants +in pots and baskets, which the owners would like to part with. Their +growths of this year are verdant, but the old bulbs look almost as +sapless as those new arrivals. Very few are in flower just now--July +and August are a time of pause betwixt the glories of the Spring +and the milder effulgence of Autumn. Some great Dendrobes--_D. +Dalhousianum_--are bursting into untimely bloom, betraying to the +initiated that their "establishment" is little more than a phrase. Those +garlands of bud were conceived, so to speak, in Indian forests, have +lain dormant through the long voyage, and began to show a few days since +when restored to a congenial atmosphere. All our interest concentrates +in the unlovely things along the wall. + +The habitual attendants at an auction-room are always somewhat of a +family party, but, as a rule, an ugly one. It is quite different with +the regular group of orchid-buyers. No black sheep there. A dispute is +the rarest of events, and when it happens everybody takes for granted +that the cause is a misunderstanding. The professional growers are men +of wealth, the amateurs men of standing at least. All know each other, +and a cheerful familiarity rules. We have a duke in person frequently, +who compares notes and asks a hint from the authorities around; some +clergymen; gentry of every rank; the recognized agents of great +cultivators, and, of course, the representatives of the large trading +firms. So narrow even yet is the circle of orchidaceans that almost all +the faces at a sale are recognized, and if one wish to learn the names, +somebody present can nearly always supply them. There is reason to hope +that this will not be the case much longer. As the mysteries and +superstitions environing the orchid are dispersed, our small and select +throng of buyers will be swamped, no doubt; and if a certain pleasing +feature of the business be lost, all who love the flower and their +fellow-men alike will cheerfully submit. + +The talk is of orchids mostly, as these gentlemen stroll along the +tables, lifting a root and scrutinizing it with practised glance that +measures its vital strength in a second. But nurserymen take advantage +of the gathering to show any curious or striking flower they chance to +have at the moment. Mr. Bull's representative goes round, showing to one +and another the contents of a little box--a lovely bloom of +_Aristolochia elegans_, figured in dark red on white ground like a +sublime cretonne--and a new variety of Impatiens; he distributes the +latter presently, and gentlemen adorn their coats with the pale crimson +flower. + +Excitement does not often run so high as in the times, which most of +those present can recall, when orchids common now were treasured by +millionaires. Steam, and the commercial enterprise it fosters, have so +multiplied our stocks, that shillings--or pence, often enough--represent +the guineas of twenty years back. There are many here, scarcely yet +grey, who could describe the scene when _Masdevallia Tovarensis_ first +covered the stages of an auction-room. Its dainty white flowers had been +known for several years. A resident in the German colony at Tovar, New +Granada, sent one plant to a friend at Manchester, by whom it was +divided. Each fragment brought a great sum, and the purchasers repeated +this operation as fast as their morsels grew. Thus a conventional price +was established--one guinea per leaf. Importers were few in those days, +and the number of Tovars in South America bewildered them. At length +Messrs. Sander got on the track, and commissioned Mr. Arnold to solve +the problem. Arnold was a man of great energy and warm temper. Legend +reports that he threw up the undertaking once because a gun offered him +was second-hand; his prudence was vindicated afterwards by the +misfortune of a _confrère_, poor Berggren, whose second-hand gun, +presented by a Belgian employer, burst at a critical moment and crippled +him for life. At the very moment of starting, Arnold had trouble with +the railway officials. He was taking a quantity of Sphagnum moss in +which to wrap the precious things, and they refused to let him carry it +by passenger train. The station-master at Waterloo had never felt the +atmosphere so warm, they say. In brief, this was a man who stood no +nonsense. + +A young fellow-passenger showed much sympathy while the row went on, and +Arnold learned with pleasure that he also was bound for Caraccas. This +young man, whose name it is not worth while to cite, presented himself +as agent for a manufacturer of Birmingham goods. There was no need for +secrecy with a person of that sort. He questioned Arnold about orchids +with a blank but engaging ignorance of the subject, and before the +voyage was over he had learned all his friend's hopes and projects. But +the deception could not be maintained at Caraccas. There Arnold +discovered that the hardware agent was a collector and grower of orchids +sufficiently well known. He said nothing, suffered his rival to start, +overtook him at a village where the man was taking supper, marched in, +barred the door, sat down opposite, put a revolver on the table, and +invited him to draw. It should be a fair fight, said Arnold, but one of +the pair must die. So convinced was the traitor of his earnestness--with +good reason, too, as Arnold's acquaintances declare--that he slipped +under the table, and discussed terms of abject surrender from that +retreat. So, in due time, Messrs. Sander received more than forty +thousand plants of _Masdevallia Tovarensis_--sent them direct to the +auction-room--and drove down the price in one month from a guinea a leaf +to the fraction of a shilling. + +Other great sales might be recalled, as that of _Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_ +and _Vanda Sanderiana_, when a sum as yet unparalleled was taken in the +room; _Cypripedium Spicerianum_, _Cyp. Curtisii_, _Loelia anceps alba_. +Rarely now are we thrilled by sensations like these. But 1891 brought +two of the old-fashioned sort, the reappearance of _Cattleya labiata +autumnalis_ and the public sale of _Dendrobium phaloenopsis +Schroderianum_. The former event deserves a special article, "The Lost +Orchid;" but the latter also was most interesting. Messrs. Sander are +the heroes of both. _Dendrobium ph. Schroederianum_ was not quite a +novelty. The authorities of Kew obtained two plants from an island in +Australasia a good many years ago. They presented a piece to Mr. Lee of +Leatherhead, and another to Baron Schroeder; when Mr. Lee's grand +collection was dispersed, the Baron bought his plant also, for £35, and +thus possessed the only specimens in private hands. His name was given +to the species. + +Under these conditions, the man lucky and enterprising enough to secure +a few cases of the Dendrobium might look for a grand return. It seemed +likely that New Guinea would prove to be its chief habitat, and thither +Mr. Micholitz was despatched. He found it without difficulty, and +collected a great number of plants. But then troubles began. The vessel +which took them aboard caught fire in port, and poor Micholitz escaped +with bare life. He telegraphed the disastrous news, "Ship burnt! What +do?" "Go back," replied his employer. "Too late. Rainy season," was the +answer. "Go back!" Mr. Sander repeated. Back he went. + +This was in Dutch territory. "Well," writes Mr. Micholitz, "there is no +doubt these are the meanest people on earth. On my telling them that it +was very mean to demand anything from a shipwrecked man, they gave me +thirty per cent. deduction on my passage"--201 dollars instead of 280 +dollars. However, he reached New Guinea once more and tried fresh +ground, having exhausted the former field. Again he found the +Dendrobiums, of better quality and in greater number than before. But +they were growing among bones and skeletons, in the graveyard of the +natives. Those people lay their dead in a slight coffin, which they +place upon the rocks just above high tide, a situation which the +Dendrobes love. Mr. Micholitz required all his tact and all his most +attractive presents before he could persuade the Papuans to let him even +approach. But brass wire proved irresistible. They not only suffered him +to disturb the bones of their ancestors, but even helped him to stow the +plunder. One condition they made: that a favourite idol should be packed +therewith; this admitted, they performed a war dance round the cases, +and assisted in transporting them. All went well this time, and in due +course the tables were loaded with thousands of a plant which, before +the consignment was announced, had been the special glory of a +collection which is among the richest of the universe. + +There were two memorable items in this sale: the idol aforesaid and a +skull to which one of the Dendrobes had attached itself. Both were +exhibited as trophies and curiosities, not to be disposed of; but by +mistake, the idol was put up. It fetched only a trifle--quite as much as +it was worth, however. But Hon. Walter de Rothschild fancied it for his +museum, and on learning what had happened Mr. Sander begged the +purchaser to name his own price. That individual refused. + +It was a great day indeed. Very many of the leading orchid-growers of +the world were present, and almost all had their gardeners or agents +there. Such success called rivals into the field, but New Guinea is a +perilous land to explore. Only last week we heard that Mr. White, of +Winchmore Hill, has perished in the search for _Dendrobium ph. +Schroederianum_. + +I mentioned the great sale of _Cyp. Curtisi_ just now. An odd little +story attaches to it. Mr. Curtis, now Director of the Botanic Gardens, +Penang, sent this plant home from Sumatra when travelling for Messrs. +Veitch, in 1882. The consignment was small, no more followed, and _Cyp. +Curtisi_ became a prize. Its habitat was unknown. Mr. Sander instructed +his collector to look for it. Five years the search lasted--with many +intermissions, of course, and many a success in discovering other fine +things. But Mr. Ericksson despaired at last. In one of his expeditions +to Sumatra he climbed a mountain--it has been observed before that one +must not ask details of locality when collecting orchid legends. So well +known is this mountain, however, that the Government, Dutch I presume, +has built a shelter for travellers upon it. There Mr. Ericksson put up +for the night. Several Europeans had inscribed their names upon the +wall, with reflections and sentiments, as is the wont of people who +climb mountains. Among these, by the morning light, Mr. Ericksson +perceived the sketch of a Cypripedium, as he lay upon his rugs. It +represented a green flower, white tipped, veined and spotted with +purple, purple of lip. "_Curtisi_, by Jove!" he cried, in his native +Swedish, and jumped up. No doubt of it! Beneath the drawing ran: "C.C.'s +contribution to the adornment of this house." Whipping out his pencil, +Mr. Ericksson wrote: "Contribution accepted. Cypripedium +collected!--C.E." But day by day he sought the plant in vain. His cases +filled with other treasures. But for the hope that sketch conveyed, long +since he would have left the spot. After all, Mr. Curtis might have +chosen the flower by mere chance to decorate the wall. The natives did +not know it. So orders were given to pack, and next day Mr. Ericksson +would have withdrawn. On the very evening, however, one of his men +brought in the flower. A curious story, if one think, but I am in a +position to guarantee its truth. + +Of another class, but not less renowned in its way, was the sale of +March 11th last year. It had been heavily advertised. A leading +continental importer announced the discovery of a new Odontoglossum. No +less than six varieties of type were employed to call public attention +to its merits, and this was really no extravagant allowance under the +circumstances alleged. It was a "grand new species," destined to be a +"gem in the finest collections," a "favourite," the "most attractive of +plants." Its flowers were wholly "tinged with a most delicate mauve, the +base of the segment and the lip of a most charming violet"--in short, it +was "the blue Odontoglossum" and well deserved the title _coeleste_. +And the whole stock of two hundred plants would be offered to British +enthusiasm. No wonder the crowd was thick at Messrs. Protheroe's room on +that March morning. Few leading amateurs or growers who could not attend +in person were unrepresented. At the psychological moment, when +eagerness had reached the highest pitch, an orchid was brought in and +set before them. Those experienced persons glanced at it and said, "Very +nice, but haven't you an _Odontoglossum coeleste_ to show?" The +unhappy agent protested that this was the divine thing. No one would +believe at first; the joke was too good--to put it in that mild form. +When at length it became evident that this grand new species, heavenly +gem, &c., was the charming but familiar _Odontoglossum ramossissimum_, +such a tumult of laughter and indignation arose, that Messrs. Protheroe +quashed the sale. A few other instances of the kind might be given but +none so grand. + +The special interest of the sale to us lies in some novelties collected +by Mr. Edward Wallace in parts unknown, and he is probably among us. Mr. +Wallace has no adventures in particular to relate this time, but he +tells, with due caution, where and how his treasures were gathered in +South America. There is a land which those who have geographical +knowledge sufficient may identify, surrounded by the territories of +Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. It is traversed by some +few Indian tribes, and no collector hitherto had penetrated it. Mr. +Wallace followed the central line of mountains from Colombia for a +hundred and fifty miles, passing a succession of rich valleys described +as the loveliest ever seen by this veteran young traveller, such as +would support myriads of cattle. League beyond league stretches the +"Pajadena grass," pasturage unequalled; but "the wild herds that never +knew a fold" are its only denizens. Here, on the mountain slopes, Mr. +Wallace found _Bletia Sherrattiana_, the white form, very rare; another +terrestrial orchid, unnamed and, as is thought, unknown, which sends up +a branching spike two feet to three feet high, bearing ten to twelve +flowers, of rich purple hue, in shape like a Sobralia, three and four +inches across; and yet another of the same family, growing on the rocks, +and "looking like masses of snow on the hill-side." Such descriptions +are thrilling, but these gentlemen receive them placidly; they would +like to know, perhaps, what is the reserve price on such fine things, +and what the chance of growing them to a satisfactory result. Dealers +have a profound distrust of novelties, especially those of terrestrial +genus; and their feeling is shared, for a like reason, by most who have +large collections. Mr. Burbidge estimates roughly that we have fifteen +hundred to two thousand species and varieties of orchid in cultivation; +a startling figure, which almost justifies the belief of those who hold +that no others worth growing will be found in countries already +explored. But beyond question there are six times this number in +existence, which collectors have not taken the trouble to gather. The +chances, therefore, are against any new thing. Many species well known +show slight differences of growth in different localities. Upon the +whole, regular orchidaceans prefer that some one else should try +experiments, and would rather pay a good price, when assured that it is +worth their while, than a few shillings when the only certainty is +trouble and the strong probability is failure. Mr. Wallace has nothing +more to tell of the undiscovered country. The Indians received him with +composure, after he had struck up friendship with an old woman, and for +the four days of his stay made themselves both useful and agreeable in +their fashion. + +The auctioneer has been chatting among his customers. He feels an +interest in his wares, as who would not that dealt in objects of the +extremest beauty and fascination? To him are consigned occasionally +plants of unusual class, which the owner regards as unique, and expects +to sell at the fanciest of prices. Unique indeed they must be which can +pass unchallenged the ordeal of those keen and learned eyes. _Plumeria +alba_, for instance, may be laid before them, and by no inexperienced +horticulturist, with such a "reserve" as befits one of the most +exquisite flowers known, and the only specimen in England. But a quiet +smile goes round, and a gentleman present offers, in an audible whisper, +to send in a dozen of that next week at a fraction of the price. So +pleasant chat goes on, until, at the stroke of half-past twelve, the +auctioneer mounts his rostrum. First to come before him are a hundred +lots of _Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ_, described as of "the very +best type, and in splendid condition." For the latter point everyone +present is able to judge, and for the former all are willing to accept +the statements of vendors. The glossy bulbs are clean as new pins, with +the small "eye" just bursting among their roots; but nobody seems to +want _Odontoglossum Alexandræ_ in particular. One neat little bunch is +sold for 11s., which will surely bear a wreath of white flowers, +splashed with red brown, in the spring--perhaps two. And then bidding +ceases. The auctioneer exclaims, "Does anybody want any _crispums_?" and +instantly passes by the ninety-nine lots remaining. + +It would mislead the unlearned public, and would not greatly interest +them, to go through the catalogue of an orchid sale and quote the +selling price of every lot. From week to week the value of these things +fluctuates--that is, of course, of bulbs imported and unestablished. +Various circumstances effect it, but especially the time of year. They +sell best in spring, when they have months of light and sun before them, +in which to recover from the effects of a long voyage and uncomfortable +quarters. The buyer must make them grow strong before the dark days of +an English winter are upon him; and every month that passes weakens his +chance. In August it is already late; in September, the periodical +auctions ceased until lately. Some few consignments will be received, +detained by accident, or forwarded by persons who do not understand the +business. + +That instance of _Odontoglossum Alexandræ_ shows well enough the price +of orchids this month, and the omission of all that followed illustrates +it. The same lots would have been eagerly contested at twice the sum in +April. But those who want that queenliest of flowers may get it for +shillings at any time. The reputation of the importer, and his assurance +that the plants belong to the very best type, give these more value than +usual. He will try his luck once more perhaps this season; and then he +will pot the bulbs unsold to offer them as "established" next year. + +_Oncidium luridum_ follows the Odontoglots, a broad-leaved, handsome +orchid, which the untrained eye might think to have no pseudo-bulb at +all. This species always commands a sale, if cheap, and ten shillings is +a reasonable figure for a piece of common size. If all go well, it may +throw out a branching spike six or seven feet long next summer, +with--such a sight has been offered--several hundred blooms, yellow, +brown and orange, _Oncidium juncifolium_, which comes next, is unknown +to us, and probably to others; no offer is made for its reed-like +growths described as "very free blooming all the year round, with small +yellow flowers." _Epidendrum bicornutum_, on the other hand, is very +well known and deeply admired, when seen; but this is an event too rare. +The description of its exquisite white blossoms, crimson spotted on the +lip, is still rather a legend than a matter of eye-witness. Somebody is +reported to have grown it for some years "like a cabbage;" but his +success was a mystery to himself. At Kew they find no trouble in certain +parts of a certain house. Most of these, however, are fine growths, and +the average price should be 12s. 6d. to 15s. Compare such figures with +those that ruled when the popular impression of the cost of orchids was +forming. I have none at hand which refer to the examples mentioned, but +in the cases following, one may safely reckon shillings at the present +day for pounds in 1846. That year, I perceive, such common species as +_Barkeria spectabilis_ fetched 5l. to 17l. each; _Epidendrum +Stamfordianum_, five guineas; _Dendrobium formosum_, fifteen guineas; +_Aerides maculosum_, _crispum_ and _odoratum_ 20l., 21l., and +16l., respectively. No one who understands orchids will believe that +the specimens which brought such monstrous prices were superior in any +respect to those we now receive, and he will be absolutely sure that +they were landed in much worse condition. But the average cost of the +most expensive at the present day might be 30s., and only a large +piece would fetch that sum. It is astonishing to me that so few people +grow orchids. Every modern book on gardening tells how five hundred +varieties at least, the freest to flower and assuredly as beautiful as +any, may be cultivated without heat for seven or eight months of the +year. It is those "legends," I have spoken of which deter the public +from entertaining the notion. An afternoon at an orchid sale would +dispel them. + + + + +ORCHIDS. + + +There is no room to deal with this great subject historically, +scientifically, or even practically, in the space of a chapter. I am an +enthusiast, and I hold some strong views, but this is not the place to +urge them. It is my purpose to ramble on, following thoughts as they +arise, yet with a definite aim. The skilled reader will find nothing to +criticize, I hope, and the indifferent, something to amuse. + +Those amiable theorists who believe that the resources of Nature, if +they be rightly searched, are able to supply every wholesome want the +fancy of man conceives, have a striking instance in the case of orchids. +At the beginning of this century, the science of floriculture, so far as +it went, was at least as advanced as now. Under many disadvantages which +we escape--the hot-air flue especially, and imperfect means of +ventilation--our fore-fathers grew the plants known to them quite as +well as we do. Many tricks have been discovered since, but for lasting +success assuredly our systems are no improvement. Men interested in such +matters began to long for fresh fields, and they knew where to look. +Linnæus had told them something of exotic orchids in 1763, though his +knowledge was gained through dried specimens and drawings. One bulb, +indeed--we spare the name--showed life on arrival, had been planted, and +had flowered thirty years before, as Mr. Castle shows. Thus +horticulturists became aware, just when the information was most +welcome, that a large family of plants unknown awaited their attention; +plants quite new, of strangest form, of mysterious habits, and beauty +incomparable. Their notions were vague as yet, but the fascination of +the subject grew from year to year. Whilst several hundred species were +described in books, the number in cultivation, including all those +gathered by Sir Joseph Banks, and our native kinds, was only fifty. Kew +boasted no more than one hundred and eighteen in 1813; amateurs still +watched in timid and breathless hope. + +Gradually they came to see that the new field was open, and they entered +with a rush. In 1830 a number of collections still famous in the legends +of the mystery are found complete. At the Orchid Conference, Mr. O'Brien +expressed a "fear that we could not now match some of the specimens +mentioned at the exhibitions of the Horticultural Society in Chiswick +Gardens between 1835 and 1850;" and extracts which he gave from reports +confirm this suspicion. The number of species cultivated at that time +was comparatively small. People grew magnificent "specimens" in place of +many handsome pots. We read of things amazing to the experience of forty +years later. Among the contributions of Mrs. Lawrence, mother to our +"chief," Sir Trevor, was an Aerides with thirty to forty flower spikes; +a Cattleya with twenty spikes; an _Epidendrum bicornutum_, difficult to +keep alive, much more to bloom, until the last few years, with "many +spikes;" an Oncidium, "bearing a head of golden flowers four feet +across." Giants dwelt in our greenhouses then. + +So the want of enthusiasts was satisfied. In 1852 Mr. B.S. Williams +could venture to publish "Orchids for the Million," a hand-book of +world-wide fame under the title it presently assumed, "The Orchid +Grower's Manual." An occupation or amusement the interest of which grows +year by year had been discovered. All who took trouble to examine found +proof visible that these masterworks of Nature could be transplanted and +could be made to flourish in our dull climate with a regularity and a +certainty unknown to them at home. The difficulties of their culture +were found to be a myth--we speak generally, and this point must be +mentioned again. The "Million" did not yet heed Mr. Williams' +invitation, but the Ten Thousand did, heartily. + +I take it that orchids meet a craving of the cultured soul which began +to be felt at the moment when kindly powers provided means to satisfy +it. People of taste, unless I err, are tiring of those conventional +forms in which beauty has been presented in all past generations. It may +be an unhealthy sentiment, it may be absurd, but my experience is that +it exists and must be taken into account. A picture, a statue, a piece +of china, any work of art, is eternally the same, however charming. The +most one can do is to set it in different positions, different lights. +Théophile Gautier declared in a moment of frank impatience that if the +Transfiguration hung in his study, he would assuredly find blemishes +therein after awhile--quite fanciful and baseless, as he knew, but such, +nevertheless, as would drive him to distraction presently. I entertain a +notion, which may appear very odd to some, that Gautier's influence on +the æsthetic class of men has been more vigorous than that of any other +teacher; thousands who never read a line of his writing are +unconsciously inspired by him. The feeling that gave birth to his +protest nearly two generations since is in the air now. Those who own a +collection of art, those who have paid a great sum for pictures, will +not allow it, naturally. As a rule, indeed, a man looks at his fine +things no more than at his chairs and tables. But he who is best able to +appreciate good work, and loves it best when he sees it, is the one who +grows restless when it stands constantly before him. + +"Oh, that those lips had language!" cried Cowper. "Oh, that those lovely +figures would combine anew--change their light--do anything, anything!" +cries the æsthete after awhile. "Oh, that the wind would rise upon that +glorious sea; the summer green would fade to autumn yellow; that night +would turn to day, clouds to sunshine, or sunshine to clouds." But the +_littera scripta manet_--the stroke of the brush is everlasting. Apollo +always bends the bow in marble. One may read a poem till it is known by +heart, and in another second the familiar words strike fresh upon the +ear. Painters lay a canvas aside, and presently come to it, as they say, +with a new eye; but a purchaser once seized with this desperate malady +has no such refuge. After putting his treasure away for years, at the +first glance all his satiety returns. I myself have diagnosed a case +where a fine drawing by Gerôme grew to be a veritable incubus. It is +understood that the market for pictures is falling yearly. I believe +that the growth of this dislike to the eternal stillness of a painted +scene is a chief cause of the disaster. It operates among the best class +of patrons. + +For such men orchids are a blessed relief. Fancy has not conceived such +loveliness, complete all round, as theirs--form, colour, grace, +distribution, detail, and broad effect. Somewhere, years ago--in Italy +perhaps, but I think at the Taylor Institution, Oxford--I saw the +drawings made by Rafaelle for Leo X. of furniture and decoration in his +new palace; be it observed in parenthesis, that one who has not beheld +the master's work in this utilitarian style of art has but a limited +understanding of his supremacy. Among them were idealizations of +flowers, beautiful and marvellous as fairyland, but compared with the +glory divine that dwells in a garland of _Odontoglossum Alexandræ_, +artificial, earthy. Illustrations of my meaning are needless to experts, +and to others words convey no idea. But on the table before me now +stands a wreath of _Oncidium crispum_ which I cannot pass by. What +colourist would dare to mingle these lustrous browns with pale gold, +what master of form could shape the bold yet dainty waves and crisps and +curls in its broad petals, what human imagination could bend the +graceful curve, arrange the clustering masses of its bloom? All beauty +that the mind can hold is there--the quintessence of all charm and +fancy. Were I acquainted with an atheist who, by possibility, had brain +and feeling, I would set that spray before him and await reply. If +Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lily of the field, the +angels of heaven have no vesture more ethereal than the flower of the +orchid. Let us take breath. + +Many persons indifferent to gardening--who are repelled, indeed, by its +prosaic accompaniments, the dirt, the manure, the formality, the spade, +the rake, and all that--love flowers nevertheless. For such these plants +are more than a relief. Observe my Oncidium. It stands in a pot, but +this is only for convenience--a receptacle filled with moss. The long +stem feathered with great blossoms springs from a bare slab of wood. No +mould nor peat surrounds it; there is absolutely nothing save the roots +that twine round their support, and the wire that sustains it in the +air. It asks no attention beyond its daily bath. From the day I tied it +on that block last year--reft from home and all its pleasures, bought +with paltry silver at Stevens' Auction Rooms--I have not touched it save +to dip and to replace it on its hook. When the flowers fade, thither it +will return, and grow and grow, please Heaven, until next summer it +rejoices me again; and so, year by year, till the wood rots. Then +carefully I shall transfer it to a larger perch and resume. Probably I +shall sever the bulbs without disturbing them, and in seasons following +two spikes will push--then three, then a number, multiplying and +multiplying when my remotest posterity is extinct. That is, so Nature +orders it; whether my descendants will be careful to allow her fair play +depends on circumstances over which I have not the least control. + +For among their innumerable claims to a place apart among all things +created, orchids may boast immortality. Said Sir Trevor Lawrence, in the +speech which opened our famous Congress, 1885: "I do not see, in the +case of most of them, the least reason why they should ever die. The +parts of the orchideæ are annually reproduced in a great many instances, +and there is really no reason they should not live for ever unless, as +is generally the case with them in captivity, they be killed by errors +in cultivation." Sir Trevor was addressing an assemblage of +authorities--a parterre of kings in the empire of botany--or he might +have enlarged upon this text. + +The epiphytal orchid, to speak generally, and to take the simple form, +is one body with several limbs, crowned by one head. Its circulation +pulsates through the whole, less and less vigorously, of course, in the +parts that have flowered, as the growing head leaves them behind. At +some age, no doubt, circulation fails altogether in those old limbs, but +experience does not tell me distinctly as yet in how long time the +worn-out bulbs of an Oncidium or a Cattleya, for example, would perish +by natural death. One may cut them off when apparently lifeless, even +beginning to rot, and under proper conditions--it may be a twelvemonth +after--a tiny green shoot will push from some "eye," withered and +invisible, that has slept for years, and begin existence on its own +account. Thus, I am not old enough as an orchidacean to judge through +how many seasons these plants will maintain a limb apparently +superfluous. Their charming disposition is characterized above all +things by caution and foresight. They keep as many strings to their bow, +as many shots in their locker, as may be, and they keep them as long as +possible. The tender young head may be nipped off by a thousand chances, +but such mishaps only rouse the indomitable thing to replace it with +two, or even more. Beings designed for immortality are hard to kill. + +Among the gentle forms of intellectual excitement I know not one to +compare with the joy of restoring a neglected orchid to health. One may +buy such for coppers--rare species, too--of a size and a "potentiality" +of display which the dealers would estimate at as many pounds were they +in good condition on their shelves. I am avoiding names and details, but +it will be allowed me to say, in brief, that I myself have bought more +than twenty pots for five shillings at the auction-rooms, not twice nor +thrice either. One half of them were sick beyond recovery, some few had +been injured by accident, but by far the greater part were victims of +ignorance and ill-treatment which might still be redressed. Orchids tell +their own tale, whether of happiness or misery, in characters beyond +dispute. Mr. O'Brien alleged, indeed, before the grave and experienced +signors gathered in conference, that "like the domestic animals, they +soon find out when they are in hands that love them. With such a +guardian they seem to be happy, and to thrive, and to establish an +understanding, indicating to him their wants in many important matters +as plainly as though they could speak." And the laugh that followed this +statement was not derisive. He who glances at the endless tricks, +methods, and contrivances devised by one or other species to serve its +turn may well come to fancy that orchids are reasoning things. + +At least, many keep the record of their history in form unmistakable. +Here is a Cattleya which I purchased last autumn, suspecting it to be +rare and valuable, though nameless; I paid rather less than one +shilling. The poor thing tells me that some cruel person bought it five +years ago--an imported piece, with two pseudo-bulbs. They still remain, +towering like columns of old-world glory above an area of shapeless +ruin. To speak in mere prose--though really the conceit is not +extravagant--these fine bulbs, grown in their native land, of course, +measure eight inches high by three-quarters of an inch diameter. In the +first season, that _malheureux_ reduced their progeny to a stature of +three and a half inches by the foot-rule; next season, to two inches; +the third, to an inch and a half. By this time the patient creature had +convinced itself that there was something radically wrong in the +circumstances attending its normal head, and tried a fresh departure +from the stock--a "back growth," as we call it, after the fashion I have +described. In the third year then, there were two heads. In the fourth +year, the chief of them had dwindled to less than one inch and the +thickness of a straw, while the second struggled into growth with pain +and difficulty, reached the size of a grain of wheat, and gave it up. +Needless to say that the wicked and unfortunate proprietor had not seen +trace of a bloom. Then at length, after five years' torment, he set it +free, and I took charge of the wretched sufferer. Forthwith he began to +show his gratitude, and at this moment--the summer but half through--his +leading head has regained all the strength lost in three years, while +the back growth, which seemed dead, outtops the best bulb my predecessor +could produce. + +And I have perhaps a hundred in like case, cripples regaining activity, +victims rescued on their death-bed. If there be a placid joy in life +superior to mine, as I stroll through my houses of a morning, much +experience of the world in many lands and many circumstances has not +revealed it to me. And any of my readers can attain it, for--in no +conventional sense--I am my own gardener; that is to say, no male being +ever touches an orchid of mine. + +One could hardly cite a stronger argument to demolish the superstitions +that still hang around this culture. If a busy man, journalist, +essayist, novelist, and miscellaneous _littérateur_, who lives by his +pen, can keep many hundreds of orchids in such health that he is proud +to show them to experts--with no help whatsoever beyond, in emergency, +that which ladies of his household, or a woman-servant give--if he can +do this, assuredly the pursuit demands little trouble and little +expense. I am not to lay down principles of cultivation here, but this +must be said: orchids are indifferent to detail. There lies a secret. +Secure the general conditions necessary for their well-doing, and they +will gratefully relieve you of further anxiety; neglect those general +conditions, and no care will reconcile them. The gentleman who reduced +my Cattleya to such straits gave himself vast pains, it is likely, +consulted no end of books, did all they recommend; and now declares that +orchids are unaccountable. It is just the reverse. No living things +follow with such obstinate obedience a few most simple laws; no machine +produces its result more certainly, if one comply with the rules of its +being. + +This is shown emphatically by those cases which we do not clearly +understand; I take for example the strangest, as is fitting. Some +irreverent zealots have hailed the Phaloenopsis as Queen of Flowers, +dethroning our venerable rose. I have not to consider the question of +allegiance, but decidedly this is, upon the whole, the most interesting +of all orchids in the cultivator's point of view. For there are some +genera and many species that refuse his attentions more or less +stubbornly--in fact, we do not yet know how to woo them. But the +Phaloenopsis is not among them. It gives no trouble in the great majority +of cases. For myself, I find it grow with the calm complacency of the +cabbage. Yet we are all aware that our success is accidental, in a +measure. The general conditions which it demands are fulfilled, +commonly, in any stove where East Indian plants flourish; but from time +to time we receive a vigorous hint that particular conditions, not +always forthcoming, are exacted by Phaloenopsis. Many legends on this +theme are current; I may cite two, notorious and easily verified. The +authorities at Kew determined to build a special house for the genus, +provided with every comfort which experience or scientific knowledge +could suggest. But when it was opened, six or eight years ago, not a +Phaloenopsis of all the many varieties would grow in it; after vain +efforts, Mr. Thiselton Dyer was obliged to seek another use for the +building, which is now employed to show plants in flower. Sir Trevor +Lawrence tells how he laid out six hundred pounds for the same object +with the same result. And yet one may safely reckon that this orchid +does admirably in nine well-managed stoves out of ten, and fairly in +nineteen out of twenty. Nevertheless, it is a maxim with growers that +Phaloenopsis should never be transferred from a situation where they are +doing well. Their hooks are sacred as that on which Horace suspended his +lyre. Nor could a reasonable man think this fancy extravagant, seeing +the evidence beyond dispute which warns us that their health is governed +by circumstances more delicate than we can analyze at present. + +It would be wrong to leave the impression that orchid culture is +actually as facile as market gardening, but we may say that the +eccentricities of Phaloenopsis and the rest have no more practical +importance for the class I would persuade than have the terrors of the +deep for a Thames water-man. How many thousand householders about this +city have a "bit of glass" devoted to geraniums and fuchsias and the +like! They started with more ambitious views, but successive +disappointments have taught modesty, if not despair. The poor man now +contents himself with anything that will keep tolerably green and show +some spindling flower. The fact is, that hardy plants under glass +demand skilful treatment--all their surroundings are unnatural, and with +insect pest on one hand, mildew on the other, an amateur stands betwixt +the devil and the deep sea. Under those circumstances common plants +become really capricious--that is, being ruled by no principles easy to +grasp and immutable in operation, their discomfort shows itself in +perplexing forms. But such species of orchids as a poor man would think +of growing are incapable of pranks. For one shilling he can buy a manual +which will teach him what these species are, and most of the things +necessary for him to understand besides. An expenditure of five pounds +will set him up for life and beyond--since orchids are immortal. Nothing +else is needed save intelligence. + +Not even heat, since his collection will be "cool" naturally; if frost +be excluded, that is enough. I should not have ventured to say this some +few years ago--before, in fact, I had visited St. Albans. But in the +cool house of that palace of enchantment with which Mr. Sander has +adorned the antique borough, before the heating arrangements were quite +complete though the shelves were occupied, often the glass would fall +very low into the thirties. I could never learn distinctly that mischief +followed, though Mr. Godseff did not like it at all. One who beheld the +sight when those fields of Odontoglossum burst into bloom might well +entertain a doubt whether improvement was possible. There is nothing to +approach it in this lower world. I cannot forbear to indicate one +picture in the grand gallery. Fancy a corridor four hundred feet long, +six wide, roofed with square baskets hanging from the glass as close as +they will fit. Suspend to each of these--how many hundreds or thousands +has never been computed--one or more garlands of snowy flowers, a +thicket overhead such as one might behold in a tropic forest, with +myriads of white butterflies clustering amongst the vines. But +imagination cannot bear mortal man thus far. "Upon the banks of +Paradise" those "twa clerks" may have seen the like; yet, had they done +so their hats would have been adorned not with "the birk," but with +plumes of _Odontoglossum citrosmum_. + +I have but another word to say. If any of the class to whom I appeal +incline to let "I dare not wait upon I would," hear the experience of a +bold enthusiast, as recounted by Mr. Castle in his small brochure, +"Orchids." This gentleman had a fern-case outside his sitting-room +window, six feet long by three wide. He ran pipes through it, warmed +presumably by gas. More ambitious than I venture to recommend, "in this +miniature structure," says Mr. Castle, "with liberal supplies of water, +the owner succeeded in growing, in a smoky district of London"--I will +not quote the amazing list of fine things, but it numbers twenty-five +species, all the most delicate and beautiful of the stove kinds. If so +much could be done under such circumstances, what may rightly be called +difficult in the cultivation of orchids? + + + + +COOL ORCHIDS. + + +This is a subject which would interest every cultured reader, I believe, +every householder at least, if he could be brought to understand that it +lies well within the range of his practical concerns. But the public has +still to be persuaded. It seems strange to the expert that delusions +should prevail when orchids are so common and so much talked of; but I +know by experience that the majority of people, even among those who +love their garden, regard them as fantastic and mysterious creations, +designed, to all seeming, for the greater glory of pedants and +millionaires. I try to do my little part, as occasion serves, in +correcting this popular error, and spreading a knowledge of the facts. +It is no less than a duty. If every human being should do what he can to +promote the general happiness, it would be downright wicked to leave +one's fellow-men under the influence of hallucinations that debar them +from the most charming of quiet pleasures. I suspect also that the +misapprehension of the public is largely due to the conduct of experts +in the past. It was a rule with growers formerly, avowed among +themselves, to keep their little secrets. When Mr. B.S. Williams +published the first edition of his excellent book forty years ago, he +fluttered his colleagues sadly. The plain truth is that no class of +plant can be cultivated so easily, as none are so certain to repay the +trouble, as the Cool Orchids. + +Nearly all the genera of this enormous family have species which grow in +a temperate climate, if not in the temperate zone. At this moment, in +fact, I recall but two exceptions, Vanda and Phaloenopsis. Many more +there are, of course--half a dozen have occurred to me while I wrote the +last six words--but in the small space at command I must cling to +generalities. We have at least a hundred genera which will flourish +anywhere if the frost be excluded; and as for species, a list of two +thousand would not exhaust them probably. But a reasonable man may +content himself with the great classes of Odontoglossum, Oncidium, +Cypripedium, and Lycaste; among the varieties of these, which no one has +ventured to calculate perhaps, he may spend a happy existence. They have +every charm--foliage always green, a graceful habit, flowers that rank +among the master works of Nature. The poor man who succeeds with them +in his modest "bit of glass" has no cause to envy Dives his flaunting +Cattleyas and "fox-brush" Aerides. I should like to publish it in +capitals--that nine in ten of those suburban householders who read this +book may grow the loveliest of orchids if they can find courage to try. + +Odontoglossums stand first, of course--I know not where to begin the +list of their supreme merits. It will seem perhaps a striking advantage +to many that they burst into flower at any time, as they chance to +ripen. I think that the very perfection of culture is discounted +somewhat in this instance. The gardener who keeps his plants at the _ne +plus ultra_ stage brings them all into bloom within the space of a few +weeks. Thus in the great collections there is such a show during April, +May, and June as the Gardens of Paradise could not excel, and hardly a +spike in the cool houses for the rest of the year. At a large +establishment this signifies nothing; when the Odontoglossums go off +other things "come on" with equal regularity. But the amateur, with his +limited assortment, misses every bloom. He has no need for anxiety with +this genus. It is their instinct to flower in spring, of course, but +they are not pedantic about it in the least. Some tiny detail overlooked +here and there, absolutely unimportant to health, will retard +florescence. It might very well happen that the owner of a dozen pots +had one blooming every month successively. And that would mean two +spikes open, for, with care, most Odontoglossums last above four weeks. + +Another virtue, shared by others of the cool class in some degree, is +their habit of growing in winter. They take no "rest;" all the year +round their young bulbs are swelling, graceful foliage lengthening, +roots pushing, until the spike demands a concentration of all their +energy. But winter is the most important time. I think any man will see +the peculiar blessing of this arrangement. It gives interest to the long +dull days, when other plant life is at a standstill. It furnishes +material for cheering meditations on a Sunday morning--is that a trifle? +And at this season the pursuit is joy unmixed. We feel no anxious +questionings, as we go about our daily business, whether the _placens +uxor_ forgot to remind Mary, when she went out, to pull the blinds down; +whether Mary followed the instructions if given; whether those +confounded patent ventilators have snapped to again. Green fly does not +harass us. One syringing a day, and one watering per week suffice. Truly +these are not grave things, but the issue at stake is precious: we +enjoy the boon of relief proportionately. + +Very few of those who grow Odontoglossums know much about the "Trade," +or care, seemingly. It is a curious subject, however. The genus is +American exclusively. It ranges over the continent from the northern +frontier of Mexico to the southern frontier of Peru, excepting, to speak +roughly, the empire of Brazil. This limitation is odd. It cannot be due +to temperature simply, for, upon the one hand, we receive Sophronitis, a +very cool genus, from Brazil, and several of the coolest Cattleyas; upon +the other, _Odontoglossum Roezlii_, a very hot species, and _O. +vexillarium_, most decidedly warm, flourish up to the boundary. Why +these should not step across, even if their mountain sisters refuse +companionship with the Sophronitis, is a puzzle. Elsewhere, however, +they abound. Collectors distinctly foresee the time when all the +districts they have "worked" up to this will be exhausted. But South +America contains a prodigious number of square miles, and a day's march +from the track carries one into _terra incognita_. Still, the end will +come. The English demand has stripped whole provinces, and now all the +civilized world is entering into competition. We are sadly assured that +Odontoglossums carried off will not be replaced for centuries. Most +other genera of orchid propagate so freely that wholesale depredations +are made good in very few years. For reasons beyond our comprehension as +yet, the Odontoglossum stands in different case. No one in England has +raised a plant from seed--that we may venture to say definitely. Mr. +Cookson and Mr. Veitch, perhaps others also, have obtained living germs, +but they died incontinently. Frenchmen, aided by the climate, have been +rather more successful. MM. Bleu and Moreau have both flowered seedling +Odontoglots. M. Jacob, who takes charge of M. Edmund de Rothschild's +orchids at Armainvilliers, has a considerable number of young plants. +The reluctance of Odontoglots to propagate is regarded as strange; it +supplies a constant theme for discussion among orchidologists. But I +think that if we look more closely it appears consistent with other +facts known. For among importations of every genus but this--and +Cypripedium--a plant bearing its seed-capsules is frequently discovered; +but I cannot hear of such an incident in the case of Odontoglossums. +They have been arriving in scores of thousands, year by year, for half a +century almost, and scarcely anyone recollects observing a seed-capsule. +This shows how rarely they fertilize in their native home. When that +event happens, the Odontoglossum is yet more prolific than most, and the +germs, of course, are not so delicate under their natural conditions. +But the moral to be drawn is that a country once stripped will not be +reclothed. + +I interpolate here a profound observation of Mr. Roezl. That wonderful +man remarked that Odontoglossums grow upon branches thirty feet above +the ground. It is rare to find them at thirty-five feet, rarer at +twenty-five; at greater and less heights they do not exist. Here, +doubtless, we have the secret of their reluctance to fertilize; but I +will offer no comments, because the more one reflects the more puzzling +it becomes. Evidently the seed must be carried above and must fall below +that limit, under circumstances which, to our apprehension, seem just as +favourable as those at the altitude of thirty feet. But they do not +germinate. Upon the other hand, Odontoglossums show no such daintiness +of growth in our houses. They flourish at any height, if the general +conditions be suitable. Mr. Roezl discovered a secret nevertheless, and +in good time we shall learn further. + +To the Royal Horticultural Society of England belongs the honour of +first importing orchids methodically and scientifically. Messrs. Weir +and Fortune, I believe, were their earliest employés. Another was +Theodor Hartweg, who discovered _Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ_ in +1842; but he sent home only dried specimens. From these Lindley +described and classed the plant, aided by the sketch of a Spanish or +Peruvian artist, Tagala. A very curious mistake Lindley fell into on +either point. The scientific error does not concern us, but he +represented the colouring of the flower as yellow with a purple centre. +So Tagala painted it, and his drawing survives. It is an odd little +story. He certainly had Hartweg's bloom before him, and that certainly +was white. But then again yellow Alexandræs have been found since that +day. To the Horticultural Society we are indebted, not alone for the +discovery of this wonder, but also for its introduction. John Weir was +travelling for them when he sent living specimens in 1862. It is not +surprising that botanists thought it new after what has been said. As +such Mr. Bateman named it after the young Princess of Wales--a choice +most appropriate in every way. + +[Illustration: ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM ALEXANDRAE +Flower reduced to One Fourth +Flower Stem to One Sixth] + +Then a few wealthy amateurs took up the business of importation, such as +the Duke of Devonshire. But "the Trade" came to see presently that there +was money in this new fashion, and imported so vigorously that the +Society found its exertions needless. Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting, +Messrs. Veitch of Chelsea, and Messrs. Low of Clapton distinguished +themselves from the outset. Of these three firms one is extinct; the +second has taken up, and made its own, the fascinating study of +hybridization among orchids; the third still perseveres. Twenty years +ago, nearly all the great nurserymen in London used to send out their +travellers; but they have mostly dropped the practice. Correspondents +forward a shipment from time to time. The expenses of the collector are +heavy, even if he draw no more than his due--and the temptation to make +up a fancy bill cannot be resisted by some weak mortals. Then, grave +losses are always probable--in the case of South American importations, +certain. It has happened not once but a hundred times that the toil of +months, the dangers, the sufferings, and the hard money expended go to +absolute waste. Twenty or thirty thousand plants or more an honest man +collects, brings down from the mountains or the forests, packs +carefully, and ships. The freight alone may reach from three to eight +hundred pounds--I have personally known instances when it exceeded five +hundred. The cases arrive in England--and not a living thing therein! A +steamship company may reduce its charge under such circumstances, but +again and again it will happen that the speculator stands out of a +thousand pounds clean when his boxes are opened. He may hope to recover +it on the next cargo, but that is still a question of luck. No wonder +that men whose business is not confined to orchids withdrew from the +risks of importation, returning to roses and lilies and daffodowndillies +with a new enthusiasm. + +There is another point also, which has varying force with different +characters. The loss of life among those men who "go out collecting" has +been greater proportionately, than in any class of which I have heard. +In former times, at least, they were chosen haphazard, among intelligent +and trustworthy employés of the firm. Trustworthiness was a grand point, +for reasons hinted. The honest youth, not very strong perhaps in an +English climate, went bravely forth into the unhealthiest parts of +unhealthy lands, where food is very scarce, and very, very rough; where +he was wet through day after day, for weeks at a time; where "the +fever," of varied sort, comes as regularly as Sunday; where from month +to month he found no one with whom to exchange a word. I could make out +a startling list of the martyrs of orchidology. Among Mr. Sander's +collectors alone, Falkenberg perished at Panama, Klaboch in Mexico, +Endres at Rio Hacha, Wallis in Ecuador, Schroeder in Sierra Leone, +Arnold on the Orinoco, Digance in Brazil, Brown in Madagascar. Sir +Trevor Lawrence mentions a case where the zealous explorer "waded for a +fortnight up to his middle in mud," searching for a plant he had heard +of. I have not identified this instance of devotion, but we know of +rarities which would demand perseverance and sufferings almost equal to +secure them. If employers could find the heart to tempt a +fellow-creature into such risks, the chances are that it would prove bad +business. For to discover a new or valuable orchid is only the first +step in a commercial enterprise. It remains to secure the "article," to +bring it safely into a realm that may be called civilized, to pack it +and superintend its transport through the sweltering lowland to a +shipping place. If the collector sicken after finding his prize, these +cares are neglected more or less; if he die, all comes to a full stop. +Thus it happens that the importing business has been given up by one +firm after another. + +Odontoglossums, as I said, belong to America--to the mountainous parts +of the continent in general. Though it would be wildly rash to pronounce +which is the loveliest of orchids, no man with eyes would dispute that +_O. crispum Alexandræ_ is the queen of this genus. She has her home in +the States of Colombia, and those who seek her make Bogota their +headquarters. If the collector wants the broad-petalled variety, he goes +about ten days to the southward before commencing operations; if the +narrow-petalled, about two days to the north--on mule-back of course. +His first care on arrival in the neighbourhood--which is unexplored +ground, if such he can discover--is to hire a wood; that is, a track of +mountain clothed more or less with timber. I have tried to procure one +of these "leases," which must be odd documents; but orchid-farming is a +close and secret business. The arrangement concluded in legal form, he +hires natives, twenty or fifty or a hundred, as circumstances advise, +and sends them to cut down trees, building meantime a wooden stage of +sufficient length to bear the plunder expected. This is used for +cleaning and drying the plants brought in. Afterwards, if he be prudent, +he follows his lumber-men, to see that their indolence does not shirk +the big trunks--which give extra trouble naturally, though they yield +the best and largest return. It is a terribly wasteful process. If we +estimate that a good tree has been felled for every three scraps of +Odontoglossum which are now established in Europe, that will be no +exaggeration. And for many years past they have been arriving by +hundreds of thousands annually! But there is no alternative. An European +cannot explore that green wilderness overhead; if he could, his +accumulations would be so slow and costly as to raise the proceeds to an +impossible figure. The natives will not climb, and they would tear the +plants to bits. Timber has no value in those parts as yet, but the day +approaches when Government must interfere. The average yield of +_Odontoglossum crispum_ per tree is certainly not more than five large +and small together. Once upon a time Mr. Kerbach recovered fifty-three +at one felling, and the incident has grown into a legend; two or three +is the usual number. Upon the other hand, fifty or sixty of _O. +gloriosum_, comparatively worthless, are often secured. The cutters +receive a fixed price of sixpence for each orchid, without reference to +species or quality. + +When his concession is exhausted, the traveller overhauls the produce +carefully, throwing away those damaged pieces which would ferment in the +long, hot journey home, and spoil the others. When all are clean and +dry, he fixes them with copper wire on sticks, which are nailed across +boxes for transport. Long experience has laid down rules for each +detail of this process. The sticks, for example, are one inch in +diameter, fitting into boxes two feet three inches wide, two feet deep, +neither more nor less. Then the long file of mules sets out for Bogota, +perhaps ten days' march, each animal carrying two boxes--a burden +ridiculously light, but on such tracks it is dimension which has to be +considered. On arrival at Bogota, the cases are unpacked and examined +for the last time, restowed, and consigned to the muleteers again. In +six days they reach Honda, on the Magdalena River, where, until lately, +they were embarked on rafts for a voyage of fourteen days to Savanilla. +At the present time, an American company has established a service of +flat-bottomed steamers which cover the distance in seven days, thus +reducing the risks of the journey by one-half. But they are still +terrible. Not a breath of wind stirs the air at that season, for the +collector cannot choose his time. The boxes are piled on deck; even the +pitiless sunshine is not so deadly as the stewing heat below. He has a +store of blankets to cover them, on which he lays a thatch of +palm-leaves, and all day long he souses the pile with water; but too +well the poor fellow knows that mischief is busy down below. Another +anxiety possesses him too. It may very well be that on arrival at +Savanilla he has to wait days in that sweltering atmosphere for the +Royal Mail steamer. And when it comes in, his troubles do not cease, for +the stowage of the precious cargo is vastly important. On deck it will +almost certainly be injured by salt water. In the hold it will ferment. +Amidships it is apt to be baked by the engine fire. Whilst writing I +learn that Mr. Sander has lost two hundred and sixty-seven cases by this +latter mishap, as is supposed. So utterly hopeless is their condition, +that he will not go to the expense of overhauling them; they lie at +Southampton, and to anybody who will take them away all parties +concerned will be grateful. The expense of making this shipment a reader +may judge from the hints given. The Royal Mail Company's charge for +freight from Manzanilla is 750l. I could give an incident of the same +class yet more startling with reference to Phaloenopsis. It is proper to +add that the most enterprising of Assurance Companies do not yet see +their way to accept any kind of risks in the orchid trade; importers +must bear all the burden. To me it seems surprising that the plants can +be sold so cheap, all things considered. Many persons think and hope +that prices will fall, and that may probably happen with regard to some +genera. But the shrewdest of those very shrewd men who conduct the +business all look for a rise. + +_Od. Harryanum_ always reminds me--in such an odd association of ideas +as everyone has experienced--of a thunderstorm. The contrast of its +intense brown blotches with the azure throat and the broad, snowy lip, +affect me somehow with admiring oppression. Very absurd; but _on est +fait comme ça_, as Nana excused herself. To call this most striking +flower "Harryanum" is grotesque. The public is not interested in those +circumstances which give the name significance for a few, and if there +be any flower which demands an expressive title, it is this, in my +judgment. Possibly it was some Indian report which had slipped his +recollection that led Roezl to predict the discovery of a new +Odontoglot, unlike any other, in the very district where _Od. Harryanum_ +was found after his death, though the story is quoted as an example of +that instinct which guides the heaven-born collector. The first plants +came unannounced in a small box sent by Señor Pantocha, of Colombia, to +Messrs. Horsman in 1885, and they were flowered next year by Messrs. +Veitch. The dullest who sees it can now imagine the excitement when this +marvel was displayed, coming from an unknown habitat. Roezl's +prediction occurred to many of his acquaintance, I have heard; but Mr. +Sander had a living faith in his old friend's sagacity. Forthwith he +despatched a collector to the spot which Roezl had named--but not +visited--and found the treasure. The legends of orchidology will be +gathered one day, perhaps; and if the editor be competent, his volume +should be almost as interesting to the public as to the cognoscenti. + +I have been speaking hitherto of Colombian Odontoglossums, which are +reckoned among the hardiest of their class. Along with them, in the same +temperature, grow the cool Masdevallias, which probably are the most +difficult of all to transport. There was once a grand consignment of +_Masdevallia Schlimii_, which Mr. Roezl despatched on his own account. +It contained twenty-seven thousand plants of this species, representing +at that time a fortune. Mr. Roezl was the luckiest and most experienced +of collectors, and he took special pains with this unique shipment. +Among twenty-seven thousand two bits survived when the cases were +opened; the agent hurried them off to Stevens's auction-rooms, and sold +them forthwith at forty guineas each. But I must stick to +Odontoglossums. Speculative as is the business of importing the northern +species, to gather those of Peru and Ecuador is almost desperate. The +roads of Colombia are good, the population civilized, conveniences +abound, if we compare that region with the orchid-bearing territories of +the south. There is a fortune to be secured by anyone who will bring to +market a lot of _O. noeveum_ in fair condition. Its habitat is +perfectly well known. I am not aware that it has a delicate +constitution; but no collector is so rash or so enthusiastic as to try +that adventure again, now that its perils are understood; and no +employer is so reckless as to urge him. The true variety of _O. Hallii_ +stands in much the same case. To obtain it the explorer must march in +the bed of a torrent and on the face of a precipice alternately for an +uncertain period of time, with a river to cross about every day. And he +has to bring back his loaded mules, or Indians, over the same pathless +waste. The Roraima Mountain begins to be regarded as quite easy travel +for the orchid-hunter nowadays. If I mention that the canoe-work on this +route demands thirty-two portages, thirty-two loadings and unloadings of +the cargo, the reader can judge what a "difficult road" must be. +Ascending the Roraima, Mr. Dressel, collecting for Mr. Sander, lost his +herbarium in the Essequibo River. Savants alone are able to estimate the +awful nature of the crisis when a comrade looses his grip of that +treasure. For them it is needless to add that everything else went to +the bottom.[2] + +One is tempted to linger among the Odontoglots, though time is pressing. +In no class of orchids are natural hybrids so mysterious and frequent. +Sometimes one can detect the parentage; in such cases, doubtless, the +crossing occurred but a few generations back: as a rule, however, such +plants are the result of breeding in and in from age to age, causing all +manner of delightful complications. How many can trace the lineage of +Mr. Bull's _Od. delectabile_--ivory white, tinged with rose, strikingly +blotched with red and showing a golden labellum? or Mr. Sander's _Od. +Alberti-Edwardi_, which has a broad soft margin of gold about its +stately petals? Another is rosy white, closely splashed with pale +purple, and dotted round the edge with spots of the same tint so thickly +placed that they resemble a fringe. Such marvels turn up in an +importation without the slightest warning--no peculiarity betrays them +until the flowers open; when the lucky purchaser discovers that a plant +for which he gave perhaps a shilling is worth an indefinite number of +guineas. + +Lycaste also is a genus peculiar to America, such a favourite among +those who know its merits that the species _L. Skinneri_ is called the +"Drawing-Room Flower." Professor Reichenbach observes in his superb +volume that many people utterly ignorant of orchids grow this plant in +their miscellaneous collection. I speak of it without prejudice, for to +my mind the bloom is stiff, heavy, and poor in colour. But there are +tremendous exceptions. In the first place, _Lycaste Skinneri alba_, the +pure white variety, beggars all description. Its great flower seems to +be sculptured in the snowiest of transparent marble. That stolid +pretentious air which offends one--offends me, at least--in the coloured +examples, becomes virginal dignity in this case. Then, of the normal +type there are more than a hundred variations recognized, some with lips +as deep in tone, and as smooth in texture, as velvet, of all shades from +maroon to brightest crimson. It will be understood that I allude to the +common forms in depreciating this species. How vast is the difference +between them, their commercial value shows. Plants of the same size and +the same species range from 3s. 6d. to 35 guineas, or more +indefinitely. + +Lycastes are found in the woods, of Guatemala especially, and I have +heard no such adventures in the gathering of them as attend +Odontoglossums. Easily obtained, easily transported, and remarkably easy +to grow, of course they are cheap. A man must really "give his mind to +it" to kill a Lycaste. This counts for much, no doubt, in the popularity +of the genus, but it has plenty of other virtues. _L. Skinneri_ opens in +the depth of winter, and all the rest, I think, in the dull months. +Then, they are profuse of bloom, throwing up half a dozen spikes, or, in +some species, a dozen, from a single bulb, and the flowers last a +prodigious time. Their extraordinary thickness in every part enables +them to withstand bad air and changes of temperature, so that ladies +keep them on a drawing-room table, night and day, for months, without +change perceptible. Mr. Williams names an instance where a _L. +Skinneri_, bought in full bloom on February 2, was kept in a +sitting-room till May 18, when the purchaser took it back, still +handsome. I have heard cases more surprising. Of species somewhat less +common there is _L. aromatica_, a little gem, which throws up an +indefinite number of short spikes, each crowned with a greenish yellow +triangular sort of cup, deliciously scented. I am acquainted with no +flower that excites such enthusiasm among ladies who fancy Messrs. +Liberty's style of toilette; sad experience tells me that ten +commandments or twenty will not restrain them from appropriating it. _L. +cruenta_ is almost as tempting. As for _L. leucanthe_, an exquisite +combination of pale green and snow white, it ranks with _L. Skinneri +alba_ as a thing too beautiful for words. This species has not been long +introduced, and at the moment it is dear proportionately. There is yet +another virtue of the Lycaste which appeals to the expert. It lends +itself readily to hybridization. This most fascinating pursuit attracts +few amateurs as yet, and the professionals have little time or +inclination for experiments. They naturally prefer to make such crosses +as are almost certain to pay. Thus it comes about that the hybridization +of Lycastes has been attempted but recently, and none of the seedlings, +so far as I can learn, have flowered. They have been obtained, however, +in abundance, not only from direct crossing, but also from alliance with +Zygopetalum, Anguloa, and Maxillaria. + +The genus Cypripedium, Lady's Slipper, is perhaps more widely scattered +over the globe than any other class of plant; I, at least, am acquainted +with none that approaches it. From China to Peru--nay, beyond, from +Archangel to Torres Straits,--but it is wise to avoid these semi-poetic +descriptions. In brief, if we except Africa and the temperate parts of +Australia, there is no large tract of country in the world that does not +produce Cypripediums; and few authorities doubt that a larger +acquaintance with those realms will bring them under the rule. We have a +species in England, _C. calceolus_, by no means insignificant; it can be +purchased from the dealers, but it is almost extinct in this country +now. America furnishes a variety of species; which ought to be hardy. +They will bear a frost below zero, but our winter damp is intolerable. +Mr. Godseff tells me that he has seen _C. spectabile_ growing like any +water-weed in the bogs of New Jersey, where it is frozen hard, roots and +all, for several months of the year; but very few survive the season in +this country, even if protected. Those fine specimens so common at our +spring shows are imported in the dry state. From the United States also +we get the charming _C. candidum_, _C. parviflorum_, _C. pubescens_, and +many more less important. Canada and Siberia furnish _C. guttatum_, _C. +macranthum_, and others. I saw in Russia, and brought home, a +magnificent species, tall and stately, bearing a great golden flower, +which is not known "in the trade;" but they all rotted gradually. +Therefore I do not recommend these fine outdoor varieties, which the +inexperienced are apt to think so easy. At the same cost others may be +bought, which, coming from the highlands of hot countries, are used to a +moderate damp in winter. + +Foremost of these, perhaps the oldest of cool orchids in cultivation, is +_C. insigne_, from Nepal. Everyone knows its original type, which has +grown so common that I remarked a healthy pot at a window-garden +exhibition some years ago in Westminster. One may say that this, the +early and familiar form, has no value at present, so many fine varieties +have been introduced. A reader may form a notion of the difference when +I state that a small plant of exceptional merit sold for thirty guineas +a short time ago--it was _C. insigne_, but glorified. This ranks among +the fascinations of orchid culture. You may buy a lot of some common +kind, imported, at a price representing coppers for each individual, and +among them may appear, when they come to bloom, an eccentricity which +sells for a hundred pounds or more. The experienced collector has a +volume of such legends. There is another side to the question, truly, +but it does not personally interest the class which I address. To make a +choice among numberless stories of this sort, we may take the instance +of _C. Spicerianum_. + +It turned up among a quantity of _Cypripedium insigne_ in the +greenhouse of Mrs. Spicer, a lady residing at Twickenham. Astonished at +the appearance of this swan among her ducks, she asked Mr. Veitch to +look at it. He was delighted to pay seventy guineas down for such a +prize. Cypripediums propagate easily, no more examples came into the +market, and for some years this lovely species was a treasure for dukes +and millionaires. It was no secret that the precious novelty came from +Mrs. Spicer's greenhouse; but to call on a strange lady and demand how +she became possessed of a certain plant is not a course of action that +commends itself to respectable business men. The circumstances gave no +clue. Messrs. Spicer were and are large manufacturers of paper; there is +no visible connection betwixt paper and Indian orchids. By discreet +inquiries, however, it was ascertained that one of the lady's sons had a +tea-plantation in Assam. No more was needed. By the next mail Mr. +Forstermann started for that vague destination, and in process of time +reached Mr. Spicer's bungalow. There he asked for "a job." None could be +found for him; but tea-planters are hospitable, and the stranger was +invited to stop a day or two. But he could not lead the conversation +towards orchids--perhaps because his efforts were too clever, perhaps +because his host took no interest in the subject. One day, however, Mr. +Spicer's manager invited him to go shooting, and casually remarked "we +shall pass the spot where I found those orchids they're making such a +fuss about at home." Be sure Mr. Forstermann was alert that morning! +Thus put upon the track, he discovered quantities of it, bade the +tea-planter adieu, and went to work; but in the very moment of triumph a +tiger barred the way, his coolies bolted, and nothing would persuade +them to go further. Mr. Forstermann was no shikari, but he felt himself +called upon to uphold the cause of science and the honour of England at +this juncture. In great agitation he went for that feline, and, in +short, its skin still adorns Mrs. Sander's drawing-room. Thus it +happened that on a certain Thursday a small pot of _C. Spicerianum_ was +sold, as usual, for sixty guineas at Stevens's; on the Thursday +following all the world could buy fine plants at a guinea. + +Cypripedium is the favourite orchid of the day. It has every advantage, +except, to my perverse mind--brilliancy of colour. None show a whole +tone; even the lovely _C. niveum_ is not pure white. My views, however, +find no backing. At all other points the genus deserves to be a +favourite. In the first place, it is the most interesting of all orchids +to science.[3] Then its endless variations of form, its astonishing +oddities, its wide range of hues, its easy culture, its readiness to +hybridize and to ripen seed, the certainty, by comparison, of rearing +the proceeds, each of these merits appeals to one or other of +orchid-growers. Many of the species which come from torrid lands, +indeed, are troublesome, but with such we are not concerned. The cool +varieties will do well anywhere, provided they receive water enough in +summer, and not too little in winter. I do not speak of the American and +Siberian classes, which are nearly hopeless for the amateur, nor of the +Hong-Kong _Cypripedium purpuratum_, a very puzzling example. + +On the roll of martyrs to orchidology, Mr. Pearce stands high. To him we +owe, among many fine things, the hybrid Begonias which are becoming such +favourites for bedding and other purposes. He discovered the three +original types, parents of the innumerable "garden flowers" now on +sale--_Begonia Pearcii_, _B. Veitchii_, and _B. Boliviensis_. It was his +great luck, and great honour, to find _Masdevallia Veitchii_--so long, +so often, so laboriously searched for from that day to this, but never +even heard of. To collect another shipment of that glorious orchid, Mr. +Pearce sailed for Peru, in the service, I think, of Mr. Bull. +Unhappily--for us all as well as for himself--he was detained at Panama. +Somewhere in those parts there is a magnificent Cypripedium with which +we are acquainted only by the dried inflorescence, named _planifolium_. +The poor fellow could not resist this temptation. They told him at +Panama that no white man had returned from the spot, but he went on. The +Indians brought him back, some days or weeks later, without the prize; +and he died on arrival. + +Oncidiums also are a product of the New World exclusively; in fact, of +the four classes most useful to amateurs, three belong wholly to +America, and the fourth in great part. I resist the temptation to +include Masdevallia, because that genus is not so perfectly easy as the +rest; but if it be added, nine-tenths, assuredly, of the plants in our +cool house come from the West. Among the special merits of the Oncidium +is its colour. I have heard thoughtless persons complain that they are +"all yellow;" which, as a statement of fact, is near enough to the +truth, for about three-fourths may be so described roughly. But this +dispensation is another proof of Nature's kindly regard for the +interests of our science. A clear, strong, golden yellow is the colour +that would have been wanting in our cool houses had not the Oncidium +supplied it. Shades of lemon and buff are frequent among Odontoglossums, +but, in a rough, general way of speaking, they have a white ground. +Masdevallias give us scarlet and orange and purple; Lycastes, green and +dull yellow; Sophronitis, crimson; Mesospinidium, rose, and so forth. +Blue must not be looked for. Even counting the new Utricularia for an +orchid, as most people do, there are, I think, but five species that +will live among us at present, in all the prodigious family, showing +this colour; and every one of them is very "hot." Thus it appears that +the Oncidium fills a gap--and how gloriously! There is no such pure gold +in the scheme of the universe as it displays under fifty shapes +wondrously varied. Thus--_Oncidium macranthum!_ one is continually +tempted to exclaim, as one or other glory of the orchid world recurs to +mind, that it is the supreme triumph of floral beauty. I have sinned +thus, and I know it. Therefore, let the reader seek an opportunity to +behold _O. macranthum_, and judge for himself. But it seems to me that +Nature gives us a hint. As though proudly conscious what a marvel it +will unfold, this superb flower often demands nine months to perfect +itself. Dr. Wallace told me of an instance in his collection where +eighteen months elapsed from the appearance of the spike until the +opening of the first bloom. But it lasts a time proportionate. + +[Illustration: ONCIDIUM MACRANTHUM +Reduced to One Sixth] + +Nature forestalled the dreams of æsthetic colourists when she designed +_Oncidium macranthum_. Thus, and not otherwise, would the thoughtful of +them arrange a "harmony" in gold and bronze; but Nature, with +characteristic indifference to the fancies of mankind, hid her +_chef-d'oeuvre_ in the wilds of Ecuador. Hardly less striking, +however, though perhaps less beautiful, are its sisters of the +"small-lipped" species--_Onc. serratum_, _O. superbiens_, and _O. +sculptum_. This last is rarely seen. As with others of its class, the +spike grows very long, twelve feet perhaps, if it were allowed to +stretch. The flowers are small comparatively, clear bronze-brown, highly +polished, so closely and daintily frilled round the edges that a fairy +goffering-iron could not give more regular effects, and outlined by a +narrow band of gold. _Onc. serratum_ has a much larger bloom, but less +compact, rather fly-away indeed, its sepals widening gracefully from a +narrow neck. Excessively curious is the disposition of the petals, which +close their tips to form a circle of brown and gold around the column. +The purpose of this extraordinary arrangement--unique among orchids, I +believe--will be discovered one day, for purpose there is, no doubt; to +judge by analogy, it may be supposed that the insect upon which _Onc. +serratum_ depends for fertilization likes to stand upon this ring while +thrusting its proboscis into the nectary. The fourth of these fine +species, _Onc. superbiens_, ranks among the grandest of flowers--knowing +its own value, it rarely consents to "oblige;" the dusky green sepals +are margined with yellow, petals white, clouded with pale purple, lip +very small, of course, purple, surmounted by a great golden crest. + +Most strange and curious is _Onc. fuscatum_, of which the shape defies +description. Seen from the back, it shows a floriated cross of equal +limbs; but in front the nethermost is hidden by a spreading lip, very +large proportionately. The prevailing tint is a dun-purple, but each arm +has a broad white tip. Dun-purple, also, is the centre of the labellum, +edged with a distinct band of lighter hue, which again, towards the +margin, becomes white. These changes of tone are not gradual, but as +clear as a brush could make them. Botanists must long to dissect this +extraordinary flower, but the opportunity seldom occurs. It is +desperately puzzling to understand how nature has packed away the +component parts of its inflorescence, so as to resolve them into four +narrow arms and a labellum. But the colouring of this plant is not +always dull. In the small Botanic Garden at Florence, by Santa Maria +Maggiore, I remarked with astonishment an _Onc. fuscatum_, of which the +lip was scarlet-crimson and the other tints bright to match. That +collection is admirably grown, but orchids are still scarce in Italy. +The Society did not know what a prize it had secured by chance. + +The genus Oncidium has, perhaps, more examples of a startling +combination in hues than any other--but one must speak thoughtfully and +cautiously upon such points. + +I have not to deal with culture, but one hint may be given. Gardeners +who have a miscellaneous collection to look after, often set themselves +against an experiment in orchid-growing because these plants suffer +terribly from green-fly and other pests, and will not bear "smoking." To +keep them clean and healthy by washing demands labour for which they +have no time. This is a very reasonable objection. But though the smoke +of tobacco is actual ruination, no plant whatever suffers from the steam +thereof. An ingenious Frenchman has invented and patented in England +lately a machine called the Thanatophore, which I confidently +recommend. It can be obtained from Messrs. B.S. Williams, of Upper +Holloway. The Thanatophore destroys every insect within reach of its +vapour, excepting, curiously enough, scaly-bug, which, however, does not +persecute cool orchids much. The machine may be obtained in different +sizes through any good ironmonger. + +To sum up: these plants ask nothing in return for the measureless +enjoyment they give but light, shade from the summer sun, protection +from the winter frost, moisture--and brains. + + * * * * * + +I am allowed to print a letter which bears upon several points to which +I have alluded. It is not cheerful reading for the enthusiast. He will +be apt to cry, "Would that the difficulties and perils were infinitely +graver--so grave that the collecting grounds might have a rest for +twenty years!" + + +_January 19th, 1893._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I have received your two letters asking for _Cattleya Lawrenceana_, +_Pancratium Guianense_, and _Catasetum pileatum_. Kindly excuse my +answering your letters only to-day. But I have been away in the +interior, and on my return was sick, besides other business taking up my +time; I was unable to write until to-day. Now let me give you some +information concerning orchid-collecting in this colony. Six or seven +years ago, just when the gold industry was starting, very few people +ever ventured in the far interior. Boats, river-hands, and Indians could +be hired at ridiculously low prices, and travelling and bartering paid; +wages for Indians being about a shilling per day, and all found; the +same for river-hands. Captains and boatswains to pilot the boat through +the rapids up and down for sixty-four cents a day. To-day you have got +to pay sixty-four to eighty cents per day for Indians and river-hands. +Captains and boatswains, $2 the former, and $1:50 the latter per day, +and then you often cannot get them. Boat-hire used to be $8 to $10 for a +big boat for three to four months; to-day $5, $6, and $7 per day, and +all through the rapid development of the gold industry. As you can +calculate twenty-five days' river travel to get within reach of the +Savannah lands, you can reckon what the expenses must be, and then again +about five to seven days coming down the river, and a couple of days to +lay over. Then you must count two trips like this, one to bring you up, +and one to bring you down three months after, when you return with your +collection. Besides this, you run the risk of losing your boat in the +rapids either way, which happens not very unfrequently either going or +coming; and we have not only to record the loss of several boats with +goods, etc., every month, but generally to record the loss of life; only +two cases happening last month, in one case seven, in the other twelve +men losing their lives. Besides, river-hands and blacks will not go +further than the boats can travel, and nothing will induce them to go +among the Indians, being afraid of getting poisoned by Inds. +(Kaiserimas) or strangled. So you have to rely utterly on Indians, which +you often cannot get, as the district of Roraima is very poorly +inhabited, and most of the Indians died by smallpox and measles breaking +out among them four years ago, and those that survived left the +district, and you will find whole districts nearly uninhabited. About +five years ago I went up with Mr. Osmers to Roraima, but he broke down +before we reached the Savannah. He lay there for a week, and I gave him +up; he recovered, however, and dragged himself into the Savannah near +Roraima, about three days distant from it, where I left him. Here we +found and made a splendid collection of about 3000 first-class plants of +different kinds. + +While I was going up to Roraima, he stayed in the Savannah, still too +sick to go further. At Roraima I collected everything except _Catt. +Lawrenceana_, which was utterly rooted out already by former collectors. +On my return to Osmers' camp, I found him more dead than alive, thrown +down by a new attack of sickness; but not alone that, I also found him +abandoned by most of our Indians, who had fled on account of the Kanaima +having killed three of their number. So Mr. Osmers--who got soon +better--and I, made up our baskets with plants, and made everything +ready. Our Indians returning partly, I sent him ahead with as many loads +as we could carry, I staying behind with the rest of baskets of plants. +Had all our Indians come back, we would have been all right, but this +not being the case I had to stay until the Indians returned and fetched +me off. After this we got back all right. This was before the sickness +broke out among the Indians. + +Last year I went up with Mr. Kromer, who met me going up-river while I +was coming down. So I joined him. We got up all right to the river's +head, but here our troubles began, as we got only about eight Indians to +go on with us who had worked in the gold-diggings, and no others could +be had, the district being abandoned. We had to pay them half a dollar +a day to carry loads. So we pushed on, carrying part of our loads, +leaving the rest of our cargo behind, until we reached the Savannah, +when we had to send them back several times to get the balance of our +goods. From the time we reached the Savannah we were starving, more or +less, as we could procure only very little provisions. We hunted all +about for _Catt. Lawrenceana_, and got only about 1500 or so, it growing +only here and there. At Roraima we did not hunt at all, as the district +is utterly rubbed out by the Indians. We were about fourteen days at +Roraima and got plenty of _Utricularia Campbelliana_, _U. Humboldtii_, +and _U. montana_. Also _Zygopetalum_, _Cyp. Lindleyanum_, _Oncidium +nigratum_ (only fifty--very rare now), _Cypripedium Schomburgkianum_, +_Zygopetalum Burkeii_, and in fact, all that is to be found on and about +Roraima, except the _Cattleya Lawrenceana_. Also plenty others, as +Sobralia, Liliastrum, etc. So our collection was not a very great one; +we had the hardest trouble now through the want of Indians to carry the +loads. Besides this, the rainy weather set in and our loads suffered +badly for all the care we took of them. Besides, the Indians got +disagreeable, having to go back several times to bring the remaining +baskets. Nevertheless, we got down as far as the Curubing mountains. Up +to this time we were more or less always starving. Arrived at the +Curubing mountains, procured a scant supply of provisions, but lost +nearly all of them in a small creek, and what was saved was spoiling +under our eyes, it being then that the rainy season had fully started, +drenching us from morning to night. It took us nine days to get our +loads over the mountain, where our boat was to reach us to take us down +river. And we were for two and a half days entirely without food. +Besides the plants being damaged by stress of weather, the Indians had +opened the baskets and thrown partly the loads away, not being able to +carry the heavy soaked-through baskets over the mountains, so making us +lose the best of our plants. + +Arrived at our landing we had to wait for our boat, which arrived a week +later in consequence of the river being high, and, of course, short of +provisions. Still, we got away with what we had of our loads until we +reached the first gold places kept by a friend of mine, who supplied us +with food. Thereafter we started for town. Halfway, at Kapuri falls (one +of the most dangerous), we swamped down over a rock, and so we lost some +of our things; still saved all our plants, though they lay for a few +hours under water with the boat. After this we reached town in safety. +So after coming home we found, on packing up, that we had only about 900 +plants, that is, _Cattleya Lawrenceana_, of which about one-third good, +one-third medium, and one-third poor quality. This trip took us about +three and a half months, and cost over 2500 dollars. Besides, I having +poisoned my leg on a rotten stump which I run up in my foot, lay for +four months suffering terrible pain. + +You will, of course, see from this that orchid-hunting is no pleasure, +as you of course know, but what I want to point out to you is that +_Cattleya Lawrenceana_ is very rare in the interior now. + +The river expenses fearfully high, in fact, unreasonably high, on +account of the gold-digging. Labourers getting 64 c. to $1.00 per day, +and all found. No Indians to be got, and those that you can get at +ridiculous prices, and getting them, too, by working on places where +they build and thatch houses and clear the ground from underbush, and as +huntsmen for gold-diggers. Even if Mr. Kromer had succeeded to get 3000 +or 4000 fine _Cattleya Lawrenceana_, it would have been of no value to +us, as we could not have got anybody to carry them to the river where a +boat could reach. Besides this, I also must tell you that there is a +license to be paid out here if you want to collect orchids, amounting +to $100, which Mr. Kromer had to pay, and also an export tax duty of 2 +cents per piece. So that orchid collecting is made a very expensive +affair. Besides its success being very doubtful, even if a man is very +well acquainted with Indian life and has visited the Savannah reaches +year after year. We spent something over $2500 to $2900, including Mr. +Kromer's and Steigfer's passage out, on our last expedition. + +If you want to get any _Lawrenceana_, you will have to send yourself, +and as I said before, the results will be very doubtful. As far as I +myself am concerned, I am interested besides my baking business, in the +gold-diggings, and shall go up to the Savannah in a few months. I can +give you first-class references if you should be willing to send an +expedition, and we could come to some arrangement; at least, you would +save the expenses of the passage of one of your collectors. I may say +that I am quite conversant with the way of packing orchids and handling +them as well for travel as shipment. + +Kindly excuse, therefore, my lengthy letter and its bad writing. And if +you should be inclined to go in for an expedition, just send me a list +of what you require, and I will tell you whether the plants are found +along the route of travel and in the Savannah visited; as, for +instance, _Catt. superba_ does not grow at all in the district where +_Catt. Lawrenceana_ is to be found, but far further south. + +Before closing, I beg you to let me know the prices of about twenty-five +of the best of and prettiest South American orchids, which I want for my +own collection, as _Catt. Medellii_, _Catt. Trianæ_, _Odontoglossum +crispum_, _Miltonia vexillaria_, _Catt. labiata_, &c. + +I shall await your answer as soon as possible, and send you a list by +last mail of what is to be got in this colony. + +We also found on our last visit something new--a very large bulbed +Oncidium, or may be Catasetum, on the top of Roraima, where we spent a +night, but got only two specimens, one of which got lost, and the other +one I left in the hands of Mr. Rodway, but so we tried our best. It +decayed, having been too seriously damaged to revive and flower, and so +enable us to see what it was, it not being in flower when found. + + Awaiting your kind reply, + Yours truly, + SEYLER. + +P.S.--If you should send out one of your collectors, or require any +information, I shall be glad to give it. + + +One of the most experienced collectors, M. Oversluys, writes from the +Rio de Yanayacca, January, 1893:-- + +"Here it is absolutely necessary that one goes himself into the woods +ahead of the peons, who are quite cowards to enter the woods; and not +altogether without reason, for the larger part of them get sick here, +and it is very hard to enter--nearly impenetrable and full of insects, +which make fresh-coming people to get cracked and mad. I have from the +wrist down not a place to put in a shilling piece which is not a wound, +through the very small red spider and other insects. Also my people are +the same. Of the five men I took out, two have got fever already, and +one ran back. To-morrow I expect other peons, but not a single one from +Mengobamba. It is a trouble to get men who will come into the woods, and +I cannot have more than eight or ten to work with, because when I should +not be continually behind them or ahead they do nothing. It is not a +question of money to do good here, but merely luck and the way one +treats people. The peons come out less for their salaries than for good +and plenty of food, which is very difficult to find in these scarce +times.... + +"The plants are here one by one, and we have got but one tree with three +plants. They are on the highest and biggest trees, and these must be +cut down with axes. Below are all shrubs, full of climbers and lianas +about a finger thick. Every step must be cut to advance, and the ground +cleared below the high trees in order to spy the branches. It is a very +difficult job. Nature has well protected this Cattleya.... Nobody can +like this kind of work." + +The poor man ends abruptly, "I will write when I can--the mosquitos +don't leave me a moment." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: See a letter at p. 92.] + +[Footnote 3: _Vide_ "Orchids and Hybridizing," _infra_, p. 210.] + + + + +WARM ORCHIDS. + + +By the expression "warm" we understand that condition which is +technically known as "intermediate." It is waste of time to ask, at this +day, why a Latin combination should be employed when there is an English +monosyllable exactly equivalent; we, at least, will use our +mother-tongue. Warm orchids are those which like a minimum temperature, +while growing, of 60°; while resting, of 55°. As for the maximum, it +signifies little in the former case, but in the latter--during the +months of rest--it cannot be allowed to go beyond 60°, for any length of +time, without mischief. These conditions mean, in effect, that the house +must be warmed during nine months of the twelve in this realm of +England. "Hot" orchids demand a fire the whole year round--saving a few +very rare nights when the Briton swelters in tropical discomfort. Upon +this dry subject of temperature, however, I would add one word of +encouragement for those who are not willing to pay a heavy bill for +coke. The cool-house, in general, requires a fire, at night, until June +1. Under that condition, if it face the south, in a warm locality, very +many genera and species classed as intermediate should be so thoroughly +started before artificial heat is withdrawn that they will do +excellently, unless the season be unusual. + +Warm orchids come from a sub-tropic region, or from the mountains of a +hotter climate, where their kinsfolk dwelling in the plains defy the +thermometer; just as in sub-tropic lands warm species occupy the +lowlands, while the heights furnish Odontoglossums and such lovers of a +chilly atmosphere. There are, however, some warm Odontoglossums, notable +among them _O. vexillarium_, which botanists class with the Miltonias. +This species is very fashionable, and I give it the place of honour; but +not, in my own view, for its personal merits. The name is so singularly +appropriate that one would like to hear the inventor's reasons for +transfiguring it. _Vexillum_ we know, and _vexillarius_, but +_vexillarium_ goes beyond my Latin. However, it is an intelligible word, +and those acquainted with the appearance of "regimental colours" in Old +Rome perceive its fitness at a glance. The flat bloom seems to hang +suspended from its centre, just as the _vexillum_ figures in +bas-relief--on the Arch of Antoninus, for example. To my mind the +colouring is insipid, as a rule, and the general effect stark--fashion +in orchids, as in other things, has little reference to taste. I repeat +with emphasis, _as a rule_, for some priceless specimens are no less +than astounding in their blaze of colour, the quintessence of a million +uninteresting blooms. The poorest of these plants have merit, no doubt, +for those who can accommodate giants. They grow fast and big. There are +specimens in this country a yard across, which display a hundred and +fifty or two hundred flowers open at the same time for months. A superb +show they make, rising over the pale sea-green foliage, four spikes +perhaps from a single bulb. But this is a beauty of general effect, +which must not be analyzed, as I think. + +_Odontoglossum vexillarium_ is brought from Colombia. There are two +forms: the one--small, evenly red, flowering in autumn--was discovered +by Frank Klaboch, nephew to the famous Roezl, on the Dagua River, in +Antioquia. For eight years he persisted in despatching small quantities +to Europe, though every plant died; at length a safer method of +transmission was found, but simultaneously poor Klaboch himself +succumbed. It is an awful country--perhaps the wettest under the sun. +Though a favourite hunting-ground of collectors now--for Cattleyas of +value come from hence, besides this precious Odontoglot--there are still +no means of transport, saving Indians and canoes. _O. vexillarium_ would +not be thought costly if buyers knew how rare it is, how expensive to +get, and how terribly difficult to bring home. Forty thousand pieces +were despatched to Mr. Sander in one consignment--he hugged himself with +delight when three thousand proved to have some trace of vitality. + +Mr. Watson, Assistant Curator at Kew, recalls an amusing instance of the +value and the mystery attached to this species so late as 1867. In that +year Professor Reichenbach described it for the first time. He tells how +a friend lent him the bloom upon a negative promise under five +heads--"First, not to show it to any one else; (2) not to speak much +about it; (3) not to take a drawing of it; (4) not to have a photograph +made; (5) not to look oftener than three times at it." By-the-bye, Mr. +Watson gives the credit of the first discovery to the late Mr. Bowman; +but I venture to believe that my account is exact--in reference to the +Antioquia variety, at least. + +The other form occurs in the famous district of Frontino, about two +hundred and fifty miles due north of the first habitat, and +shows--_savants_ would add "of course"--a striking difference. In the +geographical distinctions of species will be found the key to whole +volumes of mystery that perplex us now. I once saw three Odontoglossums +ranged side by side, which even an expert would pronounce mere varieties +of the same plant if he were not familiar with them--_Od. Williamsi_, +_Od. grande_, and _Od. Schlieperianum_. The middle one everybody knows, +by sight at least, a big, stark, spread-eagle flower, gamboge yellow +mottled with red-brown, vastly effective in the mass, but individually +vulgar. On one side was _Od. Williamsi_, essentially the same in flower +and bulb and growth, but smaller; opposite stood _Od. Schlieperianum_, +only to be distinguished as smaller still. But both these latter rank as +species. They are separated from the common type, _O. grande_, by nearly +ten degrees of latitude and ten degrees of longitude, nor--we might +almost make an affidavit--do any intermediate forms exist in the space +between; and those degrees are sub-tropical, by so much more significant +than an equal distance in our zone. Instances of the same class and more +surprising are found in many genera of orchid. + +The Frontino _vexillarium_ grows "cooler," has a much larger bloom, +varies in hue from purest white to deepest red, and flowers in May or +June. The most glorious of these things, however, is _O. vex. +superbum_, a plant of the greatest rarity, conspicuous for its blotch of +deep purple in the centre of the lip, and its little dot of the same on +each wing. Doubtless this is a natural hybrid betwixt the Antioquia form +and _Odontoglossum Roezlii_, which is its neighbour. The chance of +finding a bit of _superbum_ in a bundle of the ordinary kind lends +peculiar excitement to a sale of these plants. Such luck first occurred +to Mr. Bath, in Stevens' Auction Rooms. He paid half-a-crown for a very +weakly fragment, brought it round, flowered it, and received a prize for +good gardening in the shape of seventy-two pounds, cheerfully paid by +Sir Trevor Lawrence for a plant unique at that time. I am reminded of +another little story. Among a great number of _Cypripedium insigne_ +received at St. Albans, and "established," Mr. Sander noted one +presently of which the flower-stalk was yellow instead of brown, as is +usual. Sharp eyes are a valuable item of the orchid-grower's +stock-in-trade, for the smallest peculiarity among such "sportive" +objects should not be neglected. Carefully he put the yellow stalk +aside--the only one among thousands, one might say myriads, since _C. +insigne_ is one of our oldest and commonest orchids, and it never +showed this phenomenon before. In due course the flower opened, and +proved to be all golden! Mr. Sander cut his plant in two, sold half for +seventy-five pounds to a favoured customer, and the other half, +publicly, for one hundred guineas. One of the purchasers has divided his +plant now and sold two bits at 100 guineas. Another piece was bought +back by Mr. Sander, who wanted it for hybridizing, at 250 guineas--not a +bad profit for the buyer, who has still two plants left. Another +instance occurs to me while I write--such legends of shrewdness worthily +rewarded fascinate a poor journalist who has the audacity to grow +orchids. Mr. Harvey, solicitor, of Liverpool, strolling through the +houses at St. Albans on July 24, 1883, remarked a plant of _Loelia +anceps_, which had the ring-mark on its pseudo-bulb much higher up than +is usual. There might be some meaning in that eccentricity, he thought, +paid two guineas for the little thing, and on December 1, 1888, sold it +back to Mr. Sander for 200l. It proved to be _L. a. Amesiana_, the +grandest form of _L. anceps_ yet discovered--rosy white, with petals +deeply splashed; thus named after F.L. Ames, an American amateur. Such +pleasing opportunities might arise for you or me any day. + +The first name that arises to most people in thinking of warm orchids +is Cattleya, and naturally. The genus Odontoglossum alone has more +representatives under cultivation. Sixty species of Cattleya are grown +by amateurs who pay special attention to these plants; as for the number +of "varieties" in a single species, one boasts forty, another thirty, +several pass the round dozen. They are exclusively American, but they +flourish over all the enormous space between Mexico and the Argentine +Republic. The genus is not a favourite of my own, for somewhat of the +same reason which qualifies my regard for _O. vexillarium_. Cattleyas +are so obtrusively beautiful, they have such great flowers, which they +thrust upon the eye with such assurance of admiration! Theirs is a style +of effect--I refer to the majority--which may be called infantine; such +as an intelligent and tasteful child might conceive if he had no fine +sense of colour, and were too young to distinguish a showy from a +charming form. But I say no more. + +The history of Orchids long established is uncertain, but I believe that +the very first Cattleya which appeared in Europe was _C. violacea +Loddigesi_, imported by the great firm whose name it bears, to which we +owe such a heavy debt. Two years later came _C. labiata_, of which more +must be said; then _C. Mossiæ_, from Caraccas; fourth, _C. Trianæ_ named +after Colonel Trian, of Tolima, in the United States of Colombia. Trian +well deserved immortality, for he was a native of that secluded +land--and a botanist! It is a natural supposition that his orchid must +be the commonest of weeds in its home; seeing how all Europe is stocked +with it, and America also, rash people might say there are millions in +cultivation. But it seems likely that _C. Trianæ_ was never very +frequent, and at the present time assuredly it is so scarce that +collectors are not sent after it. Probably the colonel, like many other +_savants_, was an excellent man of business, and he established "a +corner" when he saw the chance. _C. Mossiæ_ stands in the same +situation--or indeed worse; it can scarcely be found now. These +instances convey a serious warning. In seventy years we have destroyed +the native stock of two orchids, both so very free in propagating that +they have an exceptional advantage in the struggle for existence. How +long can rare species survive, when the demand strengthens and widens +year by year, while the means of communication and transport become +easier over all the world? Other instances will be mentioned in their +place. + +Island species are doomed, unless, like _Loelia elegans_, they have +inaccessible crags on which to find refuge. It is only a question of +time; but we may hope that Governments will interfere before it is too +late. Already Mr. Burbidge has suggested that "some one" who takes an +interest in orchids should establish a farm, a plantation, here and +there about the world, where such plants grow naturally, and devote +himself to careful hybridization on the spot. "One might make as much," +he writes, "by breeding orchids as by breeding cattle, and of the two, +in the long run, I should prefer the orchid farm." This scheme will be +carried out one day, not so much for the purpose of hybridization as for +plain "market-gardening;" and the sooner the better. + +The prospect is still more dark for those who believe--as many do--that +no epiphytal orchid under any circumstances can be induced to establish +itself permanently in our greenhouses as it does at home. Doubtless, +they say, it is possible to grow them and to flower them, by assiduous +care, upon a scale which is seldom approached under the rough treatment +of Nature. But they are dying from year to year, in spite of +appearances. That it is so in a few cases can hardly be denied; but, +seeing how many plants which have not changed hands since their +establishment, twenty or thirty or forty years ago, have grown +continually bigger and finer, it seems much more probable that our +ignorance is to blame for the loss of those species which suddenly +collapse. Sir Trevor Lawrence observed the other day: "With regard to +the longevity of orchids, I have one which I know to have been in this +country for more than fifty years, probably even twenty years longer +than that--_Renanthera coccinea_." The finest specimens of Cattleya in +Mr. Stevenson Clarke's houses have been "grown on" from small pieces +imported twenty years ago. If there were more collections which could +boast, say, half a century of uninterrupted attention, we should have +material for forming a judgment; as a rule, the dates of purchase or +establishment were not carefully preserved till late years. + +But there is one species of Cattleya which must needs have seventy years +of existence in Europe, since it had never been re-discovered till 1890. +When we see a pot of _C. labiata_, the true, autumn-flowering variety, +more than two years old, we know that the very plant itself must have +been established about 1818, or at least its immediate parent--for no +seedling has been raised to public knowledge.[4] + +In avowing a certain indifference to Cattleyas, I referred to the bulk, +of course. The most gorgeous, the stateliest, the most imperial of all +flowers on this earth, is _C. Dowiana_--unless it be _C. aurea_, a +"geographical variety" of the same. They dwell a thousand miles apart at +least, the one in Colombia, the other in Costa Rica; and neither occurs, +so far as is known, in the great intervening region. Not even a +connecting link has been discovered; but the Atlantic coast of Central +America is hardly explored, much less examined. In my time it was held, +from Cape Camarin to Chagres, by independent tribes of savages--not +independent in fact alone, but in name also. The Mosquito Indians are +recognized by Europe as free; the Guatusos kept a space of many hundred +miles from which no white man had returned; when I was in those parts, +the Talamancas, though not so unfriendly, were only known by the report +of adventurous pedlars. I made an attempt--comparatively spirited--to +organize an exploring party for the benefit of the Guatusos, but no +single volunteer answered our advertisements in San José de Costa Rica; +I have lived to congratulate myself on that disappointment. Since my day +a road has been cut through their wilds to Limon, certain luckless +Britons having found the money for a railway; but an engineer who +visited the coast but two years ago informs me that no one ever wandered +into "the bush." Collectors have not been there, assuredly. So there may +be connecting links between _C. Dowiana_ and _C. aurea_ in that vast +wilderness, but it is quite possible there are none. + +Words could not picture the glory of these marvels. In each the scheme +of colour is yellow and crimson, but there are important modifications. +Yellow is the ground all through in _Cattleya aurea_--sepals, petals, +and lip; unbroken in the two former, in the latter superbly streaked +with crimson. But _Cattleya Dowiana_ shows crimson pencillings on its +sepals, while the ground colour of the lip is crimson, broadly lined and +reticulated with gold. Imagine four of these noble flowers on one stalk, +each half a foot across! But it lies beyond the power of imagination. + +_C. Dowiana_ was discovered by Warscewicz about 1850, and he sent home +accounts too enthusiastic for belief. Steady-going Britons utterly +refused to credit such a marvel--his few plants died, and there was an +end of it for the time. I may mention an instance of more recent date, +where the eye-witness of a collector was flatly rejected at home. +Monsieur St. Leger, residing at Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, wrote +a warm description of an orchid in those parts to scientific friends. +The account reached England, and was treated with derision. Monsieur St. +Leger, nettled, sent some dried flowers for a testimony; but the mind of +the Orchidaceous public was made up. In 1883 he brought a quantity of +plants and put them up at auction; nobody in particular would buy. So +those reckless or simple or trusting persons who invested a few +shillings in a bundle had all the fun to themselves a few months +afterwards, when the beautiful _Oncidium Jonesianum_ appeared, to +confound the unbelieving. It must be added, however, that orchid-growers +may well become an incredulous generation. When their judgment leads +them wrong we hear of it, the tale is published, and outsiders mock. But +these gentlemen receive startling reports continually, honest enough for +the most part. Much experience and some loss have made them rather +cynical when a new wonder is announced. The particular case of Monsieur +St. Leger was complicated by the extreme resemblance which the foliage +of _Onc. Jonesianum_ bears to that of _Onc. cibolletum_, a species +almost worthless. Unfortunately the beautiful thing declines to live +with us--as yet. + +_Cattleya Dowiana_ was rediscovered by Mr. Arce, when collecting birds: +it must have been a grand moment for Warscewicz when the horticultural +world was convulsed by its appearance in bloom. _Cattleya aurea_ had no +adventures of this sort. Mr. Wallis found it in 1868 in the province of +Antioquia, and again on the west bank of the Magdalena; but it is very +rare. This species is persecuted in its native home by a beetle, which +accompanies it to Europe not infrequently--in the form of eggs, no +doubt. A more troublesome alien is the fly which haunts _Cattleya +Mendellii_, and for a long time prejudiced growers against that fine +species, until, in fact, they had made a practical and rather costly +study of its habits. An experienced grower detects the presence of this +enemy at a glance. It pierces an "eye"--a back one in general, +happily--and deposits an egg in the very centre. Presently this growth +begins to swell in a manner that delights the ingenuous horticulturist, +until he remarks that its length does not keep pace with its breadth. +But one remedy has yet been discovered--cutting off any suspected +growth. We understand now that _C. Mendellii_ is as safe to import as +any other species, unless it be gathered at the wrong time.[5] + +Among the most glorious, rarest, and most valuable of Cattleyas is _C. +Hardyana_, doubtless a natural hybrid of _C. aurea_ with _C. gigas +Sanderiana_. Few of us have seen it--two-hundred-guinea plants are not +common spectacles. It has an immense flower, rose-purple; the lip +purple-magenta, veined with gold. _Cattleya Sanderiana_ offers an +interesting story. Mr. Mau, one of Mr. Sander's collectors, was +despatched to Bogota in search of _Odontoglossum crispum_. While +tramping through the woods, he came across a very large Cattleya at +rest, and gathered such pieces as fell in his way--attaching so little +importance to them, however, that he did not name the matter in his +reports. Four cases Mr. Mau brought home with his stock of +Odontoglossums, which were opened in due course of business. We can +quite believe that it was one of the stirring moments of Mr. Sander's +life. The plants bore many dry specimens of last year's inflorescence, +displaying such extraordinary size as proved the variety to be new; and +there is no large Cattleya of indifferent colouring. To receive a plant +of that character unannounced, undescribed, is an experience without +parallel for half a century. Mr. Mau was sent back by next mail to +secure every fragment he could find. Meantime, those in hand were +established, and Mr. Brymer, M.P., bought one--Mr. Brymer is +immortalized by the Dendrobe which bears his name. The new Cattleya +proved kindly, and just before Mr. Mau returned with some thousands of +its like Mr. Brymer's purchase broke into bloom. That must have been +another glorious moment for Mr. Sander, when the great bud unfolded, +displaying sepals and petals of the rosiest, freshest, softest pink, +eleven inches across; and a crimson labellum exquisitely shown up by a +broad patch of white on either side of the throat. Mr. Brymer was good +enough to lend his specimen for the purpose of advertisement, and +Messrs. Stevens enthusiastically fixed a green baize partition across +their rooms as a background for the wondrous novelty. What excitement +reigned there on the great day is not to be described. I have heard that +over 2000l. was taken in the room. + +Most of the Cattleyas with which the public is familiar--_Mossiæ_, +_Trianæ_, _Mendellii_, and so forth--have white varieties; but an +example absolutely pure is so uncommon that it fetches a long price. +Loveliest of these is _C. Skinneri alba_. For generations, if not for +ages, the people of Costa Rica have been gathering every morsel they can +find, and planting it upon the roofs of their mud-built churches. Roezl +and the early collectors had a "good time," buying these semi-sacred +flowers from the priests, bribing the parishioners to steal them, or, +when occasion served, playing the thief themselves. But the game is +nearly up. Seldom now can a piece of _Cat. Skinneri alba_ be obtained by +honest means, and when a collector arrives guards are set upon the +churches that still keep their decoration. No plant has ever been found +in the forest, we understand. + +It is just the same case with _Loelia anceps alba_. The genus Loelia +is distinguished from Cattleya by a peculiarity to be remarked only in +dissection; its pollen masses are eight as against four. To my taste, +however, the species are more charming on the whole. There is _L. +purpurata_. Casual observers always find it hard to grasp the fact that +orchids are weeds in their native homes, just like foxgloves and +dandelions with us. In this instance, as I have noted, they flatly +refuse to believe, and certainly "upon the face of it" their incredulity +is reasonable. + +_Loelia purpurata_ falls under the head of hot orchids. _L. anceps_, +however, is not so exacting; many people grow it in the cool house when +they can expose it there to the full blaze of sunshine. In its commonest +form it is divinely beautiful. I have seen a plant in Mr. Eastey's +collection with twenty-three spikes, the flowers all open at once. Such +a spectacle is not to be described in prose. But when the enthusiast has +rashly said that earth contains no more ethereal loveliness, let him +behold _L. a. alba_, the white variety. The dullest man I ever knew, who +had a commonplace for all occasions, found no word in presence of that +marvel. Even the half-castes of Mexico who have no soul, apparently, for +things above horseflesh and cockfights, and love-making, reverence this +saintly bloom. The Indians adore it. Like their brethren to the south, +who have tenderly removed every plant of _Cattleya Skinneri alba_ for +generations unknown, to set upon their churches, they collect this +supreme effort of Nature and replant it round their huts. So thoroughly +has the work been done in either case that no single specimen was ever +seen in the forest. Every one has been bought from the Indians, and the +supply is exhausted; that is to say, a good many more are known to +exist, but very rarely now can the owner be persuaded to part with one. +The first example reached England nearly half a century ago, sent +probably by a native trader to his correspondent in this country; but, +as was usual at that time, the circumstances are doubtful. It found its +way, somehow, to Mr. Dawson, of Meadowbank, a famous collector, and by +him it was divided. Search was made for the treasure in its home, but +vainly; travellers did not look in the Indian gardens. No more arrived +for many years. Mr. Sander once conceived a fine idea. He sent one of +his collectors to gather _Loelia a. alba_ at the season when it is in +bud, with an intention of startling the universe by displaying a mass of +them in full bloom; they were still more uncommon then than now, when a +dozen flowering plants is still a show of which kings may be proud. Mr. +Bartholomeus punctually fulfilled his instructions, collected some forty +plants with their spikes well developed; attached them to strips of wood +which he nailed across shallow boxes, and shipped them to San Francisco. +Thence they travelled by fast train to New York, and proceeded without a +moment's delay to Liverpool on board the _Umbria_; it was one of her +first trips. All went well. Confidently did Mr. Sander anticipate the +sensation when a score of those glorious plants were set out in full +bloom upon the tables. But on opening the boxes he found every spike +withered. The experiment is so tempting that it has been essayed once +more, with a like result. The buds of _Loelia anceps_ will not stand +sea air. + +Catasetums do not rank as a genus among our beauties; in fact, saving +_C. pileatum_, commonly called _C. Bungerothi_, and _C. barbatum_, I +think of none, at this moment, which are worthy of attraction on that +ground. _C. fimbriatum_, indeed, would be lovely if it could be +persuaded to show itself. I have seen one plant which condescended to +open its spotted blooms, but only one. No orchids, however, give more +material for study; on this account Catasetum was a favourite with Mr. +Darwin. It is approved also by unlearned persons who find relief from +the monotony of admiration as they stroll round in observing its +acrobatic performances. The "column" bears two horns; if these be +touched, the pollen-masses fly as if discharged from a catapult. _C. +pileatum_, however, is very handsome, four inches across, ivory white, +with a round well in the centre of its broad lip, which makes a theme +for endless speculation. The daring eccentricities of colour in this +class of plant have no stronger example than _C. callosum_, a novelty +from Caraccas, with inky brown sepals and petals, brightest orange +column, labellum of verdigris-green tipped with orange to match. + +Schomburgkias are not often seen. Having a boundless choice of fine +things which grow and flower without reluctance, the practical gardener +gets irritated in these days when he finds a plant beyond his skill. It +is a pity, for the Schomburgkias are glorious things--in especial _Sch. +tibicinis_. No description has done it justice, and few are privileged +to speak as eye-witnesses. The clustering flowers hang down, sepals and +petals of dusky mauve, most gracefully frilled and twisted, encircling a +great hollow labellum which ends in a golden drop. That part of the +cavity which is visible between the handsome incurved wings has bold +stripes of dark crimson. The species is interesting, too. It comes from +Honduras, where the children use its great hollow pseudo-bulbs as +trumpets--whence the name. At their base is a hole--a touch-hole, as we +may say, the utility of which defies our botanists. Had Mr. Belt +travelled in those parts, he might have discovered the secret, as in the +similar case of the Bullthorn, one of the _Gummiferæ_. The great thorns +of that bush have just such a hole, and Mr. Belt proved by lengthy +observations that it is designed, to speak roughly, for the ingress of +an ant peculiar to that acacia, whose duty it is to defend the young +shoots--_vide_ Belt's "Naturalist in Nicaragua," page 218. Importers are +too well aware that _Schomburgkia tibicinis_ also is inhabited by an ant +of singular ferocity, for it survives the voyage, and rushes forth to +battle when the case is opened. We may suppose that it performs a like +service. + +Dendrobiums are "warm" mostly; of the hot species, which are many, and +the cool, which are few, I have not to speak here. But a remark made at +the beginning of this chapter especially applies to Dendrobes. If they +be started early, so that the young growths are well advanced by June 1; +if the situation be warm, and a part of the house sunny--if they be +placed in that part without any shade till July, and freely +syringed--with a little extra attention many of them will do well +enough. That is to say, they will make such a show of blossom as is +mighty satisfactory in the winter time. We must not look for +"specimens," but there should be bloom enough to repay handsomely the +very little trouble they give. Among those that may be treated so are +_D. Wardianum_, _Falconeri_, _crassinode_, _Pierardii_, _crystallinum_, +_Devonianum_--sometimes--and _nobile_, of course. Probably there are +more, but these I have tried myself. + +_Dendrobium Wardianum_, at the present day, comes almost exclusively +from Burmah--the neighbourhood of the Ruby Mines is its favourite +habitat. But it was first brought to England from Assam in 1858, when +botanists regarded it as a form of _D. Falconeri_. This error was not so +strange as its seems, for the Assamese variety has pseudo-bulbs much +less sturdy than those we are used to see, and they are quite pendulous. +It was rather a lively business collecting orchids in Burmah before the +annexation. The Roman Catholic missionaries established there made it a +source of income, and they did not greet an intruding stranger with +warmth--not genial warmth, at least. He was forbidden to quit the town +of Bhamo, an edict which compelled him to employ native collectors--in +fact, coolies--himself waiting helplessly within the walls; but his +reverend rivals, having greater freedom and an acquaintance with the +language, organized a corps of skirmishers to prowl round and intercept +the natives returning with their loads. Doubtless somebody received the +value when they made a haul, but who, is uncertain perhaps--and the +stranger was disappointed, anyhow. It may be believed that unedifying +scenes arose--especially on two or three occasions when an agent had +almost reached one of the four gates before he was intercepted. For the +hapless collector--having nothing in the world to do--haunted those +portals all day long, flying from one to the other in hope to see +"somebody coming." Very droll, but Burmah is a warm country for jests +of the kind. Thus it happened occasionally that he beheld his own +discomfiture, and rows ensued at the Mission-house. At length Mr. Sander +addressed a formal petition to the Austrian Archbishop, to whom the +missionaries owed allegiance. He received a sympathetic answer, and some +assistance. + +From the Ruby Mines also comes a Dendrobium so excessively rare that I +name it only to call the attention of employés in the new company. This +is _D. rhodopterygium_. Sir Trevor Lawrence has or had a plant, I +believe; there are two or three at St. Albans; but the lists of other +dealers will be searched in vain. Sir Trevor Lawrence had also a scarlet +species from Burmah; but it died even before the christening, and no +second has yet been found. Sumatra furnishes a scarlet Dendrobe, _D. +Forstermanni_, but it again is of the utmost rarity. Baron Schroeder +boasts three specimens--which have not yet flowered, however. From +Burmah comes _D. Brymerianum_, of which the story is brief, but very +thrilling if we ponder it a moment. For the missionaries sent this plant +to Europe without a description--they had not seen the bloom, +doubtless--and it sold cheap enough. We may fancy Mr. Brymer's emotion, +therefore, when the striking flower opened. Its form is unique, though +some other varieties display a long fringe--as that extraordinary +object, _Nanodes Medusæ_, and also _Brassavola Digbyana_, which is +exquisitely lovely sometimes. In the case of _D. Brymerianum_ the bright +yellow lip is split all round, for two-thirds of its expanse, into +twisted filaments. We may well ask what on earth is Nature's purpose in +this eccentricity; but it is a question that arises every hour to the +most thoughtless being who grows orchids. + +[Illustration: DENDROBIUM BRYMERIANUM. +Reduced To One Fourth.] + +Everybody knows _Dendrobium nobile_ so well that it is not to be +discussed in prose; something might be done in poetry, perhaps, by young +gentlemen who sing of buttercups and daisies, but the rhyme would be +difficult. _D. nobile nobilius_, however, is by no means so +common--would it were! This glorified form turned up among an +importation made by Messrs. Rollisson. They propagated it, and sold four +small pieces, which are still in cultivation. But the troubles of that +renowned firm, to which we owe so great a debt, had already begun. The +mother-plant was neglected. It had fallen into such a desperate +condition when Messrs. Rollisson's plants were sold, under a decree in +bankruptcy, that the great dealers refused to bid for what should have +been a little gold-mine. A casual market-gardener hazarded thirty +shillings, brought it round so far that he could establish a number of +young plants, and sold the parent for forty pounds at last. There are, +however, several fine varieties of _D. nobile_ more valuable than +_nobilius_. _D. n. Sanderianum_ resembles that form, but it is smaller +and darker. Albinos have been found; Baron Schroeder has a beautiful +example. One appeared at Stevens' Rooms, announced as the single +instance in cultivation--which is not quite the fact, but near enough +for the auction-room, perhaps. It also was imported originally by Mr. +Sander, with _D. n. Sanderianum_. Biddings reached forty-three pounds, +but the owner would not deal at the price. Albinos are rare among the +Dendrobes. + +_D. nobile Cooksoni_ was the _fons et origo_ of an unpleasant +misunderstanding. It turned up in the collection of Mr. Lange, +distinguished by a reversal of the ordinary scheme of colour. There is +actually no end to the delightful vagaries of these plants. If people +only knew what interest and pleasing excitement attends the +inflorescence of an imported orchid--one, that is, which has not bloomed +before in Europe--they would crowd the auction-rooms in which every +strange face is marked now. There are books enough to inform them, +certainly; but who reads an Orchid Book? Even the enthusiast only +consults it. + +_Dendrobium nobile Cooksoni_, then, has white tips to petal and sepal; +the crimson spot keeps its place; and the inside of the flower is deep +red--an inversion of the usual colouring. Mr. Lange could scarcely fail +to observe this peculiarity, but he seems to have thought little of it. +Mr. Cookson, paying him a visit, was struck, however--as well he might +be--and expressed a wish to have the plant. So the two distinguished +amateurs made an exchange. Mr. Cookson sent a flower at once to +Professor Reichenbach, who, delighted and enthusiastic, registered it +upon the spot under the name of the gentleman from whom he received it. +Mr. Lange protested warmly, demanding that his discovery should be +called, after his residence, _Heathfieldsayeanum_. But Professor +Reichenbach drily refused to consider personal questions; and really, +seeing how short is life, and how long _Dendrobium nobile Heathfield_, +&c., true philanthropists will hold him justified. + +We may expect wondrous Dendrobes from New Guinea. Some fine species have +already arrived, and others have been sent in the dried inflorescence. +Of _D. phaloenopsis Schroederi_ I have spoken elsewhere. There is _D. +Goldiei_; a variety of _D. superbiens_--but much larger. There is _D. +Albertesii_, snow-white; _D. Broomfieldianum_, curiously like _Loelia +anceps alba_ in its flower--which is to say that it must be the +loveliest of all Dendrobes. But this species has a further charm, almost +incredible. The lip in some varieties is washed with lavender blue, in +some with crimson! Another is nearly related to _D. bigibbum_, but much +larger, with sepals more acute. Its hue is a glorious rosy-purple, +deepening on the lip, the side lobes of which curl over and meet, +forming a cylindrical tube, while the middle lobe, prolonged, stands out +at right angles, veined with very dark purple; this has just been named +_D. Statterianum_. It has upon the disc an elevated, hairy crest, like +_D. bigibbum_, but instead of being white as always, more or less, in +that instance, the crest of the new species is dark purple. I have been +particular in describing this noble flower, because very, very few have +beheld it. Those who live will see marvels when the Dutch and German +portions of New Guinea are explored. + +Recently I have been privileged to see another, the most impressive to +my taste, of all the lovely genus. It is called _D. atro-violaceum_. The +stately flowers hang down their heads, reflexed like a "Turban Lily," +ten or a dozen on a spike. The colour is ivory-white, with a faintest +tinge of green, and green spots are dotted all over. The lobes of the +lip curl in, making half the circumference of a funnel, the outside of +which is dark violet-blue; with that fine colour the lip itself is +boldly striped. They tell me that the public is not expected to "catch +on" to this marvel. It hangs its head too low, and the contrast of hues +is too startling. If that be so, we multiply schools of art and County +Council lectures perambulate the realm, in vain. The artistic sense is +denied us. + +Madagascar also will furnish some astonishing novelties; it has already +begun, in fact--with a vengeance. Imagine a scarlet Cymbidium! That such +a wonder existed has been known for some years, and three collectors +have gone in search of it; two died, and the third has been terribly ill +since his return to Europe--but he won the treasure, which we shall +behold in good time. Those parts of Madagascar which especially attract +botanists must be death-traps indeed! M. Léon Humblot tells how he dined +at Tamatave with his brother and six compatriots, exploring the country +with various scientific aims. Within twelve months he was the only +survivor. One of these unfortunates, travelling on behalf of Mr. Cutler, +the celebrated naturalist of Bloomsbury Street, to find butterflies and +birds, shot at a native idol, as the report goes. The priests soaked +him with paraffin, and burnt him on a table--perhaps their altar. M. +Humblot himself has had awful experiences. He was attached to the +geographical survey directed by the French Government, and ten years ago +he found _Phajus Humblotii_ and _Phajus tuberculosus_ in the deadliest +swamps of the interior. A few of the bulbs gathered lived through the +passage home, and caused much excitement when offered for sale at +Stevens' Auction Rooms. M. Humblot risked his life again, and secured a +great quantity for Mr. Sander, but at a dreadful cost. He spent twelve +months in the hospital at Mayotte, and on arrival at Marseilles with his +plants the doctors gave him no hope of recovery. _P. Humblotii_ is a +marvel of beauty--rose-pink, with a great crimson labellum exquisitely +frilled, and a bright green column. + +Everybody who knows his "Darwin" is aware that Madagascar is the chosen +home of the Angræcums. All, indeed, are natives of Africa, so far as I +know, excepting the delightful _A. falcatum_, which comes, strangely +enough, from Japan. One cannot but suspect, under the circumstances, +that this species was brought from Africa ages ago, when the Japanese +were enterprising seamen, and has been acclimatized by those skilful +horticulturists. It is certainly odd that the only "cool" Aerides--the +only one found, I believe, outside of India and the Eastern +Tropics--also belongs to Japan, and a cool Dendrobe, _A. arcuatum_, is +found in the Transvaal; and I have reason to hope that another or more +will turn up when South Africa is thoroughly searched. A pink Angræcum, +very rarely seen, dwells somewhere on the West Coast; the only species, +so far as I know, which is not white. It bears the name of M. Du +Chaillu, who found it--he has forgotten where, unhappily. I took that +famous traveller to St. Albans in the hope of quickening his +recollection, and I fear I bored him afterwards with categorical +inquiries. But all was vain. M. Du Chaillu can only recall that once on +a time, when just starting for Europe, it occurred to him to run into +the bush and strip the trees indiscriminately. Mr. Sander was prepared +to send a man expressly for this Angræcum. The exquisite _A. +Sanderianum_ is a native of the Comorro Islands. No flower could be +prettier than this, nor more deliciously scented--when scented it is! It +grows in a climate which travellers describe as Paradise, and, in truth, +it becomes such a scene. Those who behold young plants with graceful +garlands of snowy bloom twelve to twenty inches long are prone to fall +into raptures; but imagine it as a long-established specimen appears +just now at St Albans, with racemes drooping two and a half feet from +each new growth, clothed on either side with flowers like a double train +of white long-tailed butterflies hovering! _A. Scottianum_ comes from +Zanzibar, discovered, I believe, by Sir John Kirk; _A. caudatum_, from +Sierra Leone. This latter species is the nearest rival of _A. +sesquipedale_, showing "tails" ten inches long. Next in order for this +characteristic detail rank _A. Leonis_ and _Kotschyi_--the latter rarely +grown--with seven-inch "tails;" _Scottianum_ and _Ellisii_ with +six-inch; that is to say, they ought to show such dimensions +respectively. Whether they fulfil their promise depends upon the grower. + +With the exceptions named, this family belongs to Madagascar. It has a +charming distinction, shared by no other genus which I recall, save, in +less degree, Cattleya--every member is attractive. But I must +concentrate myself on the most striking--that which fascinated Darwin. +In the first place it should be pointed out that _savants_ call this +plant _Æranthus sesquipedalis_, not _Angræcum_--a fact useful to know, +but unimportant to ordinary mortals. It was discovered by the Rev. Mr. +Ellis, and sent home alive, nearly thirty years ago; but civilized +mankind has not yet done wondering at it. The stately growth, the +magnificent green-white flowers, command admiration at a glance, but the +"tail," or spur, offers a problem of which the thoughtful never tire. It +is commonly ten inches long, sometimes fourteen inches, and at home, I +have been told, even longer; about the thickness of a goose-quill, +hollow, of course, the last inch and a half filled with nectar. Studying +this appendage by the light of the principles he had laid down, Darwin +ventured on a prophecy which roused special mirth among the unbelievers. +Not only the abnormal length of the nectary had to be considered; there +was, besides, the fact that all its honey lay at the base, a foot or +more from the orifice. Accepting it as a postulate that every detail of +the apparatus must be equally essential for the purpose it had to serve, +he made a series of experiments which demonstrated that some insect of +Madagascar--doubtless a moth--must be equipped with a proboscis long +enough to reach the nectar, and at the same time thick enough at the +base to withdraw the pollinia--thus fertilizing the bloom. For, if the +nectar had lain so close to the orifice that moths with a proboscis of +reasonable length and thickness could get at it, they would drain the +cup without touching the pollinia. Darwin never proved his special +genius more admirably than in this case. He created an insect beyond +belief, as one may say, by the force of logic; and such absolute +confidence had he in his own syllogism that he declared, "If such great +moths were to become extinct in Madagascar, assuredly this Angræcum +would become extinct." I am not aware that Darwin's fine argument has +yet been clinched by the discovery of that insect. But cavil has ceased. +Long before his death a sphinx moth arrived from South Brazil which +shows a proboscis between ten and eleven inches long--very nearly equal, +therefore, to the task of probing the nectary of _Angræcum +sesquipidale_. And we know enough of orchids at this time to be +absolutely certain that the Madagascar species must exist. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: _Vide_ "The Lost Orchid," _infra_, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 5: I have learned by a doleful experience that this fly, +commonly called "the weavil," is quite at home on _Loelia purpurata_; +in fact, it will prey on any Cattleya.] + + + + +HOT ORCHIDS. + + +In former chapters I have done my best to show that orchid culture is no +mystery. The laws which govern it are strict and simple, easy to define +in books, easily understood, and subject to few exceptions. It is not +with Odontoglossums and Dendrobes as with roses--an intelligent man or +woman needs no long apprenticeship to master their treatment. Stove +orchids are not so readily dealt with; but then, persons who own a stove +usually keep a gardener. Coming from the hot lowlands of either +hemisphere, they show much greater variety than those of the temperate +and sub-tropic zones; there are more genera, though not so many species, +and more exceptions to every rule. These, therefore, are not to be +recommended to all householders. Not everyone indeed is anxious to grow +plants which need a minimum night heat of 60° in winter, 70° in summer, +and cannot dispense with fire the whole year round. + +The hottest of all orchids probably is _Peristeria elata_, the famous +"Spirito Santo," flower of the Holy Ghost. The dullest soul who observes +that white dove rising with wings half spread, as in the very act of +taking flight, can understand the frenzy of the Spaniards when they came +upon it. Rumours of Peruvian magnificence had just reached them at +Panama--on the same day, perhaps--when this miraculous sign from heaven +encouraged them to advance. The empire of the Incas did not fall a prey +to that particular band of ruffians, nevertheless. _Peristeria elata_ is +so well known that I would not dwell upon it, but an odd little tale +rises to my mind. The great collector Roezl was travelling homeward, in +1868, by Panama. The railway fare to Colon was sixty dollars at that +time, and he grudged the money. Setting his wits to work, Roezl +discovered that the company issued tickets from station to station at a +very low price for the convenience of its employés. Taking advantage of +this system, he crossed the isthmus for five dollars--such an advantage +it is in travelling to be an old campaigner! At one of the intermediate +stations he had to wait for his train, and rushed into the jungle of +course. _Peristeria_ abounded in that steaming swamp, but the collector +was on holiday. To his amazement, however, he found, side by side with +it, a Masdevallia--that genus most impatient of sunshine among all +orchids, flourishing here in the hottest blaze! Snatching up half a +dozen of the tender plants with a practised hand, he brought them safe +to England. On the day they were put up to auction news of Livingstone's +death arrived, and in a flash of inspiration Roezl christened his +novelty _M. Livingstoniana_. Few, indeed, even among authorities, know +where that rarest of Masdevallias has its home; none have reached Europe +since. A pretty flower it is--white, rosy tipped, with yellow "tails." +And it dwells by the station of Culebras, on the Panama railway. + +Of genera, however, doubtless the Vandas are hottest; and among these, +_V. Sanderiana_ stands first. It was found in Mindanao, the most +southerly of the Philippines, by Mr. Roebelin when he went thither in +search of the red Phaloenopsis, as will be told presently. _Vanda +Sanderiana_ is a plant to be described as majestic rather than lovely, +if we may distinguish among these glorious things. Its blooms are five +inches across, pale lilac in their ground colour, suffused with brownish +yellow, and covered with a network of crimson brown. Twelve or more of +such striking flowers to a spike, and four or five spikes upon a plant +make a wonder indeed. But, to view matters prosaically, _Vanda_ +_Sanderiana_ is "bad business." It is not common, and it grows on the +very top of the highest trees, which must be felled to secure the +treasure; and of those gathered but a small proportion survive. In the +first place, the agent must employ natives, who are paid so much per +plant, no matter what the size--a bad system, but they will allow no +change. It is evidently their interest to divide any "specimen" that +will bear cutting up; if the fragments bleed to death, they have got +their money meantime. Then, the Manilla steamers call at Mindanao only +once a month. Three months are needed to get together plants enough to +yield a fair profit. At the end of that time a large proportion of those +first gathered will certainly be doomed--Vandas have no pseudo-bulbs to +sustain their strength. Steamers run from Manilla to Singapore every +fortnight. If the collector be fortunate he may light upon a captain +willing to receive his packages; in that case he builds structures of +bamboo on deck, and spends the next fortnight in watering, shading, and +ventilating his precious _trouvailles_, alternately. But captains +willing to receive such freight must be waited for too often. At +Singapore it is necessary to make a final overhauling of the plants--to +their woeful diminution. This done, troubles recommence. Seldom will +the captain of a mail steamer accept that miscellaneous cargo. Happily, +the time of year is, or ought to be, that season when tea-ships arrive +at Singapore. The collector may reasonably hope to secure a passage in +one of these, which will carry him to England in thirty-five days or so. +If this state of things be pondered, even without allowance for +accident, it will not seem surprising that _V. Sanderiana_ is a costly +species. The largest piece yet secured was bought by Sir Trevor Lawrence +at auction for ninety guineas. It had eight stems, the tallest four feet +high. No consignment has yet returned a profit, however. + +The favoured home of Vandas is Java. They are noble plants even when at +rest, if perfect--that is, clothed in their glossy, dark green leaves +from base to crown. If there be any age or any height at which the lower +leaves fall of necessity, I have not been able to identify it. In Mr. +Sander's collection, for instance, there is a giant plant of _Vanda +suavis_, eleven growths, a small thicket, established in 1847. The +tallest stem measures fifteen feet, and every one of its leaves remain. +They fall off easily under bad treatment, but the mischief is reparable +at a certain sacrifice. The stem may be cut through and the crown +replanted, with leaves perfect; but it will be so much shorter, of +course. The finest specimen I ever heard of is the _V. Lowii_ at +Ferrières, seat of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, near Paris. It fills +the upper part of a large greenhouse, and year by year its twelve stems +produce an indefinite number of spikes, eight to ten feet long, covered +with thousands of yellow and brown blooms.[6] Vandas inhabit all the +Malayan Archipelago; some are found even in India. The superb _V. teres_ +comes from Sylhet; from Burmah also. This might be called the floral +cognizance of the house of Rothschild. At Frankfort, Vienna, Ferrières, +and Gunnersbury little meadows of it are grown--that is, the plants +flourish at their own sweet will, uncumbered with pots, in houses +devoted to them. Rising from a carpet of palms and maidenhair, each +crowned with its drooping garland of rose and crimson and +cinnamon-brown, they make a glorious show indeed. A pretty little +coincidence was remarked when the Queen paid a visit to Waddesdon the +other day. _V. teres_ first bloomed in Europe at Syon House, and a small +spray was sent to the young Princess, unmarried then and uncrowned. The +incident recurred to memory when Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild chose +this same flower for the bouquet presented to Her Majesty; he adorned +the luncheon table therewith besides. This story bears a moral. The +plant of which one spray was a royal gift less than sixty years ago has +become so far common that it may be used in masses to decorate a room. +Thousands of unconsidered subjects of Her Majesty enjoy the pleasure +which one great duke monopolized before her reign began. There is matter +for an essay here. I hasten back to my theme. + +_V. teres_ is not such a common object that description would be +superfluous. It belongs to the small class of climbing orchids, +delighting to sun itself upon the rafters of the hottest stove. If this +habit be duly regarded, it is not difficult to flower by any means, +though gardeners who do not keep pace with their age still pronounce it +a hopeless rebel. Sir Hugh Low tells me that he clothed all the trees +round Government House at Pahang with _Vanda teres_, planting its near +relative, _V. Hookeri_, more exquisite still, if that were possible, in +a swampy hollow. His servants might gather a basket of these flowers +daily in the season. So the memory of the first President for Pahang +will be kept green. A plant rarely seen is _V. limbata_ from the island +of Timor--dusky yellow, the tip purple, outlined with white, formed +like a shovel. + +I may cite a personal reminiscence here, in the hope that some reader +may be able to supply what is wanting. In years so far back that they +seem to belong to a "previous existence," I travelled in Borneo, and +paid a visit to the antimony-mines of Bidi. The manager, Mr. Bentley, +showed me a grand tapong-tree at his door from which he had lately +gathered a "blue orchid,"--we were desperately vague about names in the +jungle at that day, or in England for that matter. In a note published +on my return, I said, "As Mr. Bentley described it, the blossoms hung in +an azure garland from the bough, more gracefully than art could design." +This specimen is, I believe, the only one at present known, and both +Malays and Dyaks are quite ignorant of such a flower! What was this? +There is no question of the facts. Mr. Bentley sent the plant, a large +mass to the chairman of the Company, and it reached home in fair +condition. I saw the warm letter, enclosing cheque for 100l., in which +Mr. Templar acknowledged receipt. But further record I have not been +able to discover. One inclines to assume that a blue orchid which puts +forth a "garland" of bloom must be a Vanda. The description might be +applied to _V. coerulea_, but that species is a native of the Khasya +hills; more appropriately, as I recall Mr. Bentley's words, to _V. +coerulescens_, which, however, is Burmese. Furthermore, neither of +these would be looked for on the branch of a great tree. Possibly +someone who reads this may know what became of Mr. Templar's specimen. + +Both the species of Renanthera need great heat. Among "facts not +generally known" to orchid-growers, but decidedly interesting for them, +is the commercial habitat, as one may say, of _R. coccinea_. The books +state correctly that it is a native of Cochin China. Orchids coming from +such a distance must needs be withered on arrival. Accordingly, the most +experienced horticulturist who is not up to a little secret feels +assured that all is well when he beholds at the auction-room or at one +of the small dealer's a plant full of sap, with glossy leaves and +unshrivelled roots. It must have been in cultivation for a year at the +very least, and he buys with confidence. Too often, however, a +disastrous change sets in from the very moment his purchase reaches +home. Instead of growing it falls back and back, until in a very few +weeks it has all the appearance of a newly-imported piece. The +explanation is curious. At some time, not distant, a quantity of _R. +coccinea_ must have found its way to the neighbourhood of Rio. There it +flourishes as a weed, with a vigour quite unparalleled in its native +soil. Unscrupulous persons take advantage of this extraordinary +accident. From a country so near and so readily accessible they can get +plants home, pot them up, and sell them, before the withering process +sets in. May this revelation confound such knavish tricks! The moral is +old--buy your orchids from one of the great dealers, if you do not care +to "establish" them yourself. + +_R. coccinea_ is another of the climbing species, and it demands, even +more urgently than _V. teres_, to reach the top of the house, where +sunshine is fiercest, before blooming. Under the best conditions, +indeed, it is slow to produce its noble wreaths of flower--deep red, +crimson, and orange. Upon the other hand, the plant itself is +ornamental, and it grows very fast. The Duke of Devonshire has some at +Chatsworth which never fail to make a gorgeous show in their season; but +they stand twenty feet high, twisted round birch-trees, and they have +occupied their present quarters for half a century or near it. There is +but one more species in the genus, so far as the unlearned know, but +this, generally recognized as _Vanda Lowii_, as has been already +mentioned, ranks among the grand curiosities of botanic science. Like +some of the Catasetums and Cycnoches, it bears two distinct types of +flower on each spike, but the instance of _R. Lowii_ is even more +perplexing. In those other cases the differing forms represent male and +female sex, but the microscope has not yet discovered any sort of reason +for the like eccentricity of this Renanthera. Its proper inflorescence, +as one may put it, is greenish yellow, blotched with brown, three inches +in diameter, clothing a spike sometimes twelve feet long. The first two +flowers to open, however--those at the base--present a strong contrast +in all respects--smaller, of different shape, tawny yellow in colour, +dotted with crimson. It would be a pleasing task for ingenious youth +with a bent towards science to seek the utility of this arrangement. + +Orchids are spreading fast over the world in these days, and we may +expect to hear of other instances where a species has taken root in +alien climes like _R. coccinea_ in Brazil. I cannot cite a parallel at +present. But Mr. Sander informs me that there is a growing demand for +these plants in realms which have their own native orchids. We have an +example in the letter which has been already quoted.[7] Among customers +who write to him direct are magnates of China and Siam, an Indian and a +Javanese rajah. Orders are received--not unimportant, nor +infrequent--from merchants at Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rio de +Janeiro, and smaller places, of course. It is vastly droll to hear that +some of these gentlemen import species at a great expense which an +intelligent coolie could gather for them in any quantity within a few +furlongs of their go-down! But for the most part they demand foreigners. + +The plants thus distributed will be grown in the open air; naturally +they will seed; at least, we may hope so. Even _Angræcum sesquipedale_, +of which I wrote in the preceding chapter, would find a moth able to +impregnate it in South Brazil. Such species as recognize the conditions +necessary for their existence will establish themselves. It is fairly +safe to credit that in some future time, not distant, Cattleyas may +flourish in the jungles of India, Dendrobiums on the Amazons, +Phaloenopsis in the coast lands of Central America. Those who wish well +to their kind would like to hasten that day. + +Mr. Burbidge suggested at the Orchid Conference that gentlemen who have +plantations in a country suitable should establish a "farm," or rather +a market-garden, and grow the precious things for exportation. It is an +excellent idea, and when tea, coffee, sugar-cane, all the regular crops +of the East and West Indies, are so depreciated by competition, one +would think that some planters might adopt it. Perhaps some have; it is +too early yet for results. Upon inquiry I hear of a case, but it is not +encouraging. One of Mr. Sander's collectors, marrying when on service in +the United States of Colombia, resolved to follow Mr. Burbidge's advice. +He set up his "farm" and began "hybridizing" freely. No man living is +better qualified as a collector, for the hero of this little tale is Mr. +Kerbach, a name familiar among those who take interest in such matters; +but I am not aware that he had any experience in growing orchids. To +start with hybridizing seems very ambitious--too much of a short cut to +fortune. However, in less than eighteen months Mr. Kerbach found it did +not answer, for reasons unexplained, and he begged to be reinstated in +Mr. Sander's service. It is clear, indeed, that the orchid-farmer of the +future, in whose success I firmly believe, will be wise to begin +modestly, cultivating the species he finds in his neighbourhood. It is +not in our greenhouses alone that these plants sometimes show likes and +dislikes beyond explanation. For example, many gentlemen in Costa +Rica--a wealthy land, and comparatively civilized--have tried to +cultivate the glorious _Cattleya Dowiana_. For business purposes also +the attempt has been made. But never with success. In those tropical +lands a variation of climate or circumstances, small perhaps, but such +as plants that subsist mostly upon air can recognize, will be found in a +very narrow circuit. We say that Trichopilias have their home at Bogota. +As a matter of fact, however, they will not live in the immediate +vicinity of that town, though the woods, fifteen miles away, are stocked +with them. The orchid-farmer will have to begin cautiously, propagating +what he finds at hand, and he must not be hasty in sending his crop to +market. It is a general rule of experience that plants brought from the +forest and "established" before shipment do less well than those shipped +direct in good condition, though the public, naturally, is slow to admit +a conclusion opposed by _à priori_ reasoning. The cause may be that they +exhaust their strength in that first effort, and suffer more severely on +the voyage. + +I hear of one gentleman, however, who appears to be cultivating orchids +with success. This is Mr. Rand, dwelling on the Rio Negro, in Brazil, +where he has established a plantation of _Hevia Brazilienses_, a new +caoutchouc of the highest quality, indigenous to those parts. Some years +ago Mr. Rand wrote to Mr. Godseff, at St. Albans, begging plants of +_Vanda Sanderiana_ and other Oriental species, which were duly +forwarded. In return he despatched some pieces of a new Epidendrum, +named in his honour _E. Randii_, a noble flower, with brown sepals and +petals, the lip crimson, betwixt two large white wings. This and others +native to the Rio Negro Mr. Rand is propagating on a large scale in +shreds of bamboo, especially a white _Cattleya superba_ which he himself +discovered. It is pleasing to add that by latest reports all the +Oriental species were thriving to perfection on the other side of the +Atlantic. + +Vandas, indeed, should flourish where _Cattleya superba_ is at home, or +anything else that loves the atmosphere of a kitchen on washing-day at +midsummer. Though all the Cattleyas, or very nearly all, will "do" in an +intermediate house, several prefer the stove. Of two among them, _C. +Dowiana_ and _C. aurea_, I spoke in the preceding chapter with an +enthusiasm that does not bear repetition. _Cattleya guttata Leopoldi_ +grows upon rocks in the little island of Sta. Catarina, Brazil, in +company with _Loelia elegans_ and _L. purpurata_. There the four dwelt +in such numbers only twenty years ago that the supply was thought +inexhaustible. It has come to an end already, and collectors no longer +visit the spot. Cliffs and ravines which men still young can recollect +ablaze with colour, are as bare now as a stone-quarry. Nature had done +much to protect her treasures; they flourished mostly in places which +the human foot cannot reach--_Loelia elegans_ and _Cattleya g. +Leopoldi_ inextricably entwined, clinging to the face of lofty rocks. +The blooms of the former are white and mauve, of the latter +chocolate-brown, spotted with dark red, the lip purple. A wondrous sight +that must have been in the time of flowering. It is lost now, probably +for ever. Natives went down, suspended on a rope, and swept the whole +circuit of the island, year by year. A few specimens remain in nooks +absolutely inaccessible, but those happy mortals who possess a bit of +_L. elegans_ should treasure it, for more are very seldom forthcoming. +_Loelia elegans Statteriana_ is the finest variety perhaps; the +crimson velvet tip of its labellum is as clearly and sharply-defined +upon the snow-white surface as pencil could draw; it looks like +painting by the steadiest of hands in angelic colour. _C. g. Leopoldi_ +has been found elsewhere. It is deliciously scented. I observed a plant +at St. Albans lately with three spikes, each bearing over twenty +flowers; many strong perfumes there were in the house, but that +overpowered them all. The _Loelia purpurata_ of Sta. Catarina, to +which the finest varieties in cultivation belong, has shared the same +fate. It occupied boulders jutting out above the swamps in the full +glare of tropic sunshine. Many gardeners give it too much shade. This +species grows also on the mainland, but of inferior quality in all +respects; curiously enough it dwells upon trees there, even though rocks +be at hand, while the island variety, I believe, was never found on +timber. + +Another hot Cattleya of the highest class is _C. Acklandiæ_ It belongs +to the dwarf section of the genus, and inexperienced persons are vastly +surprised to see such a little plant bearing two flowers on a spike, +each larger than itself. They are four inches in diameter, petals and +sepals chocolate-brown, barred with yellow, lip large, of colour varying +from rose to purple. _C. Acklandiæ_ is found at Bahia, where it grows +side by side with _C. amethystoglossa_, also a charming species, very +tall, leafless to the tip of its pseudo-bulbs. Thus the dwarf beneath +is seen in all its beauty. As they cling together in great masses the +pair must make a flower-bed to themselves--above, the clustered spikes +of _C. amethystoglossa_, dusky-lilac, purple-spotted, with a lip of +amethyst; upon the ground the rich chocolate and rose of _C. Acklandiæ_. + +_Cattleya superba_, as has been said, dwells also on the Rio Negro in +Brazil; it has a wide range, for specimens have been sent from the Rio +Meta in Colombia. This species is not loved by gardeners, who find it +difficult to cultivate and almost impossible to flower, probably because +they cannot give it sunshine enough. I have heard that Baron Hruby, a +Hungarian enthusiast in our science, has no sort of trouble; wonders, +indeed, are reported of that admirable collection, where all the hot +orchids thrive like weeds. The Briton may find comfort in assuming that +cool species are happier beneath his cloudy skies; if he be prudent, he +will not seek to verify the assumption. The Assistant Curator of Kew +assures us, in his excellent little work, "Orchids," that the late Mr. +Spyers grew _C. superba_ well, and he details his method. I myself have +never seen the bloom. Mr. Watson describes it as five inches across, +"bright rosy-purple suffused with white, very fragrant, lip with acute +side lobes folding over the column,"--making a funnel, in short--"the +front lobe spreading, kidney-shaped, crimson-purple, with a blotch of +white and yellow in front." + +In the same districts with _Cattleya superba_ grows _Galleandra +Devoniana_ under circumstances rather unusual. It clings to the very tip +of a slender palm, in swamps which the Indians themselves regard with +dread as the chosen home of fever and mosquitoes. It was discovered by +Sir Robert Schomburgk, who compared the flower to a foxglove, referring +especially, perhaps, to the graceful bend of its long pseudo-bulbs, +which is almost lost under cultivation. The tube-like flowers are +purple, contrasting exquisitely with a snow-white lip, striped with +lilac in the throat. + +Phaloenopsis, of course, are hot. This is one of our oldest genera which +still rank in the first class. It was drawn and described so early as +1750, and a plant reached Messrs. Rollisson in 1838; they sold it to the +Duke of Devonshire for a hundred guineas. Many persons regard +Phaloenopsis as the loveliest of all, and there is no question of their +supreme beauty, though not everyone may rank them first. They come +mostly from the Philippines, but Java, Borneo, Cochin China, Burmah, +even Assam contribute some species. Colonel Berkeley found _Ph. +tetraspis_, snow-white, and _Ph. speciosa_, purple, in the Andamans, +when he was Governor of that settlement, clinging to low bushes along +the mangrove creeks. So far as I know, all the species dwell within +breath of the sea, as it may be put, where the atmosphere is laden with +salt; this gives a hint to the thoughtful. Mr. Partington, of Cheshunt, +who was the most renowned cultivator of the genus in his time, used to +lay down salt upon the paths and beneath the stages of his Phaloenopsis +house. Lady Howard de Walden stands first, perhaps, at the present day, +and her gardener follows the same system. These plants, indeed, are +affected, for good or ill, by influences too subtle for our perception +as yet. Experiment alone will decide whether a certain house, or a +certain neighbourhood even, is agreeable to their taste. It is a waste +of money in general to make alterations; if they do not like the place +they won't live there, and that's flat! It is probable that Maidstone, +where Lady Howard de Walden resides, may be specially suited to their +needs, but her ladyship's gardener knows how to turn a lucky chance to +the best account. Some of his plants have ten leaves!--the uninitiated +may think that fact grotesquely undeserving of a note of exclamation, +but to explain would be too technical. It may be observed that the +famous Swan orchid, _Cycnoches chlorochilon_, flourishes at Maidstone as +nowhere else perhaps in England. + +Phaloenopsis were first introduced by Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, a +firm that vanished years ago, but will live in the annals of +horticulture as the earliest of the great importers. In 1836 they got +home a living specimen of _Ph. amabilis_, which had been described, and +even figured, eighty years before. A few months later the Duke of +Devonshire secured _Ph. Schilleriana_. The late Mr. B.S. Williams told +me a very curious incident relating to this species. It comes from the +Philippines, and exacts a very hot, close atmosphere of course. Once +upon a time, however, a little piece was left in the cool house at +Holloway, and remained there some months unnoticed by the authorities. +When at length the oversight was remarked, to their amaze this stranger +from the tropics, abandoned in the temperate zone, proved to be thriving +more vigorously than any of his fellows who enjoyed their proper +climate!--so he was left in peace and cherished as a "phenomenon." Four +seasons had passed when I beheld the marvel, and it was a picture of +health and strength, flowering freely; but the reader is not advised to +introduce a few Phaloenopsis to his Odontoglossums--not by any means. +Mr. Williams himself never repeated the experiment. It was one of those +delightfully perplexing vagaries which the orchid-grower notes from time +to time. + +There are rare species of this genus which will not be found in the +dealers' catalogues, and amateurs who like a novelty may be pleased to +hear some names. _Ph. Manni_, christened in honour of Mr. Mann, Director +of the Indian Forest Department, is yellow and red; _Ph. cornucervi_, +yellow and brown; _Ph. Portei_, a natural hybrid, of _Ph. rosea_ and +_Ph. Aphrodite_, white, the lip amethyst. It is found very, very rarely +in the woods near Manilla. Above all, _Ph. Sanderiana_, to which hangs a +little tale. + +So soon as the natives of the Philippines began to understand that their +white and lilac weeds were cherished in Europe, they talked of a scarlet +variety, which thrilled listening collectors with joy; but the precious +thing never came to hand, and, on closer inquiry, no responsible witness +could be found who had seen it. Years passed by and the scarlet +Phaloenopsis became a jest among orchidaceans. The natives persisted, +however, and Mr. Sander found the belief so general, if shadowy, that +when a service of coasting steamers was established, he sent Mr. +Roebelin to make a thorough investigation. His enterprise and sagacity +were rewarded, as usual. After floating round for twenty-five years +amidst derision, the rumour proved true in part. _Ph. Sanderiana_ is not +scarlet but purplish rose, a very handsome and distinct species. + +To the same collector we owe the noblest of Aerides, _A. Lawrenciæ_, +waxy white tipped with purple, and deep purple lip. Besides the lovely +colouring it is the largest by far of that genus. Mr. Roebelin sent two +plants from the Far East; he had not seen the flower, nor received any +description from the natives. Mr. Sander grew them in equal ignorance +for three years, and sent one to auction in blossom; it fell to Sir +Trevor Lawrence's bid for 235 guineas. + +[Illustration: COELOGENE PANDURATA. +Reduced to One Sixth] + +Many of the Coelogenes classed as cool, which, indeed, rub along with +Odontoglossums, do better in the stove while growing. _Coel. cristata_ +itself comes from Nepaul, where the summer sun is terrible, and it +covers the rocks most exposed. But I will only name a few of those +recognized as hot. Amongst the most striking of flowers, exquisitely +pretty also, is _Coel. pandurata_, from Borneo. Its spike has been +described by a person of fine fancy as resembling a row of glossy +pea-green frogs with black tongues, each three inches in diameter. The +whole bloom is brilliantly green, but several ridges clothed with hairs +as black and soft as velvet run down the lip, seeming to issue from a +mouth. It is strange to see that a plant so curious, so beautiful, and +so sweet should be so rarely cultivated; I own, however, that it is very +unwilling to make itself at home with us. _Coel. Dayana_, also a +native of Borneo, one of our newest discoveries, is named after Mr. Day, +of Tottenham. I may interpolate a remark here for the encouragement of +poor but enthusiastic members of our fraternity. When Mr. Day sold his +collection lately, an American "Syndicate" paid 12,000l. down, and the +remaining plants fetched 12,000l. at auction; so, at least, the +uncontradicted report goes. _Coel. Dayana_ is rare, of course, and +dear, but Mr. Sander has lately imported a large quantity. The spike is +three feet long sometimes, a pendant wreath of buff-yellow flowers +broadly striped with chocolate. _Coel. Massangeana_, from Assam, +resembles this, but the lip is deep crimson-brown, with lines of yellow, +and a white edge. Newest of all the Coelogenes, and supremely +beautiful, is _Coel. Sanderiana_, imported by the gentleman whose name +it bears. He has been called "The Orchid King." This superb species has +only flowered once in Europe as yet; Baron Ferdinand Rothschild is the +happy man. Its snow-white blooms, six on a spike generally, each three +inches across, have very dark brown stripes on the lip. It was +discovered in Borneo by Mr. Forstermann, the same collector who happed +upon the wondrous scarlet Dendrobe, mentioned in a former chapter. There +I stated that Baron Schroeder had three pieces; this was a mistake +unfortunately. Mr. Forstermann only secured three, of which two died on +the journey. Baron Schroeder bought the third, but it has perished. No +more can be found as yet. + +Of Oncidiums there are many that demand stove treatment. The story of +_Onc. splendidum_ is curious. It first turned up in France some thirty +years ago. A ship's captain sailing from St. Lazare brought half a dozen +pieces, which he gave to his "owner," M. Herman. The latter handed them +to MM. Thibaut and Ketteler, of Sceaux, who split them up and +distributed them. Two of the original plants found their way to England, +and they also appear to have been cut up. A legend of the King Street +Auction Room recalls how perfervid competitors ran up a bit of _Onc. +splendidum_, that had only one leaf, to thirty guineas. The whole stock +vanished presently, which is not surprising if it had all been divided +in the same ruthless manner. From that day the species was lost until +Mr. Sander turned his attention to it. There was no record of its +habitat. The name of the vessel, or even of the captain, might have +furnished a clue had it been recorded, for the shipping intelligence of +the day would have shown what ports he was frequenting about that time. +I could tell of mysterious orchids traced home upon indications less +distinct. But there was absolutely nothing. Mr. Sander, however, had +scrutinized the plant carefully, while specimens were still extant, and +from the structure of the leaf he formed a strong conclusion that it +must belong to the Central American flora; furthermore, that it must +inhabit a very warm locality. In 1882 he directed one of his collectors, +Mr. Oversluys, to look for the precious thing in Costa Rica. Year after +year the search proceeded, until Mr. Oversluys declared with some warmth +that _Onc. splendidum_ might grow in heaven or in the other place, but +it was not to be found in Costa Rica. But theorists are stubborn, and +year after year he was sent back. At length, in 1882, riding through a +district often explored, the collector found himself in a grassy plain, +dotted with pale yellow flowers. He had beheld the same many times, but +his business was orchids. On this occasion, however, he chanced to +approach one of the masses, and recognized the object of his quest. It +was the familiar case of a man who overlooks the thing he has to find, +because it is too near and too conspicuous. But Mr. Oversluys had excuse +enough. Who could have expected to see an Oncidium buried in long grass, +exposed to the full power of a tropic sun? + +_Oncidium Lanceanum_ is, perhaps, the hottest of its genus. Those happy +mortals who can grow it declare they have no trouble, but unless +perfectly strong and healthy it gets "the spot," and promptly goes to +wreck. In the houses of the "New Plant and Bulb Company," at +Colchester--now extinct--_Onc. Lanceanum_ flourished with a vigour +almost embarrassing, putting forth such enormous leaves, as it hung +close to the glass, as made blinds quite superfluous at midsummer. But +this was an extraordinary case. Certainly it is a glorious spectacle in +flower--yellow, barred with brown; the lip violet. The spikes last a +month in full beauty--sometimes two. + +An Oncidium which always commands attention from the public and grateful +regard from the devotee is _Onc. papilio_. Its strange form fascinated +the Duke of Devonshire, grandfather to the present, who was almost the +first of our lordly amateurs, and tempted him to undertake the +explorations which introduced so many fine plants to Europe. + +The "Butterfly orchid" is so familiar that I do not pause to describe +it. But imagine that most interesting flower all blue, instead of gold +and brown! I have never been able to learn what was the foundation of +the old belief in such a marvel. But the great Lindley went to his grave +in unshaken confidence that a blue _papilio_ exists. Once he thought he +had a specimen; but it flowered, and his triumph had to be postponed. I +myself heard of it two years back, and tried to cherish a belief that +the news was true. A friend from Natal assured me that he had seen one +on the table of the Director of the Gardens at Durban; but it proved to +be one of those terrestrial orchids, so lovely and so tantalizing to us, +with which South Africa abounds. Very slowly do we lengthen the +catalogue of them in our houses. There are gardeners, such as Mr. Cook +at Loughborough, who grow _Disa grandiflora_ like a weed. Mr. Watson of +Kew demonstrated that _Disa racemosa_ will flourish under conditions +easily secured. I had the good fortune to do as much for _Disa +Cooperi_, though not by my own skill. One supreme little triumph is +mine, however. In very early days, when animated with the courage of +utter ignorance, I bought eight bulbs of _Disa discolor_, and flowered +them, every one! No mortal in Europe had done it before, nor has any +tried since, I charitably hope, for a more rubbishing bloom does not +exist. But there it was--_Ego feci_! And the specimen in the Herbarium +at Kew bears my name. + +But legends should not be disregarded when it is certain that they reach +us from a native source. Some of the most striking finds had been +announced long since by observant savages. I have told the story of +_Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_. It was a Zulu who put the discoverer of the +new yellow Calla on the track. The blue Utricularia had been heard of +and discredited long before it was found--Utricularias are not orchids +indeed, but only botanists regard the distinction. The natives of Assam +persistently assert that a bright yellow Cymbidium grows there, of +supremest beauty, and we expect it to turn up one day; the Malagasy +describe a scarlet one. But I am digressing. + +Epidendrums mostly will bear as much heat as can be given them while +growing; all demand more sunshine than they can get in our climate. +Amateurs do not seem to be so well acquainted with the grand things of +this genus as they should be. They distrust all imported Epidendrums. +Many worthless species, indeed, bear a perplexing resemblance to the +finest; so much so, that the most observant of authorities would not +think of buying at the auction-room unless he had confidence enough in +the seller's honesty to accept his description of a "lot." Gloriously +beautiful, however, are some of those rarely met with; easy to cultivate +also, in a sunny place, and not dear. _Epid. rhizophorum_ has been +lately rechristened _Epid. radicans_--a name which might be confined to +the Mexican variety. For the plant recurs in Brazil, practically the +same, but with a certain difference. The former grows on shrubs, a true +epiphyte; the latter has its bottom roots in the soil, at foot of the +tallest trees, and runs up to the very summit, perhaps a hundred and +fifty feet. The flowers also show a distinction, but in effect they are +brilliant orange-red, the lip yellow, edged with scarlet. Forty or fifty +of them hanging in a cluster from the top of the raceme make a show to +remember. Mr. Watson "saw a plant a few years ago, that bore eighty-six +heads of flowers!" They last for three months. _Epid. prismatocarpum_, +also, is a lovely thing, with narrow dagger-like sepals and petals, +creamy-yellow, spotted black, lip mauve or violet, edged with pale +yellow. + +Of the many hot Dendrobiums, Australia supplies a good proportion. There +is _D. bigibbum_, of course, too well known for description; it dwells +on the small islands in Torres Straits. This species flowered at Kew so +early as 1824, but the plant died. Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, +re-introduced it thirty years later. _D. Johannis_, from Queensland, +brown and yellow, streaked with orange, the flowers curiously twisted. +_D. superbiens_, from Torres Straits, rosy purple, edged with white, lip +crimson. Handsomest of all by far is _D. phaloenopsis_. It throws out a +long, slender spike from the tip of the pseudo-bulb, bearing six or more +flowers, three inches across. The sepals are lance-shaped, and the +petals, twice as broad, rosy-lilac, with veins of darker tint; the lip, +arched over by its side lobes, crimson-lake in the throat, paler and +striped at the mouth. It was first sent home by Mr. Forbes, of Kew +Gardens, from Timor Laüt, in 1880. But Mr. Fitzgerald had made drawings +of a species substantially the same, some years before, from a plant he +discovered on the property of Captain Bloomfield, Balmain, in +Queensland, nearly a thousand miles south of Timor. Mr. Sander caused +search to be made, and he has introduced Mr. Fitzgerald's variety under +the name of _D. ph. Statterianum_. It is smaller than the type, and +crimson instead of lilac. + +Bulbophyllums rank among the marvels of nature. It is a point +comparatively trivial that this genus includes the largest of orchids +and, perhaps, the smallest. + +_B. Beccarii_ has leaves two feet long, eighteen inches broad. It +encircles the biggest tree in one clasp of its rhizomes, which +travellers mistake for the coil of a boa constrictor. Furthermore, this +species emits the vilest stench known to scientific persons, which is a +great saying. But these points are insignificant. The charm of +Bulbophyllums lies in their machinery for trapping insects. Those who +attended the Temple show last year saw something of it, if they could +penetrate the crush around _B. barbigerum_ on Sir Trevor Lawrence's +stand. This tiny but amazing plant comes from Sierra Leone. The long +yellow lip is attached to the column by the slenderest possible joint, +so that it rocks without an instant's pause. At the tip is set a brush +of silky hairs, which wave backwards and forwards with the precision of +machinery. No wonder that the natives believe it a living thing. The +purpose of these arrangements is to catch flies, which other species +effect with equal ingenuity if less elaboration. Very pretty too are +some of them, as _B. Lobbii_. Its clear, clean, orange-creamy hue is +delightful to behold. The lip, so delicately balanced, quivers at every +breath. If the slender stem be bent back, as by a fly alighting on the +column, that quivering cap turns and hangs imminent; another tiny shake, +as though the fly approached the nectary, and it falls plump, head over +heels, like a shot, imprisoning the insect. Thus the flower is +impregnated. If we wished to excite a thoughtful child's interest in +botany--not regardless of the sense of beauty either--we should make an +investment in _Bulbophyllum Lobbii_. _Bulbophyllum Dearei_ also is +pretty--golden ochre spotted red, with a wide dorsal sepal, very narrow +petals flying behind, lower sepals broadly striped with red, and a +yellow lip, upon a hinge, of course; but the gymnastic performances of +this species are not so impressive as in most of its kin. + +A new Bulbophyllum, _B. Godseffianum_, has lately been brought from the +Philippines, contrived on the same principle, but even more charming. +The flowers, two inches broad, have the colour of "old gold," with +stripes of crimson on the petals, and the dorsal sepal shows membranes +almost transparent, which have the effect of silver embroidery. + +Until _B. Beccarii_ was introduced, from Borneo, in 1867, the +Grammatophyllums were regarded as monsters incomparable. Mr. Arthur +Keyser, Resident Magistrate at Selangor, in the Straits Settlement, +tells of one which he gathered on a Durian tree, seven feet two inches +high, thirteen feet six inches across, bearing seven spikes of flower, +the longest eight feet six inches--a weight which fifteen men could only +just carry. Mr. F.W. Burbidge heard a tree fall in the jungle one night +when he was four miles away, and on visiting the spot, he found, "right +in the collar of the trunk, a Grammatophyllum big enough to fill a +Pickford's van, just opening its golden-brown spotted flowers, on stout +spikes two yards long." It is not to be hoped that we shall ever see +monsters like these in Europe. The genus, indeed, is unruly. _G. +speciosum_ has been grown to six feet high, I believe, which is big +enough to satisfy the modest amateur, especially when it develops leaves +two feet long. The flowers are--that is, they ought to be--six inches in +diameter, rich yellow, blotched with reddish purple. They have some +giants at Kew now, of which fine things are expected. _G. +Measureseanum_, named after Mr. Measures, a leading amateur, is pale +buff, speckled with chocolate, the ends of the sepals and petals +charmingly tipped with the same hue. Within the last few months Mr. +Sander has obtained _G. multiflorum_ from the Philippines, which seems +to be not only the most beautiful, but the easiest to cultivate of those +yet introduced. Its flowers droop in a garland of pale green and yellow, +splashed with brown, not loosely set, as is the rule, but scarcely half +an inch apart. The effect is said to be lovely beyond description. We +may hope to judge for ourselves in no long time, for Mr. Sander has +presented a wondrous specimen to the Royal Gardens, Kew. This is +assuredly the biggest orchid ever brought to Europe. Its snakey +pseudo-bulbs measure nine feet, and the old flower spikes stood eighteen +feet high. It will be found in the Victoria Regia house, growing +strongly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 6: _Vanda Lowii_ is properly called _Renanthera Lowii_.] + +[Footnote 7: _Vide_ page 100.] + + + + +THE LOST ORCHID. + + +Not a few orchids are "lost"--have been described that is, and named, +even linger in some great collection, but, bearing no history, cannot +now be found. Such, for instance, are _Cattleya Jongheana_, _Cymbidium +Hookerianum_, _Cypripedium Fairianum_. But there is one to which the +definite article might have been applied a very few days ago. This is +_Cattleya labiata vera_. It was the first to bear the name of Cattleya, +though not absolutely the first of that genus discovered. _C. +Loddigesii_ preceded it by a few years, but was called an Epidendrum. +Curious it is to note how science has returned in this latter day to the +views of a pre-scientific era. Professor Reichenbach was only restrained +from abolishing the genus Cattleya, and merging all its species into +Epidendrum, by regard for the weakness of human nature. _Cattleya +labiata vera_ was sent from Brazil to Dr. Lindley by Mr. W. Swainson, +and reached Liverpool in 1818. So much is certain, for Lindley makes +the statement in his _Collectanea Botanica_. But legends and myths +encircle that great event. It is commonly told in books that Sir W. +Jackson Hooker, Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow, begged Mr. +Swainson--who was collecting specimens in natural history--to send him +some lichens. He did so, and with the cases arrived a quantity of +orchids which had been used to pack them. Less suitable material for +"dunnage" could not be found, unless we suppose that it was thrust +between the boxes to keep them steady. Paxton is the authority for this +detail, which has its importance. The orchid arriving in such humble +fashion proved to be _Cattleya labiata_; Lindley gave it that +name--there was no need to add _vera_ then. He established a new genus +for it, and thus preserved for all time the memory of Mr. Cattley, a +great horticulturist dwelling at Barnet. There was no ground in +supposing the species rare. A few years afterwards, in fact, Mr. +Gardner, travelling in pursuit of butterflies and birds, sent home +quantities of a Cattleya which he found on the precipitous sides of the +Pedro Bonita range, and also on the Gavea, which our sailors call +"Topsail" Mountain, or "Lord Hood's Nose." These orchids passed as _C. +labiata_ for a while. Paxton congratulated himself and the world in his +_Flower Garden_ that the stock was so greatly increased. Those were the +coaching days, when botanists had not much opportunity for comparison. +It is to be observed, also, that Gardner's Cattleya was the nearest +relative of Swainson's;--it is known at present as _C. labiata Warneri_. +The true species, however, has points unmistakable. Some of its kinsfolk +show a double flower-sheath;--very, very rarely, under exceptional +circumstances. But _Cattleya labiata vera_ never fails, and an +interesting question it is to resolve why this alone should be so +carefully protected. One may cautiously surmise that its habitat is even +damper than others'. In the next place, some plants have their leaves +red underneath, others green, and the flower-sheath always corresponds; +this peculiarity is shared by _C. l. Warneri_ alone. Thirdly--and there +is the grand distinction, the one which gives such extreme value to the +species--it flowers in the late autumn, and thus fills a gap. Those who +possess a plant may have Cattleyas in bloom the whole year round--and +they alone. Accordingly, it makes a section by itself in the +classification of _Reichenbachia_, as the single species that flowers +from the current year's growth, after resting. Section II. contains the +species that flower from the current year's growth before resting. +Section III., those that flower from last year's growth after resting. +All these are many, but _C. l. vera_ stands alone. + +[Illustration: CATTLEYA LABIATA. +Reduced to One Sixth.] + +We have no need to dwell upon the contest that arose at the introduction +of _Cattleya Mossiæ_ in 1840, which grew more and more bitter as others +of the class came in, and has not yet ceased. It is enough to say that +Lindley declined to recognize _C. Mossiæ_ as a species, though he stood +almost solitary against "the trade," backed by a host of enthusiastic +amateurs. The great botanist declared that he could see nothing in the +beautiful new Cattleya to distinguish it as a species from the one +already named, _C. labiata_, except that most variable of +characteristics, colour. Modes of growth and times of flowering do not +concern science. The structure of the plants is identical, and to admit +_C. Mossiæ_ as a sub-species of the same was the utmost concession +Lindley would make. This was in 1840. Fifteen years later came _C. +Warscewiczi_, now called _gigas_; then, next year, _C. Trianæ_; _C. +Dowiana_ in 1866; _C. Mendellii_ in 1870--all _labiatas_, strictly +speaking. At each arrival the controversy was renewed; it is not over +yet. But Sir Joseph Hooker succeeded Lindley and Reichenbach succeeded +Hooker as the supreme authority, and each of them stood firm. There +are, of course, many Cattleyas recognized as species, but Lindley's rule +has been maintained. We may return to the lost orchid. + +As time went on, and the merits of _C. labiata vera_ were understood, +the few specimens extant--proceeding from Mr. Swainson's +importation--fetched larger and larger prices. Those merits, indeed, +were conspicuous. Besides the season of flowering, this proved to be the +strongest and most easily grown of Cattleyas. Its normal type was at +least as charming as any, and it showed an extraordinary readiness to +vary. Few, as has been said, were the plants in cultivation, but they +gave three distinct varieties. Van Houtte shows us two in his admirable +_Flore des Serres; C. l. candida_, from Syon House, pure white excepting +the ochrous throat--which is invariable--and _C. l. picta_, deep red, +from the collection of J.J. Blandy, Esq., Reading. The third was _C. l. +Pescatorei_, white, with a deep red blotch upon the lip, formerly owned +by Messrs. Rouget-Chauvier, of Paris, now by the Duc de Massa. + +Under such circumstances the dealers began to stir in earnest. From the +first, indeed, the more enterprising had made efforts to import a plant +which, as they supposed, must be a common weed at Rio, since men used +it to "pack" boxes. But that this was an error they soon perceived. +Taking the town as a centre, collectors pushed out on all sides. +Probably there is not one of the large dealers, in England or the +Continent, dead or living, who has not spent money--a large sum, too--in +searching for _C. l. vera_. Probably, also, not one has lost by the +speculation, though never a sign nor a hint, scarcely a rumour, of the +thing sought rewarded them. For all secured new orchids, new +bulbs--Eucharis in especial--Dipladenias, Bromeliaceæ, Calladiums, +Marantas, Aristolochias, and what not. In this manner the lost orchid +has done immense service to botany and to mankind. One may say that the +hunt lasted seventy years, and led collectors to strike a path through +almost every province of Brazil--almost, for there are still vast +regions unexplored. A man might start, for example, at Para, and travel +to Bogota, two thousand miles or so, with a stretch of six hundred miles +on either hand which is untouched. It may well be asked what Mr. +Swainson was doing, if alive, while his discovery thus agitated the +world. Alive he was, in New Zealand, until the year 1855, but he offered +no assistance. It is scarcely to be doubted that he had none to give. +The orchids fell in his way by accident--possibly collected in distant +parts by some poor fellow who died at Rio. Swainson picked them up, and +used them to stow his lichens. + +Not least extraordinary, however, in this extraordinary tale is the fact +that various bits of _C. l. vera_ turned up during this time. Lord Home +has a noble specimen at Bothwell Castle, which did not come from +Swainson's consignment. His gardener told the story five years ago. "I +am quite sure," he wrote, "that my nephew told me the small bit I had +from him"--forty years before--"was off a newly-imported plant, and I +understood it had been brought by one of Messrs. Horsfall's ships." Lord +Fitzwilliam seems to have got one in the same way, from another ship. +But the most astonishing case is recent. About seven years ago two +plants made their appearance in the Zoological Gardens at Regent's +Park--in the conservatory behind Mr. Bartlett's house. How they got +there is an eternal mystery. Mr. Bartlett sold them for a large sum; but +an equal sum offered him for any scrap of information showing how they +came into his hands he was sorrowfully obliged to refuse--or, rather, +found himself unable to earn. They certainly arrived in company with +some monkeys; but when, from what district of South America, the closest +search of his papers failed to show. In 1885, Dr. Regel, Director of +the Imperial Gardens at St. Petersburg, received a few plants. It may be +worth while to name those gentlemen who recently possessed examples of +_C. l. vera_, so far as our knowledge goes. They were Sir Trevor +Lawrence, Lord Rothschild, Duke of Marlborough, Lord Home, Messrs. J. +Chamberlain, T. Statten, J.J. Blandy, and G. Hardy, in England; in +America, Mr. F.L. Ames, two, and Mr. H.H. Hunnewell; in France, Comte de +Germiny, Duc de Massa, Baron Alphonse and Baron Adolf de Rothschild, M. +Treyeran of Bordeaux. There were two, as is believed, in Italy. + +And now the horticultural papers inform us that the lost orchid is +found, by Mr. Sander of St. Albans. Assuredly he deserves his luck--if +the result of twenty years' labour should be so described. It was about +1870, we believe, that Mr. Sander sent out Arnold, who passed five years +in exploring Venezuela. He had made up his mind that the treasure must +not be looked for in Brazil. Turning next to Colombia, in successive +years, Chesterton, Bartholomeus, Kerbach, and the brothers Klaboch +overran that country. Returning to Brazil, his collectors, Oversluys, +Smith, Bestwood, went over every foot of the ground which Swainson +seems, by his books, to have traversed. At the same time Clarke followed +Gardner's track through the Pedro Bonita and Topsail Mountains. Then +Osmers traced the whole coast-line of the Brazils from north to south, +employing five years in the work. Finally, Digance undertook the search, +and died this year. To these men we owe grand discoveries beyond +counting. To name but the grandest, Arnold found _Cattleya +Percevaliana_; from Colombia were brought _Odont. vex. rubellum_, +_Bollea coelestis_, _Pescatorea Klabochorum_; Smith sent _Cattleya +O'Brieniana_; Clarke the dwarf Cattleyas, _pumila_ and _præstans_; +Lawrenceson _Cattleya Schroederæ_; Chesterton _Cattleya Sanderiana_; +Digance _Cattleya Diganceana_, which received a Botanical certificate +from the Royal Horticultural Society on September 8th, 1890. But they +heard not a whisper of the lost orchid. + +In 1889 a collector employed by M. Moreau, of Paris, to explore Central +and North Brazil in search of insects, sent home fifty plants--for M. +Moreau is an enthusiast in orchidology also. He had no object in keeping +the secret of its habitat, and when Mr. Sander, chancing to call, +recognized the treasure so long lost, he gave every assistance. +Meanwhile, the International Horticultural Society of Brussels had +secured a quantity, but they regarded it as new, and gave it the name of +_Catt. Warocqueana_; in which error they persisted until Messrs. Sander +flooded the market. + + + + +AN ORCHID FARM. + + +My articles brought upon me a flood of questions almost as embarrassing +as flattering to a busy journalist. The burden of them was curiously +like. Three ladies or gentlemen in four wrote thus: "I love orchids. I +had not the least suspicion that they may be cultivated so easily and so +cheaply. I am going to begin. Will you please inform me"--here diversity +set in with a vengeance! From temperature to flower-pots, from the +selection of species to the selection of peat, from the architecture of +a greenhouse to the capabilities of window-gardening, with excursions +between, my advice was solicited. I replied as best I could. It must be +feared, however, that the most careful questioning and the most +elaborate replies by post will not furnish that ground-work of +knowledge, the ABC of the science, which is needed by a person utterly +unskilled; nor will he find it readily in the hand-books. Written by men +familiar with the alphabet of orchidology from their youth up, though +they seem to begin at the beginning, ignorant enthusiasts who study them +find woeful gaps. It is little I can do in this matter; yet, believing +that the culture of these plants will be as general shortly as the +culture of pelargoniums under glass--and firmly convinced that he who +hastens that day is a real benefactor to his kind--I am most anxious to +do what lies in my power. Considering the means by which this end may be +won, it appears necessary above all to avoid boring the student. He +should be led to feel how charming is the business in hand even while +engaged with prosaic details; and it seems to me, after some thought, +that the sketch of a grand orchid nursery will best serve our purpose +for the moment. There I can show at once processes and results, passing +at a step as it were from the granary into the harvest-field, from the +workshop to the finished and glorious production. + +"An orchid farm" is no extravagant description of the establishment at +St. Albans. There alone in Europe, so far as I know, three acres of +ground are occupied by orchids exclusively. It is possible that larger +houses might be found--everything is possible; but such are devoted more +or less to a variety of plants, and the departments are not all +gathered beneath one roof. I confess, for my own part, a hatred of +references. They interrupt the writer, and they distract the reader. At +the place I have chosen to illustrate our theme, one has but to cross a +corridor from any of the working quarters to reach the showroom. We may +start upon our critical survey from the very dwelling-house. Pundits of +agricultural science explore the sheds, I believe, the barns, stables, +machine-rooms, and so forth, before inspecting the crops. We may follow +the same course, but our road offers an unusual distraction. + +It passes from the farmer's hall beneath a high glazed arch. Some thirty +feet beyond, the path is stopped by a wall of tufa and stalactite which +rises to the lofty roof, and compels the traveller to turn right or +left. Water pours down it and falls trickling into a narrow pool +beneath. Its rough front is studded with orchids from crest to base. +Coelogenes have lost those pendant wreaths of bloom which lately +tipped the rock as with snow. But there are Cymbidiums arching long +sprays of green and chocolate; thickets of Dendrobe set with flowers +beyond counting--ivory and rose and purple and orange; scarlet +Anthuriums: huge clumps of Phajus and evergreen Calanthe, with a score +of spikes rising from their broad leaves; Cypripediums of quaint form +and striking half-tones of colour; Oncidiums which droop their slender +garlands a yard long, golden yellow and spotted, purple and white--a +hundred tints. The crown of the rock bristles all along with Cattleyas, +a dark-green glossy little wood against the sky. The _Trianæs_ are +almost over, but here and there a belated beauty pushes through, white +or rosy, with a lip of crimson velvet. _Mossiæs_ have replaced them +generally, and from beds three feet in diameter their great blooms start +by the score, in every shade of pink and crimson and rosy purple. There +is _Loelia elegans_, exterminated in its native home, of such bulk and +such luxuriance of growth that the islanders left forlorn might almost +find consolation in regarding it here. Over all, climbing up the +spandrils of the roof in full blaze of sunshine, is _Vanda teres_, round +as a pencil both leaves and stalk, which will drape those bare iron rods +presently with crimson and pink and gold.[8] The way to our farmyard is +not like others. It traverses a corner of fairyland. + +We find a door masked by such a rock as that faintly and vaguely +pictured, which opens on a broad corridor. Through all its length, four +hundred feet, it is ceilinged with baskets of Mexican orchid, as close +as they will fit. Upon the left hand lie a series of glass structures; +upon the right, below the level of the corridor, the workshops; at the +end--why, to be frank, the end is blocked by a ponderous screen of +matting just now. But this dingy barrier is significant of a work in +hand which will not be the least curious nor the least charming of the +strange sights here. The farmer has already a "siding" of course, for +the removal of his produce; he finds it necessary to have a station of +his own also for the convenience of clients. Beyond the screen at +present lies an area of mud and ruin, traversed by broken walls and rows +of hot-water piping swathed in felt to exclude the chill air. A few +weeks since, this little wilderness was covered with glass, but the ends +of the long "houses" have been cut off to make room for a structure into +which visitors will step direct from the train. The platform is already +finished, neat and trim; so are the vast boilers and furnaces, newly +rebuilt, which would drive a cotton factory. + +A busy scene that is which we survey, looking down through openings in +the wall of the corridor. Here is the composing-room, where that +magnificent record of orchidology in three languages, the +"Reichenbachia," slowly advances from year to year. There is the +printing-room, with no steam presses or labour-saving machinery, but the +most skilful craftsmen to be found, the finest paper, the most +deliberate and costly processes, to rival the great works of the past in +illustrating modern science. These departments, however, we need not +visit, nor the chambers, lower still, where mechanical offices are +performed. + +The "Importing Room" first demands notice. Here cases are received by +fifties and hundreds, week by week, from every quarter of the orchid +world, unpacked, and their contents stored until space is made for them +up above. It is a long apartment, broad and low, with tables against the +wall and down the middle, heaped with things which to the uninitiated +seem, for the most part, dry sticks and dead bulbs. Orchids everywhere! +They hang in dense bunches from the roof. They lie a foot thick upon +every board, and two feet thick below. They are suspended on the walls. +Men pass incessantly along the gangways, carrying a load that would fill +a barrow. And all the while fresh stores are accumulating under the +hands of that little group in the middle, bent and busy at cases just +arrived. They belong to a lot of eighty that came in from Burmah last +night--and while we look on, a boy brings a telegram announcing fifty +more from Mexico, that will reach Waterloo at 2.30 p.m. Great is the +wrath and great the anxiety at this news, for some one has blundered; +the warning should have been despatched three hours before. Orchids must +not arrive at unknown stations unless there be somebody of discretion +and experience to meet them, and the next train does not leave St. +Albans until 2.44 p.m. Dreadful is the sense of responsibility, alarming +the suggestions of disaster, that arise from this incident. + +The Burmese cases in hand just now are filled with Dendrobiums, +_crassinode_ and _Wardianum_, stowed in layers as close as possible, +with _D. Falconerii_ for packing material. A royal way of doing things +indeed to substitute an orchid of value for shavings or moss, but mighty +convenient and profitable. For that packing will be sent to the +auction-rooms presently, and will be sold for no small proportion of the +sum which its more delicate charge attains. We remark that the +experienced persons who remove these precious sticks, layer by layer, +perform their office gingerly. There is not much danger or +unpleasantness in unpacking Dendrobes, compared with other genera, but +ship-rats spring out occasionally and give an ugly bite; scorpions and +centipedes have been known to harbour in the close roots of _D. +Falconerii_; stinging ants are by no means improbable, nor huge spiders; +while cockroaches of giant size, which should be killed, may be looked +for with certainty. But men learn a habit of caution by experience of +cargoes much more perilous. In those masses of _Arundina bambusæfolia_ +beneath the table yonder doubtless there are centipedes lurking, perhaps +even scorpions, which have escaped the first inspection. Happily, these +pests are dull, half-stupefied with the cold, when discovered, and no +man here has been stung, circumspect as they are; but ants arrive as +alert and as vicious as in their native realm. Distinctly they are no +joke. To handle a consignment of _Epidendrum bicornutum_ demands some +nerve. A very ugly species loves its hollow bulbs, which, when +disturbed, shoots out with lightning swiftness and nips the arm or hand +so quickly that it can seldom be avoided. But the most awkward cases to +deal with are those which contain _Schomburghkia tibicinis_. This superb +orchid is so difficult to bloom that very few will attempt it; I have +seen its flower but twice. Packers strongly approve the reluctance of +the public to buy, since it restricts importation. The foreman has been +laid up again and again. But they find pleasing curiosities also, +tropic beetles, and insects, and cocoons. Dendrobiums in especial are +favoured by moths; _D. Wardianum_ is loaded with their webs, empty as a +rule. Hitherto the men have preserved no chrysalids, but at this moment +they have a few, of unknown species. + +The farmer gets strange bits of advice sometimes, and strange offers of +assistance. Talking of insects reminds him of a letter received last +week. Here it is:-- + + + SIRS,--I have heard that you are large growers of orchids; + am I right in supposing that in their growth or production you are + much troubled with some insect or caterpillar which retards or + hinders their arrival at maturity, and that these insects or + caterpillars can be destroyed by small snakes? I have tracts of + land under my occupation, and if these small snakes can be of use + in your culture of orchids you might write, as I could get you some + on knowing what these might be worth to you. + + Yours truly + ---- + +Thence we mount to the potting-rooms, where a dozen skilled workmen try +to keep pace with the growth of the imported plants; taking up, day by +day, those which thrust out roots so fast that postponement is +injurious. The broad middle tables are heaped with peat and moss and +leaf-mould and white sand. At counters on either side unskilled +labourers are sifting and mixing, while boys come and go, laden with +pots and baskets of teak-wood and crocks and charcoal. These things are +piled in heaps against the walls; they are stacked on frames overhead; +they fill the semi-subterranean chambers of which we get a glimpse in +passing. Our farm resembles a factory in this department. + +Ascending to the upper earth again, and crossing the corridor, we may +visit number one of those glass-houses opposite. I cannot imagine, much +more describe, how that spectacle would strike one to whom it was wholly +unfamiliar. These buildings--there are twelve of them, side by +side--measure one hundred and eighty feet in length, and the narrowest +has thirty-two feet breadth. This which we enter is devoted to +_Odontoglossum crispum_, with a few _Masdevallias_. There were +twenty-two thousand pots in it the other day; several thousand have been +sold, several thousand have been brought in, and the number at this +moment cannot be computed. Our farmer has no time for speculative +arithmetic; he deals in produce wholesale. Telegraph an order for a +thousand _crispums_ and you cause no stir in the establishment. You take +it for granted that a large dealer only could propose such a +transaction. But it does not follow at all. Nobody would credit, unless +he had talked with one of the great farmers, on what enormous scale +orchids are cultivated up and down by private persons. Our friend has a +client who keeps his stock of _O. crispum_ alone at ten thousand; but +others, less methodical, may have more. + +Opposite the door is a high staging, mounted by steps, with a gangway +down the middle and shelves descending on either hand. Those shelves are +crowded with fine plants of the glorious _O. crispum_, each bearing one +or two spikes of flower, which trail down, interlace, arch upward. Not +all are in bloom; that amazing sight may be witnessed for a month to +come--for two months, with such small traces of decay as the casual +visitor would not notice. So long and dense are the wreaths, so broad +the flowers, that the structure seems to be festooned from top to bottom +with snowy garlands. But there is more. Overhead hang rows of baskets, +lessening in perspective, with pendent sprays of bloom. And broad tables +which edge the walls beneath that staging display some thousands still, +smaller but not less beautiful. A sight which words could not portray. I +yield in despair. + +The tillage of the farm is our business, and there are many points here +which the amateur should note. Observe the bricks beneath your feet. +They have a hollow pattern which retains the water, though your boots +keep dry. Each side of the pathway lie shallow troughs, always full. +Beneath that staging mentioned is a bed of leaves, interrupted by a tank +here, by a group of ferns there, vividly green. Slender iron pipes run +through the house from end to end, so perforated that on turning a tap +they soak these beds, fill the little troughs and hollow bricks, play in +all directions down below, but never touch a plant. Under such constant +drenching the leaf-beds decay, throwing up those gases and vapours in +which the orchid delights at home. Thus the amateur should arrange his +greenhouse, so far as he may. But I would not have it understood that +these elaborate contrivances are essential. If you would beat Nature, as +here, making invariably such bulbs and flowers as she produces only +under rare conditions, you must follow this system. But orchids are not +exacting. + +The house opens, at its further end, in a magnificent structure designed +especially to exhibit plants of warm species in bloom. It is three +hundred feet long, twenty-six wide, eighteen high--the piping laid end +to end, would measure as nearly as possible one mile: we see a practical +illustration of the resources of the establishment, when it is expected +to furnish such a show. Here are stored the huge specimens of +_Cymbidium Lowianum_, nine of which astounded the good people of Berlin +with a display of one hundred and fifty flower spikes, all open at once. +We observe at least a score as well furnished, and hundreds which a +royal gardener would survey with pride. They rise one above another in a +great bank, crowned and brightened by garlands of pale green and +chocolate. Other Cymbidiums are here, but not the beautiful _C. +eburneum_. Its large white flowers, erect on a short spike, not drooping +like these, will be found in a cool house--smelt with delight before +they are found. + +Further on we have a bank of Dendrobiums, so densely clothed in bloom +that the leaves are unnoticed. Lovely beyond all to my taste, if, +indeed, one may make a comparison, is _D. luteolum_, with flowers of +palest, tenderest primrose, rarely seen unhappily, for it will not +reconcile itself to our treatment. Then again a bank of Cattleyas, of +Vandas, of miscellaneous genera. The pathway is hedged on one side with +_Begonia coralina_, an unimproved species too straggling of growth and +too small of flower to be worth its room under ordinary conditions; but +a glorious thing here, climbing to the roof, festooned at every season +of the year with countless rosy sprays. + +Beyond this show-house lie the small structures devoted to +"hybridization," but I deal with them in another chapter. Here also are +the Phaloenopsis, the very hot Vandas, Bolleas, Pescatoreas, Anæctochili, +and such dainty but capricious beauties. + +We enter the second of the range of greenhouses, also devoted to +Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, and "cool" genera, as crowded as the last; +pass down it to the corridor, and return through number three, which is +occupied by Cattleyas and such. There is a lofty mass of rock in front, +with a pool below, and a pleasant sound of splashing water. Many orchids +of the largest size are planted out here--Cypripedium, Cattleya, +Sobralia, Phajus, Loelia, Zygopetalum, and a hundred more, +"specimens," as the phrase runs--that is to say, they have ten, twenty, +fifty, flower spikes. I attempt no more descriptions; to one who knows, +the plain statement of fact is enough, one who does not is unable to +conceive that sight by the aid of words. But the Sobralias demand +attention. They stand here in clumps two feet thick, bearing a +wilderness of loveliest bloom--like Irises magnified and glorified by +heavenly enchantment. Nature designed a practical joke perhaps when she +granted these noble flowers but one day's existence each, while dingy +Epidendrums last six months, or nine. I imagine that for stateliness +and delicacy combined there are no plants that excel the Sobralia. At +any single point they may be surpassed--among orchids, be it understood, +by nothing else in Nature's realm--but their magnificence and grace +together cannot be outshone. + +I must not dwell upon the marvels here, in front, on either side, and +above--a hint is enough. There are baskets of _Loelia anceps_ three +feet across, lifted bodily from the tree in their native forest where +they had grown perhaps for centuries. One of them--the white variety, +too, which æsthetic infidels might adore, though they believed in +nothing--opened a hundred spikes at Christmas time; we do not concern +ourselves with minute reckonings here. But an enthusiastic novice +counted the flowers blooming one day on that huge mass of _Loelia +albida_ yonder, and they numbered two hundred and eleven--unless, as +some say, this was the quantity of "spikes," in which case one must have +to multiply by two or three. Such incidents maybe taken for granted at +the farm. + +[Illustration: LOELIANCEPS SCHROEDERIANA. +Reduced to One Sixth] + +But we must not pass a new orchid, quite distinct and supremely +beautiful, for which Professor Reichenbach has not yet found a name +sufficiently appreciative. Only eight pieces were discovered, whence we +must suspect that it is very rare at home; I do not know where the +home is, and I should not tell if I did. Such information is more +valuable than the surest tip for the Derby, or most secrets of State. +This new orchid is a Cyrrhopetalun, of very small size, but, like so +many others, its flower is bigger than itself. The spike inclines almost +at a right angle, and the pendent half is hung with golden bells, nearly +two inches in length. Beneath it stands the very rare scarlet +Utricularia, growing in the axils of its native Vriesia, as in a cup +always full; but as yet the flower has been seen in Europe only by the +eyes of faith. It may be news to some that Utricularias do not belong to +the orchid family--have, in fact, not the slightest kinship, though +associated with it by growers to the degree that Mr. Sander admits them +to his farm. A little story hangs to the exquisite _U. Campbelli_. All +importers are haunted by the spectral image of _Cattleya labiata_, +which, in its true form, had been brought to Europe only once, seventy +years ago, when this book was written. Some time since, Mr. Sander was +looking through the drawings of Sir Robert Schomburgk, in the British +Museum, among which is a most eccentric Cattleya named--for reasons +beyond comprehension--a variety of _C. Mossiæ_. He jumped at the +conclusion that this must be the long-lost _C. labiata_. So strong +indeed was his confidence that he despatched a man post-haste over the +Atlantic to explore the Roraima mountain; and, further, gave him strict +injunctions to collect nothing but this precious species. For eight +months the traveller wandered up and down among the Indians, searching +forest and glade, the wooded banks of streams, the rocks and clefts, but +he found neither _C. labiata_ nor that curious plant which Sir Robert +Schomburgk described. Upon the other hand, he came across the lovely +_Utricularia Campbelli_, and in defiance of instructions brought it +down. But very few reached England alive. For six weeks they travelled +on men's backs, from their mountain home to the River Essequibo; thence, +six weeks in canoe to Georgetown, with twenty portages; and, so aboard +ship. The single chance of success lies in bringing them down, +undisturbed, in the great clumps of moss which are their habitat, as is +the Vriesia of other species. + +I will allow myself a very short digression here. It may seem +unaccountable that a plant of large growth, distinct flower, and +characteristic appearance, should elude the eye of persons trained to +such pursuits, and encouraged to spend money on the slightest prospect +of success, for half a century and more. But if we recall the +circumstances it ceases to astonish. I myself spent many months in the +forests of Borneo, Central America, and the West African coast. After +that experience I scarcely understand how such a quest, for a given +object, can ever be successful unless by mere fortune. To look for a +needle in a bottle of hay is a promising enterprise compared with the +search for an orchid clinging to some branch high up in that green world +of leaves. As a matter of fact, collectors seldom discover what they are +specially charged to seek, if the district be untravelled--the natives, +therefore, untrained to grasp and assist their purpose. This remark does +not apply to orchids alone; not by any means. Few besides the +scientific, probably, are aware that the common _Eucharis amasonica_ has +been found only once; that is to say, but one consignment has ever been +received in Europe, from which all our millions in cultivation have +descended. Where it exists in the native state is unknown, but assuredly +this ignorance is nobody's fault. For a generation at least skilled +explorers have been hunting. Mr. Sander has had his turn, and has +enjoyed the satisfaction of discovering species closely allied, as +_Eucharis Mastersii_ and _Eucharis Sanderiana_; but the old-fashioned +bulb is still to seek. + +In this third greenhouse is a large importation of _Cattleya Trianæ_, +which arrived so late last year that their sheaths have opened +contemporaneously with _C. Mossiæ_. I should fear to hazard a guess how +many thousand flowers of each are blooming now. As the Odontoglossums +cover their stage with snow wreaths, so this is decked with upright +plumes of _Cattleya Trianæ_, white and rose and purple in endless +variety of tint, with many a streak of other hue between. + +Suddenly our guide becomes excited, staring at a basket overhead beyond +reach. It contains a smooth-looking object, very green and fat, which +must surely be good to eat--but this observation is alike irrelevant and +disrespectful. Why, yes! Beyond all possibility of doubt that is a spike +issuing from the axil of its fleshy leaf! Three inches long it is +already, thick as a pencil, with a big knob of bud at the tip. Such +pleasing surprises befall the orchidacean! This plant came from Borneo +so many years ago that the record is lost; but the oldest servant of the +farm remembers it, as a poor cripple, hanging between life and death, +season after season. Cheerful as interesting is the discussion that +arises. More like a Vanda than anything else, the authorities resolve, +but not a Vanda! Commending it to the special care of those responsible, +we pass on. + +Here is the largest mass of Catasetum ever found, or even rumoured, +lying in ponderous bulk upon the stage, much as it lay in a Guatemalan +forest. It is engaged in the process of "plumping up." Orchids shrivel +in their long journey, and it is the importer's first care to renew that +smooth and wholesome rotundity which indicates a conscience untroubled, +a good digestion, and an assurance of capacity to fulfil any reasonable +demand. Beneath the staging you may see myriads of withered sticks, +clumps of shrunken and furrowed bulbs by the thousand, hung above those +leaf-beds mentioned; they are "plumping" in the damp shade. The larger +pile of Catasetum--there are two--may be four feet long, three wide, and +eighteen inches thick; how many hundreds of flowers it will bear passes +computation. I remarked that when broken up into handsome pots it would +fill a greenhouse of respectable dimensions; but it appears that there +is not the least intention of dividing it. The farmer has several +clients who will snap at this natural curiosity, when, in due time, it +is put on the market. + +At the far end of the house stands another piece of rockwork, another +little cascade, and more marvels than I can touch upon. In fact, there +are several which would demand all the space at my disposition, but, +happily, one reigns supreme. This is a _Cattleya Mossiæ_, the pendant of +the Catasetum, by very far the largest orchid of any kind that was ever +brought to Europe. For some years Mr. Sander, so to speak, hovered round +it, employing his shrewdest and most diplomatic agents. For this was not +a forest specimen. It grew upon a high tree beside an Indian's hut, near +Caraccas, and belonged to him as absolutely as the fruit in his +compound. His great-grandfather, indeed, had "planted" it, so he +declared, but this is highly improbable. The giant has embraced two +stems of the tree, and covers them both so thickly that the bare ends of +wood at top alone betray its secret; for it was sawn off, of course, +above and below. I took the dimensions as accurately as may be, with an +object so irregular and prickly. It measures--the solid bulk of it, +leaves not counted--as nearly as possible five feet in height and four +thick--one plant, observe, pulsating through its thousand limbs from one +heart; at least, I mark no spot where the circulation has been checked +by accident or disease, and the pseudo-bulbs beyond have been obliged to +start an independent existence. + +In speaking of _Loelia elegans_, I said that those Brazilian +islanders who have lost it might find solace could they see its +happiness in exile. The gentle reader thought this an extravagant figure +of speech, no doubt, but it is not wholly fanciful. Indians of Tropical +America cherish a fine orchid to the degree that in many cases no sum, +and no offer of valuables, will tempt them to part with it. Ownership is +distinctly recognized when the specimen grows near a village. The root +of this feeling, whether superstition or taste, sense of beauty, rivalry +in magnificence of church displays, I have not been able to trace. It +runs very strong in Costa Rica, where the influence of the aborigines is +scarcely perceptible, and there, at least, the latter motive is +sufficient explanation. Glorious beyond all our fancy can conceive, must +be the show in those lonely forest churches, which no European visits +save the "collector," on a feast day. Mr. Roezl, whose name is so +familiar to botanists, left a description of the scene that time he +first beheld the Flor de Majo. The church was hung with garlands of it, +he says, and such emotions seized him at the view that he choked. The +statement is quite credible. Those who see that wonder now, prepared for +its transcendent glory, find no words to express their feeling: imagine +an enthusiast beholding it for the first time, unwarned, unsuspecting +that earth can show such a sample of the flowers that bloomed in Eden! +And not a single branch, but garlands of it! Mr. Roezl proceeds to speak +of bouquets of _Masdevallia Harryana_ three feet across, and so forth. +The natives showed him "gardens" devoted to this species, for the +ornament of their church; it was not cultivated, of course, but +evidently planted. They were acres in extent. + +The Indian to whom this _Cattleya Mossiæ_ belonged refused to part with +it at any price for years; he was overcome by a rifle of peculiar +fascination, added to the previous offers. A magic-lantern has very +great influence in such cases, and the collector provides himself with +one or more nowadays as part of his outfit. Under that charm, with +47l. in cash, Mr. Sander secured his first _C. Mossiæ alba_, but it +has failed hitherto in another instance, though backed by 100l., in +"trade" or dollars, at the Indian's option. + +Thence we pass to a wide and lofty house which was designed for growing +_Victoria Regia_ and other tropic water-lilies. It fulfilled its purpose +for a time, and I never beheld those plants under circumstances so well +fitted to display their beauty. But they generate a small black fly in +myriads beyond belief, and so the culture of _Nymphæa_ was dropped. A +few remain, in manageable quantities, just enough to adorn the tank +with blue and rosy stars; but it is arched over now with baskets as +thick as they will hang--Dendrobium, Coelogene, Oncidium, +Spathoglottis, and those species which love to dwell in the +neighbourhood of steaming water. My vocabulary is used up by this time. +The wonders here must go unchronicled. + +We have viewed but four houses out of twelve, a most cursory glance at +that! The next also is intermediate, filled with Cattleyas, warm +Oncidiums, Lycastes, Cypripediums--the inventory of names alone would +occupy all my space remaining. At every step I mark some object worth a +note, something that recalls, or suggests, or demands a word. But we +must get along. The sixth house is cool again--Odontoglossums and such; +the seventh is given to Dendrobes. But facing us as we enter stands a +_Lycaste Skinneri_, which illustrates in a manner almost startling the +infinite variety of the orchid. I positively dislike this species, +obtrusive, pretentious, vague in colour, and stiff in form. But what a +royal glorification of it we have here!--what exquisite veining and +edging of purple or rose; what a velvet lip of crimson darkening to +claret! It is merely a sport of Nature, but she allows herself such +glorious freaks in no other realm of her domain. And here is a new +Brassia just named by the pontiff of orchidology, Professor Reichenbach. +Those who know the tribe of Brassias will understand why I make no +effort to describe it. This wonderful thing is yet more "all over the +shop" than its kindred. Its dorsal sepal measures three inches in +length, its "tail," five inches, with an enormous lip between. They term +it the Squid Flower, or Octopus, in Mexico; and a good name too. But in +place of the rather weakly colouring habitual it has a grand decision of +character, though the tones are like--pale yellow and greenish; its +raised spots, red and deep green, are distinct as points of velvet upon +muslin. + +In the eighth house we return to Odontoglossums and cool genera. Here +are a number of Hybrids of the "natural class," upon which I should have +a good deal to say if inexorable fate permitted; "natural hybrids" are +plants which seem species, but, upon thoughtful examination and study, +are suspected to be the offspring of kindred and neighbours. Interesting +questions arise in surveying fine specimens side by side, in flower, all +attributed to a cross between _Odontoglossum Lindleyanum_ and +_Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ_, and all quite different. But we must +get on to the ninth house, from which the tenth branches. + +Here is the stove, and twilight reigns over that portion where a variety +of super-tropic genera are "plumping up," making roots, and generally +reconciling themselves to a new start in life. Such dainty, delicate +souls may well object to the apprenticeship. It must seem very degrading +to find themselves laid out upon a bed of cinders and moss, hung up by +the heels above it, and even planted therein; but if they have as much +good sense as some believe, they may be aware that it is all for their +good. At the end, in full sunshine, stands a little copse of _Vanda +teres_, set as closely as their stiff branches will allow. Still we must +get on. There are bits of wood hanging here so rotten that they scarcely +hold together; faintest dots of green upon them assure the experienced +that presently they will be draped with pendant leaves, and presently +again, we hope, with blue and white and scarlet flowers of Utricularia. + +From the stove opens a very long, narrow house, where cool genera are +"plumping," laid out on moss and potsherds; many of them have burst into +strong growth. Pleiones are flowering freely as they lie. This farmer's +crops come to harvest faster than he can attend to them. Things +beautiful and rare and costly are measured here by the yard--so many +feet of this piled up on the stage, so many of the other, from all +quarters of the world, waiting the leisure of these busy agriculturists. +Nor can we spare them more than a glance. The next house is filled with +Odontoglossums, planted out like "bedding stuff" in a nursery, awaiting +their turn to be potted. They make a carpet so close, so green, that +flowers are not required to charm the eye as it surveys the long +perspective. The rest are occupied just now with cargoes of imported +plants. + +My pages are filled--to what poor purpose, seeing how they might have +been used for such a theme, no one could be so conscious as I. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 8: I was too sanguine. _Vanda teres_ refused to thrive.] + + + + +ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING. + + +In the very first place, I declare that this is no scientific chapter. +It is addressed to the thousands of men and women in the realm who tend +a little group of orchids lovingly, and mark the wonders of their +structure with as much bewilderment as interest. They read of +hybridization, they see the result in costly specimens, they get books, +they study papers on the subject. But the deeper their research +commonly, the more they become convinced that these mysteries lie beyond +their attainment. I am not aware of any treatise which makes a serious +effort to teach the uninitiated. Putting technical expressions on one +side--though that obstacle is grave enough--every one of those which +have come under my notice takes the mechanical preliminaries for +granted. All are written by experts for experts. My purpose is contrary. +I wish to show how it is done so clearly that a child or the dullest +gardener may be able to perform the operations--so very easy when you +know how to set to work. + +[Illustration: CYPRIPEDIUM (HYBRIDUM) POLLETTIANUM. +Reduced to One Sixth.] + +After a single lesson, in the genus _Cypripedium_ alone, a young lady +of my household amused herself by concerting the most incredible +alliances--_Dendrobium_ with _Odontoglossum_, _Epidendrum_ with +_Oncidium_, _Oncidium_ with _Odontoglossum_, and so forth. It is +unnecessary to tell the experienced that in every case the seed vessel +swelled; that matter will be referred to presently. I mention the +incident only to show how simple are these processes if the key be +grasped. + +Amateur hybridizers of an audacious class are wanted because, hitherto, +operators have kept so much to the beaten paths. The names of Veitch and +Dominy and Seden will endure when those of great _savants_ are +forgotten; but business men have been obliged to concentrate their zeal +upon experiments that pay. Fantastic crosses mean, in all probability, a +waste of time, space, and labour; in fact, it is not until recent years +that such attempts could be regarded as serious. So much the more +creditable, therefore, are Messrs. Veitch's exertions in that line. + +But it seems likely to me that when hybridizing becomes a common pursuit +with those who grow orchids--and the time approaches fast--a very +strange revolution may follow. It will appear, as I think, that the +enormous list of pure species--even genera--recognized at this date may +be thinned in a surprising fashion. I believe--timidly, as becomes the +unscientific--that many distinctions which anatomy recognizes at present +as essential to a true species will be proved, in the future, to result +from promiscuous hybridization through æons of time. "Proved," perhaps, +is the word too strong, since human life is short; but such a mass of +evidence will be collected that reasonable men can entertain no doubt. +Of course the species will be retained, but we shall know it to be a +hybrid--the offspring, perhaps, of hybrids innumerable. + +I incline more and more to think that even genera may be disturbed in a +surprising fashion, and I know that some great authorities agree with me +outright, though they are unprepared to commit themselves at present. A +very few years ago this suggestion would have been absurd, in the sense +that it wanted facts in support. As our ancestors made it an article of +faith that to fertilize an orchid was impossible for man, so we imagined +until lately that genera would not mingle. But this belief grows +unsteady. Though bi-generic crosses have not been much favoured, as +offering little prospect of success, such results have been obtained +already that the field of speculation lies open to irresponsible +persons like myself. When Cattleya has been allied with Sophronitis, +Sophronitis with Epidendrum, Odontoglossum with Zygopetalum, Coelogene +with Calanthe, one may credit almost anything. What should be stated on +the other side will appear presently. + +How many hybrids have we now, established, and passing from hand to hand +as freely as natural species? There is no convenient record; but in the +trade list of a French dealer those he is prepared to supply are set +apart with Gallic precision. They number 416; but imagination and +commercial enterprise are not less characteristic of the Gaul than +precision. + +In the excellent "Manual" of Messrs. Veitch, which has supplied me with +a mass of details, I find ten hybrid Calanthes; thirteen hybrid +Cattleyas, and fifteen Loelias, besides sixteen "natural +hybrids"--species thus classed upon internal evidence--and the wondrous +Sophro-Cattleya, bi-generic; fourteen Dendrobiums and one natural; +eighty-seven Cypripediums--but as for the number in existence, it is so +great, and it increases so fast, that Messrs. Veitch have lost count; +Phajus one, but several from alliance with Calanthe; Chysis two; +Epidendrum one; Miltonia one, and two natural; Masdevallia ten, and two +natural; and so on. And it must be borne in mind that these amazing +results have been effected in one generation. Dean Herbert's +achievements eighty years ago were not chronicled, and it is certain +that none of the results survive. Mr. Sander of St. Albans preserves an +interesting relic, the only one as yet connected with the science of +orchidology. This is _Cattleya hybrida_, the first of that genus raised +by Dominy, manager to Messrs. Veitch, at the suggestion of Mr. Harris of +Exeter, to the stupefaction of our grandfathers. Mr. Harris will ever be +remembered as the gentleman who showed Mr. Veitch's agent how orchids +are fertilized, and started him on his career. This plant was lost for +years, but Mr. Sander found it by chance in the collection of Dr. +Janisch at Hamburg, and he keeps it as a curiosity, for in itself the +object has no value. But this is a digression. + +Dominy's earliest success, actually the very first of garden hybrids to +flower--in 1856--was _Calanthe Dominii_, offspring of _C. Masuca_ × _C. +furcata_;--be it here remarked that the name of the mother, or seed +parent, always stands first. Another interest attaches to _C. Dominii_. +Both its parents belong to the _Veratræfolia_ section of Calanthe, the +terrestrial species, and no other hybrid has yet been raised among them. +We have here one of the numberless mysteries disclosed by hybridization. +The epiphytal Calanthes, represented by _C. vestita_, will not cross +with the terrestrial, represented by _C. veratræfolia_, nor will the +mules of either. We may "give this up" and proceed. In 1859 flowered _C. +Veitchii_, from _C. rosea_, still called, as a rule, _Limatodes rosea, × +C. vestita_. No orchid is so common as this, and none more simply +beautiful. But although the success was so striking, and the way to it +so easy, twenty years passed before even Messrs. Veitch raised another +hybrid Calanthe. In 1878 Seden flowered _C. Sedeni_ from _C. Veitchii × +C. vestita_. Others entered the field then, especially Sir Trevor +Lawrence, Mr. Cookson, and Mr. Charles Winn. But the genus is small, and +they mostly chose the same families, often giving new names to the +progeny, in ignorance of each other's labour. + +The mystery I have alluded to recurs again and again. Large groups of +species refuse to inter-marry with their nearest kindred, even plants +which seem identical in the botanist's point of view. There is good +ground for hoping, however, that longer and broader experience will +annihilate some at least of the axioms current in this matter. Thus, it +is repeated and published in the very latest editions of standard works +that South American Cattleyas, which will breed, not only among +themselves, but also with the Brazilian Loelias, decline an alliance +with their Mexican kindred. But Baron Schroeder possesses a hybrid of +such typical parentage as _Catt. citrina_, Mexican, and _Catt. +intermedia_, Brazilian. It was raised by Miss Harris, of Lamberhurst, +Kent, one single plant only; and it has flowered several times. Messrs. +Sander have crossed _Catt. guttata Leopoldii_, Brazil, with _Catt. +Dowiana_, Costa Rica, giving _Catt. Chamberliana_; _Loelia crispa_, +Brazil, with the same, giving _Loelio-Cattleya Pallas_; _Catt. +citrina_, Mexico, with _Catt. intermedia_, Brazil, giving _Catt. citrina +intermedia_ (Lamberhurst hybrid); _Loelia flava_, Brazil, with _Catt. +Skinneri_, Costa Rica, giving _Loelio-Catt. Marriottiana_; _Loelia +pumila_, Brazil, with _Catt. Dowiana_, Costa Rica, giving +_Loelio-Catt. Normanii_; _Loelia Digbyana_, Central America, with +_Catt. Mossiæ_, Venezuela, giving _Loelio-Catt. Digbyana-Mossiæ_; +_Catt. Mossiæ_, Venezuela, with _Loelia cinnabarina_, Brazil, giving +_Loelio-Catt. Phoebe_. Not yet flowered and unnamed, raised in the +Nursery, are _Catt. citrina_, Mexico, with _Loelia purpurata_, Brazil; +_Catt. Harrisoniæ_, Brazil, with _Catt. citrina_, Mexico; _Loelia +anceps_, Mexico, with _Epidendrum ciliare_, U.S. Colombia. In other +genera there are several hybrids of Mexican and South American +parentage; as _L. anceps_ × _Epid. ciliare_, _Sophronitis grandiflora_ × +_Epid. radicans_, _Epid. xanthinum_ × _Epid. radicans_. + +But among Cypripediums, the easiest and safest of all orchids to +hybridize, East Indian and American species are unfruitful. Messrs. +Veitch obtained such a cross, as they had every reason to believe, in +one instance. For sixteen years the plants grew and grew until it was +thought they would prove the rule by declining to flower. I wrote to +Messrs. Veitch to obtain the latest news. They inform me that one has +bloomed at last. It shows no trace of the American strain, and they have +satisfied themselves that there was an error in the operation or the +record. Again, the capsules secured from very many by-generic crosses +have proved, time after time, to contain not a single seed. In other +cases the seed was excellent to all appearance, but it has resolutely +refused to germinate. And further, certain by-generic seedlings have +utterly ignored one parent. _Zygopetalum Mackayi_ has been crossed by +Mr. Veitch, Mr. Cookson, and others doubtless, with various +Odontoglossums, but the flower has always turned out _Zygopetalum +Mackayi_ pure and simple--which becomes the more unaccountable more +one thinks of it. + +Hybrids partake of the nature of both parents, but they incline +generally, as in the extreme cases mentioned, to resemble one much more +strongly than the other. When a Cattleya or Loelia of the single-leaf +section is crossed with one of the two-leaf, some of the offspring, from +the same capsule, show two leaves, others one only; and some show one +and two alternately, obeying no rule perceptible to us at present. So it +is with the charming _Loelia Maynardii_ from _L. Dayana_ × _Cattleya +dolosa_, just raised by Mr. Sander and named after the Superintendent of +his hybridizing operations. _Catt. dolosa_ has two leaves, _L. Dayana_ +one; the product has two and one alternately. Sepals and petals are +alike in colour, rosy crimson, veined with a deeper hue; lip brightest +crimson-lake, long, broad and flat, curving in handsomely above the +column, which is closely depressed after the manner of _Catt. dolosa_. + +The first bi-generic cross deserves a paragraph to itself if only on +that account; but its own merits are more than sufficient. +_Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana_ was raised by Messrs. Veitch from +_Sophronitis grandiflora_ × _Catt. intermedia_. It flowered in August, +1886; petals and sepals rosy scarlet, lip pale lilac bordered with +amethyst and tipped with rosy purple. + +But one natural hybrid has been identified among Dendrobes--the progeny +doubtless of _D. crassinode_ × _D. Wardianum_. Messrs. J. Laing have a +fine specimen of this; it shows the growth of the latter species with +the bloom of the former, but enlarged and improved. Several other hybrid +crosses are suspected. Of artificial we have not less than fifty. + +Phaius--it is often spelt Phajus--is so closely allied with Calanthe +that for hybridizing purposes at least there is no distinction. Dominy +raised _Ph. irroratus_ from _Ph. grandifolius_ × _Cal. vestita_; Seden +made the same cross, but, using the variety _Cal. v. rubro-occulata_, he +obtained _Ph. purpureus_. The success is more interesting because one +parent is evergreen, the other, Calanthe, deciduous. On this account +probably very few seedlings survive; they show the former habit. Mr. +Cookson alone has yet raised a cross between two species of Phajus--_Ph. +Cooksoni_ from _Ph. Wallichii_ × _Ph. tuberculosus_. One may say that +this is the best hybrid yet raised, saving _Calanthe Veitchii_, if all +merits be considered--stateliness of aspect, freedom in flowering, +striking colour, ease of cultivation. One bulb will throw up four +spikes--twenty-eight have been counted in a twelve-inch pot--each +bearing perhaps thirty flowers. + +Seden has made two crosses of Chysis, both from the exquisite _Ch. +bractescens_, one of the loveliest flowers that heaven has granted to +this world, but sadly fleeting. Nobody, I believe, has yet been so +fortunate as to obtain seed from _Ch. aurea_. This species has the rare +privilege of self-fertilization--we may well exclaim, Why! why?--and it +eagerly avails itself thereof so soon as the flower begins to open. +Thus, however watchful the hybridizer may be, hitherto he has found the +pollen masses melted in hopeless confusion before he can secure them. + +One hybrid Epidendrum has been obtained--_Epi. O'Brienianum_ from _Epi. +evectum × Epi. radicans_; the former purple, the latter scarlet, produce +×a bright crimson progeny. + +Miltonias show two natural hybrids, and one artificial--_Mil. Bleuiana_ +from _Mil. vexillaria × Mil. Roezlii_; both of these are commonly +classed as Odontoglots, and I refer to them elsewhere under that title. +M. Bleu and Messrs. Veitch made this cross about the same time, but the +seedlings of the former flowered in 1889, of the latter, in 1891. Here +we see an illustration of the advantage which French horticulturists +enjoy, even so far north as Paris; a clear sky and abundant sunshine +made a difference of more than twelve months. When Italians begin +hybridizing, we shall see marvels--and Greeks and Egyptians! + +Masdevallias are so attractive to insects, by striking colour, as a +rule, and sometimes by strong smell--so very easily fertilized +also--that we should expect many natural hybrids in the genus. They are +not forthcoming, however. Reichenbach displayed his scientific instinct +by suggesting that two species submitted to him might probably be the +issue of parents named; since that date Seden has produced both of them +from the crosses which Reichenbach indicated. + +We have three natural hybrids among Phaloenopsis. _Ph. intermedia_ made +its appearance in a lot of _Ph. Aphrodite_, imported 1852. M. Porte, a +French trader, brought home two in 1861; they were somewhat different, +and he gave them his name. Messrs. Low imported several in 1874, one of +which, being different again, was called after Mr. Brymer. Three have +been found since, always among _Ph. Aphrodite_; the finest known is +possessed by Lord Rothschild. That these were natural hybrids could not +be doubted; Seden crossed _Ph. Aphrodite_ with _Ph. rosea_, and proved +it. Our garden hybrids are two: _Ph. F.L. Ames_, obtained from _Ph. +amabilis × Ph. intermedia_, and _Ph. Harriettæ_ from _Ph. amabilis × +Ph. violacea_, named after the daughter of Hon. Erastus Corning, of +Albany, U.S.A. + +Oncidiums yield only two natural hybrids at present, and those +uncertain; others are suspected. We have no garden hybrids, I believe, +as yet. So it is with Odontoglossums, as has been said, but in the +natural state they cross so freely that a large proportion of the +species may probably be hybrids. I allude to this hereafter. + +I have left Cypripediums to the last, in these hasty notes, because that +supremely interesting genus demands more than a record of dry facts. +Darwin pointed out that Cypripedium represents the primitive form of +orchid. He was acquainted with no links connecting it with the later and +more complicated genera; some have been discovered since that day, but +it is nevertheless true that "an enormous extinction must have swept +away a multitude of intermediate forms, and left this single genus as +the record of a former and more simple state of the great orchidacean +order." The geographical distribution shows that Cypripedium was more +common in early times--to speak vaguely--and covered an area yet more +extensive than now. And the process of extermination is still working, +as with other primitive types. + +Messrs. Veitch point out that although few genera of plants are +scattered so widely over the earth as Cypripedium, the species have +withdrawn to narrow areas, often isolated, and remote from their +kindred. Some are rare to the degree that we may congratulate ourselves +upon the chance which put a few specimens in safety under glass before +it was too late, for they seem to have become extinct even in this +generation. Messrs. Veitch give a few striking instances. All the plants +of _Cyp. Fairieanum_ known to exist have sprung from three or four +casually imported in 1856. Two bits of _Cyp. superbiens_ turned up among +a consignment of _Cyp. barbatum_; none have been found since, and it is +doubtful whether the species survives in its native home. Only three +plants of _Cyp. Marstersianium_ have been discovered. They reached Mr. +Bull in a miscellaneous case of Cypripediums forwarded to him by the +Director of the Botanic Gardens at Buitzenzorze, in Java; but that +gentleman and his successors in office have been unable to find another +plant. These three must have reached the Gardens by an accident--as they +left it--presented perhaps by some Dutchman who had been travelling. + +_Cyp. purpuratum_ is almost extinct at Hong Kong, and is vanishing fast +on the mainland. It is still found occasionally in the garden of a +peasant, who, we are told, resolutely declines to sell his treasure. +This may seem incredible to those who know the Chinaman, but Mr. +Roebelin vouches for the fact; it is one more eccentricity to the credit +of that people, who had quite enough already. Collectors expect to find +a new habitat of _Cyp. purpuratum_ in Formosa when they are allowed to +explore that realm. Even our native _Cyp. calceolus_ has almost +disappeared; we get it now from Central Europe, but in several districts +where it abounded the supply grows continually less. The same report +comes from North America and Japan. Fortunate it is, but not surprising +to the thoughtful observer, that this genus grows and multiplies with +singular facility when its simple wants are supplied. There is no danger +that a species which has been rescued from extinction will perish under +human care. + +This seems contradictory. How should a plant thrive better under +artificial conditions than in the spot where Nature placed it? The +reason lies in that archaic character of the Cypriped which Darwin +pointed out. Its time has passed--Nature is improving it off the face of +the earth. A gradual change of circumstances makes it more and more +difficult for this primitive form of orchid to exist, and, conscious of +the fate impending, it gratefully accepts our help. + +One cause of extermination is easily grasped. Cypripeds have not the +power of fertilizing themselves, except a single species, _Cyp. +Schlimii_, which--accordingly, as we may say--is most difficult to +import and establish; moreover, it flowers so freely that the seedlings +are always weak. In all species the sexual apparatus is so constructed +that it cannot be impregnated by accident, and few insects can perform +the office. Dr. Hermann Muller studied _Cyp. calceolus_ assiduously in +this point of view. He observed only five species of insect which +fertilize it. _Cyp. calceolus_ has perfume and honey, but none of the +tropical species offer those attractions. Their colour is not showy. The +labellum proves to be rather a trap than a bait. Large insects which +creep into it and duly bear away the pollen masses, are caught and held +fast by that sticky substance when they try to escape through the +lateral passages, which smaller insects are too weak to force their way +through. + +Natural hybrids occur so rarely, that their existence is commonly +denied. The assertion is not quite exact; but when we consider the +habits of the genus, it ceases to be extraordinary that Cypripeds +rarely cross in their wild state. Different species of Cattleya, +Odontoglots, and the rest live together on the same tree, side by side. +But those others dwell apart in the great majority of cases, each +species by itself, at a vast distance perhaps from its kindred. The +reason for this state of things has been mentioned--natural laws have +exterminated them in the spaces between, which are not so well fitted to +maintain a doomed race. + +Doubtless Cypripeds rarely fertilize--by comparison, that is, of +course--in their native homes. The difficulty that insects find in +performing that service has been mentioned. Mr. Godseff points out to me +a reason far more curious and striking. When a bee displaces the pollen +masses of a Cattleya, for instance, they cling to its head or thorax by +means of a sticky substance attached to the pollen cases; so, on +entering the next flower, it presents the pollen _outwards_ to the +stigmatic surface. But in the case of a Cypriped there is no such +substance, the adhesive side of the pollen itself is turned outward, and +it clings to any intruding substance. But this is the fertilizing part. +Therefore, an insect which by chance displaces the pollen mass carries +it off, as one may say, the wrong side up. On entering the next flower, +it does not commonly present the surface necessary for impregnation, but +a sterile globule which is the backing thereof. We may suppose that in +the earlier age, when this genus flourished as the later forms of orchid +do now, it enjoyed some means of fertilization which have vanished. + +Under such disadvantages it is not to be expected that seed capsules +would be often found upon imported Cypripeds. Messrs. Veitch state that +they rarely observed one among the myriads of plants that have passed +through their hands. With some species, however, it is not by any means +so uncommon. When Messrs. Thompson, of Clovenfords, bought a quantity of +the first _Cyp. Spicerianum_ which came upon the market, they found a +number of capsules, and sowed them, obtaining several hundred fine +plants. Pods are often imported on _Cyp. insigne_ full of good seed. + +In the circumstances enumerated we have the explanation of an +extraordinary fact. Hybrids or natural species of Cypripediums +artificially raised are stronger than their parents, and they produce +finer flowers. The reason is that they get abundance of food in +captivity, and all things are made comfortable for them; whilst Nature, +anxious to be rid of a form of plant no longer approved, starves and +neglects them. + +The same argument enables us to understand why Cypripeds lend themselves +so readily to the hybridizer. Darwin taught us to expect that species +which can rarely hope to secure a chance of reproduction will learn to +make the process as easy and as sure as the conditions would admit--that +none of those scarce opportunities may be lost. And so it proves. +Orchidaceans are apt to declare that "everybody" is hybridizing +Cypripeds nowadays. At least, so many persons have taken up this +agreeable and interesting pursuit that science has lost count of the +less striking results. Briefly, the first hybrid Cypripedium was raised +by Dominy, in 1869, and named after Mr. Harris, who, as has been said, +suggested the operation to him. Seden produced the next in 1874--_Cyp. +Sedeni_ from _Cyp. Schlimii × Cyp. longiflorum_; curious as the single +instance yet noted in which seedlings turn out identical, whichever +parent furnish the pollen-masses. In every other case they vary when the +functions of the parents are exchanged. + +For a long time after 1853, when serious work begun, Messrs. Veitch had +a monopoly of the business. It is but forty years, therefore, since +experiments commenced, in which time hundreds of hybrids have been +added to our list of flowers; but--this is my point--Nature has been +busy at the same task for unknown ages, and who can measure the fruits +of her industry? I do not offer the remark as an argument; our +observations are too few as yet. It may well be urged that if Nature had +been thus active, the "natural hybrids" which can be recognized would be +much more numerous than they are. I have pointed out that many of the +largest genera show very few; many none at all. But is it impossible +that the explanation appears to fail only because we cannot yet push it +far enough? When the hybridizer causes by force a fruitful union betwixt +two genera, he seems to triumph over a botanical law. But suppose the +genera themselves are artificial, only links in a grand chain which +Nature has forged slowly, patiently, with many a break and many a +failure, in the course of ages? She would finish her work bit by bit, +and at every stage the new variety may have united with others in +endless succession. Few natural hybrids can be identified among +Cattleyas, for instance. But suppose Cattleyas are all hybrids, the +result of promiscuous intercourse among genera during cycles of +time--suppose, that is, the genus itself sprang from parents widely +diverse, crossing, returning, intercrossing from age to age? It is +admitted that Cypripedium represents a primeval form--perhaps _the_ +primeval form--of orchid. Suppose that we behold, in this nineteenth +century, a mere epoch, or stage, in the ceaseless evolution? Only an +irresponsible amateur could dare talk in this way. It would, in truth, +be very futile speculation if experiments already successful did not +offer a chance of proof one day, and others, hourly ripening, did not +summon us to think. + +I may cite, with the utmost brevity, two or three facts which--to me +unscientific--appear inexplicable, unless species of orchid were +developed on the spot; or the theory of special local creations be +admitted. _Oncidium cucullatum_ flourishes in certain limited areas of +Peru, of Ecuador, of Colombia, and of Venezuela. It is not found in the +enormous spaces between, nor are any Oncidiums which might be accepted +as its immediate parents. Can we suppose that the winds or the birds +carried it over mountain ranges and broad rivers more than two thousand +miles, in four several directions, to establish it upon a narrow tract? +It is a question of faith; but, for my own part, I could as soon believe +that æsthetic emigrants took it with them. But even winds and birds +could not bear the seed of _Dendrobium heterocarpum_ from Ceylon to +Burmah, and from Burmah to Luzon in the Philippines; at least, I am +utterly unable to credit it. If the plants were identical, or nearly, in +their different habitats, this case would be less significant. But the +_D. heterocarpum_ of Ceylon has a long, thin pseudo-bulb, with bright +yellow flowers; that of Burmah is short and thick, with paler colouring; +that of Luzon is no less than three feet high, exaggerating the stature +of its most distant relative while showing the colour of its nearest; +but all, absolutely, the same botanic plant. I have already mentioned +other cases. + +Experience hitherto suggests that we cannot raise Odontoglossum +seedlings in this climate; very, very few have ever been obtained. +Attempts in France have been rather more successful. Baron Adolf de +Rothschild has four different hybrids of Odontoglossum in bud at this +present moment in his garden at Armainvilliers, near Paris. M. Moreau +has a variety of seedlings. + +Authorities admit now that a very great proportion of our Odontoglossums +are natural hybrids; so many can be identified beyond the chance of +error that the field for speculation has scarcely bounds. _O. excellens_ +is certainly descended from _O. Pescatorei_ and _O. triumphans_, _O. +elegans_ from _O. cirrhosum_ and _O. Hallii_, _O. Wattianum_ from _O. +Harryanum_ and _O. hystrix_. And it must be observed that we cannot +trace pedigree beyond the parents as yet, saving a very, very few cases. +But unions have been contracting during cycles of time; doubtless, from +the laws of things the orchid is latest born of Nature's children in the +world of flora, but mighty venerable by this time, nevertheless. We can +identify the mixed offspring of _O. crispum Alexandræ_ paired with _O. +gloriosum_, with _O. luteopurpureum_, with _O. Lindleyanum_; these +parents dwell side by side, and they could not fail to mingle. We can +already trace with assurance a few double crosses, as _O. lanceans_, the +result of an alliance between _O. crispum Alexandræ_ and _O. +Ruckerianum_, which latter is a hybrid of the former with _O. +gloriosum_. When we observe _O. Roezlii_ upon the bank of the River +Cauca and _O. vexillarium_ on the higher ground, whilst _O. vexillarium +superbum_ lives between, we may confidently attribute its peculiarity of +a broad dark blotch upon the lip to the influence of _O. Roezlii_. So, +taking station at Manaos upon the Amazons, we find, to eastward, +_Cattleya superba_, to westward _C. Eldorado_, and in the midst _C. +Brymeriana_, which, it is safe to assume, represents the union of the +two; for that matter, the theory will very soon be tested, for M. +Alfred Bleu has "made the cross" of _C. superba_ and _C. Eldorado_, and +its flower is expected with no little interest. + +These cases, and many more, are palpable. We see a variety in the making +at this date. A thousand years hence, or ten thousand, by more distant +alliances, by a change of conditions, the variety may well have +developed into a species, or, by marriage excursions yet wider, it may +have founded a genus. + +I have named Mr. Cookson several times; in fact, to discourse of +hybridization for amateurs without reference to his astonishing "record" +would be grotesque. One Sunday afternoon, ten years ago, he amused +himself with investigating the structure of a few Cypripeds, after +reading Darwin's book; and he impregnated them. To his astonishment the +seed-vessel began to swell, and so did Mr. Cookson's enthusiasm +simultaneously. He did not yet know, and, happily, these experiments +gave him no reason to suspect, that pseudo-fertilization can be +produced, actually, by anything. So intensely susceptible is the +stigmatic surface of the Cypriped that a touch excites it furiously. +Upon the irritation caused by a bit of leaf, it will go sometimes +through all the visible processes of fecundation, the ovary will swell +and ripen, and in due time burst, with every appearance of fertility; +but, of course, there is no seed. Beginners, therefore, must not be too +sanguine when their bold attempts promise well. + +From that day Mr. Cookson gave his leisure to hybridization, with such +results as, in short, are known to everybody who takes an interest in +orchids. Failures in abundance he had at first, but the proportion has +grown less and less until, at this moment, he confidently looks for +success in seventy-five per cent. of his attempts; but this does not +apply to bi-generic crosses, which hitherto have not engaged his +attention much. Beginning with Cypripedium, he has now ninety-four +hybrids--very many plants of each--produced from one hundred and forty +capsules sown. Of Calanthe, sixteen hybrids from nineteen capsules; of +Dendrobium, thirty-six hybrids from forty-one capsules; of Masdevallia, +four hybrids from seventeen capsules; of Odontoglossum, none from nine +capsules; of Phajus, two from two capsules; of Vanda, none from one +capsule; of bi-generic, one from nine capsules. There may be another +indeed, but the issue of an alliance so startling, and produced under +circumstances so dubious, that Mr. Cookson will not own it until he sees +the flower. + +It does not fall within the scope of this chapter to analyze the list +of this gentleman's triumphs, but even _savants_ will be interested to +hear a few of the most remarkable crosses therein, for it is not +published. I cite the following haphazard:-- + + Phajus Wallichii × Phajus tuberculosus. + Loelia præstans. × Cattleya Dowiana. + " purpurata × Cattleya Dowiana. + " " × Loelia grandis tenebrosa. + " " × Cattleya Mendellii. + " marginata × Loelia elegans Cooksoni. + Cattleya Mendellii × " purpurata. + " Trianæ × " harpophylla. + " Percivalliana × " + " Lawrenceana × Cattleya Mossiæ. + " gigas × " Gaskelliana. + " crispa × " " + " Dowiana × " " + " Schofieldiana × " gigas imperialis. + " Leopoldii × " Dowiana. + Cypripedium Stonei × Cypripedium Godefroyæ. + " " × " Spicerianum. + " Sanderianum × " Veitchii. + " Spicerianum × " Sanderianum. + " Io × " vexillarium. + Dendrobium nobile nobilus × Dendrobium Falconerii. + " " × " nobile Cooksonianum. + " Wardianum × " aureum. + " " × " Linawianum. + " luteolum × " nobile nobilius. + Masdevallia Tovarensis × Masdevallia bella. + " Shuttleworthii × " Tovarensis. + " " × " rosea. + +Of these, and so many more, Mr. Cookson has at this moment fifteen +thousand plants. Since my object is to rouse the attention of amateurs, +that they may go and do likewise, I may refer lightly to a consideration +which would be out of place under other circumstances. Professional +growers of orchids are fond of speculating how much the Wylam collection +would realize if judiciously put on the market. I shall not mention the +estimates I have heard; it is enough to say they reach many, many +thousands of pounds; that the difference between the highest and the +lowest represents a handsome fortune. And this great sum has been earned +by brains alone, without increase of expenditure, by boldness of +initiative, thought, care, and patience; without special knowledge also, +at the beginning, for ten years ago Mr. Cookson had no more acquaintance +with orchids than is possessed by every gentleman who takes an interest +in them, while his gardener the early time was both ignorant and +prejudiced. This should encourage enterprise, I think--the revelation of +means to earn great wealth in a delightful employment. But amateurs must +be quick. Almost every professional grower of orchids is preparing to +enter the field. They, however, must needs give the most of their +attention to such crosses as may be confidently expected to catch the +public fancy, as has been said. I advise my readers to be daring, even +desperate. It is satisfactory to learn that Mr. Cookson intends to make +a study of bi-generic hybridization henceforward.[9] + +The common motive for crossing orchids is that, of course, which urges +the florist in other realms of botany. He seeks to combine tints, forms, +varied peculiarities, in a new shape. Orchids lend themselves to +experiment with singular freedom, within certain limits, and their array +of colours seems to invite our interference. Taking species and genera +all round, yellow dominates, owing to its prevalence in the great family +of Oncidium; purples and mauves stand next by reason of their supremacy +among the Cattleyas. Green follows--if we admit the whole group of +Epidendrums--the great majority of which are not beautiful, however. Of +magenta, the rarest of natural hues, we have not a few instances. +Crimson, in a thousand shades, is frequent; pure white a little rare, +orange much rarer; scarlet very uncommon, and blue almost unknown, +though supremely lovely in the few instances that occur. Thus the +temptation to hybridize with the object of exchanging colours is +peculiarly strong. + +It becomes yet stronger by reason of the delightful uncertainty which +attends one's efforts. So far as I have heard or read, no one has yet +been able to offer a suggestion of any law which decides the result of +combination. In a general way, both parents will be represented in the +offspring, but how, to what degree either will dominate, in what parts, +colours, or fashions a hybrid will show its mixed lineage, the +experienced refuse to conjecture, saving certain easy classes. After +choosing parents thoughtfully, with a clear perception of the aim in +view, one must "go it blind." Very often the precise effect desired +appears in due time; very often something unlooked for turns up; but +nearly always the result is beautiful, whether or no it serve the +operator's purpose. Besides effect, however, there is an utility in +hybridization which relates to culture. Thus, for example, the lovely +_Cypripedium Fairieanum_ is so difficult to grow that few dealers keep +it in their stock; by crossing it with _Cyp. barbatum_, from Mount +Ophir, a rough-and-ready cool species, we get _Cyp. vexillarium_, which +takes after the latter in constitution while retaining much of the +beauty of the former. Or again, _Cypripedium Sanderianum_, from the +Malay Archipelago, needs such swampy heat as few even of its fellows +appreciate; it has been crossed with _Cyp. insigne_, which will flourish +anywhere, and though the seedlings have not yet bloomed, there is no +reasonable doubt that they will prove as useful and beautiful as in the +other case. _Cypripedium insigne_, of the fine varieties, has been +employed in a multitude of such instances. There is the striking _Cyp. +hirsutissimum_, with sepals of a nameless green, shaded yellow, studded +with spiculæ, exquisitely frilled, and tipped, by a contrast almost +startling, with pale purple. It is very "hot" in the first place, and, +in the second, its appearance would be still more effective if some +white could be introduced; present it to _Cyp. niveum_ and confidently +expect that the progeny will bear cooler treatment, whilst their "dorsal +sepal" will be blanched. So the charming _Masdevallia Tovarensis_, warm, +white and lowly, will take to itself the qualities, in combination, of +_Mas. bella_, tall, cool, and highly coloured red and yellow, as Mr. +Cookson has proved; so _Phaloenopsis Wightii_, delicate of growth and +small of flower, will become strong and generous by union with _Phal. +grandiflora_, without losing its dainty tones. + +It is worth mention that the first Flora medal offered by the Royal +Horticultural Society for a seedling--a hybrid--in open competition was +won by _Loelia Arnoldiana_ in 1891; the same variety took the first +prize in 1892. It was raised by Messrs. Sander from _L. purpurata_ × +_Catt. labiata_; seed sown 1881, flowered 1891. + +And now for the actual process by which these most desirable results, +and ten thousand others, may be obtained. I shall not speak upon my own +authority, which the universe has no reason to trust. Let us observe the +methods practised in the great establishment of Mr. Sander at St. +Albans. + + Remark, in the first place, the low, unshaded range of houses + devoted to hybridization, a contrast to those lofty structures, a + hundred yards long or more, where plants merely flourish and bloom. + Their span roofs one may touch with the hand, and their glass is + always newly cleaned. The first and last demand of the hybridizer is + light--light--eternally light. Want of it stands at the bottom of + all his disappointments, perhaps. The very great majority of + orchids, such as I refer to, have their home in the tropics; even + the "cool" Odontoglots and Masdevallias owe that quality to their + mountaineering habit, not to latitude. They live so near the equator + that sunshine descends almost perpendicularly--and the sun shines + for more than half the year. But in this happy isle of ours, upon + the very brightest day of midsummer, its rays fall at an angle of + 28°, declining constantly until, at midwinter, they struggle through + the fogs at an inclination of 75°. The reader may work out this + proportion for himself, but he must add to his reckoning the + thickness of our atmosphere at its best, and the awful number of + cloudy days. We cannot spare one particle of light. The ripening + seed must stand close beneath the glass, and however fierce the + sunshine no blind may be interposed. It is likely that the + mother-plant will be burnt up--quite certain that it will be much + injured. + +This house is devoted to the hybridizing of Cypripediums; I choose that +genus for our demonstration, because, as has been said, it is so very +easy and so certain that an intelligent girl mastered all its +eccentricities of structure after a single lesson, which made her +equally proficient in those of Dendrobes, Oncidiums, Odontoglots, +Epidendrums, and I know not how many more. The leaves are green and +smooth as yet, with many a fantastic bloom, and many an ovary that has +just begun to swell, rising amidst the verdure. Each flower spike which +has been crossed carries its neat label, registering the father's name +and the date of union. + +Mr. Maynard takes the two first virgin blooms to hand: _Cypripedium +Sanderianum_, and _Cypripedium Godefroyæ_, as it chances. Let us cut off +the lip in order to see more clearly. Looking down now upon the flower, +we mark two wings, the petals, which stood on either side of the +vanished lip. From the junction of these wings issues a round stalk, +about one quarter of an inch long, and slightly hairy, called the +"column." It widens out at the tip, forming a pretty table, rather more +than one-third of an inch long and wide. This table serves no purpose in +our inquiry; it obstructs the view, and we will remove it; but the +reader understands, of course, that these amputations cannot be +performed when business is intended. Now--the table snipped off--we see +those practical parts of the flower that interest us. Beneath its +protection, the column divides into three knobbly excrescences, the +central plain, those on either side of it curling back and down, each +bearing at its extremity a pad, the size of a small pin's head, outlined +distinctly with a brown colour. It is quite impossible to mistake these +things; equally impossible, I hope, to misunderstand my description. +The pads are the male, the active organs. + +But the column does not finish here. It trends downward, behind and +below the pads, and widens out, with an exquisitely graceful curve, into +a disc one-quarter of an inch broad. This is the female, the receptive +part; but here we see the peculiarity of orchid structure. For the upper +surface of the disc is not susceptible; it is the under surface which +must be impregnated, though the imagination cannot conceive a mere +accident which would throw those fertilizing pads upon their destined +receptacle. They are loosely attached and adhesive, when separated, to a +degree actually astonishing, as is the disc itself; but if it were +possible to displace them by shaking, they could never fall where they +ought. Some outside impulse is needed to bring the parts together. In +their native home insects perform that service--sometimes. Here we may +take the first implement at hand, a knife, a bit of stick, a pencil. We +remove the pads, which yield at a touch, and cling to the object. We lay +them one by one on the receptive disc, where they seem to melt into the +surface--and the trick is done. Write out your label--_"Cyp. Sanderianum +× Cyp. Godefroyæ_, Maynard." Add the date, and leave Nature to her work. + +She does not linger. One may almost say that the disc begins to swell +instantly. That part which we term the column is the termination of the +seed-purse, the ovary, which occupies an inch, or two, or three, of the +stalk, behind the flower. In a very few days its thickening becomes +perceptible. The unimpregnated bloom falls off at its appointed date, as +everybody knows; but if fertilized it remains entire, saving the +labellum, until the seed is ripe, perhaps half a year afterwards--but +withered, of course. Very singular and quite inexplicable are the +developments that arise in different genera, or even species, after +fertilization. In the Warscewiczellas, for example, not the seed-purse +only, but the whole column swells. _Phaloenopsis Luddemanniana_ is +specially remarkable. Its exquisite bars and mottlings of rose, brown, +and purple begin to take a greenish hue forthwith. A few days later, the +lip jerks itself off with a sudden movement, as observers declare. Then +the sepals and petals remaining take flesh, thicken and thicken, while +the hues fade and the green encroaches, until, presently, they assume +the likeness of a flower, abnormal in shape but perfect, of dense green +wax. + +This Cypripedium of ours will ripen its seed in about twelve months, +more or less. Then the capsule, two inches long and two-thirds of an +inch diameter, will burst. Mr. Maynard will cut it off, open it wide, +and scatter the thousands of seeds therein, perhaps 150,000, over pots +in which orchids are growing. After experiments innumerable, this has +been found the best course. The particles, no bigger than a grain of +dust, begin to swell at once, reach the size of a mustard-seed, and in +five or six weeks--or as many months--they put out a tiny leaf, then a +tiny root, presently another leaf, and in four or five years we may look +for the hybridized flower. Long before, naturally, they have been +established in their own pots. + +Strange incidents occur continually in this pursuit, as may be believed. +Nine years since, Mr. Godseff crossed _Catasetum macrocarpum_ with +_Catasetum callosum_. The seed ripened, and in due time it was sown; but +none ever germinated in the proper place. A long while afterwards Mr. +Godseff remarked a tiny little green speck in a crevice above the door +of this same house. It grew and grew very fast, never receiving water +unless by the rarest accident, until those experts could identify a +healthy young Catasetum. And there it has flourished ever since, +receiving no attention; for it is the first rule in orchid culture to +leave a plant to itself where it is doing well, no matter how strange +the circumstances may appear to us. This Catasetum, wafted by the wind, +when the seed was sown, found conditions suitable where it lighted, and +quickened, whilst all its fellows, carefully provided for, died without +a sign. It thrives upon the moisture of the house. In a very few years +it will flower. In another case, when all hope of the germination of a +quantity of seed had long been lost, it became necessary to take up the +wooden trellis that formed the flooring of the path; a fine crop of +young hybrids was discovered clinging to the under side. + +The amateur who has followed us thus far with interest, may inquire how +long it will be before he can reasonably expect to see the outcome of +our proceedings? In the first place, it must be noted that the time +shortens continually as we gain experience. The statements following I +leave unaltered, because they are given by Messrs. Veitch, our oldest +authority, in the last edition of their book. But at the Temple Show +this year Norman C. Cookson, Esq., exhibited _Catt. William Murray_, +offspring of _Catt. Mendellii × Catt. Lawrenceana_, a lovely flower +which gained a first class certificate. It was only four years old. + +The quickest record as yet is _Calanthe Alexanderii_, with which Mr. +Cookson won a first-class certificate of the Royal Horticultural +Society. It flowered within three years of fertilizing. As a genus, +perhaps, Dendrobiums are readiest to show. Plants have actually been +"pricked out" within two months of sowing, and they have bloomed within +the fourth year. Phajus and Calanthe rank next for rapid development. +Masdevallia, Chysis, and Cypripedium require four to five years, Lycaste +seven to eight, Loelia and Cattleya ten to twelve. These are Mr. +Veitch's calculations in a rough way, but there are endless exceptions, +of course. Thus his _Loelia triophthalma_ flowered in its eighth +season, whilst his _Loelia caloglossa_ delayed till its nineteenth. +The genus _Zygopetalum_, which plays odd tricks in hybridizing, as I +have mentioned, is curious in this matter also. _Z. maxillare_ crossed +with _Z. Mackayi_ demands five years to bloom, but _vice versâ_ nine +years. There is a case somewhat similar, however, among the Cypripeds. +_C. Schlimii_ crossed with _C. longifolium_ flowers in four years, but +_vice versâ_ in six. It is not to be disputed, therefore, that the +hybridizer's reward is rather slow in coming; the more earnestly should +he take measures to ensure, so far as is possible, that it be worth +waiting for. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: Mr. Cookson writes to me: "Give some of the credit to my +present gardener, William Murray, who is entitled to a large proportion, +at least."] + + + + +INDEX. + + + PAGE + Aerides Lawrenciæ 160 + Angræcum arcuatum 134 + " caudatum 135 + " Duchailluianum 134 + " Ellisii 135 + " falcatum 133 + " Kotschyi 135 + " Leonis 135 + " Sanderianum 134 + " Scottianum 135 + " sesquipedale (Æranthus sesquipedalis) 135 + Anomatheca cruenta 11 + + Begonia coralina 195 + Begonias 86 + Brassias 207 + Brassavola Digbyana 128 + Bulbophyllum barbigerum 169 + " Beccarii 169 + " Dearei 170 + " Godseffianum 170 + " Lobbii 170 + Bullthorn acacia 124 + + Calanthe Alexanderii 246 + " Dominii 214 + " Sedeni 215 + " Veitchii 215 + Catasetum barbatum 123 + " Bungerothi (C. pileatum) 123 + " callosum 123 + " fimbriatum 123 + Cattleya Acklandiæ 154 + " amethystoglossa 154 + " aurea 115 + " Brymeriana 232 + " Dowiana 115, 151 + " Hardyana 118 + " hybrida 214 + " labiata 111 + " Lawrenceana 92 + " Mendellii 117 + " " fly 117 + " Mossiæ 111 + " Sanderiana 118 + " Skinneri alba 119 + " superba 152 + " Trianæ 111, 201 + " violacea 110 + Coelogene cristata 160 + " Dayana 161 + " pandurata 160 + " Sanderiana 161 + Cookson, Norman, Esq. 22433 + + Collectors:-- + Arnold 27, 28, 70, 180, 181 + Bartholomeus 122, 180 + Bestwood 180 + Chaillu, M. Du 134 + Chesterton 180, 181 + Clarke 181 + Digance 181 + Dressel 77 + Endres 70 + Ericksson 32, 33 + Falkenberg 69 + Forstermann 162 + Gardner 174, 175, 181 + Hartweg 67 + Humblot 133 + Kerbach 72, 180 + Klaboch 70, 105, 180 + Kromer 95, 98, 99 + Lawrenceson 181 + Micholitz 30, 31 + Osmers 94, 181 + Oversluys 163, 180 + Roebelin 140, 160 + Roezl 66, 75, 76, 105, 139, 204, 205 + Schroeder 70 + Seyler 100 + Smith 180, 181 + Steigfers 99 + Swainson 173-175, 177, 179, 181 + Wallace 35 + Wallis 70 + Weir 67 + Cypripedium calceolus 82, 224, 225 + " candidum 82 + " Curtisi 32 + " Fairieanum 223 + " guttatum 82 + " insigne 83, 84, 108 + " macranthum 82 + " niveum 85 + " parviflorum 82 + " planifolium 87 + " pubescens 82 + " purpuratum 223 + " Sedeni 228 + " spectabile 82 + " Spicerianum 83, 85 + " vexillarium 238 + Cymbidium Lowianum 195 + " Albertesii 131 + + Dendrobium atro-violaceum 131 + " bigibbum 168 + " Broomfieldianum 131 + " Brymerianum 127 + " Forstermanni 127 + " Goldiei 130 + " heterocarpum 230 + " Johannis 168 + " luteolum 195 + " nobile nobilius 128 + " " Cooksoni 129 + " " Sanderianum 129 + " phaloenopsis 168 + " " Schroederianum 29 + " rhodopterygium 127 + " superbiens 168 + " Wardianum 125 + Disa Cooperi 166 + " discolor 166 + " grandiflora 165 + " racemosa 165 + + Epidendrum bicornutum 40 + " O'Brienianum 220 + " prismatocarpum 167 + " radicans 167 + " Randii 152 + " rhizophorum 167 + + Frogs, green, value of 13 + + Galleandra Devoniana 156 + Grammatophyllum speciosum 171 + " Measureseanum 171 + " multiflorum 172 + + Hybridizing 210 + + Lycaste Skinneri 79-81, 206 + " " alba 79, 81 + " aromatica 80 + " cruenta 81 + Loelia anceps 109, 120, 122 + " elegans 153 + " Maynardii 218 + " purpurata 153, 154 + " guttata Leopoldi 152, 153, 154 + " anceps alba 122 + " " Amesiana 109 + + Masdevallia Livingstoniana 140 + " Schlimii 76 + " Tovarensis 27 + + Odontoglossum Alexandræ 39, 67, 71 + " citrosmum 58 + " grande 107 + " Hallii 77 + " Harryanum 75 + " Hybrids 64, 78, 108, 231 + " noeveum 77 + " ramossissimum (coeleste) 34 + " Roezlii (Miltonia Roezlii) 64 + " Schlieperianum 107 + " vexillarium (Miltonia vexillaria) 104 + " Williamsi 107 + Oncidium cibolletum 116 + " crispum 47 + " cucullatum 230 + " fuscatum 90 + " Jonesianum 116 + " juncifolium 39 + " Lanceanum 164 + " luridum 39 + " macranthum 88 + " papilio 164 + " sculptum 89 + " serratum 89 + " splendidum 162, 163 + " superbiens 89 + + Peristeria elata 138 + Phajus Cooksoni 219 + " Humblotii 133 + " irroratus 219 + " purpureus 219 + " tuberculosus 133 + Phaloenopsis 54 + " amabilis 158 + " cornucervi 159 + " F.L. Ames 221 + " Harriettæ 221 + " intermedia 221 + " Luddemanniana 244 + " Manni 159 + " Portei 159 + " Sanderiana 159 + " Schilleriana 158 + " speciosa 157 + " tetraspis 156 + + Renanthera coccinea 113, 146, 147 + Roraima Mountain 77, 94 + + Schomburgkia tibicinis 124 + Sobralias 196 + Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana 218 + + Thanatophore 92 + + Utricularia Campbelli 199 + + Vanda limbata 144 + " Lowii 143, 148 + " teres 143, 144 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of About Orchids, by Frederick Boyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT ORCHIDS *** + +***** This file should be named 17155-8.txt or 17155-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/5/17155/ + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State +University Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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BY FREDERICK BOYLE. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + img {border:0;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; visibility: hidden; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of About Orchids, by Frederick Boyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: About Orchids + A Chat + +Author: Frederick Boyle + +Release Date: November 26, 2005 [EBook #17155] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT ORCHIDS *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State +University Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"></a>[Pg i]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo001.jpg"><img src="images/illo001-tb.jpg" alt="Vanda Sanderiana." title="Vanda Sanderiana." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Vanda Sanderiana.</span><br /> +Reduced to One Sixth</h4> + +<h1>ABOUT ORCHIDS</h1> + +<h3><i>A CHAT</i></h3> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>FREDERICK BOYLE</h3> + +<h4><i>WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS</i></h4> + +<p class='center'>London: CHAPMAN and HALL, Ltd.<br /> +1893</p> + +<p class='center'>[<i>All rights reserved</i>]</p> + + + +<p class='center'>LONDON:<br /> +PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED,<br /> +ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL, E.C.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<h4>I INSCRIBE<br /> +THIS BOOK TO MY GUIDE, COMFORTER<br /> +AND FRIEND,</h4> +<h3>JOSEPH GODSEFF.</h3> +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="TABLE OF CONTENTS"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>My Gardening</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'><b>1</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An Orchid Sale</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_24'><b>24</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Orchids</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_42'><b>42</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cool Orchids</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_60'><b>60</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Warm Orchids</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_103'><b>103</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hot Orchids</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_138'><b>138</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>The Lost Orchid</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_173'><b>173</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>An Orchid Farm</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_183'><b>183</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Orchids and Hybridizing</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_210'><b>210</b></a></td></tr> +</table> + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Vanda Sanderiana</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_i'><b>Frontis</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_67'><b>67</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Oncidium macranthum</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_88'><b>88</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium Brymerianum</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_127'><b>127</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cœlogene pandurata</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_160'><b>160</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya labiata</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_173'><b>173</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia anceps Schroederiana</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_197'><b>197</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium (hybridum) Pollettianum</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_210'><b>210</b></a></td></tr> +</table> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The purport of this book is shown in the letter following which I +addressed to the editor of the <i>Daily News</i> some months ago:—</p> + +<p>"I thank you for reminding your readers, by reference to my humble work, +that the delight of growing orchids can be enjoyed by persons of very +modest fortune. To spread that knowledge is my contribution to +philanthropy, and I make bold to say that it ranks as high as some which +are commended from pulpits and platforms. For your leader-writer is +inexact, though complimentary, in assuming that any 'special genius' +enables me to cultivate orchids without more expense than other +greenhouse plants entail, or even without a gardener. I am happy to know +that scores of worthy gentlemen—ladies too—not more gifted than their +neighbours in any sense, find no greater difficulty. If the pleasure of +one of these be due to any writings of mine, I have wrought some good in +my generation."</p> + +<p>With the same hope I have collected those writings, dispersed and buried +more or less in periodicals. The articles in this volume are +collected—with permission which I gratefully acknowledge—from <i>The +Standard</i>, <i>Saturday Review</i>, <i>St. James's Gazette</i>, <i>National Review</i>, +and <i>Longman's Magazine</i>. With some pride I discover, on reading them +again, that hardly a statement needs correction, for they contain many +statements, and some were published years ago. But in this, as in other +lore, a student still gathers facts. The essays have been brought up to +date by additions—in especial that upon "Hybridizing," a theme which +has not interested the great public hitherto, simply because the great +public knows nothing about it. There is not, in fact, so far as I am +aware, any general record of the amazing and delightful achievements +which have been made therein of late years. It does not fall within my +province to frame such a record. But at least any person who reads this +unscientific account, not daunted by the title, will understand the +fascination of the study.</p> + +<p>These essays profess to be no more than chat of a literary man about +orchids. They contain a multitude of facts, told in some detail where +such attention seems necessary, which can only be found elsewhere in +baldest outline if found at all. Everything that relates to orchids has +a charm for me, and I have learned to hold it as an article of faith +that pursuits which interest one member of the cultured public will +interest all, if displayed clearly and pleasantly, in a form to catch +attention at the outset. Savants and professionals have kept the +delights of orchidology to themselves as yet. They smother them in +scientific treatises, or commit them to dry earth burial in gardening +books. Very few outsiders suspect that any amusement could be found +therein. Orchids are environed by mystery, pierced now and again by a +brief announcement that something with an incredible name has been sold +for a fabulous number of guineas; which passing glimpse into an unknown +world makes it more legendary than before. It is high time such noxious +superstitions were dispersed. Surely, I think, this volume will do the +good work—if the public will read it.</p> + +<p>The illustrations are reduced from those delightful drawings by Mr. Moon +admired throughout the world in the pages of "Reichenbachia." The +licence to use them is one of many favours for which I am indebted to +the proprietors of that stately work.</p> + +<p>I do not give detailed instructions for culture. No one could be more +firmly convinced that a treatise on that subject is needed, for no one +assuredly has learned, by more varied and disastrous experience, to see +the omissions of the text-books. They are written for the initiated, +though designed for the amateur. Naturally it is so. A man who has been +brought up to business can hardly resume the utter ignorance of the +neophyte. Unconsciously he will take a certain degree of knowledge for +granted, and he will neglect to enforce those elementary principles +which are most important of all. Nor is the writer of a gardening book +accustomed, as a rule, to marshal his facts in due order, to keep +proportion, to assure himself that his directions will be exactly +understood by those who know nothing.</p> + +<p>The brief hints in "Reichenbachia" are admirable, but one does not +cheerfully refer to an authority in folio. Messrs. Veitch's "Manual of +Orchidaceous Plants" is a model of lucidity and a mine of information. +Repeated editions of Messrs. B.S. Williams' "Orchid Growers' Manual" +have proved its merit, and, upon the whole, I have no hesitation in +declaring that this is the most useful <a name="Page_0" id="Page_0"></a>work which has come under my +notice. But they are all adapted for those who have passed the +elementary stage.</p> + +<p>Thus, if I have introduced few remarks on culture, it is not because I +think them needless. The reason may be frankly confessed. I am not sure +that my time would be duly paid. If this little book should reach a +second edition, I will resume once more the ignorance that was mine +eight years ago, and as a fellow-novice tell the unskilled amateur how +to grow orchids.</p> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">Frederick Boyle.</span></p> + +<p>North Lodge, Addiscombe, 1893.</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><br /></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span></p> +<h2>ABOUT ORCHIDS</h2> + +<p><br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h2>MY GARDENING.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The contents of my Bungalow gave material for some "Legends" which +perhaps are not yet universally forgotten. I have added few curiosities +to the list since that work was published. My days of travel seem to be +over; but in quitting that happiest way of life—not willingly—I have +had the luck to find another occupation not less interesting, and better +suited to grey hairs and stiffened limbs. This volume deals with the +appurtenances of my Bungalow, as one may say—the orchid-houses. But a +man who has almost forgotten what little knowledge he gathered in youth +about English plants does not readily turn to that higher branch of +horticulture. More ignorant even than others, he will cherish all the +superstitions and illusions which environ the orchid family. +En<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>[Pg 2]</span>lightenment is a slow process, and he will make many experiences +before perceiving his true bent. How I came to grow orchids will be told +in this first article.</p> + +<p>The ground at my disposal is a quarter of an acre. From that tiny area +deduct the space occupied by my house, and it will be seen that myriads +of good people dwelling in the suburbs, whose garden, to put it +courteously, is not sung by poets, have as much land as I. The aspect is +due north—a grave disadvantage. Upon that side, from the house-wall to +the fence, I have forty-five feet, on the east fifty feet, on the south +sixty feet, on the west a mere <i>ruelle</i>. Almost every one who works out +these figures will laugh, and the remainder sneer. Here's a garden to +write about! That area might do for a tennis-court or for a general +meeting of Mr. Frederic Harrison's persuasion. You might kennel a pack +of hounds there, or beat a carpet, or assemble those members of the +cultured class who admire Mr. Gladstone. But grow flowers—roses—to cut +by the basketful, fruit to make jam for a jam-eating household the year +round, mushrooms, tomatoes, water-lilies, orchids; those Indian jugglers +who bring a mango-tree to perfection on your verandah in twenty minutes +might be able to do it, but not a consistent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[Pg 3]</span> Christian. Nevertheless I +affirm that I have done all these things, and I shall even venture to +make other demands upon the public credulity.</p> + +<p>When I first surveyed my garden sixteen years ago, a big Cupressus stood +before the front door, in a vast round bed one half of which would yield +no flowers at all, and the other half only spindlings. This was +encircled by a carriage-drive! A close row of limes, supported by more +Cupressus, overhung the palings all round; a dense little shrubbery hid +the back door; a weeping-ash, already tall and handsome, stood to +eastward. Curiously green and snug was the scene under these conditions, +rather like a forest glade; but if the space available be considered and +allowance be made for the shadow of all those trees, any tiro can +calculate the room left for grass and flowers—and the miserable +appearance of both. Beyond that dense little shrubbery the soil was +occupied with potatoes mostly, and a big enclosure for hens.</p> + +<p>First I dug up the fine Cupressus. They told me such a big tree could +not possibly "move;" but it did, and it now fills an out-of-the-way +place as usefully as ornamentally. I suppressed the carriage-drive, +making a straight path broad enough for pedestrians only, and cut down a +number of the trees. The blessed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[Pg 4]</span>sunlight recognized my garden once +more. Then I rooted out the shrubbery; did away with the fowl-house, +using its materials to build two little sheds against the back fence; +dug up the potato-garden—made <i>tabula rasa</i>, in fact; dismissed my +labourers, and considered. I meant to be my own gardener. But already, +sixteen years ago, I had a dislike of stooping. To kneel was almost as +wearisome. Therefore I adopted the system of raised beds—common enough. +Returning home, however, after a year's absence, I found my oak posts +decaying—unseasoned, doubtless, when put in. To prevent trouble of this +sort in future, I substituted drain-pipes set on end; the first of those +ideas which have won commendation from great authorities. Drain-pipes do +not encourage insects. Filled with earth, each bears a showy +plant—lobelia, pyrethrum, saxifrage, or what not, with the utmost +neatness, making a border; and they last eternally. But there was still +much stooping, of course, whilst I became more impatient of it. One day +a remedy flashed through my mind: that happy thought which became the +essence or principle of my gardening, and makes this account thereof +worth attention perhaps. Why not raise to a comfortable level all parts +of the area over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[Pg 5]</span>which I had need to bend? Though no horticulturist, +perhaps, ever had such a thought before, expense was the sole objection +visible. Called away just then for another long absence, I gave orders +that no "dust" should leave the house; and found a monstrous heap on my +return. The road-contractors supplied "sweepings" at a shilling a load. +Beginning at the outskirts of my property, I raised a mound three feet +high and three feet broad, replanted the shrubs on the back edge, and +left a handsome border for flowers. So well this succeeded, so admirably +every plant throve in that compost, naturally drained and lifted to the +sunlight, that I enlarged my views.</p> + +<p>The soil is gravel, peculiarly bad for roses; and at no distant day my +garden was a swamp, not unchronicled had we room to dwell on such +matters. The bit of lawn looked decent only at midsummer. I first +tackled the rose question. The bushes and standards, such as they were, +faced south, of course—that is, behind the house. A line of fruit-trees +there began to shade them grievously. Experts assured me that if I +raised a bank against these, of such a height as I proposed, they would +surely die; I paid no attention to the experts, nor did my fruit-trees. +The mound raised is, in fact, a crescent on the inner edge, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[Pg 6]</span>thirty feet +broad, seventy feet between the horns, square at the back behind the +fruit-trees; a walk runs there, between it and the fence, and in the +narrow space on either hand I grow such herbs as one cannot easily +buy—chervil, chives, tarragon. Also I have beds of celeriac, and cold +frames which yield a few cucumbers in the summer when emptied of plants. +Not one inch of ground is lost in my garden.</p> + +<p>The roses occupy this crescent. After sinking to its utmost now, the +bank stands two feet six inches above the gravel path. At that elevation +they defied the shadow for years, and for the most part they will +continue to do so as long as I feel any interest in their well-being. +But there is a space, the least important fortunately, where the shade, +growing year by year, has got the mastery. That space I have surrendered +frankly, covering it over with the charming saxifrage, <i>S. hypnoides</i>, +through which in spring push bluebells, primroses, and miscellaneous +bulbs, while the exquisite green carpet frames pots of scarlet geranium +and such bright flowers, movable at will. That saxifrage, indeed, is one +of my happiest devices. Finding that grass would not thrive upon the +steep bank of my mounds, I dotted them over with tufts of it, which have +spread, until at this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[Pg 7]</span>time they are clothed in vivid green the year +round, and white as an untouched snowdrift in spring. Thus also the +foot-wide paths of my rose-beds are edged; and a neater or a lovelier +border could not be imagined.</p> + +<p>With such a tiny space of ground the choice of roses is very important. +Hybrids take up too much room for general service. One must have a few +for colour; but the mass should be Teas, Noisettes, and, above all, +Bengals. This day, the second week in October, I can pick fifty roses; +and I expect to do so every morning till the end of the month in a sunny +autumn. They will be mostly Bengals; but there are two exquisite +varieties sold by Messrs. Paul—I forget which of them—nearly as free +flowering. These are Camoens and Mad. J. Messimy. They have a tint +unlike any other rose; they grow strongly for their class, and the bloom +is singularly graceful.</p> + +<p>The tiny but vexatious lawn was next attacked. I stripped off the turf, +planted drain-pipes along the gravel walk, filled in with road-sweepings +to the level of their tops, and relaid the turf. It is now a little +picture of a lawn. Each drain-pipe was planted with a cutting of ivy, +which now form a beautiful evergreen roll beside the path. Thus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[Pg 8]</span>as you +walk in my garden, everywhere the ground is more or less above its +natural level; raised so high here and there that you cannot look over +the plants which crown the summit. Any gardener at least will understand +how luxuriantly everything grows and flowers under such conditions. +Enthusiastic visitors declare that I have "scenery," and picturesque +effects, and delightful surprises, in my quarter-acre of ground! +Certainly I have flowers almost enough, and fruit, and perfect seclusion +also. Though there are houses all round within a few yards, you catch +but a glimpse of them at certain points while the trees are still +clothed. Those mounds are all the secret.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>I was my own gardener, and sixteen years ago I knew nothing whatever of +the business. The process of education was almost as amusing as +expensive; but that fashion of humour is threadbare. In those early days +I would have none of your geraniums, hardy perennials, and such common +things. Diligently studying the "growers'"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span> catalogues, I looked out, +not novelties alone, but curious novelties. Not one of them "did any +good" to the best of my recollection. Impatient and disgusted, I formed +several extraordinary projects to evade my ignorance of horticulture. +Among others which I recollect was an idea of growing bulbs the year +round! No trouble with bulbs! you just plant them and they do their +duty. A patient friend at Kew made me a list of genera and species +which, if all went well, should flower in succession. But there was a +woeful gap about midsummer—just the time when gardens ought to be +brightest. Still, I resolved to carry out the scheme, so far as it went, +and forwarded my list to Covent Garden for an estimate of the expense. +It amounted to some hundreds of pounds. So that notion fell through.</p> + +<p>But the patient friend suggested something for which I still cherish his +memory. He pointed out that bulbs look very formal mostly, unless +planted in great quantities, as may be done with the cheap sorts—tulips +and such. An undergrowth of low brightly-coloured annuals would correct +this disadvantage. I caught the hint, and I profit by it to this more +enlightened day. Spring bulbs are still a <i>spécialité</i> of my gardening. +I buy them fresh every autumn—but of Messrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[Pg 10]</span> Protheroe and Morris, in +Cheapside; not at the dealers'. Thus they are comparatively inexpensive. +After planting my tulips, narcissus, and such tall things, however, I +clothe the beds with forget-me-not or <i>Silene pendula</i>, or both, which +keep them green through the winter and form a dense carpet in spring. +Through it the bulbs push, and both flower at the same time. Thus my +brilliant tulips, snowy narcissus poeticus, golden daffodils, rise above +and among a sheet of blue or pink—one or the other to match their +hue—and look infinitely more beautiful on that ground colour. I venture +to say, indeed, that no garden on earth can be more lovely than mine +while the forget-me-not and the bulbs are flowering together. This may +be a familiar practice, but I never met with it elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Another wild scheme I recollect. Water-plants need no attention. The +most skilful horticulturist cannot improve, the most ignorant cannot +harm them. I seriously proposed to convert my lawn into a tank two feet +deep lined with Roman cement and warmed by a furnace, there to grow +tropical nymphæa, with a vague "et cetera." The idea was not so +absolutely mad as the unlearned may think, for two of my relatives were +first and second to flower <i>Victoria Regia</i> in the open-air—but they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[Pg 11]</span>had more than a few feet of garden. The chances go, in fact, that it +would have been carried through had I been certain of remaining in +England for the time necessary. Meanwhile I constructed two big tanks of +wood lined with sheet-zinc, and a small one to stand on legs. The +experts were much amused. Neither fish nor plant, they said, could live +in a zinc vessel. They proved to be right in the former case, but +utterly wrong in the latter—which, you will observe, is their special +domain. I grew all manner of hardy nymphæa and aquatics for years, until +my big tanks sprung a leak. Having learned by that time the ABC, at +least, of <i>terra-firma</i> gardening, I did not trouble to have them +mended. On the contrary, making more holes, I filled the centre with +Pampas grass and variegated Eulalias, set lady-grass and others round, +and bordered the whole with lobelia—renewing, in fact, somewhat of the +spring effect. Next year, however, I shall plant them with <i>Anomatheca +cruenta</i>—quaintest of flowering grasses, if a grass it must be called. +This charming species from South Africa is very little known; readers +who take the hint will be grateful to me. They will find it decidedly +expensive bought by the plant, as growers prefer to sell. But, with a +little pressing seed may be obtained, and it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span>multiplies fast. I find +<i>Anomatheca cruenta</i> hardy in my sheltered garden.</p> + +<p>The small tank on legs still remains, and I cut a few <i>Nymphæa odorata</i> +every year. But it is mostly given up to <i>Aponogeton distachyon</i>—the +"Cape lily." They seed very freely in the open; and if this tank lay in +the ground, long since their exquisite white flowers, so strange in +shape and so powerful of scent, would have stood as thick as blades of +grass upon it—such a lovely sight as was beheld in the garden of the +late Mr. Harrison, at Shortlands. But being raised two feet or so, with +a current of air beneath, its contents are frozen to a solid block, soil +and all, again and again, each winter. That a Cape plant should survive +such treatment seems incredible—contrary to all the books. But my +established Aponogeton do somehow; only the seedlings perish. Here again +is a useful hint, I trust. But evidently it would be better, if +convenient, to take the bulbs indoors before frost sets in.</p> + +<p>Having water thus at hand, it very soon occurred to me to make war upon +the slugs by propagating their natural enemies. Those banks and borders +of <i>Saxifraga hypnoides</i>, to which I referred formerly, exact some +precaution of the kind. Much as every one who sees admires them, the +slugs, no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span>doubt, are more enthusiastic still. Therefore I do not +recommend that idea, unless it be supplemented by some effective method +of combating a grave disadvantage. My own may not commend itself to +every one. Each spring I entrust some casual little boy with a pail; he +brings it back full of frog-spawn and receives sixpence. I speculate +sometimes with complacency how many thousand of healthy and industrious +batrachians I have reared and turned out for the benefit of my +neighbours. Enough perhaps, but certainly no more, remain to serve +me—that I know because the slugs give very little trouble in spite of +the most favourable circumstances. You can always find frogs in my +garden by looking for them, but of the thousands hatched every year, +ninety-nine per cent. must vanish. Do blackbirds and thrushes eat young +frogs? They are strangely abundant with me. But those who cultivate +tadpoles must look over the breeding-pond from time to time. My whole +batch was devoured one year by "devils"—the larvæ of <i>Dytiscus +marginalis</i>, the Plunger beetle. I have benefited, or at least have +puzzled my neighbours also by introducing to them another sort of frog. +Three years ago I bought twenty-five Hylœ, the pretty green tree +species, to dwell in my Odontoglossum house and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span>exterminate the +insects. Every ventilator there is covered with perforated zinc—to +prevent insects getting in; but, by some means approaching the +miraculous, all my Hylœ contrived to escape. Several were caught in +the garden and put back, but again they found their way to the open-air; +and presently my fruit-trees became vocal. So far, this is the +experience of every one, probably, who has tried to keep green frogs. +But in my case they survived two winters—one which everybody +recollects, the most severe of this generation. My frogs sang merrily +through the summer; but all in a neighbour's garden. I am not acquainted +with that family; but it is cheering to think how much innocent +diversion I have provided for its members.</p> + +<p>Pleasant also it is, by the way, to vindicate the character of green +frogs. I never heard them spoken of by gardeners but with contempt. Not +only do they persist in escaping; more than that, they decline to catch +insects, sitting motionless all day long—pretty, if you like, but +useless. The fact is, that all these creatures are nocturnal of habit. +Very few men visit their orchid-houses at night, as I do constantly. +They would see the frogs active enough then, creeping with wondrous +dexterity among the leaves, and springing like a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[Pg 15]</span>green flash upon their +prey. Naturally, therefore, they do not catch thrips or mealy-bug or +aphis; these are too small game for the midnight sports-man. Wood-lice, +centipedes, above all, cockroaches, those hideous and deadly foes of the +orchid, are their victims. All who can keep them safe should have green +frogs by the score in every house which they do not fumigate.</p> + +<p>I have come to the orchids at last. It follows, indeed, almost of +necessity that a man who has travelled much, an enthusiast in +horticulture, should drift into that branch as years advance. Modesty +would be out of place here. I have had successes, and if it please +Heaven, I shall win more. But orchid culture is not to be dealt with at +the end of an article.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>III.</h3> + + +<p>In the days of my apprenticeship I put up a big greenhouse: unable to +manage plants in the open-air, I expected to succeed with them under +unnatural conditions! These memories are strung together with the hope +of encouraging a forlorn and desperate amateur here or there; and surely +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[Pg 16]</span>that confession will cheer him. However deep his ignorance, it could +not possibly be more finished than mine some dozen years ago; and yet I +may say, <i>Je suis arrivé</i>! What that greenhouse cost, "chilled +remembrance shudders" to recall; briefly, six times the amount, at +least, which I should find ample now. And it was all wrong when done; +not a trace of the original arrangement remains at this time, but there +are inherent defects. Nothing throve, of course—except the insects. +Mildew seized my roses as fast as I put them in; camellias dropped their +buds with rigid punctuality; azaleas were devoured by thrips; "bugs," +mealy and scaly, gathered to the feast; geraniums and pelargoniums grew +like giants, but declined to flower. I consulted the local authority who +was responsible for the well-being of a dozen gardens in the +neighbourhood—an expert with a character to lose, from whom I bought +largely. Said he, after a thorough inspection: "This concrete floor +holds the water; you must have it swept carefully night and morning." +That worthy man had a large business. His advice was sought by scores of +neighbours like myself. And I tell the story as a warning; for he +represents no small section of his class. My plants wanted not less but +a great deal more water on that villainous concrete floor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[Pg 17]</span>Despairing of horticulture indoors as out, I sometimes thought of +orchids. I had seen much of them in their native homes, both East and +West—enough to understand that their growth is governed by strict law. +Other plants—roses and so forth—are always playing tricks. They must +have this and that treatment at certain times, the nature of which could +not be precisely described, even if gardening books were written by men +used to carry all the points of a subject in their minds, and to express +exactly what they mean. Experience alone, of rather a dirty and +uninteresting class, will give the skill necessary for success. And then +they commit villanies of ingratitude beyond explanation. I knew that +orchids must be quite different. Each class demands certain conditions +as a preliminary: if none of them can be provided, it is a waste of +money to buy plants. But when the needful conditions are present, and +the poor things, thus relieved of a ceaseless preoccupation, can attend +to business, it follows like a mathematical demonstration that if you +treat them in such and such a way, such and such results will assuredly +ensue. I was not aware then that many defy the most patient analysis of +cause and effect. That knowledge is familiar now; but it does not touch +the argument. Those cases <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span>also are governed by rigid laws, which we do +not yet understand.</p> + +<p>Therefore I perceived or suspected, at an early date, that orchid +culture is, as one may say, the natural province of an intelligent and +enthusiastic amateur who has not the technical skill required for +growing common plants. For it is brain-work—the other mechanical. But I +shared the popular notion—which seems so very absurd now—that they are +costly both to purchase and to keep: shared it so ingenuously that I +never thought to ask myself how or why they could be more expensive, +after the first outlay, than azaleas or gardenias. And meanwhile I was +laboriously and impatiently gathering some comprehension of the ordinary +plants. It was accident which broke the spell of ignorance. Visiting +Stevens' Auction Rooms one day to buy bulbs, I saw a <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i>, +in bloom, which had not found a purchaser at the last orchid sale. A +lucky impulse tempted me to ask the price. "Four shillings," said the +invaluable Charles. I could not believe it—there must be a mistake: as +if Charles ever made a mistake in his life! When he repeated the price, +however, I seized that precious Cattleya, slapped down the money, and +fled with it along King Street, fearing pursuit. Since no one followed, +and Messrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[Pg 19]</span> Stevens did not write within the next few days reclaiming +my treasure, I pondered the incident calmly. Perhaps they had been +selling bankrupt stock, and perhaps they often do so. Presently I +returned.</p> + +<p>"Charles!" I said, "you sold me a <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i> the other day."</p> + +<p>Charles, in shirt-sleeves of course, was analyzing and summing up half a +hundred loose sheets of figures, as calm and sure as a calculating +machine. "I know I did, sir," he replied, cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"It was rather dear, wasn't it?" I said.</p> + +<p>"That's your business, sir," he laughed.</p> + +<p>"Could I often get an established plant of <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i> in flower +for 4<i>s.</i>?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Give me the order, and I'll supply as many as you are likely to want +within a month."</p> + +<p>That was a revelation; and I tell the little story because I know it +will be a revelation to many others. People hear of great sums paid for +orchids, and they fancy that such represent only the extreme limits of +an average. In fact, they have no relation whatsoever to the ordinary +price. One of our largest general growers, who has but lately begun +cultivating those plants, tells me that half-a-crown is the utmost he +has paid for Cattleyas and Dendrobes, one shilling for Odonto<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[Pg 20]</span>glots and +Oncidiums. At these rates he has now a fine collection, many turning up +among the lot for which he asks, and gets, as many pounds as the pence +he gave. For such are imported, of course, and sold at auction as they +arrive. This is not an article on orchids, but on "My Gardening," or I +could tell some extraordinary tales. Briefly, I myself once bought a +case two feet long, a foot wide, half-full of Odontoglossums for 8<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i> They were small bits, but perfect in condition. Of the fifty-three +pots they made, not one, I think, has been lost. I sold the less +valuable some years ago, when established and tested, at a fabulous +profit. Another time I bought three "strings" of <i>O. Alexandræ</i>, the +Pacho variety, which is finest, for 15<i>s.</i> They filled thirty-six pots, +some three to a pot, for I could not make room for them all singly. +Again—but this is enough. I only wish to demonstrate, for the service +of very small amateurs like myself, that costliness at least is no +obstacle if they have a fancy for this culture: unless, of course, they +demand wonders and "specimens."</p> + +<p>That <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i>, was my first orchid, bought in 1884. It dwindled +away, and many another followed it to limbo; but I knew enough, as has +been said, to feel neither surprised nor angry. First of all, it is +necessary to understand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[Pg 21]</span>the general conditions, and to secure them. +Books give little help in this stage of education; they all lack detail +in the preliminaries. I had not the good fortune to come across a friend +or a gardener who grasped what was wrong until I found out for myself. +For instance, no one told me that the concrete flooring of my house was +a fatal error. When, a little disheartened, I made a new one, by glazing +that <i>ruelle</i> mentioned in the preliminary survey of my garden, they +allowed me to repeat it. Ingenious were my contrivances to keep the air +moist, but none answered. It is not easy to find a material trim and +clean which can be laid over concrete, but unless one can discover such, +it is useless to grow orchids. I have no doubt that ninety-nine cases of +failure in a hundred among amateurs are due to an unsuitable flooring. +Glazed tiles, so common, are infinitely worst of all. May my experience +profit others in like case!</p> + +<p>Looking over the trade list of a man who manufactures orchid-pots one +day, I observed, "Sea-sand for Garden Walks," and the preoccupation of +years was dissipated. Sea-sand will hold water, yet will keep a firm, +clean surface; it needs no rolling, does not show footprints nor muddy a +visitor's boots. By next evening the floors were covered therewith six +inches deep, and forthwith <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[Pg 22]</span>my orchids began to flourish—not only to +live. Long since, of course, I had provided a supply of water from the +main to each house for "damping down." All round them now a leaden pipe +was fixed, with pin-holes twelve inches apart, and a length of +indiarubber hose at the end to fix upon the "stand-pipe." Attaching +this, I turn the cock, and from each tiny hole spurts forth a jet, which +in ten minutes will lay the whole floor under water, and convert the +house into a shallow pond; but five minutes afterwards not a sign of the +deluge is visible. Then I felt the joys of orchid culture. Much remained +to learn—much still remains. We have some five thousand species in +cultivation, of which an alarming number demand some difference of +treatment if one would grow them to perfection. The amateur does not +easily collect nor remember all this, and he is apt to be daunted if he +inquire too deeply before "letting himself go." Such in especial I would +encourage. Perfection is always a noble aim; but orchids do not exact +it—far from that! The dear creatures will struggle to fulfil your +hopes, to correct your errors, with pathetic patience. Give them but a +chance, and they will await the progress of your education. That chance +lies, as has been said, in the general conditions—the degree of +moisture you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[Pg 23]</span>can keep in the air, the ventilation, and the light. These +secured, you may turn up the books, consult the authorities, and +gradually accumulate the knowledge which will enable you to satisfy the +preferences of each class. So, in good time, you may enjoy such a thrill +of pleasure as I felt the other day when a great pundit was good enough +to pay me a call. He entered my tiny Odontoglossum house, looked round, +looked round again, and turned to me. "Sir," he said, "we don't call +this an amateur's collection!"</p> + +<p>I have jotted down such hints of my experience as may be valuable to +others, who, as Juvenal put it, own but a single lizard's run of earth. +That space is enough to yield endless pleasure, amusement, and indeed +profit, if a man cultivate it himself. Enthusiast as I am, I would not +accept another foot of garden.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> It is not inappropriate to record that when these articles +were published in the <i>St. James' Gazette</i>, the editor received several +communications warning him that his contributor was abusing his good +faith—to put it in the mild French phrase. Happily, my friend was able +to reply that he could personally vouch for the statements.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[Pg 24]</span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN ORCHID SALE.</h2> + + +<p>Shortly after noon on a sale day, the habitual customers of Messrs. +Protheroe and Morris begin to assemble in Cheapside. On tables of +roughest plank round the auction-rooms there, are neatly ranged the +various lots; bulbs and sticks of every shape, big and little, withered +or green, dull or shining, with a brown leaf here and there, or a mass +of roots dry as last year's bracken. No promise do they suggest of the +brilliant colours and strange forms buried in embryo within their +uncouth bulk. On a cross table stand some dozens of "established" plants +in pots and baskets, which the owners would like to part with. Their +growths of this year are verdant, but the old bulbs look almost as +sapless as those new arrivals. Very few are in flower just now—July and +August are a time of pause betwixt the glories of the Spring and the +milder effulgence of Autumn. Some great Dendrobes—<i>D. +Dalhousianum</i>—are bursting into untimely bloom, betraying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[Pg 25]</span>to the +initiated that their "establishment" is little more than a phrase. Those +garlands of bud were conceived, so to speak, in Indian forests, have +lain dormant through the long voyage, and began to show a few days since +when restored to a congenial atmosphere. All our interest concentrates +in the unlovely things along the wall.</p> + +<p>The habitual attendants at an auction-room are always somewhat of a +family party, but, as a rule, an ugly one. It is quite different with +the regular group of orchid-buyers. No black sheep there. A dispute is +the rarest of events, and when it happens everybody takes for granted +that the cause is a misunderstanding. The professional growers are men +of wealth, the amateurs men of standing at least. All know each other, +and a cheerful familiarity rules. We have a duke in person frequently, +who compares notes and asks a hint from the authorities around; some +clergymen; gentry of every rank; the recognized agents of great +cultivators, and, of course, the representatives of the large trading +firms. So narrow even yet is the circle of orchidaceans that almost all +the faces at a sale are recognized, and if one wish to learn the names, +somebody present can nearly always supply them. There is reason to hope +that this will not be the case much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span>longer. As the mysteries and +superstitions environing the orchid are dispersed, our small and select +throng of buyers will be swamped, no doubt; and if a certain pleasing +feature of the business be lost, all who love the flower and their +fellow-men alike will cheerfully submit.</p> + +<p>The talk is of orchids mostly, as these gentlemen stroll along the +tables, lifting a root and scrutinizing it with practised glance that +measures its vital strength in a second. But nurserymen take advantage +of the gathering to show any curious or striking flower they chance to +have at the moment. Mr. Bull's representative goes round, showing to one +and another the contents of a little box—a lovely bloom of +<i>Aristolochia elegans</i>, figured in dark red on white ground like a +sublime cretonne—and a new variety of Impatiens; he distributes the +latter presently, and gentlemen adorn their coats with the pale crimson +flower.</p> + +<p>Excitement does not often run so high as in the times, which most of +those present can recall, when orchids common now were treasured by +millionaires. Steam, and the commercial enterprise it fosters, have so +multiplied our stocks, that shillings—or pence, often enough—represent +the guineas of twenty years back. There are many here, scarcely yet +grey, who could describe <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span>the scene when <i>Masdevallia Tovarensis</i> first +covered the stages of an auction-room. Its dainty white flowers had been +known for several years. A resident in the German colony at Tovar, New +Granada, sent one plant to a friend at Manchester, by whom it was +divided. Each fragment brought a great sum, and the purchasers repeated +this operation as fast as their morsels grew. Thus a conventional price +was established—one guinea per leaf. Importers were few in those days, +and the number of Tovars in South America bewildered them. At length +Messrs. Sander got on the track, and commissioned Mr. Arnold to solve +the problem. Arnold was a man of great energy and warm temper. Legend +reports that he threw up the undertaking once because a gun offered him +was second-hand; his prudence was vindicated afterwards by the +misfortune of a <i>confrère</i>, poor Berggren, whose second-hand gun, +presented by a Belgian employer, burst at a critical moment and crippled +him for life. At the very moment of starting, Arnold had trouble with +the railway officials. He was taking a quantity of Sphagnum moss in +which to wrap the precious things, and they refused to let him carry it +by passenger train. The station-master at Waterloo had never felt the +atmosphere so warm, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[Pg 28]</span>they say. In brief, this was a man who stood no +nonsense.</p> + +<p>A young fellow-passenger showed much sympathy while the row went on, and +Arnold learned with pleasure that he also was bound for Caraccas. This +young man, whose name it is not worth while to cite, presented himself +as agent for a manufacturer of Birmingham goods. There was no need for +secrecy with a person of that sort. He questioned Arnold about orchids +with a blank but engaging ignorance of the subject, and before the +voyage was over he had learned all his friend's hopes and projects. But +the deception could not be maintained at Caraccas. There Arnold +discovered that the hardware agent was a collector and grower of orchids +sufficiently well known. He said nothing, suffered his rival to start, +overtook him at a village where the man was taking supper, marched in, +barred the door, sat down opposite, put a revolver on the table, and +invited him to draw. It should be a fair fight, said Arnold, but one of +the pair must die. So convinced was the traitor of his earnestness—with +good reason, too, as Arnold's acquaintances declare—that he slipped +under the table, and discussed terms of abject surrender from that +retreat. So, in due time, Messrs. Sander received more than forty +thousand plants <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span>of <i>Masdevallia Tovarensis</i>—sent them direct to the +auction-room—and drove down the price in one month from a guinea a leaf +to the fraction of a shilling.</p> + +<p>Other great sales might be recalled, as that of <i>Phalœnopsis Sanderiana</i> +and <i>Vanda Sanderiana</i>, when a sum as yet unparalleled was taken in the +room; <i>Cypripedium Spicerianum</i>, <i>Cyp. Curtisii</i>, <i>Lœlia anceps alba</i>. +Rarely now are we thrilled by sensations like these. But 1891 brought +two of the old-fashioned sort, the reappearance of <i>Cattleya labiata +autumnalis</i> and the public sale of <i>Dendrobium phalœnopsis +Schroderianum</i>. The former event deserves a special article, "The Lost +Orchid;" but the latter also was most interesting. Messrs. Sander are +the heroes of both. <i>Dendrobium ph. Schroederianum</i> was not quite a +novelty. The authorities of Kew obtained two plants from an island in +Australasia a good many years ago. They presented a piece to Mr. Lee of +Leatherhead, and another to Baron Schroeder; when Mr. Lee's grand +collection was dispersed, the Baron bought his plant also, for £35, and +thus possessed the only specimens in private hands. His name was given +to the species.</p> + +<p>Under these conditions, the man lucky and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span>enterprising enough to secure +a few cases of the Dendrobium might look for a grand return. It seemed +likely that New Guinea would prove to be its chief habitat, and thither +Mr. Micholitz was despatched. He found it without difficulty, and +collected a great number of plants. But then troubles began. The vessel +which took them aboard caught fire in port, and poor Micholitz escaped +with bare life. He telegraphed the disastrous news, "Ship burnt! What +do?" "Go back," replied his employer. "Too late. Rainy season," was the +answer. "Go back!" Mr. Sander repeated. Back he went.</p> + +<p>This was in Dutch territory. "Well," writes Mr. Micholitz, "there is no +doubt these are the meanest people on earth. On my telling them that it +was very mean to demand anything from a shipwrecked man, they gave me +thirty per cent. deduction on my passage"—201 dollars instead of 280 +dollars. However, he reached New Guinea once more and tried fresh +ground, having exhausted the former field. Again he found the +Dendrobiums, of better quality and in greater number than before. But +they were growing among bones and skeletons, in the graveyard of the +natives. Those people lay their dead in a slight coffin, which they +place upon the rocks just <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[Pg 31]</span>above high tide, a situation which the +Dendrobes love. Mr. Micholitz required all his tact and all his most +attractive presents before he could persuade the Papuans to let him even +approach. But brass wire proved irresistible. They not only suffered him +to disturb the bones of their ancestors, but even helped him to stow the +plunder. One condition they made: that a favourite idol should be packed +therewith; this admitted, they performed a war dance round the cases, +and assisted in transporting them. All went well this time, and in due +course the tables were loaded with thousands of a plant which, before +the consignment was announced, had been the special glory of a +collection which is among the richest of the universe.</p> + +<p>There were two memorable items in this sale: the idol aforesaid and a +skull to which one of the Dendrobes had attached itself. Both were +exhibited as trophies and curiosities, not to be disposed of; but by +mistake, the idol was put up. It fetched only a trifle—quite as much as +it was worth, however. But Hon. Walter de Rothschild fancied it for his +museum, and on learning what had happened Mr. Sander begged the +purchaser to name his own price. That individual refused.</p> + +<p>It was a great day indeed. Very many of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span>leading orchid-growers of +the world were present, and almost all had their gardeners or agents +there. Such success called rivals into the field, but New Guinea is a +perilous land to explore. Only last week we heard that Mr. White, of +Winchmore Hill, has perished in the search for <i>Dendrobium ph. +Schroederianum</i>.</p> + +<p>I mentioned the great sale of <i>Cyp. Curtisi</i> just now. An odd little +story attaches to it. Mr. Curtis, now Director of the Botanic Gardens, +Penang, sent this plant home from Sumatra when travelling for Messrs. +Veitch, in 1882. The consignment was small, no more followed, and <i>Cyp. +Curtisi</i> became a prize. Its habitat was unknown. Mr. Sander instructed +his collector to look for it. Five years the search lasted—with many +intermissions, of course, and many a success in discovering other fine +things. But Mr. Ericksson despaired at last. In one of his expeditions +to Sumatra he climbed a mountain—it has been observed before that one +must not ask details of locality when collecting orchid legends. So well +known is this mountain, however, that the Government, Dutch I presume, +has built a shelter for travellers upon it. There Mr. Ericksson put up +for the night. Several Europeans had inscribed their names upon the +wall, with reflections <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span>and sentiments, as is the wont of people who +climb mountains. Among these, by the morning light, Mr. Ericksson +perceived the sketch of a Cypripedium, as he lay upon his rugs. It +represented a green flower, white tipped, veined and spotted with +purple, purple of lip. "<i>Curtisi</i>, by Jove!" he cried, in his native +Swedish, and jumped up. No doubt of it! Beneath the drawing ran: "C.C.'s +contribution to the adornment of this house." Whipping out his pencil, +Mr. Ericksson wrote: "Contribution accepted. Cypripedium +collected!—C.E." But day by day he sought the plant in vain. His cases +filled with other treasures. But for the hope that sketch conveyed, long +since he would have left the spot. After all, Mr. Curtis might have +chosen the flower by mere chance to decorate the wall. The natives did +not know it. So orders were given to pack, and next day Mr. Ericksson +would have withdrawn. On the very evening, however, one of his men +brought in the flower. A curious story, if one think, but I am in a +position to guarantee its truth.</p> + +<p>Of another class, but not less renowned in its way, was the sale of +March 11th last year. It had been heavily advertised. A leading +continental importer announced the discovery of a new Odontoglossum. No +less than six varieties <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[Pg 34]</span>of type were employed to call public attention +to its merits, and this was really no extravagant allowance under the +circumstances alleged. It was a "grand new species," destined to be a +"gem in the finest collections," a "favourite," the "most attractive of +plants." Its flowers were wholly "tinged with a most delicate mauve, the +base of the segment and the lip of a most charming violet"—in short, it +was "the blue Odontoglossum" and well deserved the title <i>cœleste</i>. +And the whole stock of two hundred plants would be offered to British +enthusiasm. No wonder the crowd was thick at Messrs. Protheroe's room on +that March morning. Few leading amateurs or growers who could not attend +in person were unrepresented. At the psychological moment, when +eagerness had reached the highest pitch, an orchid was brought in and +set before them. Those experienced persons glanced at it and said, "Very +nice, but haven't you an <i>Odontoglossum cœleste</i> to show?" The +unhappy agent protested that this was the divine thing. No one would +believe at first; the joke was too good—to put it in that mild form. +When at length it became evident that this grand new species, heavenly +gem, &c., was the charming but familiar <i>Odontoglossum ramossissimum</i>, +such a tumult of laughter and indignation arose, that Messrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[Pg 35]</span> Protheroe +quashed the sale. A few other instances of the kind might be given but +none so grand.</p> + +<p>The special interest of the sale to us lies in some novelties collected +by Mr. Edward Wallace in parts unknown, and he is probably among us. Mr. +Wallace has no adventures in particular to relate this time, but he +tells, with due caution, where and how his treasures were gathered in +South America. There is a land which those who have geographical +knowledge sufficient may identify, surrounded by the territories of +Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. It is traversed by some +few Indian tribes, and no collector hitherto had penetrated it. Mr. +Wallace followed the central line of mountains from Colombia for a +hundred and fifty miles, passing a succession of rich valleys described +as the loveliest ever seen by this veteran young traveller, such as +would support myriads of cattle. League beyond league stretches the +"Pajadena grass," pasturage unequalled; but "the wild herds that never +knew a fold" are its only denizens. Here, on the mountain slopes, Mr. +Wallace found <i>Bletia Sherrattiana</i>, the white form, very rare; another +terrestrial orchid, unnamed and, as is thought, unknown, which sends up +a branching spike two feet to three feet high, bearing ten to twelve +flowers, of rich purple hue, in shape like a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span> Sobralia, three and four +inches across; and yet another of the same family, growing on the rocks, +and "looking like masses of snow on the hill-side." Such descriptions +are thrilling, but these gentlemen receive them placidly; they would +like to know, perhaps, what is the reserve price on such fine things, +and what the chance of growing them to a satisfactory result. Dealers +have a profound distrust of novelties, especially those of terrestrial +genus; and their feeling is shared, for a like reason, by most who have +large collections. Mr. Burbidge estimates roughly that we have fifteen +hundred to two thousand species and varieties of orchid in cultivation; +a startling figure, which almost justifies the belief of those who hold +that no others worth growing will be found in countries already +explored. But beyond question there are six times this number in +existence, which collectors have not taken the trouble to gather. The +chances, therefore, are against any new thing. Many species well known +show slight differences of growth in different localities. Upon the +whole, regular orchidaceans prefer that some one else should try +experiments, and would rather pay a good price, when assured that it is +worth their while, than a few shillings when the only certainty is +trouble and the strong probability is failure. Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span> Wallace has nothing +more to tell of the undiscovered country. The Indians received him with +composure, after he had struck up friendship with an old woman, and for +the four days of his stay made themselves both useful and agreeable in +their fashion.</p> + +<p>The auctioneer has been chatting among his customers. He feels an +interest in his wares, as who would not that dealt in objects of the +extremest beauty and fascination? To him are consigned occasionally +plants of unusual class, which the owner regards as unique, and expects +to sell at the fanciest of prices. Unique indeed they must be which can +pass unchallenged the ordeal of those keen and learned eyes. <i>Plumeria +alba</i>, for instance, may be laid before them, and by no inexperienced +horticulturist, with such a "reserve" as befits one of the most +exquisite flowers known, and the only specimen in England. But a quiet +smile goes round, and a gentleman present offers, in an audible whisper, +to send in a dozen of that next week at a fraction of the price. So +pleasant chat goes on, until, at the stroke of half-past twelve, the +auctioneer mounts his rostrum. First to come before him are a hundred +lots of <i>Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ</i>, described as of "the very +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[Pg 38]</span>best type, and in splendid condition." For the latter point everyone +present is able to judge, and for the former all are willing to accept +the statements of vendors. The glossy bulbs are clean as new pins, with +the small "eye" just bursting among their roots; but nobody seems to +want <i>Odontoglossum Alexandræ</i> in particular. One neat little bunch is +sold for 11<i>s.</i>, which will surely bear a wreath of white flowers, +splashed with red brown, in the spring—perhaps two. And then bidding +ceases. The auctioneer exclaims, "Does anybody want any <i>crispums</i>?" and +instantly passes by the ninety-nine lots remaining.</p> + +<p>It would mislead the unlearned public, and would not greatly interest +them, to go through the catalogue of an orchid sale and quote the +selling price of every lot. From week to week the value of these things +fluctuates—that is, of course, of bulbs imported and unestablished. +Various circumstances effect it, but especially the time of year. They +sell best in spring, when they have months of light and sun before them, +in which to recover from the effects of a long voyage and uncomfortable +quarters. The buyer must make them grow strong before the dark days of +an English winter are upon him; and every month that passes weakens his +chance. In August it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[Pg 39]</span>already late; in September, the periodical +auctions ceased until lately. Some few consignments will be received, +detained by accident, or forwarded by persons who do not understand the +business.</p> + +<p>That instance of <i>Odontoglossum Alexandræ</i> shows well enough the price +of orchids this month, and the omission of all that followed illustrates +it. The same lots would have been eagerly contested at twice the sum in +April. But those who want that queenliest of flowers may get it for +shillings at any time. The reputation of the importer, and his assurance +that the plants belong to the very best type, give these more value than +usual. He will try his luck once more perhaps this season; and then he +will pot the bulbs unsold to offer them as "established" next year.</p> + +<p><i>Oncidium luridum</i> follows the Odontoglots, a broad-leaved, handsome +orchid, which the untrained eye might think to have no pseudo-bulb at +all. This species always commands a sale, if cheap, and ten shillings is +a reasonable figure for a piece of common size. If all go well, it may +throw out a branching spike six or seven feet long next summer, +with—such a sight has been offered—several hundred blooms, yellow, +brown and orange, <i>Oncidium juncifolium</i>, which comes next, is un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[Pg 40]</span>known +to us, and probably to others; no offer is made for its reed-like +growths described as "very free blooming all the year round, with small +yellow flowers." <i>Epidendrum bicornutum</i>, on the other hand, is very +well known and deeply admired, when seen; but this is an event too rare. +The description of its exquisite white blossoms, crimson spotted on the +lip, is still rather a legend than a matter of eye-witness. Somebody is +reported to have grown it for some years "like a cabbage;" but his +success was a mystery to himself. At Kew they find no trouble in certain +parts of a certain house. Most of these, however, are fine growths, and +the average price should be 12s. 6d. to 15s. Compare such figures with +those that ruled when the popular impression of the cost of orchids was +forming. I have none at hand which refer to the examples mentioned, but +in the cases following, one may safely reckon shillings at the present +day for pounds in 1846. That year, I perceive, such common species as +<i>Barkeria spectabilis</i> fetched 5<i>l.</i> to 17<i>l.</i> each; <i>Epidendrum +Stamfordianum</i>, five guineas; <i>Dendrobium formosum</i>, fifteen guineas; +<i>Aerides maculosum</i>, <i>crispum</i> and <i>odoratum</i> 20<i>l.</i>, 21<i>l.</i>, and +16<i>l.</i>, respectively. No one who understands orchids will believe that +the specimens which brought such monstrous prices <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[Pg 41]</span>were superior in any +respect to those we now receive, and he will be absolutely sure that +they were landed in much worse condition. But the average cost of the +most expensive at the present day might be 30<i>s.</i>, and only a large +piece would fetch that sum. It is astonishing to me that so few people +grow orchids. Every modern book on gardening tells how five hundred +varieties at least, the freest to flower and assuredly as beautiful as +any, may be cultivated without heat for seven or eight months of the +year. It is those "legends," I have spoken of which deter the public +from entertaining the notion. An afternoon at an orchid sale would +dispel them.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[Pg 42]</span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ORCHIDS.</h2> + + +<p>There is no room to deal with this great subject historically, +scientifically, or even practically, in the space of a chapter. I am an +enthusiast, and I hold some strong views, but this is not the place to +urge them. It is my purpose to ramble on, following thoughts as they +arise, yet with a definite aim. The skilled reader will find nothing to +criticize, I hope, and the indifferent, something to amuse.</p> + +<p>Those amiable theorists who believe that the resources of Nature, if +they be rightly searched, are able to supply every wholesome want the +fancy of man conceives, have a striking instance in the case of orchids. +At the beginning of this century, the science of floriculture, so far as +it went, was at least as advanced as now. Under many disadvantages which +we escape—the hot-air flue especially, and imperfect means of +ventilation—our fore-fathers grew the plants known to them quite as +well as we do. Many tricks have been discovered since, but for lasting +success assuredly our systems are no improvement. Men interested in such +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[Pg 43]</span>matters began to long for fresh fields, and they knew where to look. +Linnæus had told them something of exotic orchids in 1763, though his +knowledge was gained through dried specimens and drawings. One bulb, +indeed—we spare the name—showed life on arrival, had been planted, and +had flowered thirty years before, as Mr. Castle shows. Thus +horticulturists became aware, just when the information was most +welcome, that a large family of plants unknown awaited their attention; +plants quite new, of strangest form, of mysterious habits, and beauty +incomparable. Their notions were vague as yet, but the fascination of +the subject grew from year to year. Whilst several hundred species were +described in books, the number in cultivation, including all those +gathered by Sir Joseph Banks, and our native kinds, was only fifty. Kew +boasted no more than one hundred and eighteen in 1813; amateurs still +watched in timid and breathless hope.</p> + +<p>Gradually they came to see that the new field was open, and they entered +with a rush. In 1830 a number of collections still famous in the legends +of the mystery are found complete. At the Orchid Conference, Mr. O'Brien +expressed a "fear that we could not now match some of the specimens +mentioned at the exhibitions of the Horticultural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[Pg 44]</span> Society in Chiswick +Gardens between 1835 and 1850;" and extracts which he gave from reports +confirm this suspicion. The number of species cultivated at that time +was comparatively small. People grew magnificent "specimens" in place of +many handsome pots. We read of things amazing to the experience of forty +years later. Among the contributions of Mrs. Lawrence, mother to our +"chief," Sir Trevor, was an Aerides with thirty to forty flower spikes; +a Cattleya with twenty spikes; an <i>Epidendrum bicornutum</i>, difficult to +keep alive, much more to bloom, until the last few years, with "many +spikes;" an Oncidium, "bearing a head of golden flowers four feet +across." Giants dwelt in our greenhouses then.</p> + +<p>So the want of enthusiasts was satisfied. In 1852 Mr. B.S. Williams +could venture to publish "Orchids for the Million," a hand-book of +world-wide fame under the title it presently assumed, "The Orchid +Grower's Manual." An occupation or amusement the interest of which grows +year by year had been discovered. All who took trouble to examine found +proof visible that these masterworks of Nature could be transplanted and +could be made to flourish in our dull climate with a regularity and a +certainty unknown to them at home. The difficulties of their culture +were found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span>to be a myth—we speak generally, and this point must be +mentioned again. The "Million" did not yet heed Mr. Williams' +invitation, but the Ten Thousand did, heartily.</p> + +<p>I take it that orchids meet a craving of the cultured soul which began +to be felt at the moment when kindly powers provided means to satisfy +it. People of taste, unless I err, are tiring of those conventional +forms in which beauty has been presented in all past generations. It may +be an unhealthy sentiment, it may be absurd, but my experience is that +it exists and must be taken into account. A picture, a statue, a piece +of china, any work of art, is eternally the same, however charming. The +most one can do is to set it in different positions, different lights. +Théophile Gautier declared in a moment of frank impatience that if the +Transfiguration hung in his study, he would assuredly find blemishes +therein after awhile—quite fanciful and baseless, as he knew, but such, +nevertheless, as would drive him to distraction presently. I entertain a +notion, which may appear very odd to some, that Gautier's influence on +the æsthetic class of men has been more vigorous than that of any other +teacher; thousands who never read a line of his writing are +unconsciously inspired by him. The feeling that gave birth to his +protest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span>nearly two generations since is in the air now. Those who own a +collection of art, those who have paid a great sum for pictures, will +not allow it, naturally. As a rule, indeed, a man looks at his fine +things no more than at his chairs and tables. But he who is best able to +appreciate good work, and loves it best when he sees it, is the one who +grows restless when it stands constantly before him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that those lips had language!" cried Cowper. "Oh, that those lovely +figures would combine anew—change their light—do anything, anything!" +cries the æsthete after awhile. "Oh, that the wind would rise upon that +glorious sea; the summer green would fade to autumn yellow; that night +would turn to day, clouds to sunshine, or sunshine to clouds." But the +<i>littera scripta manet</i>—the stroke of the brush is everlasting. Apollo +always bends the bow in marble. One may read a poem till it is known by +heart, and in another second the familiar words strike fresh upon the +ear. Painters lay a canvas aside, and presently come to it, as they say, +with a new eye; but a purchaser once seized with this desperate malady +has no such refuge. After putting his treasure away for years, at the +first glance all his satiety returns. I myself have diagnosed a case +where a fine drawing by Gerôme grew to be a veritable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span>incubus. It is +understood that the market for pictures is falling yearly. I believe +that the growth of this dislike to the eternal stillness of a painted +scene is a chief cause of the disaster. It operates among the best class +of patrons.</p> + +<p>For such men orchids are a blessed relief. Fancy has not conceived such +loveliness, complete all round, as theirs—form, colour, grace, +distribution, detail, and broad effect. Somewhere, years ago—in Italy +perhaps, but I think at the Taylor Institution, Oxford—I saw the +drawings made by Rafaelle for Leo X. of furniture and decoration in his +new palace; be it observed in parenthesis, that one who has not beheld +the master's work in this utilitarian style of art has but a limited +understanding of his supremacy. Among them were idealizations of +flowers, beautiful and marvellous as fairyland, but compared with the +glory divine that dwells in a garland of <i>Odontoglossum Alexandræ</i>, +artificial, earthy. Illustrations of my meaning are needless to experts, +and to others words convey no idea. But on the table before me now +stands a wreath of <i>Oncidium crispum</i> which I cannot pass by. What +colourist would dare to mingle these lustrous browns with pale gold, +what master of form could shape the bold yet dainty waves and crisps and +curls in its broad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span>petals, what human imagination could bend the +graceful curve, arrange the clustering masses of its bloom? All beauty +that the mind can hold is there—the quintessence of all charm and +fancy. Were I acquainted with an atheist who, by possibility, had brain +and feeling, I would set that spray before him and await reply. If +Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lily of the field, the +angels of heaven have no vesture more ethereal than the flower of the +orchid. Let us take breath.</p> + +<p>Many persons indifferent to gardening—who are repelled, indeed, by its +prosaic accompaniments, the dirt, the manure, the formality, the spade, +the rake, and all that—love flowers nevertheless. For such these plants +are more than a relief. Observe my Oncidium. It stands in a pot, but +this is only for convenience—a receptacle filled with moss. The long +stem feathered with great blossoms springs from a bare slab of wood. No +mould nor peat surrounds it; there is absolutely nothing save the roots +that twine round their support, and the wire that sustains it in the +air. It asks no attention beyond its daily bath. From the day I tied it +on that block last year—reft from home and all its pleasures, bought +with paltry silver at Stevens' Auction Rooms—I have not touched it save +to dip and to replace it on its hook. When the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[Pg 49]</span>flowers fade, thither it +will return, and grow and grow, please Heaven, until next summer it +rejoices me again; and so, year by year, till the wood rots. Then +carefully I shall transfer it to a larger perch and resume. Probably I +shall sever the bulbs without disturbing them, and in seasons following +two spikes will push—then three, then a number, multiplying and +multiplying when my remotest posterity is extinct. That is, so Nature +orders it; whether my descendants will be careful to allow her fair play +depends on circumstances over which I have not the least control.</p> + +<p>For among their innumerable claims to a place apart among all things +created, orchids may boast immortality. Said Sir Trevor Lawrence, in the +speech which opened our famous Congress, 1885: "I do not see, in the +case of most of them, the least reason why they should ever die. The +parts of the orchideæ are annually reproduced in a great many instances, +and there is really no reason they should not live for ever unless, as +is generally the case with them in captivity, they be killed by errors +in cultivation." Sir Trevor was addressing an assemblage of +authorities—a parterre of kings in the empire of botany—or he might +have enlarged upon this text.</p> + +<p>The epiphytal orchid, to speak generally, and to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[Pg 50]</span>take the simple form, +is one body with several limbs, crowned by one head. Its circulation +pulsates through the whole, less and less vigorously, of course, in the +parts that have flowered, as the growing head leaves them behind. At +some age, no doubt, circulation fails altogether in those old limbs, but +experience does not tell me distinctly as yet in how long time the +worn-out bulbs of an Oncidium or a Cattleya, for example, would perish +by natural death. One may cut them off when apparently lifeless, even +beginning to rot, and under proper conditions—it may be a twelvemonth +after—a tiny green shoot will push from some "eye," withered and +invisible, that has slept for years, and begin existence on its own +account. Thus, I am not old enough as an orchidacean to judge through +how many seasons these plants will maintain a limb apparently +superfluous. Their charming disposition is characterized above all +things by caution and foresight. They keep as many strings to their bow, +as many shots in their locker, as may be, and they keep them as long as +possible. The tender young head may be nipped off by a thousand chances, +but such mishaps only rouse the indomitable thing to replace it with +two, or even more. Beings designed for immortality are hard to kill.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[Pg 51]</span>Among the gentle forms of intellectual excitement I know not one to +compare with the joy of restoring a neglected orchid to health. One may +buy such for coppers—rare species, too—of a size and a "potentiality" +of display which the dealers would estimate at as many pounds were they +in good condition on their shelves. I am avoiding names and details, but +it will be allowed me to say, in brief, that I myself have bought more +than twenty pots for five shillings at the auction-rooms, not twice nor +thrice either. One half of them were sick beyond recovery, some few had +been injured by accident, but by far the greater part were victims of +ignorance and ill-treatment which might still be redressed. Orchids tell +their own tale, whether of happiness or misery, in characters beyond +dispute. Mr. O'Brien alleged, indeed, before the grave and experienced +signors gathered in conference, that "like the domestic animals, they +soon find out when they are in hands that love them. With such a +guardian they seem to be happy, and to thrive, and to establish an +understanding, indicating to him their wants in many important matters +as plainly as though they could speak." And the laugh that followed this +statement was not derisive. He who glances at the endless tricks, +methods, and contrivances <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[Pg 52]</span>devised by one or other species to serve its +turn may well come to fancy that orchids are reasoning things.</p> + +<p>At least, many keep the record of their history in form unmistakable. +Here is a Cattleya which I purchased last autumn, suspecting it to be +rare and valuable, though nameless; I paid rather less than one +shilling. The poor thing tells me that some cruel person bought it five +years ago—an imported piece, with two pseudo-bulbs. They still remain, +towering like columns of old-world glory above an area of shapeless +ruin. To speak in mere prose—though really the conceit is not +extravagant—these fine bulbs, grown in their native land, of course, +measure eight inches high by three-quarters of an inch diameter. In the +first season, that <i>malheureux</i> reduced their progeny to a stature of +three and a half inches by the foot-rule; next season, to two inches; +the third, to an inch and a half. By this time the patient creature had +convinced itself that there was something radically wrong in the +circumstances attending its normal head, and tried a fresh departure +from the stock—a "back growth," as we call it, after the fashion I have +described. In the third year then, there were two heads. In the fourth +year, the chief of them had dwindled to less than one inch <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[Pg 53]</span>and the +thickness of a straw, while the second struggled into growth with pain +and difficulty, reached the size of a grain of wheat, and gave it up. +Needless to say that the wicked and unfortunate proprietor had not seen +trace of a bloom. Then at length, after five years' torment, he set it +free, and I took charge of the wretched sufferer. Forthwith he began to +show his gratitude, and at this moment—the summer but half through—his +leading head has regained all the strength lost in three years, while +the back growth, which seemed dead, outtops the best bulb my predecessor +could produce.</p> + +<p>And I have perhaps a hundred in like case, cripples regaining activity, +victims rescued on their death-bed. If there be a placid joy in life +superior to mine, as I stroll through my houses of a morning, much +experience of the world in many lands and many circumstances has not +revealed it to me. And any of my readers can attain it, for—in no +conventional sense—I am my own gardener; that is to say, no male being +ever touches an orchid of mine.</p> + +<p>One could hardly cite a stronger argument to demolish the superstitions +that still hang around this culture. If a busy man, journalist, +essayist, novelist, and miscellaneous <i>littérateur</i>, who lives by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[Pg 54]</span>his +pen, can keep many hundreds of orchids in such health that he is proud +to show them to experts—with no help whatsoever beyond, in emergency, +that which ladies of his household, or a woman-servant give—if he can +do this, assuredly the pursuit demands little trouble and little +expense. I am not to lay down principles of cultivation here, but this +must be said: orchids are indifferent to detail. There lies a secret. +Secure the general conditions necessary for their well-doing, and they +will gratefully relieve you of further anxiety; neglect those general +conditions, and no care will reconcile them. The gentleman who reduced +my Cattleya to such straits gave himself vast pains, it is likely, +consulted no end of books, did all they recommend; and now declares that +orchids are unaccountable. It is just the reverse. No living things +follow with such obstinate obedience a few most simple laws; no machine +produces its result more certainly, if one comply with the rules of its +being.</p> + +<p>This is shown emphatically by those cases which we do not clearly +understand; I take for example the strangest, as is fitting. Some +irreverent zealots have hailed the Phalœnopsis as Queen of Flowers, +dethroning our venerable rose. I have not to consider the question of +allegiance, but decidedly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[Pg 55]</span>this is, upon the whole, the most interesting +of all orchids in the cultivator's point of view. For there are some +genera and many species that refuse his attentions more or less +stubbornly—in fact, we do not yet know how to woo them. But the +Phalœnopsis is not among them. It gives no trouble in the great majority +of cases. For myself, I find it grow with the calm complacency of the +cabbage. Yet we are all aware that our success is accidental, in a +measure. The general conditions which it demands are fulfilled, +commonly, in any stove where East Indian plants flourish; but from time +to time we receive a vigorous hint that particular conditions, not +always forthcoming, are exacted by Phalœnopsis. Many legends on this +theme are current; I may cite two, notorious and easily verified. The +authorities at Kew determined to build a special house for the genus, +provided with every comfort which experience or scientific knowledge +could suggest. But when it was opened, six or eight years ago, not a +Phalœnopsis of all the many varieties would grow in it; after vain +efforts, Mr. Thiselton Dyer was obliged to seek another use for the +building, which is now employed to show plants in flower. Sir Trevor +Lawrence tells how he laid out six hundred pounds <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[Pg 56]</span>for the same object +with the same result. And yet one may safely reckon that this orchid +does admirably in nine well-managed stoves out of ten, and fairly in +nineteen out of twenty. Nevertheless, it is a maxim with growers that +Phalœnopsis should never be transferred from a situation where they are +doing well. Their hooks are sacred as that on which Horace suspended his +lyre. Nor could a reasonable man think this fancy extravagant, seeing +the evidence beyond dispute which warns us that their health is governed +by circumstances more delicate than we can analyze at present.</p> + +<p>It would be wrong to leave the impression that orchid culture is +actually as facile as market gardening, but we may say that the +eccentricities of Phalœnopsis and the rest have no more practical +importance for the class I would persuade than have the terrors of the +deep for a Thames water-man. How many thousand householders about this +city have a "bit of glass" devoted to geraniums and fuchsias and the +like! They started with more ambitious views, but successive +disappointments have taught modesty, if not despair. The poor man now +contents himself with anything that will keep tolerably green and show +some spindling flower. The fact is, that hardy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[Pg 57]</span>plants under glass +demand skilful treatment—all their surroundings are unnatural, and with +insect pest on one hand, mildew on the other, an amateur stands betwixt +the devil and the deep sea. Under those circumstances common plants +become really capricious—that is, being ruled by no principles easy to +grasp and immutable in operation, their discomfort shows itself in +perplexing forms. But such species of orchids as a poor man would think +of growing are incapable of pranks. For one shilling he can buy a manual +which will teach him what these species are, and most of the things +necessary for him to understand besides. An expenditure of five pounds +will set him up for life and beyond—since orchids are immortal. Nothing +else is needed save intelligence.</p> + +<p>Not even heat, since his collection will be "cool" naturally; if frost +be excluded, that is enough. I should not have ventured to say this some +few years ago—before, in fact, I had visited St. Albans. But in the +cool house of that palace of enchantment with which Mr. Sander has +adorned the antique borough, before the heating arrangements were quite +complete though the shelves were occupied, often the glass would fall +very low into the thirties. I could never learn distinctly that mischief +followed, though Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[Pg 58]</span> Godseff did not like it at all. One who beheld the +sight when those fields of Odontoglossum burst into bloom might well +entertain a doubt whether improvement was possible. There is nothing to +approach it in this lower world. I cannot forbear to indicate one +picture in the grand gallery. Fancy a corridor four hundred feet long, +six wide, roofed with square baskets hanging from the glass as close as +they will fit. Suspend to each of these—how many hundreds or thousands +has never been computed—one or more garlands of snowy flowers, a +thicket overhead such as one might behold in a tropic forest, with +myriads of white butterflies clustering amongst the vines. But +imagination cannot bear mortal man thus far. "Upon the banks of +Paradise" those "twa clerks" may have seen the like; yet, had they done +so their hats would have been adorned not with "the birk," but with +plumes of <i>Odontoglossum citrosmum</i>.</p> + +<p>I have but another word to say. If any of the class to whom I appeal +incline to let "I dare not wait upon I would," hear the experience of a +bold enthusiast, as recounted by Mr. Castle in his small brochure, +"Orchids." This gentleman had a fern-case outside his sitting-room +window, six feet long by three wide. He ran pipes through it, warmed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[Pg 59]</span>presumably by gas. More ambitious than I venture to recommend, "in this +miniature structure," says Mr. Castle, "with liberal supplies of water, +the owner succeeded in growing, in a smoky district of London"—I will +not quote the amazing list of fine things, but it numbers twenty-five +species, all the most delicate and beautiful of the stove kinds. If so +much could be done under such circumstances, what may rightly be called +difficult in the cultivation of orchids?</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[Pg 60]</span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>COOL ORCHIDS.</h2> + + +<p>This is a subject which would interest every cultured reader, I believe, +every householder at least, if he could be brought to understand that it +lies well within the range of his practical concerns. But the public has +still to be persuaded. It seems strange to the expert that delusions +should prevail when orchids are so common and so much talked of; but I +know by experience that the majority of people, even among those who +love their garden, regard them as fantastic and mysterious creations, +designed, to all seeming, for the greater glory of pedants and +millionaires. I try to do my little part, as occasion serves, in +correcting this popular error, and spreading a knowledge of the facts. +It is no less than a duty. If every human being should do what he can to +promote the general happiness, it would be downright wicked to leave +one's fellow-men under the influence of hallucinations that debar them +from the most charming of quiet pleasures. I suspect also that the +misapprehension of the public is largely due to the conduct of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[Pg 61]</span>experts +in the past. It was a rule with growers formerly, avowed among +themselves, to keep their little secrets. When Mr. B.S. Williams +published the first edition of his excellent book forty years ago, he +fluttered his colleagues sadly. The plain truth is that no class of +plant can be cultivated so easily, as none are so certain to repay the +trouble, as the Cool Orchids.</p> + +<p>Nearly all the genera of this enormous family have species which grow in +a temperate climate, if not in the temperate zone. At this moment, in +fact, I recall but two exceptions, Vanda and Phalœnopsis. Many more +there are, of course—half a dozen have occurred to me while I wrote the +last six words—but in the small space at command I must cling to +generalities. We have at least a hundred genera which will flourish +anywhere if the frost be excluded; and as for species, a list of two +thousand would not exhaust them probably. But a reasonable man may +content himself with the great classes of Odontoglossum, Oncidium, +Cypripedium, and Lycaste; among the varieties of these, which no one has +ventured to calculate perhaps, he may spend a happy existence. They have +every charm—foliage always green, a graceful habit, flowers that rank +among the master works of Nature. The poor man who succeeds <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[Pg 62]</span>with them +in his modest "bit of glass" has no cause to envy Dives his flaunting +Cattleyas and "fox-brush" Aerides. I should like to publish it in +capitals—that nine in ten of those suburban householders who read this +book may grow the loveliest of orchids if they can find courage to try.</p> + +<p>Odontoglossums stand first, of course—I know not where to begin the +list of their supreme merits. It will seem perhaps a striking advantage +to many that they burst into flower at any time, as they chance to +ripen. I think that the very perfection of culture is discounted +somewhat in this instance. The gardener who keeps his plants at the <i>ne +plus ultra</i> stage brings them all into bloom within the space of a few +weeks. Thus in the great collections there is such a show during April, +May, and June as the Gardens of Paradise could not excel, and hardly a +spike in the cool houses for the rest of the year. At a large +establishment this signifies nothing; when the Odontoglossums go off +other things "come on" with equal regularity. But the amateur, with his +limited assortment, misses every bloom. He has no need for anxiety with +this genus. It is their instinct to flower in spring, of course, but +they are not pedantic about it in the least. Some tiny detail overlooked +here and there, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[Pg 63]</span>absolutely unimportant to health, will retard +florescence. It might very well happen that the owner of a dozen pots +had one blooming every month successively. And that would mean two +spikes open, for, with care, most Odontoglossums last above four weeks.</p> + +<p>Another virtue, shared by others of the cool class in some degree, is +their habit of growing in winter. They take no "rest;" all the year +round their young bulbs are swelling, graceful foliage lengthening, +roots pushing, until the spike demands a concentration of all their +energy. But winter is the most important time. I think any man will see +the peculiar blessing of this arrangement. It gives interest to the long +dull days, when other plant life is at a standstill. It furnishes +material for cheering meditations on a Sunday morning—is that a trifle? +And at this season the pursuit is joy unmixed. We feel no anxious +questionings, as we go about our daily business, whether the <i>placens +uxor</i> forgot to remind Mary, when she went out, to pull the blinds down; +whether Mary followed the instructions if given; whether those +confounded patent ventilators have snapped to again. Green fly does not +harass us. One syringing a day, and one watering per week suffice. Truly +these are not grave things, but the issue at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span>stake is precious: we +enjoy the boon of relief proportionately.</p> + +<p>Very few of those who grow Odontoglossums know much about the "Trade," +or care, seemingly. It is a curious subject, however. The genus is +American exclusively. It ranges over the continent from the northern +frontier of Mexico to the southern frontier of Peru, excepting, to speak +roughly, the empire of Brazil. This limitation is odd. It cannot be due +to temperature simply, for, upon the one hand, we receive Sophronitis, a +very cool genus, from Brazil, and several of the coolest Cattleyas; upon +the other, <i>Odontoglossum Roezlii</i>, a very hot species, and <i>O. +vexillarium</i>, most decidedly warm, flourish up to the boundary. Why +these should not step across, even if their mountain sisters refuse +companionship with the Sophronitis, is a puzzle. Elsewhere, however, +they abound. Collectors distinctly foresee the time when all the +districts they have "worked" up to this will be exhausted. But South +America contains a prodigious number of square miles, and a day's march +from the track carries one into <i>terra incognita</i>. Still, the end will +come. The English demand has stripped whole provinces, and now all the +civilized world is entering into competition. We are sadly assured that +Odontoglossums carried off will not be replaced <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[Pg 65]</span>for centuries. Most +other genera of orchid propagate so freely that wholesale depredations +are made good in very few years. For reasons beyond our comprehension as +yet, the Odontoglossum stands in different case. No one in England has +raised a plant from seed—that we may venture to say definitely. Mr. +Cookson and Mr. Veitch, perhaps others also, have obtained living germs, +but they died incontinently. Frenchmen, aided by the climate, have been +rather more successful. MM. Bleu and Moreau have both flowered seedling +Odontoglots. M. Jacob, who takes charge of M. Edmund de Rothschild's +orchids at Armainvilliers, has a considerable number of young plants. +The reluctance of Odontoglots to propagate is regarded as strange; it +supplies a constant theme for discussion among orchidologists. But I +think that if we look more closely it appears consistent with other +facts known. For among importations of every genus but this—and +Cypripedium—a plant bearing its seed-capsules is frequently discovered; +but I cannot hear of such an incident in the case of Odontoglossums. +They have been arriving in scores of thousands, year by year, for half a +century almost, and scarcely anyone recollects observing a seed-capsule. +This shows how rarely they fertilize in their native home. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[Pg 66]</span>that +event happens, the Odontoglossum is yet more prolific than most, and the +germs, of course, are not so delicate under their natural conditions. +But the moral to be drawn is that a country once stripped will not be +reclothed.</p> + +<p>I interpolate here a profound observation of Mr. Roezl. That wonderful +man remarked that Odontoglossums grow upon branches thirty feet above +the ground. It is rare to find them at thirty-five feet, rarer at +twenty-five; at greater and less heights they do not exist. Here, +doubtless, we have the secret of their reluctance to fertilize; but I +will offer no comments, because the more one reflects the more puzzling +it becomes. Evidently the seed must be carried above and must fall below +that limit, under circumstances which, to our apprehension, seem just as +favourable as those at the altitude of thirty feet. But they do not +germinate. Upon the other hand, Odontoglossums show no such daintiness +of growth in our houses. They flourish at any height, if the general +conditions be suitable. Mr. Roezl discovered a secret nevertheless, and +in good time we shall learn further.</p> + +<p>To the Royal Horticultural Society of England belongs the honour of +first importing orchids methodically and scientifically. Messrs. Weir +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[Pg 67]</span> Fortune, I believe, were their earliest employés. Another was +Theodor Hartweg, who discovered <i>Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ</i> in +1842; but he sent home only dried specimens. From these Lindley +described and classed the plant, aided by the sketch of a Spanish or +Peruvian artist, Tagala. A very curious mistake Lindley fell into on +either point. The scientific error does not concern us, but he +represented the colouring of the flower as yellow with a purple centre. +So Tagala painted it, and his drawing survives. It is an odd little +story. He certainly had Hartweg's bloom before him, and that certainly +was white. But then again yellow Alexandræs have been found since that +day. To the Horticultural Society we are indebted, not alone for the +discovery of this wonder, but also for its introduction. John Weir was +travelling for them when he sent living specimens in 1862. It is not +surprising that botanists thought it new after what has been said. As +such Mr. Bateman named it after the young Princess of Wales—a choice +most appropriate in every way.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo079.jpg"><img src="images/illo079-tb.jpg" alt="Odontoglossum Crispum Alexandrae." title="Odontoglossum Crispum Alexandrae." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Odontoglossum Crispum Alexandrae.</span><br /> +Flower reduced to One Fourth<br /> +Flower Stem to One Sixth</h4> + +<p>Then a few wealthy amateurs took up the business of importation, such as +the Duke of Devonshire. But "the Trade" came to see presently that there +was money in this new fashion, and imported so vigorously that the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[Pg 68]</span>Society found its exertions needless. Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting, +Messrs. Veitch of Chelsea, and Messrs. Low of Clapton distinguished +themselves from the outset. Of these three firms one is extinct; the +second has taken up, and made its own, the fascinating study of +hybridization among orchids; the third still perseveres. Twenty years +ago, nearly all the great nurserymen in London used to send out their +travellers; but they have mostly dropped the practice. Correspondents +forward a shipment from time to time. The expenses of the collector are +heavy, even if he draw no more than his due—and the temptation to make +up a fancy bill cannot be resisted by some weak mortals. Then, grave +losses are always probable—in the case of South American importations, +certain. It has happened not once but a hundred times that the toil of +months, the dangers, the sufferings, and the hard money expended go to +absolute waste. Twenty or thirty thousand plants or more an honest man +collects, brings down from the mountains or the forests, packs +carefully, and ships. The freight alone may reach from three to eight +hundred pounds—I have personally known instances when it exceeded five +hundred. The cases arrive in England—and not a living thing therein!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[Pg 69]</span> A +steamship company may reduce its charge under such circumstances, but +again and again it will happen that the speculator stands out of a +thousand pounds clean when his boxes are opened. He may hope to recover +it on the next cargo, but that is still a question of luck. No wonder +that men whose business is not confined to orchids withdrew from the +risks of importation, returning to roses and lilies and daffodowndillies +with a new enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>There is another point also, which has varying force with different +characters. The loss of life among those men who "go out collecting" has +been greater proportionately, than in any class of which I have heard. +In former times, at least, they were chosen haphazard, among intelligent +and trustworthy employés of the firm. Trustworthiness was a grand point, +for reasons hinted. The honest youth, not very strong perhaps in an +English climate, went bravely forth into the unhealthiest parts of +unhealthy lands, where food is very scarce, and very, very rough; where +he was wet through day after day, for weeks at a time; where "the +fever," of varied sort, comes as regularly as Sunday; where from month +to month he found no one with whom to exchange a word. I could make out +a startling list of the martyrs of orchidology. Among Mr. Sander's +collectors alone, Falkenberg <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[Pg 70]</span>perished at Panama, Klaboch in Mexico, +Endres at Rio Hacha, Wallis in Ecuador, Schroeder in Sierra Leone, +Arnold on the Orinoco, Digance in Brazil, Brown in Madagascar. Sir +Trevor Lawrence mentions a case where the zealous explorer "waded for a +fortnight up to his middle in mud," searching for a plant he had heard +of. I have not identified this instance of devotion, but we know of +rarities which would demand perseverance and sufferings almost equal to +secure them. If employers could find the heart to tempt a +fellow-creature into such risks, the chances are that it would prove bad +business. For to discover a new or valuable orchid is only the first +step in a commercial enterprise. It remains to secure the "article," to +bring it safely into a realm that may be called civilized, to pack it +and superintend its transport through the sweltering lowland to a +shipping place. If the collector sicken after finding his prize, these +cares are neglected more or less; if he die, all comes to a full stop. +Thus it happens that the importing business has been given up by one +firm after another.</p> + +<p>Odontoglossums, as I said, belong to America—to the mountainous parts +of the continent in general. Though it would be wildly rash to pronounce +which is the loveliest of orchids, no man <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[Pg 71]</span>with eyes would dispute that +<i>O. crispum Alexandræ</i> is the queen of this genus. She has her home in +the States of Colombia, and those who seek her make Bogota their +headquarters. If the collector wants the broad-petalled variety, he goes +about ten days to the southward before commencing operations; if the +narrow-petalled, about two days to the north—on mule-back of course. +His first care on arrival in the neighbourhood—which is unexplored +ground, if such he can discover—is to hire a wood; that is, a track of +mountain clothed more or less with timber. I have tried to procure one +of these "leases," which must be odd documents; but orchid-farming is a +close and secret business. The arrangement concluded in legal form, he +hires natives, twenty or fifty or a hundred, as circumstances advise, +and sends them to cut down trees, building meantime a wooden stage of +sufficient length to bear the plunder expected. This is used for +cleaning and drying the plants brought in. Afterwards, if he be prudent, +he follows his lumber-men, to see that their indolence does not shirk +the big trunks—which give extra trouble naturally, though they yield +the best and largest return. It is a terribly wasteful process. If we +estimate that a good tree has been felled for every three scraps of +Odontoglossum which are now established in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[Pg 72]</span> Europe, that will be no +exaggeration. And for many years past they have been arriving by +hundreds of thousands annually! But there is no alternative. An European +cannot explore that green wilderness overhead; if he could, his +accumulations would be so slow and costly as to raise the proceeds to an +impossible figure. The natives will not climb, and they would tear the +plants to bits. Timber has no value in those parts as yet, but the day +approaches when Government must interfere. The average yield of +<i>Odontoglossum crispum</i> per tree is certainly not more than five large +and small together. Once upon a time Mr. Kerbach recovered fifty-three +at one felling, and the incident has grown into a legend; two or three +is the usual number. Upon the other hand, fifty or sixty of <i>O. +gloriosum</i>, comparatively worthless, are often secured. The cutters +receive a fixed price of sixpence for each orchid, without reference to +species or quality.</p> + +<p>When his concession is exhausted, the traveller overhauls the produce +carefully, throwing away those damaged pieces which would ferment in the +long, hot journey home, and spoil the others. When all are clean and +dry, he fixes them with copper wire on sticks, which are nailed across +boxes for transport. Long experience has laid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[Pg 73]</span>down rules for each +detail of this process. The sticks, for example, are one inch in +diameter, fitting into boxes two feet three inches wide, two feet deep, +neither more nor less. Then the long file of mules sets out for Bogota, +perhaps ten days' march, each animal carrying two boxes—a burden +ridiculously light, but on such tracks it is dimension which has to be +considered. On arrival at Bogota, the cases are unpacked and examined +for the last time, restowed, and consigned to the muleteers again. In +six days they reach Honda, on the Magdalena River, where, until lately, +they were embarked on rafts for a voyage of fourteen days to Savanilla. +At the present time, an American company has established a service of +flat-bottomed steamers which cover the distance in seven days, thus +reducing the risks of the journey by one-half. But they are still +terrible. Not a breath of wind stirs the air at that season, for the +collector cannot choose his time. The boxes are piled on deck; even the +pitiless sunshine is not so deadly as the stewing heat below. He has a +store of blankets to cover them, on which he lays a thatch of +palm-leaves, and all day long he souses the pile with water; but too +well the poor fellow knows that mischief is busy down below. Another +anxiety possesses him too. It may very well be that on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[Pg 74]</span>arrival at +Savanilla he has to wait days in that sweltering atmosphere for the +Royal Mail steamer. And when it comes in, his troubles do not cease, for +the stowage of the precious cargo is vastly important. On deck it will +almost certainly be injured by salt water. In the hold it will ferment. +Amidships it is apt to be baked by the engine fire. Whilst writing I +learn that Mr. Sander has lost two hundred and sixty-seven cases by this +latter mishap, as is supposed. So utterly hopeless is their condition, +that he will not go to the expense of overhauling them; they lie at +Southampton, and to anybody who will take them away all parties +concerned will be grateful. The expense of making this shipment a reader +may judge from the hints given. The Royal Mail Company's charge for +freight from Manzanilla is 750<i>l.</i> I could give an incident of the same +class yet more startling with reference to Phalœnopsis. It is proper to +add that the most enterprising of Assurance Companies do not yet see +their way to accept any kind of risks in the orchid trade; importers +must bear all the burden. To me it seems surprising that the plants can +be sold so cheap, all things considered. Many persons think and hope +that prices will fall, and that may probably happen with regard to some +genera. But the shrewdest of those very shrewd <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[Pg 75]</span>men who conduct the +business all look for a rise.</p> + +<p><i>Od. Harryanum</i> always reminds me—in such an odd association of ideas +as everyone has experienced—of a thunderstorm. The contrast of its +intense brown blotches with the azure throat and the broad, snowy lip, +affect me somehow with admiring oppression. Very absurd; but <i>on est +fait comme ça</i>, as Nana excused herself. To call this most striking +flower "Harryanum" is grotesque. The public is not interested in those +circumstances which give the name significance for a few, and if there +be any flower which demands an expressive title, it is this, in my +judgment. Possibly it was some Indian report which had slipped his +recollection that led Roezl to predict the discovery of a new +Odontoglot, unlike any other, in the very district where <i>Od. Harryanum</i> +was found after his death, though the story is quoted as an example of +that instinct which guides the heaven-born collector. The first plants +came unannounced in a small box sent by Señor Pantocha, of Colombia, to +Messrs. Horsman in 1885, and they were flowered next year by Messrs. +Veitch. The dullest who sees it can now imagine the excitement when this +marvel was displayed, coming from an unknown habitat. Roezl's +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[Pg 76]</span>prediction occurred to many of his acquaintance, I have heard; but Mr. +Sander had a living faith in his old friend's sagacity. Forthwith he +despatched a collector to the spot which Roezl had named—but not +visited—and found the treasure. The legends of orchidology will be +gathered one day, perhaps; and if the editor be competent, his volume +should be almost as interesting to the public as to the cognoscenti.</p> + +<p>I have been speaking hitherto of Colombian Odontoglossums, which are +reckoned among the hardiest of their class. Along with them, in the same +temperature, grow the cool Masdevallias, which probably are the most +difficult of all to transport. There was once a grand consignment of +<i>Masdevallia Schlimii</i>, which Mr. Roezl despatched on his own account. +It contained twenty-seven thousand plants of this species, representing +at that time a fortune. Mr. Roezl was the luckiest and most experienced +of collectors, and he took special pains with this unique shipment. +Among twenty-seven thousand two bits survived when the cases were +opened; the agent hurried them off to Stevens's auction-rooms, and sold +them forthwith at forty guineas each. But I must stick to +Odontoglossums. Speculative as is the business of importing the northern +species, to gather those of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[Pg 77]</span> Peru and Ecuador is almost desperate. The +roads of Colombia are good, the population civilized, conveniences +abound, if we compare that region with the orchid-bearing territories of +the south. There is a fortune to be secured by anyone who will bring to +market a lot of <i>O. nœveum</i> in fair condition. Its habitat is +perfectly well known. I am not aware that it has a delicate +constitution; but no collector is so rash or so enthusiastic as to try +that adventure again, now that its perils are understood; and no +employer is so reckless as to urge him. The true variety of <i>O. Hallii</i> +stands in much the same case. To obtain it the explorer must march in +the bed of a torrent and on the face of a precipice alternately for an +uncertain period of time, with a river to cross about every day. And he +has to bring back his loaded mules, or Indians, over the same pathless +waste. The Roraima Mountain begins to be regarded as quite easy travel +for the orchid-hunter nowadays. If I mention that the canoe-work on this +route demands thirty-two portages, thirty-two loadings and unloadings of +the cargo, the reader can judge what a "difficult road" must be. +Ascending the Roraima, Mr. Dressel, collecting for Mr. Sander, lost his +herbarium in the Essequibo River. Savants alone are able to estimate the +awful nature of the crisis <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[Pg 78]</span>when a comrade looses his grip of that +treasure. For them it is needless to add that everything else went to +the bottom.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>One is tempted to linger among the Odontoglots, though time is pressing. +In no class of orchids are natural hybrids so mysterious and frequent. +Sometimes one can detect the parentage; in such cases, doubtless, the +crossing occurred but a few generations back: as a rule, however, such +plants are the result of breeding in and in from age to age, causing all +manner of delightful complications. How many can trace the lineage of +Mr. Bull's <i>Od. delectabile</i>—ivory white, tinged with rose, strikingly +blotched with red and showing a golden labellum? or Mr. Sander's <i>Od. +Alberti-Edwardi</i>, which has a broad soft margin of gold about its +stately petals? Another is rosy white, closely splashed with pale +purple, and dotted round the edge with spots of the same tint so thickly +placed that they resemble a fringe. Such marvels turn up in an +importation without the slightest warning—no peculiarity betrays them +until the flowers open; when the lucky purchaser discovers that a plant +for which he gave perhaps a shilling is worth an indefinite number of +guineas.</p> + +<p>Lycaste also is a genus peculiar to America, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[Pg 79]</span>such a favourite among +those who know its merits that the species <i>L. Skinneri</i> is called the +"Drawing-Room Flower." Professor Reichenbach observes in his superb +volume that many people utterly ignorant of orchids grow this plant in +their miscellaneous collection. I speak of it without prejudice, for to +my mind the bloom is stiff, heavy, and poor in colour. But there are +tremendous exceptions. In the first place, <i>Lycaste Skinneri alba</i>, the +pure white variety, beggars all description. Its great flower seems to +be sculptured in the snowiest of transparent marble. That stolid +pretentious air which offends one—offends me, at least—in the coloured +examples, becomes virginal dignity in this case. Then, of the normal +type there are more than a hundred variations recognized, some with lips +as deep in tone, and as smooth in texture, as velvet, of all shades from +maroon to brightest crimson. It will be understood that I allude to the +common forms in depreciating this species. How vast is the difference +between them, their commercial value shows. Plants of the same size and +the same species range from 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> to 35 guineas, or more +indefinitely.</p> + +<p>Lycastes are found in the woods, of Guatemala especially, and I have +heard no such adventures <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[Pg 80]</span>in the gathering of them as attend +Odontoglossums. Easily obtained, easily transported, and remarkably easy +to grow, of course they are cheap. A man must really "give his mind to +it" to kill a Lycaste. This counts for much, no doubt, in the popularity +of the genus, but it has plenty of other virtues. <i>L. Skinneri</i> opens in +the depth of winter, and all the rest, I think, in the dull months. +Then, they are profuse of bloom, throwing up half a dozen spikes, or, in +some species, a dozen, from a single bulb, and the flowers last a +prodigious time. Their extraordinary thickness in every part enables +them to withstand bad air and changes of temperature, so that ladies +keep them on a drawing-room table, night and day, for months, without +change perceptible. Mr. Williams names an instance where a <i>L. +Skinneri</i>, bought in full bloom on February 2, was kept in a +sitting-room till May 18, when the purchaser took it back, still +handsome. I have heard cases more surprising. Of species somewhat less +common there is <i>L. aromatica</i>, a little gem, which throws up an +indefinite number of short spikes, each crowned with a greenish yellow +triangular sort of cup, deliciously scented. I am acquainted with no +flower that excites such enthusiasm among ladies who fancy Messrs. +Liberty's style of toilette; sad ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[Pg 81]</span>perience tells me that ten +commandments or twenty will not restrain them from appropriating it. <i>L. +cruenta</i> is almost as tempting. As for <i>L. leucanthe</i>, an exquisite +combination of pale green and snow white, it ranks with <i>L. Skinneri +alba</i> as a thing too beautiful for words. This species has not been long +introduced, and at the moment it is dear proportionately. There is yet +another virtue of the Lycaste which appeals to the expert. It lends +itself readily to hybridization. This most fascinating pursuit attracts +few amateurs as yet, and the professionals have little time or +inclination for experiments. They naturally prefer to make such crosses +as are almost certain to pay. Thus it comes about that the hybridization +of Lycastes has been attempted but recently, and none of the seedlings, +so far as I can learn, have flowered. They have been obtained, however, +in abundance, not only from direct crossing, but also from alliance with +Zygopetalum, Anguloa, and Maxillaria.</p> + +<p>The genus Cypripedium, Lady's Slipper, is perhaps more widely scattered +over the globe than any other class of plant; I, at least, am acquainted +with none that approaches it. From China to Peru—nay, beyond, from +Archangel to Torres Straits,—but it is wise to avoid these semi-poetic +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[Pg 82]</span>descriptions. In brief, if we except Africa and the temperate parts of +Australia, there is no large tract of country in the world that does not +produce Cypripediums; and few authorities doubt that a larger +acquaintance with those realms will bring them under the rule. We have a +species in England, <i>C. calceolus</i>, by no means insignificant; it can be +purchased from the dealers, but it is almost extinct in this country +now. America furnishes a variety of species; which ought to be hardy. +They will bear a frost below zero, but our winter damp is intolerable. +Mr. Godseff tells me that he has seen <i>C. spectabile</i> growing like any +water-weed in the bogs of New Jersey, where it is frozen hard, roots and +all, for several months of the year; but very few survive the season in +this country, even if protected. Those fine specimens so common at our +spring shows are imported in the dry state. From the United States also +we get the charming <i>C. candidum</i>, <i>C. parviflorum</i>, <i>C. pubescens</i>, and +many more less important. Canada and Siberia furnish <i>C. guttatum</i>, <i>C. +macranthum</i>, and others. I saw in Russia, and brought home, a +magnificent species, tall and stately, bearing a great golden flower, +which is not known "in the trade;" but they all rotted gradually. +Therefore I do not recommend these fine outdoor varieties, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[Pg 83]</span>which the +inexperienced are apt to think so easy. At the same cost others may be +bought, which, coming from the highlands of hot countries, are used to a +moderate damp in winter.</p> + +<p>Foremost of these, perhaps the oldest of cool orchids in cultivation, is +<i>C. insigne</i>, from Nepal. Everyone knows its original type, which has +grown so common that I remarked a healthy pot at a window-garden +exhibition some years ago in Westminster. One may say that this, the +early and familiar form, has no value at present, so many fine varieties +have been introduced. A reader may form a notion of the difference when +I state that a small plant of exceptional merit sold for thirty guineas +a short time ago—it was <i>C. insigne</i>, but glorified. This ranks among +the fascinations of orchid culture. You may buy a lot of some common +kind, imported, at a price representing coppers for each individual, and +among them may appear, when they come to bloom, an eccentricity which +sells for a hundred pounds or more. The experienced collector has a +volume of such legends. There is another side to the question, truly, +but it does not personally interest the class which I address. To make a +choice among numberless stories of this sort, we may take the instance +of <i>C. Spicerianum</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[Pg 84]</span>It turned up among a quantity of <i>Cypripedium insigne</i> in the +greenhouse of Mrs. Spicer, a lady residing at Twickenham. Astonished at +the appearance of this swan among her ducks, she asked Mr. Veitch to +look at it. He was delighted to pay seventy guineas down for such a +prize. Cypripediums propagate easily, no more examples came into the +market, and for some years this lovely species was a treasure for dukes +and millionaires. It was no secret that the precious novelty came from +Mrs. Spicer's greenhouse; but to call on a strange lady and demand how +she became possessed of a certain plant is not a course of action that +commends itself to respectable business men. The circumstances gave no +clue. Messrs. Spicer were and are large manufacturers of paper; there is +no visible connection betwixt paper and Indian orchids. By discreet +inquiries, however, it was ascertained that one of the lady's sons had a +tea-plantation in Assam. No more was needed. By the next mail Mr. +Forstermann started for that vague destination, and in process of time +reached Mr. Spicer's bungalow. There he asked for "a job." None could be +found for him; but tea-planters are hospitable, and the stranger was +invited to stop a day or two. But he could not lead the conversation +towards orchids—perhaps <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[Pg 85]</span>because his efforts were too clever, perhaps +because his host took no interest in the subject. One day, however, Mr. +Spicer's manager invited him to go shooting, and casually remarked "we +shall pass the spot where I found those orchids they're making such a +fuss about at home." Be sure Mr. Forstermann was alert that morning! +Thus put upon the track, he discovered quantities of it, bade the +tea-planter adieu, and went to work; but in the very moment of triumph a +tiger barred the way, his coolies bolted, and nothing would persuade +them to go further. Mr. Forstermann was no shikari, but he felt himself +called upon to uphold the cause of science and the honour of England at +this juncture. In great agitation he went for that feline, and, in +short, its skin still adorns Mrs. Sander's drawing-room. Thus it +happened that on a certain Thursday a small pot of <i>C. Spicerianum</i> was +sold, as usual, for sixty guineas at Stevens's; on the Thursday +following all the world could buy fine plants at a guinea.</p> + +<p>Cypripedium is the favourite orchid of the day. It has every advantage, +except, to my perverse mind—brilliancy of colour. None show a whole +tone; even the lovely <i>C. niveum</i> is not pure white. My views, however, +find no backing. At all other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[Pg 86]</span>points the genus deserves to be a +favourite. In the first place, it is the most interesting of all orchids +to science.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> Then its endless variations of form, its astonishing +oddities, its wide range of hues, its easy culture, its readiness to +hybridize and to ripen seed, the certainty, by comparison, of rearing +the proceeds, each of these merits appeals to one or other of +orchid-growers. Many of the species which come from torrid lands, +indeed, are troublesome, but with such we are not concerned. The cool +varieties will do well anywhere, provided they receive water enough in +summer, and not too little in winter. I do not speak of the American and +Siberian classes, which are nearly hopeless for the amateur, nor of the +Hong-Kong <i>Cypripedium purpuratum</i>, a very puzzling example.</p> + +<p>On the roll of martyrs to orchidology, Mr. Pearce stands high. To him we +owe, among many fine things, the hybrid Begonias which are becoming such +favourites for bedding and other purposes. He discovered the three +original types, parents of the innumerable "garden flowers" now on +sale—<i>Begonia Pearcii</i>, <i>B. Veitchii</i>, and <i>B. Boliviensis</i>. It was his +great luck, and great honour, to find <i>Masdevallia Veitchii</i>—so long, +so often, so labori<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[Pg 87]</span>ously searched for from that day to this, but never +even heard of. To collect another shipment of that glorious orchid, Mr. +Pearce sailed for Peru, in the service, I think, of Mr. Bull. +Unhappily—for us all as well as for himself—he was detained at Panama. +Somewhere in those parts there is a magnificent Cypripedium with which +we are acquainted only by the dried inflorescence, named <i>planifolium</i>. +The poor fellow could not resist this temptation. They told him at +Panama that no white man had returned from the spot, but he went on. The +Indians brought him back, some days or weeks later, without the prize; +and he died on arrival.</p> + +<p>Oncidiums also are a product of the New World exclusively; in fact, of +the four classes most useful to amateurs, three belong wholly to +America, and the fourth in great part. I resist the temptation to +include Masdevallia, because that genus is not so perfectly easy as the +rest; but if it be added, nine-tenths, assuredly, of the plants in our +cool house come from the West. Among the special merits of the Oncidium +is its colour. I have heard thoughtless persons complain that they are +"all yellow;" which, as a statement of fact, is near enough to the +truth, for about three-fourths may be so described roughly. But this +dispensation is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[Pg 88]</span>another proof of Nature's kindly regard for the +interests of our science. A clear, strong, golden yellow is the colour +that would have been wanting in our cool houses had not the Oncidium +supplied it. Shades of lemon and buff are frequent among Odontoglossums, +but, in a rough, general way of speaking, they have a white ground. +Masdevallias give us scarlet and orange and purple; Lycastes, green and +dull yellow; Sophronitis, crimson; Mesospinidium, rose, and so forth. +Blue must not be looked for. Even counting the new Utricularia for an +orchid, as most people do, there are, I think, but five species that +will live among us at present, in all the prodigious family, showing +this colour; and every one of them is very "hot." Thus it appears that +the Oncidium fills a gap—and how gloriously! There is no such pure gold +in the scheme of the universe as it displays under fifty shapes +wondrously varied. Thus—<i>Oncidium macranthum!</i> one is continually +tempted to exclaim, as one or other glory of the orchid world recurs to +mind, that it is the supreme triumph of floral beauty. I have sinned +thus, and I know it. Therefore, let the reader seek an opportunity to +behold <i>O. macranthum</i>, and judge for himself. But it seems to me that +Nature gives us a hint. As though proudly conscious what a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[Pg 89]</span>marvel it +will unfold, this superb flower often demands nine months to perfect +itself. Dr. Wallace told me of an instance in his collection where +eighteen months elapsed from the appearance of the spike until the +opening of the first bloom. But it lasts a time proportionate.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo101.jpg"><img src="images/illo101-tb.jpg" alt="Oncidium macranthum." title="Oncidium macranthum." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Oncidium macranthum.</span><br /> +Reduced to One Sixth</h4> + + +<p>Nature forestalled the dreams of æsthetic colourists when she designed +<i>Oncidium macranthum</i>. Thus, and not otherwise, would the thoughtful of +them arrange a "harmony" in gold and bronze; but Nature, with +characteristic indifference to the fancies of mankind, hid her +<i>chef-d'œuvre</i> in the wilds of Ecuador. Hardly less striking, +however, though perhaps less beautiful, are its sisters of the +"small-lipped" species—<i>Onc. serratum</i>, <i>O. superbiens</i>, and <i>O. +sculptum</i>. This last is rarely seen. As with others of its class, the +spike grows very long, twelve feet perhaps, if it were allowed to +stretch. The flowers are small comparatively, clear bronze-brown, highly +polished, so closely and daintily frilled round the edges that a fairy +goffering-iron could not give more regular effects, and outlined by a +narrow band of gold. <i>Onc. serratum</i> has a much larger bloom, but less +compact, rather fly-away indeed, its sepals widening gracefully from a +narrow neck. Excessively curious is the disposition of the petals, which +close their tips to form <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[Pg 90]</span>a circle of brown and gold around the column. +The purpose of this extraordinary arrangement—unique among orchids, I +believe—will be discovered one day, for purpose there is, no doubt; to +judge by analogy, it may be supposed that the insect upon which <i>Onc. +serratum</i> depends for fertilization likes to stand upon this ring while +thrusting its proboscis into the nectary. The fourth of these fine +species, <i>Onc. superbiens</i>, ranks among the grandest of flowers—knowing +its own value, it rarely consents to "oblige;" the dusky green sepals +are margined with yellow, petals white, clouded with pale purple, lip +very small, of course, purple, surmounted by a great golden crest.</p> + +<p>Most strange and curious is <i>Onc. fuscatum</i>, of which the shape defies +description. Seen from the back, it shows a floriated cross of equal +limbs; but in front the nethermost is hidden by a spreading lip, very +large proportionately. The prevailing tint is a dun-purple, but each arm +has a broad white tip. Dun-purple, also, is the centre of the labellum, +edged with a distinct band of lighter hue, which again, towards the +margin, becomes white. These changes of tone are not gradual, but as +clear as a brush could make them. Botanists must long to dissect this +extraordinary flower, but the opportunity seldom occurs. It is +desperately puzzling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[Pg 91]</span>to understand how nature has packed away the +component parts of its inflorescence, so as to resolve them into four +narrow arms and a labellum. But the colouring of this plant is not +always dull. In the small Botanic Garden at Florence, by Santa Maria +Maggiore, I remarked with astonishment an <i>Onc. fuscatum</i>, of which the +lip was scarlet-crimson and the other tints bright to match. That +collection is admirably grown, but orchids are still scarce in Italy. +The Society did not know what a prize it had secured by chance.</p> + +<p>The genus Oncidium has, perhaps, more examples of a startling +combination in hues than any other—but one must speak thoughtfully and +cautiously upon such points.</p> + +<p>I have not to deal with culture, but one hint may be given. Gardeners +who have a miscellaneous collection to look after, often set themselves +against an experiment in orchid-growing because these plants suffer +terribly from green-fly and other pests, and will not bear "smoking." To +keep them clean and healthy by washing demands labour for which they +have no time. This is a very reasonable objection. But though the smoke +of tobacco is actual ruination, no plant whatever suffers from the steam +thereof. An ingenious Frenchman has invented and patented in England +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[Pg 92]</span>lately a machine called the Thanatophore, which I confidently +recommend. It can be obtained from Messrs. B.S. Williams, of Upper +Holloway. The Thanatophore destroys every insect within reach of its +vapour, excepting, curiously enough, scaly-bug, which, however, does not +persecute cool orchids much. The machine may be obtained in different +sizes through any good ironmonger.</p> + +<p>To sum up: these plants ask nothing in return for the measureless +enjoyment they give but light, shade from the summer sun, protection +from the winter frost, moisture—and brains.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>I am allowed to print a letter which bears upon several points to which +I have alluded. It is not cheerful reading for the enthusiast. He will +be apt to cry, "Would that the difficulties and perils were infinitely +graver—so grave that the collecting grounds might have a rest for +twenty years!"</p> + + +<p class='author'><i>January 19th, 1893.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,</p> + +<p>I have received your two letters asking for <i>Cattleya Lawrenceana</i>, +<i>Pancratium Guianense</i>, and <i>Catasetum pileatum</i>. Kindly excuse my +answering your letters only to-day. But I have been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[Pg 93]</span>away in the +interior, and on my return was sick, besides other business taking up my +time; I was unable to write until to-day. Now let me give you some +information concerning orchid-collecting in this colony. Six or seven +years ago, just when the gold industry was starting, very few people +ever ventured in the far interior. Boats, river-hands, and Indians could +be hired at ridiculously low prices, and travelling and bartering paid; +wages for Indians being about a shilling per day, and all found; the +same for river-hands. Captains and boatswains to pilot the boat through +the rapids up and down for sixty-four cents a day. To-day you have got +to pay sixty-four to eighty cents per day for Indians and river-hands. +Captains and boatswains, $2 the former, and $1:50 the latter per day, +and then you often cannot get them. Boat-hire used to be $8 to $10 for a +big boat for three to four months; to-day $5, $6, and $7 per day, and +all through the rapid development of the gold industry. As you can +calculate twenty-five days' river travel to get within reach of the +Savannah lands, you can reckon what the expenses must be, and then again +about five to seven days coming down the river, and a couple of days to +lay over. Then you must count two trips like this, one to bring you up, +and one to bring you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[Pg 94]</span>down three months after, when you return with your +collection. Besides this, you run the risk of losing your boat in the +rapids either way, which happens not very unfrequently either going or +coming; and we have not only to record the loss of several boats with +goods, etc., every month, but generally to record the loss of life; only +two cases happening last month, in one case seven, in the other twelve +men losing their lives. Besides, river-hands and blacks will not go +further than the boats can travel, and nothing will induce them to go +among the Indians, being afraid of getting poisoned by Inds. +(Kaiserimas) or strangled. So you have to rely utterly on Indians, which +you often cannot get, as the district of Roraima is very poorly +inhabited, and most of the Indians died by smallpox and measles breaking +out among them four years ago, and those that survived left the +district, and you will find whole districts nearly uninhabited. About +five years ago I went up with Mr. Osmers to Roraima, but he broke down +before we reached the Savannah. He lay there for a week, and I gave him +up; he recovered, however, and dragged himself into the Savannah near +Roraima, about three days distant from it, where I left him. Here we +found and made a splendid collection of about 3000 first-class plants of +different kinds.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[Pg 95]</span>While I was going up to Roraima, he stayed in the Savannah, still too +sick to go further. At Roraima I collected everything except <i>Catt. +Lawrenceana</i>, which was utterly rooted out already by former collectors. +On my return to Osmers' camp, I found him more dead than alive, thrown +down by a new attack of sickness; but not alone that, I also found him +abandoned by most of our Indians, who had fled on account of the Kanaima +having killed three of their number. So Mr. Osmers—who got soon +better—and I, made up our baskets with plants, and made everything +ready. Our Indians returning partly, I sent him ahead with as many loads +as we could carry, I staying behind with the rest of baskets of plants. +Had all our Indians come back, we would have been all right, but this +not being the case I had to stay until the Indians returned and fetched +me off. After this we got back all right. This was before the sickness +broke out among the Indians.</p> + +<p>Last year I went up with Mr. Kromer, who met me going up-river while I +was coming down. So I joined him. We got up all right to the river's +head, but here our troubles began, as we got only about eight Indians to +go on with us who had worked in the gold-diggings, and no others could +be had, the district being abandoned. We had to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[Pg 96]</span>pay them half a dollar +a day to carry loads. So we pushed on, carrying part of our loads, +leaving the rest of our cargo behind, until we reached the Savannah, +when we had to send them back several times to get the balance of our +goods. From the time we reached the Savannah we were starving, more or +less, as we could procure only very little provisions. We hunted all +about for <i>Catt. Lawrenceana</i>, and got only about 1500 or so, it growing +only here and there. At Roraima we did not hunt at all, as the district +is utterly rubbed out by the Indians. We were about fourteen days at +Roraima and got plenty of <i>Utricularia Campbelliana</i>, <i>U. Humboldtii</i>, +and <i>U. montana</i>. Also <i>Zygopetalum</i>, <i>Cyp. Lindleyanum</i>, <i>Oncidium +nigratum</i> (only fifty—very rare now), <i>Cypripedium Schomburgkianum</i>, +<i>Zygopetalum Burkeii</i>, and in fact, all that is to be found on and about +Roraima, except the <i>Cattleya Lawrenceana</i>. Also plenty others, as +Sobralia, Liliastrum, etc. So our collection was not a very great one; +we had the hardest trouble now through the want of Indians to carry the +loads. Besides this, the rainy weather set in and our loads suffered +badly for all the care we took of them. Besides, the Indians got +disagreeable, having to go back several times to bring the remaining +baskets. Nevertheless, we got down as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[Pg 97]</span>far as the Curubing mountains. Up +to this time we were more or less always starving. Arrived at the +Curubing mountains, procured a scant supply of provisions, but lost +nearly all of them in a small creek, and what was saved was spoiling +under our eyes, it being then that the rainy season had fully started, +drenching us from morning to night. It took us nine days to get our +loads over the mountain, where our boat was to reach us to take us down +river. And we were for two and a half days entirely without food. +Besides the plants being damaged by stress of weather, the Indians had +opened the baskets and thrown partly the loads away, not being able to +carry the heavy soaked-through baskets over the mountains, so making us +lose the best of our plants.</p> + +<p>Arrived at our landing we had to wait for our boat, which arrived a week +later in consequence of the river being high, and, of course, short of +provisions. Still, we got away with what we had of our loads until we +reached the first gold places kept by a friend of mine, who supplied us +with food. Thereafter we started for town. Halfway, at Kapuri falls (one +of the most dangerous), we swamped down over a rock, and so we lost some +of our things; still saved all our plants, though they lay for a few +hours under water with the boat.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[Pg 98]</span> After this we reached town in safety. +So after coming home we found, on packing up, that we had only about 900 +plants, that is, <i>Cattleya Lawrenceana</i>, of which about one-third good, +one-third medium, and one-third poor quality. This trip took us about +three and a half months, and cost over 2500 dollars. Besides, I having +poisoned my leg on a rotten stump which I run up in my foot, lay for +four months suffering terrible pain.</p> + +<p>You will, of course, see from this that orchid-hunting is no pleasure, +as you of course know, but what I want to point out to you is that +<i>Cattleya Lawrenceana</i> is very rare in the interior now.</p> + +<p>The river expenses fearfully high, in fact, unreasonably high, on +account of the gold-digging. Labourers getting 64 c. to $1.00 per day, +and all found. No Indians to be got, and those that you can get at +ridiculous prices, and getting them, too, by working on places where +they build and thatch houses and clear the ground from underbush, and as +huntsmen for gold-diggers. Even if Mr. Kromer had succeeded to get 3000 +or 4000 fine <i>Cattleya Lawrenceana</i>, it would have been of no value to +us, as we could not have got anybody to carry them to the river where a +boat could reach. Besides this, I also must tell you that there is a +license to be paid out here if you want to collect orchids, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[Pg 99]</span>amounting +to $100, which Mr. Kromer had to pay, and also an export tax duty of 2 +cents per piece. So that orchid collecting is made a very expensive +affair. Besides its success being very doubtful, even if a man is very +well acquainted with Indian life and has visited the Savannah reaches +year after year. We spent something over $2500 to $2900, including Mr. +Kromer's and Steigfer's passage out, on our last expedition.</p> + +<p>If you want to get any <i>Lawrenceana</i>, you will have to send yourself, +and as I said before, the results will be very doubtful. As far as I +myself am concerned, I am interested besides my baking business, in the +gold-diggings, and shall go up to the Savannah in a few months. I can +give you first-class references if you should be willing to send an +expedition, and we could come to some arrangement; at least, you would +save the expenses of the passage of one of your collectors. I may say +that I am quite conversant with the way of packing orchids and handling +them as well for travel as shipment.</p> + +<p>Kindly excuse, therefore, my lengthy letter and its bad writing. And if +you should be inclined to go in for an expedition, just send me a list +of what you require, and I will tell you whether the plants are found +along the route of travel and in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[Pg 100]</span> Savannah visited; as, for +instance, <i>Catt. superba</i> does not grow at all in the district where +<i>Catt. Lawrenceana</i> is to be found, but far further south.</p> + +<p>Before closing, I beg you to let me know the prices of about twenty-five +of the best of and prettiest South American orchids, which I want for my +own collection, as <i>Catt. Medellii</i>, <i>Catt. Trianæ</i>, <i>Odontoglossum +crispum</i>, <i>Miltonia vexillaria</i>, <i>Catt. labiata</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>I shall await your answer as soon as possible, and send you a list by +last mail of what is to be got in this colony.</p> + +<p>We also found on our last visit something new—a very large bulbed +Oncidium, or may be Catasetum, on the top of Roraima, where we spent a +night, but got only two specimens, one of which got lost, and the other +one I left in the hands of Mr. Rodway, but so we tried our best. It +decayed, having been too seriously damaged to revive and flower, and so +enable us to see what it was, it not being in flower when found.</p> + +<p class='center'>Awaiting your kind reply,<br />Yours truly,</p> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">Seyler</span>.</p> + +<p>P.S.—If you should send out one of your collectors, or require any +information, I shall be glad to give it.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[Pg 101]</span>One of the most experienced collectors, M. Oversluys, writes from the +Rio de Yanayacca, January, 1893:—</p> + +<p>"Here it is absolutely necessary that one goes himself into the woods +ahead of the peons, who are quite cowards to enter the woods; and not +altogether without reason, for the larger part of them get sick here, +and it is very hard to enter—nearly impenetrable and full of insects, +which make fresh-coming people to get cracked and mad. I have from the +wrist down not a place to put in a shilling piece which is not a wound, +through the very small red spider and other insects. Also my people are +the same. Of the five men I took out, two have got fever already, and +one ran back. To-morrow I expect other peons, but not a single one from +Mengobamba. It is a trouble to get men who will come into the woods, and +I cannot have more than eight or ten to work with, because when I should +not be continually behind them or ahead they do nothing. It is not a +question of money to do good here, but merely luck and the way one +treats people. The peons come out less for their salaries than for good +and plenty of food, which is very difficult to find in these scarce +times....</p> + +<p>"The plants are here one by one, and we have got but one tree with three +plants. They are on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[Pg 102]</span>the highest and biggest trees, and these must be +cut down with axes. Below are all shrubs, full of climbers and lianas +about a finger thick. Every step must be cut to advance, and the ground +cleared below the high trees in order to spy the branches. It is a very +difficult job. Nature has well protected this Cattleya.... Nobody can +like this kind of work."</p> + +<p>The poor man ends abruptly, "I will write when I can—the mosquitos +don't leave me a moment."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See a letter at p. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> "Orchids and Hybridizing," <i>infra</i>, p. 210.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[Pg 103]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WARM ORCHIDS.</h2> + + +<p>By the expression "warm" we understand that condition which is +technically known as "intermediate." It is waste of time to ask, at this +day, why a Latin combination should be employed when there is an English +monosyllable exactly equivalent; we, at least, will use our +mother-tongue. Warm orchids are those which like a minimum temperature, +while growing, of 60°; while resting, of 55°. As for the maximum, it +signifies little in the former case, but in the latter—during the +months of rest—it cannot be allowed to go beyond 60°, for any length of +time, without mischief. These conditions mean, in effect, that the house +must be warmed during nine months of the twelve in this realm of +England. "Hot" orchids demand a fire the whole year round—saving a few +very rare nights when the Briton swelters in tropical discomfort. Upon +this dry subject of temperature, however, I would add one word of +encouragement for those who are not willing to pay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[Pg 104]</span> a heavy bill for +coke. The cool-house, in general, requires a fire, at night, until June +1. Under that condition, if it face the south, in a warm locality, very +many genera and species classed as intermediate should be so thoroughly +started before artificial heat is withdrawn that they will do +excellently, unless the season be unusual.</p> + +<p>Warm orchids come from a sub-tropic region, or from the mountains of a +hotter climate, where their kinsfolk dwelling in the plains defy the +thermometer; just as in sub-tropic lands warm species occupy the +lowlands, while the heights furnish Odontoglossums and such lovers of a +chilly atmosphere. There are, however, some warm Odontoglossums, notable +among them <i>O. vexillarium</i>, which botanists class with the Miltonias. +This species is very fashionable, and I give it the place of honour; but +not, in my own view, for its personal merits. The name is so singularly +appropriate that one would like to hear the inventor's reasons for +transfiguring it. <i>Vexillum</i> we know, and <i>vexillarius</i>, but +<i>vexillarium</i> goes beyond my Latin. However, it is an intelligible word, +and those acquainted with the appearance of "regimental colours" in Old +Rome perceive its fitness at a glance. The flat bloom seems to hang +suspended from its centre, just as the <i>vexillum</i> figures in +bas-relief—on the Arch of Antoninus, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[Pg 105]</span>example. To my mind the +colouring is insipid, as a rule, and the general effect stark—fashion +in orchids, as in other things, has little reference to taste. I repeat +with emphasis, <i>as a rule</i>, for some priceless specimens are no less +than astounding in their blaze of colour, the quintessence of a million +uninteresting blooms. The poorest of these plants have merit, no doubt, +for those who can accommodate giants. They grow fast and big. There are +specimens in this country a yard across, which display a hundred and +fifty or two hundred flowers open at the same time for months. A superb +show they make, rising over the pale sea-green foliage, four spikes +perhaps from a single bulb. But this is a beauty of general effect, +which must not be analyzed, as I think.</p> + +<p><i>Odontoglossum vexillarium</i> is brought from Colombia. There are two +forms: the one—small, evenly red, flowering in autumn—was discovered +by Frank Klaboch, nephew to the famous Roezl, on the Dagua River, in +Antioquia. For eight years he persisted in despatching small quantities +to Europe, though every plant died; at length a safer method of +transmission was found, but simultaneously poor Klaboch himself +succumbed. It is an awful country—perhaps the wettest under the sun. +Though a favourite hunting-ground of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[Pg 106]</span>collectors now—for Cattleyas of +value come from hence, besides this precious Odontoglot—there are still +no means of transport, saving Indians and canoes. <i>O. vexillarium</i> would +not be thought costly if buyers knew how rare it is, how expensive to +get, and how terribly difficult to bring home. Forty thousand pieces +were despatched to Mr. Sander in one consignment—he hugged himself with +delight when three thousand proved to have some trace of vitality.</p> + +<p>Mr. Watson, Assistant Curator at Kew, recalls an amusing instance of the +value and the mystery attached to this species so late as 1867. In that +year Professor Reichenbach described it for the first time. He tells how +a friend lent him the bloom upon a negative promise under five +heads—"First, not to show it to any one else; (2) not to speak much +about it; (3) not to take a drawing of it; (4) not to have a photograph +made; (5) not to look oftener than three times at it." By-the-bye, Mr. +Watson gives the credit of the first discovery to the late Mr. Bowman; +but I venture to believe that my account is exact—in reference to the +Antioquia variety, at least.</p> + +<p>The other form occurs in the famous district of Frontino, about two +hundred and fifty miles due north of the first habitat, and +shows—<i>savants</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[Pg 107]</span> would add "of course"—a striking difference. In the +geographical distinctions of species will be found the key to whole +volumes of mystery that perplex us now. I once saw three Odontoglossums +ranged side by side, which even an expert would pronounce mere varieties +of the same plant if he were not familiar with them—<i>Od. Williamsi</i>, +<i>Od. grande</i>, and <i>Od. Schlieperianum</i>. The middle one everybody knows, +by sight at least, a big, stark, spread-eagle flower, gamboge yellow +mottled with red-brown, vastly effective in the mass, but individually +vulgar. On one side was <i>Od. Williamsi</i>, essentially the same in flower +and bulb and growth, but smaller; opposite stood <i>Od. Schlieperianum</i>, +only to be distinguished as smaller still. But both these latter rank as +species. They are separated from the common type, <i>O. grande</i>, by nearly +ten degrees of latitude and ten degrees of longitude, nor—we might +almost make an affidavit—do any intermediate forms exist in the space +between; and those degrees are sub-tropical, by so much more significant +than an equal distance in our zone. Instances of the same class and more +surprising are found in many genera of orchid.</p> + +<p>The Frontino <i>vexillarium</i> grows "cooler," has a much larger bloom, +varies in hue from purest white to deepest red, and flowers in May or +June.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[Pg 108]</span> The most glorious of these things, however, is <i>O. vex. +superbum</i>, a plant of the greatest rarity, conspicuous for its blotch of +deep purple in the centre of the lip, and its little dot of the same on +each wing. Doubtless this is a natural hybrid betwixt the Antioquia form +and <i>Odontoglossum Roezlii</i>, which is its neighbour. The chance of +finding a bit of <i>superbum</i> in a bundle of the ordinary kind lends +peculiar excitement to a sale of these plants. Such luck first occurred +to Mr. Bath, in Stevens' Auction Rooms. He paid half-a-crown for a very +weakly fragment, brought it round, flowered it, and received a prize for +good gardening in the shape of seventy-two pounds, cheerfully paid by +Sir Trevor Lawrence for a plant unique at that time. I am reminded of +another little story. Among a great number of <i>Cypripedium insigne</i> +received at St. Albans, and "established," Mr. Sander noted one +presently of which the flower-stalk was yellow instead of brown, as is +usual. Sharp eyes are a valuable item of the orchid-grower's +stock-in-trade, for the smallest peculiarity among such "sportive" +objects should not be neglected. Carefully he put the yellow stalk +aside—the only one among thousands, one might say myriads, since <i>C. +insigne</i> is one of our oldest and commonest orchids, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[Pg 109]</span>and it never +showed this phenomenon before. In due course the flower opened, and +proved to be all golden! Mr. Sander cut his plant in two, sold half for +seventy-five pounds to a favoured customer, and the other half, +publicly, for one hundred guineas. One of the purchasers has divided his +plant now and sold two bits at 100 guineas. Another piece was bought +back by Mr. Sander, who wanted it for hybridizing, at 250 guineas—not a +bad profit for the buyer, who has still two plants left. Another +instance occurs to me while I write—such legends of shrewdness worthily +rewarded fascinate a poor journalist who has the audacity to grow +orchids. Mr. Harvey, solicitor, of Liverpool, strolling through the +houses at St. Albans on July 24, 1883, remarked a plant of <i>Lœlia +anceps</i>, which had the ring-mark on its pseudo-bulb much higher up than +is usual. There might be some meaning in that eccentricity, he thought, +paid two guineas for the little thing, and on December 1, 1888, sold it +back to Mr. Sander for 200<i>l.</i> It proved to be <i>L. a. Amesiana</i>, the +grandest form of <i>L. anceps</i> yet discovered—rosy white, with petals +deeply splashed; thus named after F.L. Ames, an American amateur. Such +pleasing opportunities might arise for you or me any day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[Pg 110]</span>The first name that arises to most people in thinking of warm orchids +is Cattleya, and naturally. The genus Odontoglossum alone has more +representatives under cultivation. Sixty species of Cattleya are grown +by amateurs who pay special attention to these plants; as for the number +of "varieties" in a single species, one boasts forty, another thirty, +several pass the round dozen. They are exclusively American, but they +flourish over all the enormous space between Mexico and the Argentine +Republic. The genus is not a favourite of my own, for somewhat of the +same reason which qualifies my regard for <i>O. vexillarium</i>. Cattleyas +are so obtrusively beautiful, they have such great flowers, which they +thrust upon the eye with such assurance of admiration! Theirs is a style +of effect—I refer to the majority—which may be called infantine; such +as an intelligent and tasteful child might conceive if he had no fine +sense of colour, and were too young to distinguish a showy from a +charming form. But I say no more.</p> + +<p>The history of Orchids long established is uncertain, but I believe that +the very first Cattleya which appeared in Europe was <i>C. violacea +Loddigesi</i>, imported by the great firm whose name it bears, to which we +owe such a heavy debt. Two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[Pg 111]</span>years later came <i>C. labiata</i>, of which more +must be said; then <i>C. Mossiæ</i>, from Caraccas; fourth, <i>C. Trianæ</i> named +after Colonel Trian, of Tolima, in the United States of Colombia. Trian +well deserved immortality, for he was a native of that secluded +land—and a botanist! It is a natural supposition that his orchid must +be the commonest of weeds in its home; seeing how all Europe is stocked +with it, and America also, rash people might say there are millions in +cultivation. But it seems likely that <i>C. Trianæ</i> was never very +frequent, and at the present time assuredly it is so scarce that +collectors are not sent after it. Probably the colonel, like many other +<i>savants</i>, was an excellent man of business, and he established "a +corner" when he saw the chance. <i>C. Mossiæ</i> stands in the same +situation—or indeed worse; it can scarcely be found now. These +instances convey a serious warning. In seventy years we have destroyed +the native stock of two orchids, both so very free in propagating that +they have an exceptional advantage in the struggle for existence. How +long can rare species survive, when the demand strengthens and widens +year by year, while the means of communication and transport become +easier over all the world? Other instances will be mentioned in their +place.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[Pg 112]</span>Island species are doomed, unless, like <i>Lœlia elegans</i>, they have +inaccessible crags on which to find refuge. It is only a question of +time; but we may hope that Governments will interfere before it is too +late. Already Mr. Burbidge has suggested that "some one" who takes an +interest in orchids should establish a farm, a plantation, here and +there about the world, where such plants grow naturally, and devote +himself to careful hybridization on the spot. "One might make as much," +he writes, "by breeding orchids as by breeding cattle, and of the two, +in the long run, I should prefer the orchid farm." This scheme will be +carried out one day, not so much for the purpose of hybridization as for +plain "market-gardening;" and the sooner the better.</p> + +<p>The prospect is still more dark for those who believe—as many do—that +no epiphytal orchid under any circumstances can be induced to establish +itself permanently in our greenhouses as it does at home. Doubtless, +they say, it is possible to grow them and to flower them, by assiduous +care, upon a scale which is seldom approached under the rough treatment +of Nature. But they are dying from year to year, in spite of +appearances. That it is so in a few cases can hardly be denied; but, +seeing how many plants which have not changed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[Pg 113]</span>hands since their +establishment, twenty or thirty or forty years ago, have grown +continually bigger and finer, it seems much more probable that our +ignorance is to blame for the loss of those species which suddenly +collapse. Sir Trevor Lawrence observed the other day: "With regard to +the longevity of orchids, I have one which I know to have been in this +country for more than fifty years, probably even twenty years longer +than that—<i>Renanthera coccinea</i>." The finest specimens of Cattleya in +Mr. Stevenson Clarke's houses have been "grown on" from small pieces +imported twenty years ago. If there were more collections which could +boast, say, half a century of uninterrupted attention, we should have +material for forming a judgment; as a rule, the dates of purchase or +establishment were not carefully preserved till late years.</p> + +<p>But there is one species of Cattleya which must needs have seventy years +of existence in Europe, since it had never been re-discovered till 1890. +When we see a pot of <i>C. labiata</i>, the true, autumn-flowering variety, +more than two years old, we know that the very plant itself must have +been established about 1818, or at least its immediate parent—for no +seedling has been raised to public knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[Pg 114]</span>In avowing a certain indifference to Cattleyas, I referred to the bulk, +of course. The most gorgeous, the stateliest, the most imperial of all +flowers on this earth, is <i>C. Dowiana</i>—unless it be <i>C. aurea</i>, a +"geographical variety" of the same. They dwell a thousand miles apart at +least, the one in Colombia, the other in Costa Rica; and neither occurs, +so far as is known, in the great intervening region. Not even a +connecting link has been discovered; but the Atlantic coast of Central +America is hardly explored, much less examined. In my time it was held, +from Cape Camarin to Chagres, by independent tribes of savages—not +independent in fact alone, but in name also. The Mosquito Indians are +recognized by Europe as free; the Guatusos kept a space of many hundred +miles from which no white man had returned; when I was in those parts, +the Talamancas, though not so unfriendly, were only known by the report +of adventurous pedlars. I made an attempt—comparatively spirited—to +organize an exploring party for the benefit of the Guatusos, but no +single volunteer answered our advertisements in San José de Costa Rica; +I have lived to congratulate myself on that disappointment. Since my day +a road has been cut through their wilds to Limon, certain luckless +Britons having found the money for a railway; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[Pg 115]</span>but an engineer who +visited the coast but two years ago informs me that no one ever wandered +into "the bush." Collectors have not been there, assuredly. So there may +be connecting links between <i>C. Dowiana</i> and <i>C. aurea</i> in that vast +wilderness, but it is quite possible there are none.</p> + +<p>Words could not picture the glory of these marvels. In each the scheme +of colour is yellow and crimson, but there are important modifications. +Yellow is the ground all through in <i>Cattleya aurea</i>—sepals, petals, +and lip; unbroken in the two former, in the latter superbly streaked +with crimson. But <i>Cattleya Dowiana</i> shows crimson pencillings on its +sepals, while the ground colour of the lip is crimson, broadly lined and +reticulated with gold. Imagine four of these noble flowers on one stalk, +each half a foot across! But it lies beyond the power of imagination.</p> + +<p><i>C. Dowiana</i> was discovered by Warscewicz about 1850, and he sent home +accounts too enthusiastic for belief. Steady-going Britons utterly +refused to credit such a marvel—his few plants died, and there was an +end of it for the time. I may mention an instance of more recent date, +where the eye-witness of a collector was flatly rejected at home. +Monsieur St. Leger, residing at Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, wrote +a warm description of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[Pg 116]</span>an orchid in those parts to scientific friends. +The account reached England, and was treated with derision. Monsieur St. +Leger, nettled, sent some dried flowers for a testimony; but the mind of +the Orchidaceous public was made up. In 1883 he brought a quantity of +plants and put them up at auction; nobody in particular would buy. So +those reckless or simple or trusting persons who invested a few +shillings in a bundle had all the fun to themselves a few months +afterwards, when the beautiful <i>Oncidium Jonesianum</i> appeared, to +confound the unbelieving. It must be added, however, that orchid-growers +may well become an incredulous generation. When their judgment leads +them wrong we hear of it, the tale is published, and outsiders mock. But +these gentlemen receive startling reports continually, honest enough for +the most part. Much experience and some loss have made them rather +cynical when a new wonder is announced. The particular case of Monsieur +St. Leger was complicated by the extreme resemblance which the foliage +of <i>Onc. Jonesianum</i> bears to that of <i>Onc. cibolletum</i>, a species +almost worthless. Unfortunately the beautiful thing declines to live +with us—as yet.</p> + +<p><i>Cattleya Dowiana</i> was rediscovered by Mr. Arce, when collecting birds: +it must have been a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[Pg 117]</span>grand moment for Warscewicz when the horticultural +world was convulsed by its appearance in bloom. <i>Cattleya aurea</i> had no +adventures of this sort. Mr. Wallis found it in 1868 in the province of +Antioquia, and again on the west bank of the Magdalena; but it is very +rare. This species is persecuted in its native home by a beetle, which +accompanies it to Europe not infrequently—in the form of eggs, no +doubt. A more troublesome alien is the fly which haunts <i>Cattleya +Mendellii</i>, and for a long time prejudiced growers against that fine +species, until, in fact, they had made a practical and rather costly +study of its habits. An experienced grower detects the presence of this +enemy at a glance. It pierces an "eye"—a back one in general, +happily—and deposits an egg in the very centre. Presently this growth +begins to swell in a manner that delights the ingenuous horticulturist, +until he remarks that its length does not keep pace with its breadth. +But one remedy has yet been discovered—cutting off any suspected +growth. We understand now that <i>C. Mendellii</i> is as safe to import as +any other species, unless it be gathered at the wrong time.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[Pg 118]</span>Among the most glorious, rarest, and most valuable of Cattleyas is <i>C. +Hardyana</i>, doubtless a natural hybrid of <i>C. aurea</i> with <i>C. gigas +Sanderiana</i>. Few of us have seen it—two-hundred-guinea plants are not +common spectacles. It has an immense flower, rose-purple; the lip +purple-magenta, veined with gold. <i>Cattleya Sanderiana</i> offers an +interesting story. Mr. Mau, one of Mr. Sander's collectors, was +despatched to Bogota in search of <i>Odontoglossum crispum</i>. While +tramping through the woods, he came across a very large Cattleya at +rest, and gathered such pieces as fell in his way—attaching so little +importance to them, however, that he did not name the matter in his +reports. Four cases Mr. Mau brought home with his stock of +Odontoglossums, which were opened in due course of business. We can +quite believe that it was one of the stirring moments of Mr. Sander's +life. The plants bore many dry specimens of last year's inflorescence, +displaying such extraordinary size as proved the variety to be new; and +there is no large Cattleya of indifferent colouring. To receive a plant +of that character unannounced, undescribed, is an experience without +parallel for half a century. Mr. Mau was sent back by next mail to +secure every fragment he could find. Meantime, those in hand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[Pg 119]</span>were +established, and Mr. Brymer, M.P., bought one—Mr. Brymer is +immortalized by the Dendrobe which bears his name. The new Cattleya +proved kindly, and just before Mr. Mau returned with some thousands of +its like Mr. Brymer's purchase broke into bloom. That must have been +another glorious moment for Mr. Sander, when the great bud unfolded, +displaying sepals and petals of the rosiest, freshest, softest pink, +eleven inches across; and a crimson labellum exquisitely shown up by a +broad patch of white on either side of the throat. Mr. Brymer was good +enough to lend his specimen for the purpose of advertisement, and +Messrs. Stevens enthusiastically fixed a green baize partition across +their rooms as a background for the wondrous novelty. What excitement +reigned there on the great day is not to be described. I have heard that +over 2000<i>l.</i> was taken in the room.</p> + +<p>Most of the Cattleyas with which the public is familiar—<i>Mossiæ</i>, +<i>Trianæ</i>, <i>Mendellii</i>, and so forth—have white varieties; but an +example absolutely pure is so uncommon that it fetches a long price. +Loveliest of these is <i>C. Skinneri alba</i>. For generations, if not for +ages, the people of Costa Rica have been gathering every morsel they can +find, and planting it upon the roofs of their mud-built <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[Pg 120]</span>churches. Roezl +and the early collectors had a "good time," buying these semi-sacred +flowers from the priests, bribing the parishioners to steal them, or, +when occasion served, playing the thief themselves. But the game is +nearly up. Seldom now can a piece of <i>Cat. Skinneri alba</i> be obtained by +honest means, and when a collector arrives guards are set upon the +churches that still keep their decoration. No plant has ever been found +in the forest, we understand.</p> + +<p>It is just the same case with L<i>œlia anceps alba</i>. The genus Lœlia +is distinguished from Cattleya by a peculiarity to be remarked only in +dissection; its pollen masses are eight as against four. To my taste, +however, the species are more charming on the whole. There is <i>L. +purpurata</i>. Casual observers always find it hard to grasp the fact that +orchids are weeds in their native homes, just like foxgloves and +dandelions with us. In this instance, as I have noted, they flatly +refuse to believe, and certainly "upon the face of it" their incredulity +is reasonable.</p> + +<p><i>Lœlia purpurata</i> falls under the head of hot orchids. <i>L. anceps</i>, +however, is not so exacting; many people grow it in the cool house when +they can expose it there to the full blaze of sunshine. In its commonest +form it is divinely beautiful.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[Pg 121]</span> I have seen a plant in Mr. Eastey's +collection with twenty-three spikes, the flowers all open at once. Such +a spectacle is not to be described in prose. But when the enthusiast has +rashly said that earth contains no more ethereal loveliness, let him +behold <i>L. a. alba</i>, the white variety. The dullest man I ever knew, who +had a commonplace for all occasions, found no word in presence of that +marvel. Even the half-castes of Mexico who have no soul, apparently, for +things above horseflesh and cockfights, and love-making, reverence this +saintly bloom. The Indians adore it. Like their brethren to the south, +who have tenderly removed every plant of <i>Cattleya Skinneri alba</i> for +generations unknown, to set upon their churches, they collect this +supreme effort of Nature and replant it round their huts. So thoroughly +has the work been done in either case that no single specimen was ever +seen in the forest. Every one has been bought from the Indians, and the +supply is exhausted; that is to say, a good many more are known to +exist, but very rarely now can the owner be persuaded to part with one. +The first example reached England nearly half a century ago, sent +probably by a native trader to his correspondent in this country; but, +as was usual at that time, the circumstances are doubtful. It found its +way, somehow, to Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[Pg 122]</span> Dawson, of Meadowbank, a famous collector, and by +him it was divided. Search was made for the treasure in its home, but +vainly; travellers did not look in the Indian gardens. No more arrived +for many years. Mr. Sander once conceived a fine idea. He sent one of +his collectors to gather <i>Lœlia a. alba</i> at the season when it is in +bud, with an intention of startling the universe by displaying a mass of +them in full bloom; they were still more uncommon then than now, when a +dozen flowering plants is still a show of which kings may be proud. Mr. +Bartholomeus punctually fulfilled his instructions, collected some forty +plants with their spikes well developed; attached them to strips of wood +which he nailed across shallow boxes, and shipped them to San Francisco. +Thence they travelled by fast train to New York, and proceeded without a +moment's delay to Liverpool on board the <i>Umbria</i>; it was one of her +first trips. All went well. Confidently did Mr. Sander anticipate the +sensation when a score of those glorious plants were set out in full +bloom upon the tables. But on opening the boxes he found every spike +withered. The experiment is so tempting that it has been essayed once +more, with a like result. The buds of <i>Lœlia anceps</i> will not stand +sea air.</p> + +<p>Catasetums do not rank as a genus among our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[Pg 123]</span>beauties; in fact, saving +<i>C. pileatum</i>, commonly called <i>C. Bungerothi</i>, and <i>C. barbatum</i>, I +think of none, at this moment, which are worthy of attraction on that +ground. <i>C. fimbriatum</i>, indeed, would be lovely if it could be +persuaded to show itself. I have seen one plant which condescended to +open its spotted blooms, but only one. No orchids, however, give more +material for study; on this account Catasetum was a favourite with Mr. +Darwin. It is approved also by unlearned persons who find relief from +the monotony of admiration as they stroll round in observing its +acrobatic performances. The "column" bears two horns; if these be +touched, the pollen-masses fly as if discharged from a catapult. <i>C. +pileatum</i>, however, is very handsome, four inches across, ivory white, +with a round well in the centre of its broad lip, which makes a theme +for endless speculation. The daring eccentricities of colour in this +class of plant have no stronger example than <i>C. callosum</i>, a novelty +from Caraccas, with inky brown sepals and petals, brightest orange +column, labellum of verdigris-green tipped with orange to match.</p> + +<p>Schomburgkias are not often seen. Having a boundless choice of fine +things which grow and flower without reluctance, the practical gardener +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[Pg 124]</span>gets irritated in these days when he finds a plant beyond his skill. It +is a pity, for the Schomburgkias are glorious things—in especial <i>Sch. +tibicinis</i>. No description has done it justice, and few are privileged +to speak as eye-witnesses. The clustering flowers hang down, sepals and +petals of dusky mauve, most gracefully frilled and twisted, encircling a +great hollow labellum which ends in a golden drop. That part of the +cavity which is visible between the handsome incurved wings has bold +stripes of dark crimson. The species is interesting, too. It comes from +Honduras, where the children use its great hollow pseudo-bulbs as +trumpets—whence the name. At their base is a hole—a touch-hole, as we +may say, the utility of which defies our botanists. Had Mr. Belt +travelled in those parts, he might have discovered the secret, as in the +similar case of the Bullthorn, one of the <i>Gummiferæ</i>. The great thorns +of that bush have just such a hole, and Mr. Belt proved by lengthy +observations that it is designed, to speak roughly, for the ingress of +an ant peculiar to that acacia, whose duty it is to defend the young +shoots—<i>vide</i> Belt's "Naturalist in Nicaragua," page 218. Importers are +too well aware that <i>Schomburgkia tibicinis</i> also is inhabited by an ant +of singular ferocity, for it survives the voyage, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[Pg 125]</span>and rushes forth to +battle when the case is opened. We may suppose that it performs a like +service.</p> + +<p>Dendrobiums are "warm" mostly; of the hot species, which are many, and +the cool, which are few, I have not to speak here. But a remark made at +the beginning of this chapter especially applies to Dendrobes. If they +be started early, so that the young growths are well advanced by June 1; +if the situation be warm, and a part of the house sunny—if they be +placed in that part without any shade till July, and freely +syringed—with a little extra attention many of them will do well +enough. That is to say, they will make such a show of blossom as is +mighty satisfactory in the winter time. We must not look for +"specimens," but there should be bloom enough to repay handsomely the +very little trouble they give. Among those that may be treated so are +<i>D. Wardianum</i>, <i>Falconeri</i>, <i>crassinode</i>, <i>Pierardii</i>, <i>crystallinum</i>, +<i>Devonianum</i>—sometimes—and <i>nobile</i>, of course. Probably there are +more, but these I have tried myself.</p> + +<p><i>Dendrobium Wardianum</i>, at the present day, comes almost exclusively +from Burmah—the neighbourhood of the Ruby Mines is its favourite +habitat. But it was first brought to England from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[Pg 126]</span> Assam in 1858, when +botanists regarded it as a form of <i>D. Falconeri</i>. This error was not so +strange as its seems, for the Assamese variety has pseudo-bulbs much +less sturdy than those we are used to see, and they are quite pendulous. +It was rather a lively business collecting orchids in Burmah before the +annexation. The Roman Catholic missionaries established there made it a +source of income, and they did not greet an intruding stranger with +warmth—not genial warmth, at least. He was forbidden to quit the town +of Bhamo, an edict which compelled him to employ native collectors—in +fact, coolies—himself waiting helplessly within the walls; but his +reverend rivals, having greater freedom and an acquaintance with the +language, organized a corps of skirmishers to prowl round and intercept +the natives returning with their loads. Doubtless somebody received the +value when they made a haul, but who, is uncertain perhaps—and the +stranger was disappointed, anyhow. It may be believed that unedifying +scenes arose—especially on two or three occasions when an agent had +almost reached one of the four gates before he was intercepted. For the +hapless collector—having nothing in the world to do—haunted those +portals all day long, flying from one to the other in hope to see +"somebody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[Pg 127]</span>coming." Very droll, but Burmah is a warm country for jests +of the kind. Thus it happened occasionally that he beheld his own +discomfiture, and rows ensued at the Mission-house. At length Mr. Sander +addressed a formal petition to the Austrian Archbishop, to whom the +missionaries owed allegiance. He received a sympathetic answer, and some +assistance.</p> + +<p>From the Ruby Mines also comes a Dendrobium so excessively rare that I +name it only to call the attention of employés in the new company. This +is <i>D. rhodopterygium</i>. Sir Trevor Lawrence has or had a plant, I +believe; there are two or three at St. Albans; but the lists of other +dealers will be searched in vain. Sir Trevor Lawrence had also a scarlet +species from Burmah; but it died even before the christening, and no +second has yet been found. Sumatra furnishes a scarlet Dendrobe, <i>D. +Forstermanni</i>, but it again is of the utmost rarity. Baron Schroeder +boasts three specimens—which have not yet flowered, however. From +Burmah comes <i>D. Brymerianum</i>, of which the story is brief, but very +thrilling if we ponder it a moment. For the missionaries sent this plant +to Europe without a description—they had not seen the bloom, +doubtless—and it sold cheap enough. We may fancy Mr. Brymer's emotion, +therefore, when the striking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[Pg 128]</span>flower opened. Its form is unique, though +some other varieties display a long fringe—as that extraordinary +object, <i>Nanodes Medusæ</i>, and also <i>Brassavola Digbyana</i>, which is +exquisitely lovely sometimes. In the case of <i>D. Brymerianum</i> the bright +yellow lip is split all round, for two-thirds of its expanse, into twisted filaments. We may well ask what on earth is Nature's purpose in +this eccentricity; but it is a question that arises every hour to the +most thoughtless being who grows orchids.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo141.jpg"><img src="images/illo141-tb.jpg" alt="Dendrobium Brymerianum." title="Dendrobium Brymerianum." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Dendrobium Brymerianum.</span><br /> +Reduced To One Fourth</h4> + +<p>Everybody knows <i>Dendrobium nobile</i> so well that it is not to be +discussed in prose; something might be done in poetry, perhaps, by young +gentlemen who sing of buttercups and daisies, but the rhyme would be +difficult. <i>D. nobile nobilius</i>, however, is by no means so +common—would it were! This glorified form turned up among an +importation made by Messrs. Rollisson. They propagated it, and sold four +small pieces, which are still in cultivation. But the troubles of that +renowned firm, to which we owe so great a debt, had already begun. The +mother-plant was neglected. It had fallen into such a desperate +condition when Messrs. Rollisson's plants were sold, under a decree in +bankruptcy, that the great dealers refused to bid for what should have +been a little gold-mine. A <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[Pg 129]</span>casual market-gardener hazarded thirty +shillings, brought it round so far that he could establish a number of +young plants, and sold the parent for forty pounds at last. There are, +however, several fine varieties of <i>D. nobile</i> more valuable than +<i>nobilius</i>. <i>D. n. Sanderianum</i> resembles that form, but it is smaller +and darker. Albinos have been found; Baron Schroeder has a beautiful +example. One appeared at Stevens' Rooms, announced as the single +instance in cultivation—which is not quite the fact, but near enough +for the auction-room, perhaps. It also was imported originally by Mr. +Sander, with <i>D. n. Sanderianum</i>. Biddings reached forty-three pounds, +but the owner would not deal at the price. Albinos are rare among the +Dendrobes.</p> + +<p><i>D. nobile Cooksoni</i> was the <i>fons et origo</i> of an unpleasant +misunderstanding. It turned up in the collection of Mr. Lange, +distinguished by a reversal of the ordinary scheme of colour. There is +actually no end to the delightful vagaries of these plants. If people +only knew what interest and pleasing excitement attends the +inflorescence of an imported orchid—one, that is, which has not bloomed +before in Europe—they would crowd the auction-rooms in which every +strange face is marked now. There are books enough to inform them, +certainly; but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[Pg 130]</span>who reads an Orchid Book? Even the enthusiast only +consults it.</p> + +<p><i>Dendrobium nobile Cooksoni</i>, then, has white tips to petal and sepal; +the crimson spot keeps its place; and the inside of the flower is deep +red—an inversion of the usual colouring. Mr. Lange could scarcely fail +to observe this peculiarity, but he seems to have thought little of it. +Mr. Cookson, paying him a visit, was struck, however—as well he might +be—and expressed a wish to have the plant. So the two distinguished +amateurs made an exchange. Mr. Cookson sent a flower at once to +Professor Reichenbach, who, delighted and enthusiastic, registered it +upon the spot under the name of the gentleman from whom he received it. +Mr. Lange protested warmly, demanding that his discovery should be +called, after his residence, <i>Heathfieldsayeanum</i>. But Professor +Reichenbach drily refused to consider personal questions; and really, +seeing how short is life, and how long <i>Dendrobium nobile Heathfield</i>, +&c., true philanthropists will hold him justified.</p> + +<p>We may expect wondrous Dendrobes from New Guinea. Some fine species have +already arrived, and others have been sent in the dried inflorescence. +Of <i>D. phalœnopsis Schroederi</i> I have spoken elsewhere. There is <i>D. +Goldiei</i>; a variety of <i>D. superbiens</i>—but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[Pg 131]</span>much larger. There is <i>D. +Albertesii</i>, snow-white; <i>D. Broomfieldianum</i>, curiously like <i>Lœlia +anceps alba</i> in its flower—which is to say that it must be the +loveliest of all Dendrobes. But this species has a further charm, almost +incredible. The lip in some varieties is washed with lavender blue, in +some with crimson! Another is nearly related to <i>D. bigibbum</i>, but much +larger, with sepals more acute. Its hue is a glorious rosy-purple, +deepening on the lip, the side lobes of which curl over and meet, +forming a cylindrical tube, while the middle lobe, prolonged, stands out +at right angles, veined with very dark purple; this has just been named +<i>D. Statterianum</i>. It has upon the disc an elevated, hairy crest, like +<i>D. bigibbum</i>, but instead of being white as always, more or less, in +that instance, the crest of the new species is dark purple. I have been +particular in describing this noble flower, because very, very few have +beheld it. Those who live will see marvels when the Dutch and German +portions of New Guinea are explored.</p> + +<p>Recently I have been privileged to see another, the most impressive to +my taste, of all the lovely genus. It is called <i>D. atro-violaceum</i>. The +stately flowers hang down their heads, reflexed like a "Turban Lily," +ten or a dozen on a spike. The colour is ivory-white, with a faintest +tinge of green, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[Pg 132]</span>and green spots are dotted all over. The lobes of the +lip curl in, making half the circumference of a funnel, the outside of +which is dark violet-blue; with that fine colour the lip itself is +boldly striped. They tell me that the public is not expected to "catch +on" to this marvel. It hangs its head too low, and the contrast of hues +is too startling. If that be so, we multiply schools of art and County +Council lectures perambulate the realm, in vain. The artistic sense is +denied us.</p> + +<p>Madagascar also will furnish some astonishing novelties; it has already +begun, in fact—with a vengeance. Imagine a scarlet Cymbidium! That such +a wonder existed has been known for some years, and three collectors +have gone in search of it; two died, and the third has been terribly ill +since his return to Europe—but he won the treasure, which we shall +behold in good time. Those parts of Madagascar which especially attract +botanists must be death-traps indeed! M. Léon Humblot tells how he dined +at Tamatave with his brother and six compatriots, exploring the country +with various scientific aims. Within twelve months he was the only +survivor. One of these unfortunates, travelling on behalf of Mr. Cutler, +the celebrated naturalist of Bloomsbury Street, to find butterflies and +birds, shot at a native idol, as the report <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[Pg 133]</span>goes. The priests soaked +him with paraffin, and burnt him on a table—perhaps their altar. M. +Humblot himself has had awful experiences. He was attached to the +geographical survey directed by the French Government, and ten years ago +he found <i>Phajus Humblotii</i> and <i>Phajus tuberculosus</i> in the deadliest +swamps of the interior. A few of the bulbs gathered lived through the +passage home, and caused much excitement when offered for sale at +Stevens' Auction Rooms. M. Humblot risked his life again, and secured a +great quantity for Mr. Sander, but at a dreadful cost. He spent twelve +months in the hospital at Mayotte, and on arrival at Marseilles with his +plants the doctors gave him no hope of recovery. <i>P. Humblotii</i> is a +marvel of beauty—rose-pink, with a great crimson labellum exquisitely +frilled, and a bright green column.</p> + +<p>Everybody who knows his "Darwin" is aware that Madagascar is the chosen +home of the Angræcums. All, indeed, are natives of Africa, so far as I +know, excepting the delightful <i>A. falcatum</i>, which comes, strangely +enough, from Japan. One cannot but suspect, under the circumstances, +that this species was brought from Africa ages ago, when the Japanese +were enterprising seamen, and has been acclimatized by those skilful +horti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[Pg 134]</span>culturists. It is certainly odd that the only "cool" Aerides—the +only one found, I believe, outside of India and the Eastern +Tropics—also belongs to Japan, and a cool Dendrobe, <i>A. arcuatum</i>, is +found in the Transvaal; and I have reason to hope that another or more +will turn up when South Africa is thoroughly searched. A pink Angræcum, +very rarely seen, dwells somewhere on the West Coast; the only species, +so far as I know, which is not white. It bears the name of M. Du +Chaillu, who found it—he has forgotten where, unhappily. I took that +famous traveller to St. Albans in the hope of quickening his +recollection, and I fear I bored him afterwards with categorical +inquiries. But all was vain. M. Du Chaillu can only recall that once on +a time, when just starting for Europe, it occurred to him to run into +the bush and strip the trees indiscriminately. Mr. Sander was prepared +to send a man expressly for this Angræcum. The exquisite <i>A. +Sanderianum</i> is a native of the Comorro Islands. No flower could be +prettier than this, nor more deliciously scented—when scented it is! It +grows in a climate which travellers describe as Paradise, and, in truth, +it becomes such a scene. Those who behold young plants with graceful +garlands of snowy bloom twelve to twenty inches long are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>[Pg 135]</span>prone to fall +into raptures; but imagine it as a long-established specimen appears +just now at St Albans, with racemes drooping two and a half feet from +each new growth, clothed on either side with flowers like a double train +of white long-tailed butterflies hovering! <i>A. Scottianum</i> comes from +Zanzibar, discovered, I believe, by Sir John Kirk; <i>A. caudatum</i>, from +Sierra Leone. This latter species is the nearest rival of <i>A. +sesquipedale</i>, showing "tails" ten inches long. Next in order for this +characteristic detail rank <i>A. Leonis</i> and <i>Kotschyi</i>—the latter rarely +grown—with seven-inch "tails;" <i>Scottianum</i> and <i>Ellisii</i> with +six-inch; that is to say, they ought to show such dimensions +respectively. Whether they fulfil their promise depends upon the grower.</p> + +<p>With the exceptions named, this family belongs to Madagascar. It has a +charming distinction, shared by no other genus which I recall, save, in +less degree, Cattleya—every member is attractive. But I must +concentrate myself on the most striking—that which fascinated Darwin. +In the first place it should be pointed out that <i>savants</i> call this +plant <i>Æranthus sesquipedalis</i>, not <i>Angræcum</i>—a fact useful to know, +but unimportant to ordinary mortals. It was discovered by the Rev. Mr. +Ellis, and sent home alive, nearly thirty years ago; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>[Pg 136]</span>but civilized +mankind has not yet done wondering at it. The stately growth, the +magnificent green-white flowers, command admiration at a glance, but the +"tail," or spur, offers a problem of which the thoughtful never tire. It +is commonly ten inches long, sometimes fourteen inches, and at home, I +have been told, even longer; about the thickness of a goose-quill, +hollow, of course, the last inch and a half filled with nectar. Studying +this appendage by the light of the principles he had laid down, Darwin +ventured on a prophecy which roused special mirth among the unbelievers. +Not only the abnormal length of the nectary had to be considered; there +was, besides, the fact that all its honey lay at the base, a foot or +more from the orifice. Accepting it as a postulate that every detail of +the apparatus must be equally essential for the purpose it had to serve, +he made a series of experiments which demonstrated that some insect of +Madagascar—doubtless a moth—must be equipped with a proboscis long +enough to reach the nectar, and at the same time thick enough at the +base to withdraw the pollinia—thus fertilizing the bloom. For, if the +nectar had lain so close to the orifice that moths with a proboscis of +reasonable length and thickness could get at it, they would drain the +cup without touching the pollinia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[Pg 137]</span> Darwin never proved his special +genius more admirably than in this case. He created an insect beyond +belief, as one may say, by the force of logic; and such absolute +confidence had he in his own syllogism that he declared, "If such great +moths were to become extinct in Madagascar, assuredly this Angræcum +would become extinct." I am not aware that Darwin's fine argument has +yet been clinched by the discovery of that insect. But cavil has ceased. +Long before his death a sphinx moth arrived from South Brazil which +shows a proboscis between ten and eleven inches long—very nearly equal, +therefore, to the task of probing the nectary of <i>Angræcum +sesquipidale</i>. And we know enough of orchids at this time to be +absolutely certain that the Madagascar species must exist.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> "The Lost Orchid," <i>infra</i>, p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> I have learned by a doleful experience that this fly, +commonly called "the weavil," is quite at home on <i>Lœlia purpurata</i>; +in fact, it will prey on any Cattleya.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[Pg 138]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>HOT ORCHIDS.</h2> + + +<p>In former chapters I have done my best to show that orchid culture is no +mystery. The laws which govern it are strict and simple, easy to define +in books, easily understood, and subject to few exceptions. It is not +with Odontoglossums and Dendrobes as with roses—an intelligent man or +woman needs no long apprenticeship to master their treatment. Stove +orchids are not so readily dealt with; but then, persons who own a stove +usually keep a gardener. Coming from the hot lowlands of either +hemisphere, they show much greater variety than those of the temperate +and sub-tropic zones; there are more genera, though not so many species, +and more exceptions to every rule. These, therefore, are not to be +recommended to all householders. Not everyone indeed is anxious to grow +plants which need a minimum night heat of 60° in winter, 70° in summer, +and cannot dispense with fire the whole year round.</p> + +<p>The hottest of all orchids probably is <i>Peristeria elata</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[Pg 139]</span> the famous +"Spirito Santo," flower of the Holy Ghost. The dullest soul who observes +that white dove rising with wings half spread, as in the very act of +taking flight, can understand the frenzy of the Spaniards when they came +upon it. Rumours of Peruvian magnificence had just reached them at +Panama—on the same day, perhaps—when this miraculous sign from heaven +encouraged them to advance. The empire of the Incas did not fall a prey +to that particular band of ruffians, nevertheless. <i>Peristeria elata</i> is +so well known that I would not dwell upon it, but an odd little tale +rises to my mind. The great collector Roezl was travelling homeward, in +1868, by Panama. The railway fare to Colon was sixty dollars at that +time, and he grudged the money. Setting his wits to work, Roezl +discovered that the company issued tickets from station to station at a +very low price for the convenience of its employés. Taking advantage of +this system, he crossed the isthmus for five dollars—such an advantage +it is in travelling to be an old campaigner! At one of the intermediate +stations he had to wait for his train, and rushed into the jungle of +course. <i>Peristeria</i> abounded in that steaming swamp, but the collector +was on holiday. To his amazement, however, he found, side by side with +it, a Masde<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[Pg 140]</span>vallia—that genus most impatient of sunshine among all +orchids, flourishing here in the hottest blaze! Snatching up half a +dozen of the tender plants with a practised hand, he brought them safe +to England. On the day they were put up to auction news of Livingstone's +death arrived, and in a flash of inspiration Roezl christened his +novelty <i>M. Livingstoniana</i>. Few, indeed, even among authorities, know +where that rarest of Masdevallias has its home; none have reached Europe +since. A pretty flower it is—white, rosy tipped, with yellow "tails." +And it dwells by the station of Culebras, on the Panama railway.</p> + +<p>Of genera, however, doubtless the Vandas are hottest; and among these, +<i>V. Sanderiana</i> stands first. It was found in Mindanao, the most +southerly of the Philippines, by Mr. Roebelin when he went thither in +search of the red Phalœnopsis, as will be told presently. <i>Vanda +Sanderiana</i> is a plant to be described as majestic rather than lovely, +if we may distinguish among these glorious things. Its blooms are five +inches across, pale lilac in their ground colour, suffused with brownish +yellow, and covered with a network of crimson brown. Twelve or more of +such striking flowers to a spike, and four or five spikes upon a plant +make a wonder indeed. But, to view matters prosaically, <i>Vanda</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[Pg 141]</span> +<i>Sanderiana</i> is "bad business." It is not common, and it grows on the +very top of the highest trees, which must be felled to secure the +treasure; and of those gathered but a small proportion survive. In the +first place, the agent must employ natives, who are paid so much per +plant, no matter what the size—a bad system, but they will allow no +change. It is evidently their interest to divide any "specimen" that +will bear cutting up; if the fragments bleed to death, they have got +their money meantime. Then, the Manilla steamers call at Mindanao only +once a month. Three months are needed to get together plants enough to +yield a fair profit. At the end of that time a large proportion of those +first gathered will certainly be doomed—Vandas have no pseudo-bulbs to +sustain their strength. Steamers run from Manilla to Singapore every +fortnight. If the collector be fortunate he may light upon a captain +willing to receive his packages; in that case he builds structures of +bamboo on deck, and spends the next fortnight in watering, shading, and +ventilating his precious <i>trouvailles</i>, alternately. But captains +willing to receive such freight must be waited for too often. At +Singapore it is necessary to make a final overhauling of the plants—to +their woeful diminution. This done, troubles recom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[Pg 142]</span>mence. Seldom will +the captain of a mail steamer accept that miscellaneous cargo. Happily, +the time of year is, or ought to be, that season when tea-ships arrive +at Singapore. The collector may reasonably hope to secure a passage in +one of these, which will carry him to England in thirty-five days or so. +If this state of things be pondered, even without allowance for +accident, it will not seem surprising that <i>V. Sanderiana</i> is a costly +species. The largest piece yet secured was bought by Sir Trevor Lawrence +at auction for ninety guineas. It had eight stems, the tallest four feet +high. No consignment has yet returned a profit, however.</p> + +<p>The favoured home of Vandas is Java. They are noble plants even when at +rest, if perfect—that is, clothed in their glossy, dark green leaves +from base to crown. If there be any age or any height at which the lower +leaves fall of necessity, I have not been able to identify it. In Mr. +Sander's collection, for instance, there is a giant plant of <i>Vanda +suavis</i>, eleven growths, a small thicket, established in 1847. The +tallest stem measures fifteen feet, and every one of its leaves remain. +They fall off easily under bad treatment, but the mischief is reparable +at a certain sacrifice. The stem may be cut through and the crown +re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[Pg 143]</span>planted, with leaves perfect; but it will be so much shorter, of +course. The finest specimen I ever heard of is the <i>V. Lowii</i> at +Ferrières, seat of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, near Paris. It fills +the upper part of a large greenhouse, and year by year its twelve stems +produce an indefinite number of spikes, eight to ten feet long, covered +with thousands of yellow and brown blooms.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Vandas inhabit all the +Malayan Archipelago; some are found even in India. The superb <i>V. teres</i> +comes from Sylhet; from Burmah also. This might be called the floral +cognizance of the house of Rothschild. At Frankfort, Vienna, Ferrières, +and Gunnersbury little meadows of it are grown—that is, the plants +flourish at their own sweet will, uncumbered with pots, in houses +devoted to them. Rising from a carpet of palms and maidenhair, each +crowned with its drooping garland of rose and crimson and +cinnamon-brown, they make a glorious show indeed. A pretty little +coincidence was remarked when the Queen paid a visit to Waddesdon the +other day. <i>V. teres</i> first bloomed in Europe at Syon House, and a small +spray was sent to the young Princess, unmarried then and uncrowned. The +incident recurred to memory when Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild chose +this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[Pg 144]</span>same flower for the bouquet presented to Her Majesty; he adorned +the luncheon table therewith besides. This story bears a moral. The +plant of which one spray was a royal gift less than sixty years ago has +become so far common that it may be used in masses to decorate a room. +Thousands of unconsidered subjects of Her Majesty enjoy the pleasure +which one great duke monopolized before her reign began. There is matter +for an essay here. I hasten back to my theme.</p> + +<p><i>V. teres</i> is not such a common object that description would be +superfluous. It belongs to the small class of climbing orchids, +delighting to sun itself upon the rafters of the hottest stove. If this +habit be duly regarded, it is not difficult to flower by any means, +though gardeners who do not keep pace with their age still pronounce it +a hopeless rebel. Sir Hugh Low tells me that he clothed all the trees +round Government House at Pahang with <i>Vanda teres</i>, planting its near +relative, <i>V. Hookeri</i>, more exquisite still, if that were possible, in +a swampy hollow. His servants might gather a basket of these flowers +daily in the season. So the memory of the first President for Pahang +will be kept green. A plant rarely seen is <i>V. limbata</i> from the island +of Timor—dusky <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>[Pg 145]</span>yellow, the tip purple, outlined with white, formed +like a shovel.</p> + +<p>I may cite a personal reminiscence here, in the hope that some reader +may be able to supply what is wanting. In years so far back that they +seem to belong to a "previous existence," I travelled in Borneo, and +paid a visit to the antimony-mines of Bidi. The manager, Mr. Bentley, +showed me a grand tapong-tree at his door from which he had lately +gathered a "blue orchid,"—we were desperately vague about names in the +jungle at that day, or in England for that matter. In a note published +on my return, I said, "As Mr. Bentley described it, the blossoms hung in +an azure garland from the bough, more gracefully than art could design." +This specimen is, I believe, the only one at present known, and both +Malays and Dyaks are quite ignorant of such a flower! What was this? +There is no question of the facts. Mr. Bentley sent the plant, a large +mass to the chairman of the Company, and it reached home in fair +condition. I saw the warm letter, enclosing cheque for 100<i>l.</i>, in which +Mr. Templar acknowledged receipt. But further record I have not been +able to discover. One inclines to assume that a blue orchid which puts +forth a "garland" of bloom must be a Vanda. The description might <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[Pg 146]</span>be +applied to <i>V. cœrulea</i>, but that species is a native of the Khasya +hills; more appropriately, as I recall Mr. Bentley's words, to <i>V. +cœrulescens</i>, which, however, is Burmese. Furthermore, neither of +these would be looked for on the branch of a great tree. Possibly +someone who reads this may know what became of Mr. Templar's specimen.</p> + +<p>Both the species of Renanthera need great heat. Among "facts not +generally known" to orchid-growers, but decidedly interesting for them, +is the commercial habitat, as one may say, of <i>R. coccinea</i>. The books +state correctly that it is a native of Cochin China. Orchids coming from +such a distance must needs be withered on arrival. Accordingly, the most +experienced horticulturist who is not up to a little secret feels +assured that all is well when he beholds at the auction-room or at one +of the small dealer's a plant full of sap, with glossy leaves and +unshrivelled roots. It must have been in cultivation for a year at the +very least, and he buys with confidence. Too often, however, a +disastrous change sets in from the very moment his purchase reaches +home. Instead of growing it falls back and back, until in a very few +weeks it has all the appearance of a newly-imported piece. The +explanation is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[Pg 147]</span>curious. At some time, not distant, a quantity of <i>R. +coccinea</i> must have found its way to the neighbourhood of Rio. There it +flourishes as a weed, with a vigour quite unparalleled in its native +soil. Unscrupulous persons take advantage of this extraordinary +accident. From a country so near and so readily accessible they can get +plants home, pot them up, and sell them, before the withering process +sets in. May this revelation confound such knavish tricks! The moral is +old—buy your orchids from one of the great dealers, if you do not care +to "establish" them yourself.</p> + +<p><i>R. coccinea</i> is another of the climbing species, and it demands, even +more urgently than <i>V. teres</i>, to reach the top of the house, where +sunshine is fiercest, before blooming. Under the best conditions, +indeed, it is slow to produce its noble wreaths of flower—deep red, +crimson, and orange. Upon the other hand, the plant itself is +ornamental, and it grows very fast. The Duke of Devonshire has some at +Chatsworth which never fail to make a gorgeous show in their season; but +they stand twenty feet high, twisted round birch-trees, and they have +occupied their present quarters for half a century or near it. There is +but one more species in the genus, so far as the unlearned know, but +this, generally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[Pg 148]</span>recognized as <i>Vanda Lowii</i>, as has been already +mentioned, ranks among the grand curiosities of botanic science. Like +some of the Catasetums and Cycnoches, it bears two distinct types of +flower on each spike, but the instance of <i>R. Lowii</i> is even more +perplexing. In those other cases the differing forms represent male and +female sex, but the microscope has not yet discovered any sort of reason +for the like eccentricity of this Renanthera. Its proper inflorescence, +as one may put it, is greenish yellow, blotched with brown, three inches +in diameter, clothing a spike sometimes twelve feet long. The first two +flowers to open, however—those at the base—present a strong contrast +in all respects—smaller, of different shape, tawny yellow in colour, +dotted with crimson. It would be a pleasing task for ingenious youth +with a bent towards science to seek the utility of this arrangement.</p> + +<p>Orchids are spreading fast over the world in these days, and we may +expect to hear of other instances where a species has taken root in +alien climes like <i>R. coccinea</i> in Brazil. I cannot cite a parallel at +present. But Mr. Sander informs me that there is a growing demand for +these plants in realms which have their own native orchids. We have an +example in the letter which has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[Pg 149]</span>already quoted.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Among customers +who write to him direct are magnates of China and Siam, an Indian and a +Javanese rajah. Orders are received—not unimportant, nor +infrequent—from merchants at Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rio de +Janeiro, and smaller places, of course. It is vastly droll to hear that +some of these gentlemen import species at a great expense which an +intelligent coolie could gather for them in any quantity within a few +furlongs of their go-down! But for the most part they demand foreigners.</p> + +<p>The plants thus distributed will be grown in the open air; naturally +they will seed; at least, we may hope so. Even <i>Angræcum sesquipedale</i>, +of which I wrote in the preceding chapter, would find a moth able to +impregnate it in South Brazil. Such species as recognize the conditions +necessary for their existence will establish themselves. It is fairly +safe to credit that in some future time, not distant, Cattleyas may +flourish in the jungles of India, Dendrobiums on the Amazons, +Phalœnopsis in the coast lands of Central America. Those who wish well +to their kind would like to hasten that day.</p> + +<p>Mr. Burbidge suggested at the Orchid Conference that gentlemen who have +plantations in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[Pg 150]</span>country suitable should establish a "farm," or rather +a market-garden, and grow the precious things for exportation. It is an +excellent idea, and when tea, coffee, sugar-cane, all the regular crops +of the East and West Indies, are so depreciated by competition, one +would think that some planters might adopt it. Perhaps some have; it is +too early yet for results. Upon inquiry I hear of a case, but it is not +encouraging. One of Mr. Sander's collectors, marrying when on service in +the United States of Colombia, resolved to follow Mr. Burbidge's advice. +He set up his "farm" and began "hybridizing" freely. No man living is +better qualified as a collector, for the hero of this little tale is Mr. +Kerbach, a name familiar among those who take interest in such matters; +but I am not aware that he had any experience in growing orchids. To +start with hybridizing seems very ambitious—too much of a short cut to +fortune. However, in less than eighteen months Mr. Kerbach found it did +not answer, for reasons unexplained, and he begged to be reinstated in +Mr. Sander's service. It is clear, indeed, that the orchid-farmer of the +future, in whose success I firmly believe, will be wise to begin +modestly, cultivating the species he finds in his neighbourhood. It is +not in our greenhouses alone that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[Pg 151]</span>these plants sometimes show likes and +dislikes beyond explanation. For example, many gentlemen in Costa +Rica—a wealthy land, and comparatively civilized—have tried to +cultivate the glorious <i>Cattleya Dowiana</i>. For business purposes also +the attempt has been made. But never with success. In those tropical +lands a variation of climate or circumstances, small perhaps, but such +as plants that subsist mostly upon air can recognize, will be found in a +very narrow circuit. We say that Trichopilias have their home at Bogota. +As a matter of fact, however, they will not live in the immediate +vicinity of that town, though the woods, fifteen miles away, are stocked +with them. The orchid-farmer will have to begin cautiously, propagating +what he finds at hand, and he must not be hasty in sending his crop to +market. It is a general rule of experience that plants brought from the +forest and "established" before shipment do less well than those shipped +direct in good condition, though the public, naturally, is slow to admit +a conclusion opposed by <i>à priori</i> reasoning. The cause may be that they +exhaust their strength in that first effort, and suffer more severely on +the voyage.</p> + +<p>I hear of one gentleman, however, who appears to be cultivating orchids +with success. This is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[Pg 152]</span> Mr. Rand, dwelling on the Rio Negro, in Brazil, +where he has established a plantation of <i>Hevia Brazilienses</i>, a new +caoutchouc of the highest quality, indigenous to those parts. Some years +ago Mr. Rand wrote to Mr. Godseff, at St. Albans, begging plants of +<i>Vanda Sanderiana</i> and other Oriental species, which were duly +forwarded. In return he despatched some pieces of a new Epidendrum, +named in his honour <i>E. Randii</i>, a noble flower, with brown sepals and +petals, the lip crimson, betwixt two large white wings. This and others +native to the Rio Negro Mr. Rand is propagating on a large scale in +shreds of bamboo, especially a white <i>Cattleya superba</i> which he himself +discovered. It is pleasing to add that by latest reports all the +Oriental species were thriving to perfection on the other side of the +Atlantic.</p> + +<p>Vandas, indeed, should flourish where <i>Cattleya superba</i> is at home, or +anything else that loves the atmosphere of a kitchen on washing-day at +midsummer. Though all the Cattleyas, or very nearly all, will "do" in an +intermediate house, several prefer the stove. Of two among them, <i>C. +Dowiana</i> and <i>C. aurea</i>, I spoke in the preceding chapter with an +enthusiasm that does not bear repetition. <i>Cattleya guttata Leopoldi</i> +grows upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[Pg 153]</span>rocks in the little island of Sta. Catarina, Brazil, in +company with <i>Lœlia elegans</i> and <i>L. purpurata</i>. There the four dwelt +in such numbers only twenty years ago that the supply was thought +inexhaustible. It has come to an end already, and collectors no longer +visit the spot. Cliffs and ravines which men still young can recollect +ablaze with colour, are as bare now as a stone-quarry. Nature had done +much to protect her treasures; they flourished mostly in places which +the human foot cannot reach—<i>Lœlia elegans</i> and <i>Cattleya g. +Leopoldi</i> inextricably entwined, clinging to the face of lofty rocks. +The blooms of the former are white and mauve, of the latter +chocolate-brown, spotted with dark red, the lip purple. A wondrous sight +that must have been in the time of flowering. It is lost now, probably +for ever. Natives went down, suspended on a rope, and swept the whole +circuit of the island, year by year. A few specimens remain in nooks +absolutely inaccessible, but those happy mortals who possess a bit of +<i>L. elegans</i> should treasure it, for more are very seldom forthcoming. +<i>Lœlia elegans Statteriana</i> is the finest variety perhaps; the +crimson velvet tip of its labellum is as clearly and sharply-defined +upon the snow-white surface as pencil could draw; it looks like +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[Pg 154]</span>painting by the steadiest of hands in angelic colour. <i>C. g. Leopoldi</i> +has been found elsewhere. It is deliciously scented. I observed a plant +at St. Albans lately with three spikes, each bearing over twenty +flowers; many strong perfumes there were in the house, but that +overpowered them all. The <i>Lœlia purpurata</i> of Sta. Catarina, to +which the finest varieties in cultivation belong, has shared the same +fate. It occupied boulders jutting out above the swamps in the full +glare of tropic sunshine. Many gardeners give it too much shade. This +species grows also on the mainland, but of inferior quality in all +respects; curiously enough it dwells upon trees there, even though rocks +be at hand, while the island variety, I believe, was never found on +timber.</p> + +<p>Another hot Cattleya of the highest class is <i>C. Acklandiæ</i> It belongs +to the dwarf section of the genus, and inexperienced persons are vastly +surprised to see such a little plant bearing two flowers on a spike, +each larger than itself. They are four inches in diameter, petals and +sepals chocolate-brown, barred with yellow, lip large, of colour varying +from rose to purple. <i>C. Acklandiæ</i> is found at Bahia, where it grows +side by side with <i>C. amethystoglossa</i>, also a charming species, very +tall, leafless to the tip of its pseudo-bulbs. Thus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[Pg 155]</span>the dwarf beneath +is seen in all its beauty. As they cling together in great masses the +pair must make a flower-bed to themselves—above, the clustered spikes +of <i>C. amethystoglossa</i>, dusky-lilac, purple-spotted, with a lip of +amethyst; upon the ground the rich chocolate and rose of <i>C. Acklandiæ</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Cattleya superba</i>, as has been said, dwells also on the Rio Negro in +Brazil; it has a wide range, for specimens have been sent from the Rio +Meta in Colombia. This species is not loved by gardeners, who find it +difficult to cultivate and almost impossible to flower, probably because +they cannot give it sunshine enough. I have heard that Baron Hruby, a +Hungarian enthusiast in our science, has no sort of trouble; wonders, +indeed, are reported of that admirable collection, where all the hot +orchids thrive like weeds. The Briton may find comfort in assuming that +cool species are happier beneath his cloudy skies; if he be prudent, he +will not seek to verify the assumption. The Assistant Curator of Kew +assures us, in his excellent little work, "Orchids," that the late Mr. +Spyers grew <i>C. superba</i> well, and he details his method. I myself have +never seen the bloom. Mr. Watson describes it as five inches across, +"bright rosy-purple suffused with white, very fragrant, lip with acute +side lobes folding over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>[Pg 156]</span>column,"—making a funnel, in short—"the +front lobe spreading, kidney-shaped, crimson-purple, with a blotch of +white and yellow in front."</p> + +<p>In the same districts with <i>Cattleya superba</i> grows <i>Galleandra +Devoniana</i> under circumstances rather unusual. It clings to the very tip +of a slender palm, in swamps which the Indians themselves regard with +dread as the chosen home of fever and mosquitoes. It was discovered by +Sir Robert Schomburgk, who compared the flower to a foxglove, referring +especially, perhaps, to the graceful bend of its long pseudo-bulbs, +which is almost lost under cultivation. The tube-like flowers are +purple, contrasting exquisitely with a snow-white lip, striped with +lilac in the throat.</p> + +<p>Phalœnopsis, of course, are hot. This is one of our oldest genera which +still rank in the first class. It was drawn and described so early as +1750, and a plant reached Messrs. Rollisson in 1838; they sold it to the +Duke of Devonshire for a hundred guineas. Many persons regard +Phalœnopsis as the loveliest of all, and there is no question of their +supreme beauty, though not everyone may rank them first. They come +mostly from the Philippines, but Java, Borneo, Cochin China, Burmah, +even Assam contribute some species. Colonel Berkeley found <i>Ph. +tetraspis</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>[Pg 157]</span>snow-white, and <i>Ph. speciosa</i>, purple, in the Andamans, +when he was Governor of that settlement, clinging to low bushes along +the mangrove creeks. So far as I know, all the species dwell within +breath of the sea, as it may be put, where the atmosphere is laden with +salt; this gives a hint to the thoughtful. Mr. Partington, of Cheshunt, +who was the most renowned cultivator of the genus in his time, used to +lay down salt upon the paths and beneath the stages of his Phalœnopsis +house. Lady Howard de Walden stands first, perhaps, at the present day, +and her gardener follows the same system. These plants, indeed, are +affected, for good or ill, by influences too subtle for our perception +as yet. Experiment alone will decide whether a certain house, or a +certain neighbourhood even, is agreeable to their taste. It is a waste +of money in general to make alterations; if they do not like the place +they won't live there, and that's flat! It is probable that Maidstone, +where Lady Howard de Walden resides, may be specially suited to their +needs, but her ladyship's gardener knows how to turn a lucky chance to +the best account. Some of his plants have ten leaves!—the uninitiated +may think that fact grotesquely undeserving of a note of exclamation, +but to explain would be too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>[Pg 158]</span>technical. It may be observed that the +famous Swan orchid, <i>Cycnoches chlorochilon</i>, flourishes at Maidstone as +nowhere else perhaps in England.</p> + +<p>Phalœnopsis were first introduced by Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, a +firm that vanished years ago, but will live in the annals of +horticulture as the earliest of the great importers. In 1836 they got +home a living specimen of <i>Ph. amabilis</i>, which had been described, and +even figured, eighty years before. A few months later the Duke of +Devonshire secured <i>Ph. Schilleriana</i>. The late Mr. B.S. Williams told +me a very curious incident relating to this species. It comes from the +Philippines, and exacts a very hot, close atmosphere of course. Once +upon a time, however, a little piece was left in the cool house at +Holloway, and remained there some months unnoticed by the authorities. +When at length the oversight was remarked, to their amaze this stranger +from the tropics, abandoned in the temperate zone, proved to be thriving +more vigorously than any of his fellows who enjoyed their proper +climate!—so he was left in peace and cherished as a "phenomenon." Four +seasons had passed when I beheld the marvel, and it was a picture of +health and strength, flowering freely; but the reader is not advised to +introduce a few Phalœ<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>[Pg 159]</span>nopsis to his Odontoglossums—not by any means. +Mr. Williams himself never repeated the experiment. It was one of those +delightfully perplexing vagaries which the orchid-grower notes from time +to time.</p> + +<p>There are rare species of this genus which will not be found in the +dealers' catalogues, and amateurs who like a novelty may be pleased to +hear some names. <i>Ph. Manni</i>, christened in honour of Mr. Mann, Director +of the Indian Forest Department, is yellow and red; <i>Ph. cornucervi</i>, +yellow and brown; <i>Ph. Portei</i>, a natural hybrid, of <i>Ph. rosea</i> and +<i>Ph. Aphrodite</i>, white, the lip amethyst. It is found very, very rarely +in the woods near Manilla. Above all, <i>Ph. Sanderiana</i>, to which hangs a +little tale.</p> + +<p>So soon as the natives of the Philippines began to understand that their +white and lilac weeds were cherished in Europe, they talked of a scarlet +variety, which thrilled listening collectors with joy; but the precious +thing never came to hand, and, on closer inquiry, no responsible witness +could be found who had seen it. Years passed by and the scarlet +Phalœnopsis became a jest among orchidaceans. The natives persisted, +however, and Mr. Sander found the belief so general, if shadowy, that +when a service of coasting steamers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>[Pg 160]</span>was established, he sent Mr. +Roebelin to make a thorough investigation. His enterprise and sagacity +were rewarded, as usual. After floating round for twenty-five years +amidst derision, the rumour proved true in part. <i>Ph. Sanderiana</i> is not +scarlet but purplish rose, a very handsome and distinct species.</p> + +<p>To the same collector we owe the noblest of Aerides, <i>A. Lawrenciæ</i>, +waxy white tipped with purple, and deep purple lip. Besides the lovely +colouring it is the largest by far of that genus. Mr. Roebelin sent two +plants from the Far East; he had not seen the flower, nor received any +description from the natives. Mr. Sander grew them in equal ignorance +for three years, and sent one to auction in blossom; it fell to Sir +Trevor Lawrence's bid for 235 guineas.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo175.jpg"><img src="images/illo175-tb.jpg" alt="Coelogene Pandurata." title="Coelogene Pandurata." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Coelogene Pandurata.</span><br /> +Reduced to One Sixth</h4> + +<p>Many of the Cœlogenes classed as cool, which, indeed, rub along with +Odontoglossums, do better in the stove while growing. <i>Cœl. cristata</i> +itself comes from Nepaul, where the summer sun is terrible, and it +covers the rocks most exposed. But I will only name a few of those +recognized as hot. Amongst the most striking of flowers, exquisitely +pretty also, is <i>Cœl. pandurata</i>, from Borneo. Its spike has been +described by a person of fine fancy as resembling a row of glossy +pea-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>[Pg 161]</span>green frogs with black tongues, each three inches in diameter. The +whole bloom is brilliantly green, but several ridges clothed with hairs +as black and soft as velvet run down the lip, seeming to issue from a +mouth. It is strange to see that a plant so curious, so beautiful, and +so sweet should be so rarely cultivated; I own, however, that it is very +unwilling to make itself at home with us. <i>Cœl. Dayana</i>, also a +native of Borneo, one of our newest discoveries, is named after Mr. Day, +of Tottenham. I may interpolate a remark here for the encouragement of +poor but enthusiastic members of our fraternity. When Mr. Day sold his +collection lately, an American "Syndicate" paid 12,000<i>l.</i> down, and the +remaining plants fetched 12,000<i>l.</i> at auction; so, at least, the +uncontradicted report goes. <i>Cœl. Dayana</i> is rare, of course, and +dear, but Mr. Sander has lately imported a large quantity. The spike is +three feet long sometimes, a pendant wreath of buff-yellow flowers +broadly striped with chocolate. <i>Cœl. Massangeana</i>, from Assam, +resembles this, but the lip is deep crimson-brown, with lines of yellow, +and a white edge. Newest of all the Cœlogenes, and supremely +beautiful, is <i>Cœl. Sanderiana</i>, imported by the gentleman whose name +it bears. He has been called "The Orchid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>[Pg 162]</span> King." This superb species has +only flowered once in Europe as yet; Baron Ferdinand Rothschild is the +happy man. Its snow-white blooms, six on a spike generally, each three +inches across, have very dark brown stripes on the lip. It was +discovered in Borneo by Mr. Forstermann, the same collector who happed +upon the wondrous scarlet Dendrobe, mentioned in a former chapter. There +I stated that Baron Schroeder had three pieces; this was a mistake +unfortunately. Mr. Forstermann only secured three, of which two died on +the journey. Baron Schroeder bought the third, but it has perished. No +more can be found as yet.</p> + +<p>Of Oncidiums there are many that demand stove treatment. The story of +<i>Onc. splendidum</i> is curious. It first turned up in France some thirty +years ago. A ship's captain sailing from St. Lazare brought half a dozen +pieces, which he gave to his "owner," M. Herman. The latter handed them +to MM. Thibaut and Ketteler, of Sceaux, who split them up and +distributed them. Two of the original plants found their way to England, +and they also appear to have been cut up. A legend of the King Street +Auction Room recalls how perfervid competitors ran up a bit of <i>Onc. +splendidum</i>, that had only one leaf, to thirty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>[Pg 163]</span>guineas. The whole stock +vanished presently, which is not surprising if it had all been divided +in the same ruthless manner. From that day the species was lost until +Mr. Sander turned his attention to it. There was no record of its +habitat. The name of the vessel, or even of the captain, might have +furnished a clue had it been recorded, for the shipping intelligence of +the day would have shown what ports he was frequenting about that time. +I could tell of mysterious orchids traced home upon indications less +distinct. But there was absolutely nothing. Mr. Sander, however, had +scrutinized the plant carefully, while specimens were still extant, and +from the structure of the leaf he formed a strong conclusion that it +must belong to the Central American flora; furthermore, that it must +inhabit a very warm locality. In 1882 he directed one of his collectors, +Mr. Oversluys, to look for the precious thing in Costa Rica. Year after +year the search proceeded, until Mr. Oversluys declared with some warmth +that <i>Onc. splendidum</i> might grow in heaven or in the other place, but +it was not to be found in Costa Rica. But theorists are stubborn, and +year after year he was sent back. At length, in 1882, riding through a +district often explored, the collector found himself in a grassy plain, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>[Pg 164]</span>dotted with pale yellow flowers. He had beheld the same many times, but +his business was orchids. On this occasion, however, he chanced to +approach one of the masses, and recognized the object of his quest. It +was the familiar case of a man who overlooks the thing he has to find, +because it is too near and too conspicuous. But Mr. Oversluys had excuse +enough. Who could have expected to see an Oncidium buried in long grass, +exposed to the full power of a tropic sun?</p> + +<p><i>Oncidium Lanceanum</i> is, perhaps, the hottest of its genus. Those happy +mortals who can grow it declare they have no trouble, but unless +perfectly strong and healthy it gets "the spot," and promptly goes to +wreck. In the houses of the "New Plant and Bulb Company," at +Colchester—now extinct—<i>Onc. Lanceanum</i> flourished with a vigour +almost embarrassing, putting forth such enormous leaves, as it hung +close to the glass, as made blinds quite superfluous at midsummer. But +this was an extraordinary case. Certainly it is a glorious spectacle in +flower—yellow, barred with brown; the lip violet. The spikes last a +month in full beauty—sometimes two.</p> + +<p>An Oncidium which always commands attention from the public and grateful +regard from the devotee is <i>Onc. papilio</i>. Its strange form fascinated +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>[Pg 165]</span>the Duke of Devonshire, grandfather to the present, who was almost the +first of our lordly amateurs, and tempted him to undertake the +explorations which introduced so many fine plants to Europe.</p> + +<p>The "Butterfly orchid" is so familiar that I do not pause to describe +it. But imagine that most interesting flower all blue, instead of gold +and brown! I have never been able to learn what was the foundation of +the old belief in such a marvel. But the great Lindley went to his grave +in unshaken confidence that a blue <i>papilio</i> exists. Once he thought he +had a specimen; but it flowered, and his triumph had to be postponed. I +myself heard of it two years back, and tried to cherish a belief that +the news was true. A friend from Natal assured me that he had seen one +on the table of the Director of the Gardens at Durban; but it proved to +be one of those terrestrial orchids, so lovely and so tantalizing to us, +with which South Africa abounds. Very slowly do we lengthen the +catalogue of them in our houses. There are gardeners, such as Mr. Cook +at Loughborough, who grow <i>Disa grandiflora</i> like a weed. Mr. Watson of +Kew demonstrated that <i>Disa racemosa</i> will flourish under conditions +easily secured. I had the good fortune <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>[Pg 166]</span>to do as much for <i>Disa +Cooperi</i>, though not by my own skill. One supreme little triumph is +mine, however. In very early days, when animated with the courage of +utter ignorance, I bought eight bulbs of <i>Disa discolor</i>, and flowered +them, every one! No mortal in Europe had done it before, nor has any +tried since, I charitably hope, for a more rubbishing bloom does not +exist. But there it was—<i>Ego feci</i>! And the specimen in the Herbarium +at Kew bears my name.</p> + +<p>But legends should not be disregarded when it is certain that they reach +us from a native source. Some of the most striking finds had been +announced long since by observant savages. I have told the story of +<i>Phalœnopsis Sanderiana</i>. It was a Zulu who put the discoverer of the +new yellow Calla on the track. The blue Utricularia had been heard of +and discredited long before it was found—Utricularias are not orchids +indeed, but only botanists regard the distinction. The natives of Assam +persistently assert that a bright yellow Cymbidium grows there, of +supremest beauty, and we expect it to turn up one day; the Malagasy +describe a scarlet one. But I am digressing.</p> + +<p>Epidendrums mostly will bear as much heat as can be given them while +growing; all demand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>[Pg 167]</span>more sunshine than they can get in our climate. +Amateurs do not seem to be so well acquainted with the grand things of +this genus as they should be. They distrust all imported Epidendrums. +Many worthless species, indeed, bear a perplexing resemblance to the +finest; so much so, that the most observant of authorities would not +think of buying at the auction-room unless he had confidence enough in +the seller's honesty to accept his description of a "lot." Gloriously +beautiful, however, are some of those rarely met with; easy to cultivate +also, in a sunny place, and not dear. <i>Epid. rhizophorum</i> has been +lately rechristened <i>Epid. radicans</i>—a name which might be confined to +the Mexican variety. For the plant recurs in Brazil, practically the +same, but with a certain difference. The former grows on shrubs, a true +epiphyte; the latter has its bottom roots in the soil, at foot of the +tallest trees, and runs up to the very summit, perhaps a hundred and +fifty feet. The flowers also show a distinction, but in effect they are +brilliant orange-red, the lip yellow, edged with scarlet. Forty or fifty +of them hanging in a cluster from the top of the raceme make a show to +remember. Mr. Watson "saw a plant a few years ago, that bore eighty-six +heads of flowers!" They last for three months. <i>Epid. prismatocarpum</i>, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>[Pg 168]</span>also, is a lovely thing, with narrow dagger-like sepals and petals, +creamy-yellow, spotted black, lip mauve or violet, edged with pale +yellow.</p> + +<p>Of the many hot Dendrobiums, Australia supplies a good proportion. There +is <i>D. bigibbum</i>, of course, too well known for description; it dwells +on the small islands in Torres Straits. This species flowered at Kew so +early as 1824, but the plant died. Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, +re-introduced it thirty years later. <i>D. Johannis</i>, from Queensland, +brown and yellow, streaked with orange, the flowers curiously twisted. +<i>D. superbiens</i>, from Torres Straits, rosy purple, edged with white, lip +crimson. Handsomest of all by far is <i>D. phalœnopsis</i>. It throws out a +long, slender spike from the tip of the pseudo-bulb, bearing six or more +flowers, three inches across. The sepals are lance-shaped, and the +petals, twice as broad, rosy-lilac, with veins of darker tint; the lip, +arched over by its side lobes, crimson-lake in the throat, paler and +striped at the mouth. It was first sent home by Mr. Forbes, of Kew +Gardens, from Timor Laüt, in 1880. But Mr. Fitzgerald had made drawings +of a species substantially the same, some years before, from a plant he +discovered on the property of Captain Bloomfield, Balmain, in +Queensland, nearly a thousand miles south of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>[Pg 169]</span> Timor. Mr. Sander caused +search to be made, and he has introduced Mr. Fitzgerald's variety under +the name of <i>D. ph. Statterianum</i>. It is smaller than the type, and +crimson instead of lilac.</p> + +<p>Bulbophyllums rank among the marvels of nature. It is a point +comparatively trivial that this genus includes the largest of orchids +and, perhaps, the smallest.</p> + +<p><i>B. Beccarii</i> has leaves two feet long, eighteen inches broad. It +encircles the biggest tree in one clasp of its rhizomes, which +travellers mistake for the coil of a boa constrictor. Furthermore, this +species emits the vilest stench known to scientific persons, which is a +great saying. But these points are insignificant. The charm of +Bulbophyllums lies in their machinery for trapping insects. Those who +attended the Temple show last year saw something of it, if they could +penetrate the crush around <i>B. barbigerum</i> on Sir Trevor Lawrence's +stand. This tiny but amazing plant comes from Sierra Leone. The long +yellow lip is attached to the column by the slenderest possible joint, +so that it rocks without an instant's pause. At the tip is set a brush +of silky hairs, which wave backwards and forwards with the precision of +machinery. No wonder that the natives believe it a living thing. The +purpose of these arrangements is to catch flies, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>[Pg 170]</span>which other species +effect with equal ingenuity if less elaboration. Very pretty too are +some of them, as <i>B. Lobbii</i>. Its clear, clean, orange-creamy hue is +delightful to behold. The lip, so delicately balanced, quivers at every +breath. If the slender stem be bent back, as by a fly alighting on the +column, that quivering cap turns and hangs imminent; another tiny shake, +as though the fly approached the nectary, and it falls plump, head over +heels, like a shot, imprisoning the insect. Thus the flower is +impregnated. If we wished to excite a thoughtful child's interest in +botany—not regardless of the sense of beauty either—we should make an +investment in <i>Bulbophyllum Lobbii</i>. <i>Bulbophyllum Dearei</i> also is +pretty—golden ochre spotted red, with a wide dorsal sepal, very narrow +petals flying behind, lower sepals broadly striped with red, and a +yellow lip, upon a hinge, of course; but the gymnastic performances of +this species are not so impressive as in most of its kin.</p> + +<p>A new Bulbophyllum, <i>B. Godseffianum</i>, has lately been brought from the +Philippines, contrived on the same principle, but even more charming. +The flowers, two inches broad, have the colour of "old gold," with +stripes of crimson on the petals, and the dorsal sepal shows membranes +almost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>[Pg 171]</span>transparent, which have the effect of silver embroidery.</p> + +<p>Until <i>B. Beccarii</i> was introduced, from Borneo, in 1867, the +Grammatophyllums were regarded as monsters incomparable. Mr. Arthur +Keyser, Resident Magistrate at Selangor, in the Straits Settlement, +tells of one which he gathered on a Durian tree, seven feet two inches +high, thirteen feet six inches across, bearing seven spikes of flower, +the longest eight feet six inches—a weight which fifteen men could only +just carry. Mr. F.W. Burbidge heard a tree fall in the jungle one night +when he was four miles away, and on visiting the spot, he found, "right +in the collar of the trunk, a Grammatophyllum big enough to fill a +Pickford's van, just opening its golden-brown spotted flowers, on stout +spikes two yards long." It is not to be hoped that we shall ever see +monsters like these in Europe. The genus, indeed, is unruly. <i>G. +speciosum</i> has been grown to six feet high, I believe, which is big +enough to satisfy the modest amateur, especially when it develops leaves +two feet long. The flowers are—that is, they ought to be—six inches in +diameter, rich yellow, blotched with reddish purple. They have some +giants at Kew now, of which fine things are expected. <i>G. +Measureseanum</i>, named after Mr. Measures, a leading <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>[Pg 172]</span>amateur, is pale +buff, speckled with chocolate, the ends of the sepals and petals +charmingly tipped with the same hue. Within the last few months Mr. +Sander has obtained <i>G. multiflorum</i> from the Philippines, which seems +to be not only the most beautiful, but the easiest to cultivate of those +yet introduced. Its flowers droop in a garland of pale green and yellow, +splashed with brown, not loosely set, as is the rule, but scarcely half +an inch apart. The effect is said to be lovely beyond description. We +may hope to judge for ourselves in no long time, for Mr. Sander has +presented a wondrous specimen to the Royal Gardens, Kew. This is +assuredly the biggest orchid ever brought to Europe. Its snakey +pseudo-bulbs measure nine feet, and the old flower spikes stood eighteen +feet high. It will be found in the Victoria Regia house, growing +strongly.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Vanda Lowii</i> is properly called <i>Renanthera Lowii</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> page 100.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>[Pg 173]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LOST ORCHID.</h2> + + +<p>Not a few orchids are "lost"—have been described that is, and named, +even linger in some great collection, but, bearing no history, cannot +now be found. Such, for instance, are <i>Cattleya Jongheana</i>, <i>Cymbidium +Hookerianum</i>, <i>Cypripedium Fairianum</i>. But there is one to which the +definite article might have been applied a very few days ago. This is +<i>Cattleya labiata vera</i>. It was the first to bear the name of Cattleya, +though not absolutely the first of that genus discovered. <i>C. +Loddigesii</i> preceded it by a few years, but was called an Epidendrum. +Curious it is to note how science has returned in this latter day to the +views of a pre-scientific era. Professor Reichenbach was only restrained +from abolishing the genus Cattleya, and merging all its species into +Epidendrum, by regard for the weakness of human nature. <i>Cattleya +labiata vera</i> was sent from Brazil to Dr. Lindley by Mr. W. Swainson, +and reached Liverpool in 1818. So much is certain, for Lindley <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>[Pg 174]</span>makes +the statement in his <i>Collectanea Botanica</i>. But legends and myths +encircle that great event. It is commonly told in books that Sir W. +Jackson Hooker, Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow, begged Mr. +Swainson—who was collecting specimens in natural history—to send him +some lichens. He did so, and with the cases arrived a quantity of +orchids which had been used to pack them. Less suitable material for +"dunnage" could not be found, unless we suppose that it was thrust +between the boxes to keep them steady. Paxton is the authority for this +detail, which has its importance. The orchid arriving in such humble +fashion proved to be <i>Cattleya labiata</i>; Lindley gave it that +name—there was no need to add <i>vera</i> then. He established a new genus +for it, and thus preserved for all time the memory of Mr. Cattley, a +great horticulturist dwelling at Barnet. There was no ground in +supposing the species rare. A few years afterwards, in fact, Mr. +Gardner, travelling in pursuit of butterflies and birds, sent home +quantities of a Cattleya which he found on the precipitous sides of the +Pedro Bonita range, and also on the Gavea, which our sailors call +"Topsail" Mountain, or "Lord Hood's Nose." These orchids passed as <i>C. +labiata</i> for a while. Paxton congratulated himself and the world in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>[Pg 175]</span>his +<i>Flower Garden</i> that the stock was so greatly increased. Those were the +coaching days, when botanists had not much opportunity for comparison. +It is to be observed, also, that Gardner's Cattleya was the nearest +relative of Swainson's;—it is known at present as <i>C. labiata Warneri</i>. +The true species, however, has points unmistakable. Some of its kinsfolk +show a double flower-sheath;—very, very rarely, under exceptional +circumstances. But <i>Cattleya labiata vera</i> never fails, and an +interesting question it is to resolve why this alone should be so +carefully protected. One may cautiously surmise that its habitat is even +damper than others'. In the next place, some plants have their leaves +red underneath, others green, and the flower-sheath always corresponds; +this peculiarity is shared by <i>C.l. Warneri</i> alone. Thirdly—and there +is the grand distinction, the one which gives such extreme value to the +species—it flowers in the late autumn, and thus fills a gap. Those who +possess a plant may have Cattleyas in bloom the whole year round—and +they alone. Accordingly, it makes a section by itself in the +classification of <i>Reichenbachia</i>, as the single species that flowers +from the current year's growth, after resting. Section II. contains the +species that flower from the current <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>[Pg 176]</span>year's growth before resting. +Section III., those that flower from last year's growth after resting. +All these are many, but <i>C.l. vera</i> stands alone.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo189.jpg"><img src="images/illo189-tb.jpg" alt="Cattleya labiata." title="Cattleya labiata." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Cattleya labiata.</span><br /> +Reduced to One Sixth</h4> + + +<p>We have no need to dwell upon the contest that arose at the introduction +of <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i> in 1840, which grew more and more bitter as others +of the class came in, and has not yet ceased. It is enough to say that +Lindley declined to recognize <i>C. Mossiæ</i> as a species, though he stood +almost solitary against "the trade," backed by a host of enthusiastic +amateurs. The great botanist declared that he could see nothing in the +beautiful new Cattleya to distinguish it as a species from the one +already named, <i>C. labiata</i>, except that most variable of +characteristics, colour. Modes of growth and times of flowering do not +concern science. The structure of the plants is identical, and to admit +<i>C. Mossiæ</i> as a sub-species of the same was the utmost concession +Lindley would make. This was in 1840. Fifteen years later came <i>C. +Warscewiczi</i>, now called <i>gigas</i>; then, next year, <i>C. Trianæ</i>; <i>C. +Dowiana</i> in 1866; <i>C. Mendellii</i> in 1870—all <i>labiatas</i>, strictly +speaking. At each arrival the controversy was renewed; it is not over +yet. But Sir Joseph Hooker succeeded Lindley and Reichenbach succeeded +Hooker as the supreme authority, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>[Pg 177]</span>each of them stood firm. There +are, of course, many Cattleyas recognized as species, but Lindley's rule +has been maintained. We may return to the lost orchid.</p> + +<p>As time went on, and the merits of <i>C. labiata vera</i> were understood, +the few specimens extant—proceeding from Mr. Swainson's +importation—fetched larger and larger prices. Those merits, indeed, +were conspicuous. Besides the season of flowering, this proved to be the +strongest and most easily grown of Cattleyas. Its normal type was at +least as charming as any, and it showed an extraordinary readiness to +vary. Few, as has been said, were the plants in cultivation, but they +gave three distinct varieties. Van Houtte shows us two in his admirable +<i>Flore des Serres; C.l. candida</i>, from Syon House, pure white excepting +the ochrous throat—which is invariable—and <i>C.l. picta</i>, deep red, +from the collection of J.J. Blandy, Esq., Reading. The third was <i>C.l. +Pescatorei</i>, white, with a deep red blotch upon the lip, formerly owned +by Messrs. Rouget-Chauvier, of Paris, now by the Duc de Massa.</p> + +<p>Under such circumstances the dealers began to stir in earnest. From the +first, indeed, the more enterprising had made efforts to import a plant +which, as they supposed, must be a common weed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>[Pg 178]</span>at Rio, since men used +it to "pack" boxes. But that this was an error they soon perceived. +Taking the town as a centre, collectors pushed out on all sides. +Probably there is not one of the large dealers, in England or the +Continent, dead or living, who has not spent money—a large sum, too—in +searching for <i>C. l. vera</i>. Probably, also, not one has lost by the +speculation, though never a sign nor a hint, scarcely a rumour, of the +thing sought rewarded them. For all secured new orchids, new +bulbs—Eucharis in especial—Dipladenias, Bromeliaceæ, Calladiums, +Marantas, Aristolochias, and what not. In this manner the lost orchid +has done immense service to botany and to mankind. One may say that the +hunt lasted seventy years, and led collectors to strike a path through +almost every province of Brazil—almost, for there are still vast +regions unexplored. A man might start, for example, at Para, and travel +to Bogota, two thousand miles or so, with a stretch of six hundred miles +on either hand which is untouched. It may well be asked what Mr. +Swainson was doing, if alive, while his discovery thus agitated the +world. Alive he was, in New Zealand, until the year 1855, but he offered +no assistance. It is scarcely to be doubted that he had none to give. +The orchids fell in his way <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>[Pg 179]</span>by accident—possibly collected in distant +parts by some poor fellow who died at Rio. Swainson picked them up, and +used them to stow his lichens.</p> + +<p>Not least extraordinary, however, in this extraordinary tale is the fact +that various bits of <i>C.l. vera</i> turned up during this time. Lord Home +has a noble specimen at Bothwell Castle, which did not come from +Swainson's consignment. His gardener told the story five years ago. "I +am quite sure," he wrote, "that my nephew told me the small bit I had +from him"—forty years before—"was off a newly-imported plant, and I +understood it had been brought by one of Messrs. Horsfall's ships." Lord +Fitzwilliam seems to have got one in the same way, from another ship. +But the most astonishing case is recent. About seven years ago two +plants made their appearance in the Zoological Gardens at Regent's +Park—in the conservatory behind Mr. Bartlett's house. How they got +there is an eternal mystery. Mr. Bartlett sold them for a large sum; but +an equal sum offered him for any scrap of information showing how they +came into his hands he was sorrowfully obliged to refuse—or, rather, +found himself unable to earn. They certainly arrived in company with +some monkeys; but when, from what district of South America, the closest +search <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>[Pg 180]</span>of his papers failed to show. In 1885, Dr. Regel, Director of +the Imperial Gardens at St. Petersburg, received a few plants. It may be +worth while to name those gentlemen who recently possessed examples of +<i>C.l. vera</i>, so far as our knowledge goes. They were Sir Trevor +Lawrence, Lord Rothschild, Duke of Marlborough, Lord Home, Messrs. J. +Chamberlain, T. Statten, J.J. Blandy, and G. Hardy, in England; in +America, Mr. F.L. Ames, two, and Mr. H.H. Hunnewell; in France, Comte de +Germiny, Duc de Massa, Baron Alphonse and Baron Adolf de Rothschild, M. +Treyeran of Bordeaux. There were two, as is believed, in Italy.</p> + +<p>And now the horticultural papers inform us that the lost orchid is +found, by Mr. Sander of St. Albans. Assuredly he deserves his luck—if +the result of twenty years' labour should be so described. It was about +1870, we believe, that Mr. Sander sent out Arnold, who passed five years +in exploring Venezuela. He had made up his mind that the treasure must +not be looked for in Brazil. Turning next to Colombia, in successive +years, Chesterton, Bartholomeus, Kerbach, and the brothers Klaboch +overran that country. Returning to Brazil, his collectors, Oversluys, +Smith, Bestwood, went over every foot of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>[Pg 181]</span>ground which Swainson +seems, by his books, to have traversed. At the same time Clarke followed +Gardner's track through the Pedro Bonita and Topsail Mountains. Then +Osmers traced the whole coast-line of the Brazils from north to south, +employing five years in the work. Finally, Digance undertook the search, +and died this year. To these men we owe grand discoveries beyond +counting. To name but the grandest, Arnold found <i>Cattleya +Percevaliana</i>; from Colombia were brought <i>Odont. vex. rubellum</i>, +<i>Bollea cœlestis</i>, <i>Pescatorea Klabochorum</i>; Smith sent <i>Cattleya +O'Brieniana</i>; Clarke the dwarf Cattleyas, <i>pumila</i> and <i>præstans</i>; +Lawrenceson <i>Cattleya Schroederæ</i>; Chesterton <i>Cattleya Sanderiana</i>; +Digance <i>Cattleya Diganceana</i>, which received a Botanical certificate +from the Royal Horticultural Society on September 8th, 1890. But they +heard not a whisper of the lost orchid.</p> + +<p>In 1889 a collector employed by M. Moreau, of Paris, to explore Central +and North Brazil in search of insects, sent home fifty plants—for M. +Moreau is an enthusiast in orchidology also. He had no object in keeping +the secret of its habitat, and when Mr. Sander, chancing to call, +recognized the treasure so long lost, he gave every assistance. +Meanwhile, the International Horticultural Society of Brussels <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>[Pg 182]</span>had +secured a quantity, but they regarded it as new, and gave it the name of +<i>Catt. Warocqueana</i>; in which error they persisted until Messrs. Sander +flooded the market.</p> + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>[Pg 183]</span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>AN ORCHID FARM.</h2> + + +<p>My articles brought upon me a flood of questions almost as embarrassing +as flattering to a busy journalist. The burden of them was curiously +like. Three ladies or gentlemen in four wrote thus: "I love orchids. I +had not the least suspicion that they may be cultivated so easily and so +cheaply. I am going to begin. Will you please inform me"—here diversity +set in with a vengeance! From temperature to flower-pots, from the +selection of species to the selection of peat, from the architecture of +a greenhouse to the capabilities of window-gardening, with excursions +between, my advice was solicited. I replied as best I could. It must be +feared, however, that the most careful questioning and the most +elaborate replies by post will not furnish that ground-work of +knowledge, the ABC of the science, which is needed by a person utterly +unskilled; nor will he find it readily in the hand-books. Written by men +familiar with the alphabet of orchidology <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>[Pg 184]</span>from their youth up, though +they seem to begin at the beginning, ignorant enthusiasts who study them +find woeful gaps. It is little I can do in this matter; yet, believing +that the culture of these plants will be as general shortly as the +culture of pelargoniums under glass—and firmly convinced that he who +hastens that day is a real benefactor to his kind—I am most anxious to +do what lies in my power. Considering the means by which this end may be +won, it appears necessary above all to avoid boring the student. He +should be led to feel how charming is the business in hand even while +engaged with prosaic details; and it seems to me, after some thought, +that the sketch of a grand orchid nursery will best serve our purpose +for the moment. There I can show at once processes and results, passing +at a step as it were from the granary into the harvest-field, from the +workshop to the finished and glorious production.</p> + +<p>"An orchid farm" is no extravagant description of the establishment at +St. Albans. There alone in Europe, so far as I know, three acres of +ground are occupied by orchids exclusively. It is possible that larger +houses might be found—everything is possible; but such are devoted more +or less to a variety of plants, and the departments are not all +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>[Pg 185]</span>gathered beneath one roof. I confess, for my own part, a hatred of +references. They interrupt the writer, and they distract the reader. At +the place I have chosen to illustrate our theme, one has but to cross a +corridor from any of the working quarters to reach the showroom. We may +start upon our critical survey from the very dwelling-house. Pundits of +agricultural science explore the sheds, I believe, the barns, stables, +machine-rooms, and so forth, before inspecting the crops. We may follow +the same course, but our road offers an unusual distraction.</p> + +<p>It passes from the farmer's hall beneath a high glazed arch. Some thirty +feet beyond, the path is stopped by a wall of tufa and stalactite which +rises to the lofty roof, and compels the traveller to turn right or +left. Water pours down it and falls trickling into a narrow pool +beneath. Its rough front is studded with orchids from crest to base. +Cœlogenes have lost those pendant wreaths of bloom which lately +tipped the rock as with snow. But there are Cymbidiums arching long +sprays of green and chocolate; thickets of Dendrobe set with flowers +beyond counting—ivory and rose and purple and orange; scarlet +Anthuriums: huge clumps of Phajus and evergreen Calanthe, with a score +of spikes rising from their broad leaves;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>[Pg 186]</span> Cypripediums of quaint form +and striking half-tones of colour; Oncidiums which droop their slender +garlands a yard long, golden yellow and spotted, purple and white—a +hundred tints. The crown of the rock bristles all along with Cattleyas, +a dark-green glossy little wood against the sky. The <i>Trianæs</i> are +almost over, but here and there a belated beauty pushes through, white +or rosy, with a lip of crimson velvet. <i>Mossiæs</i> have replaced them +generally, and from beds three feet in diameter their great blooms start +by the score, in every shade of pink and crimson and rosy purple. There +is <i>Lœlia elegans</i>, exterminated in its native home, of such bulk and +such luxuriance of growth that the islanders left forlorn might almost +find consolation in regarding it here. Over all, climbing up the +spandrils of the roof in full blaze of sunshine, is <i>Vanda teres</i>, round +as a pencil both leaves and stalk, which will drape those bare iron rods +presently with crimson and pink and gold.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The way to our farmyard is +not like others. It traverses a corner of fairyland.</p> + +<p>We find a door masked by such a rock as that faintly and vaguely +pictured, which opens on a broad corridor. Through all its length, four +hundred feet, it is ceilinged with baskets of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>[Pg 187]</span> Mexican orchid, as close +as they will fit. Upon the left hand lie a series of glass structures; +upon the right, below the level of the corridor, the workshops; at the +end—why, to be frank, the end is blocked by a ponderous screen of +matting just now. But this dingy barrier is significant of a work in +hand which will not be the least curious nor the least charming of the +strange sights here. The farmer has already a "siding" of course, for +the removal of his produce; he finds it necessary to have a station of +his own also for the convenience of clients. Beyond the screen at +present lies an area of mud and ruin, traversed by broken walls and rows +of hot-water piping swathed in felt to exclude the chill air. A few +weeks since, this little wilderness was covered with glass, but the ends +of the long "houses" have been cut off to make room for a structure into +which visitors will step direct from the train. The platform is already +finished, neat and trim; so are the vast boilers and furnaces, newly +rebuilt, which would drive a cotton factory.</p> + +<p>A busy scene that is which we survey, looking down through openings in +the wall of the corridor. Here is the composing-room, where that +magnificent record of orchidology in three languages, the +"Reichenbachia," slowly advances from year to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>[Pg 188]</span>year. There is the +printing-room, with no steam presses or labour-saving machinery, but the +most skilful craftsmen to be found, the finest paper, the most +deliberate and costly processes, to rival the great works of the past in +illustrating modern science. These departments, however, we need not +visit, nor the chambers, lower still, where mechanical offices are +performed.</p> + +<p>The "Importing Room" first demands notice. Here cases are received by +fifties and hundreds, week by week, from every quarter of the orchid +world, unpacked, and their contents stored until space is made for them +up above. It is a long apartment, broad and low, with tables against the +wall and down the middle, heaped with things which to the uninitiated +seem, for the most part, dry sticks and dead bulbs. Orchids everywhere! +They hang in dense bunches from the roof. They lie a foot thick upon +every board, and two feet thick below. They are suspended on the walls. +Men pass incessantly along the gangways, carrying a load that would fill +a barrow. And all the while fresh stores are accumulating under the +hands of that little group in the middle, bent and busy at cases just +arrived. They belong to a lot of eighty that came in from Burmah last +night—and while we look on, a boy brings a telegram <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>[Pg 189]</span>announcing fifty +more from Mexico, that will reach Waterloo at 2.30 p.m. Great is the +wrath and great the anxiety at this news, for some one has blundered; +the warning should have been despatched three hours before. Orchids must +not arrive at unknown stations unless there be somebody of discretion +and experience to meet them, and the next train does not leave St. +Albans until 2.44 p.m. Dreadful is the sense of responsibility, alarming +the suggestions of disaster, that arise from this incident.</p> + +<p>The Burmese cases in hand just now are filled with Dendrobiums, +<i>crassinode</i> and <i>Wardianum</i>, stowed in layers as close as possible, +with <i>D. Falconerii</i> for packing material. A royal way of doing things +indeed to substitute an orchid of value for shavings or moss, but mighty +convenient and profitable. For that packing will be sent to the +auction-rooms presently, and will be sold for no small proportion of the +sum which its more delicate charge attains. We remark that the +experienced persons who remove these precious sticks, layer by layer, +perform their office gingerly. There is not much danger or +unpleasantness in unpacking Dendrobes, compared with other genera, but +ship-rats spring out occasionally and give an ugly bite; scorpions and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>[Pg 190]</span>centipedes have been known to harbour in the close roots of <i>D. +Falconerii</i>; stinging ants are by no means improbable, nor huge spiders; +while cockroaches of giant size, which should be killed, may be looked +for with certainty. But men learn a habit of caution by experience of +cargoes much more perilous. In those masses of <i>Arundina bambusæfolia</i> +beneath the table yonder doubtless there are centipedes lurking, perhaps +even scorpions, which have escaped the first inspection. Happily, these +pests are dull, half-stupefied with the cold, when discovered, and no +man here has been stung, circumspect as they are; but ants arrive as +alert and as vicious as in their native realm. Distinctly they are no +joke. To handle a consignment of <i>Epidendrum bicornutum</i> demands some +nerve. A very ugly species loves its hollow bulbs, which, when +disturbed, shoots out with lightning swiftness and nips the arm or hand +so quickly that it can seldom be avoided. But the most awkward cases to +deal with are those which contain <i>Schomburghkia tibicinis</i>. This superb +orchid is so difficult to bloom that very few will attempt it; I have +seen its flower but twice. Packers strongly approve the reluctance of +the public to buy, since it restricts importation. The foreman has been +laid up again and again. But they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>[Pg 191]</span>find pleasing curiosities also, +tropic beetles, and insects, and cocoons. Dendrobiums in especial are +favoured by moths; <i>D. Wardianum</i> is loaded with their webs, empty as a +rule. Hitherto the men have preserved no chrysalids, but at this moment +they have a few, of unknown species.</p> + +<p>The farmer gets strange bits of advice sometimes, and strange offers of +assistance. Talking of insects reminds him of a letter received last +week. Here it is:—</p> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Sirs</span>,—I have heard that you are large growers of orchids; +am I right in supposing that in their growth or production you are +much troubled with some insect or caterpillar which retards or +hinders their arrival at maturity, and that these insects or +caterpillars can be destroyed by small snakes? I have tracts of +land under my occupation, and if these small snakes can be of use +in your culture of orchids you might write, as I could get you some +on knowing what these might be worth to you.</p> + +<p class='author'> +Yours truly<br /> +—— +</p></div> + +<p>Thence we mount to the potting-rooms, where a dozen skilled workmen try +to keep pace with the growth of the imported plants; taking up, day by +day, those which thrust out roots so fast that postponement is +injurious. The broad middle tables are heaped with peat and moss and +leaf-mould and white sand. At counters on either side unskilled +labourers are sifting and mixing, while boys come and go, laden with +pots and baskets of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>[Pg 192]</span>teak-wood and crocks and charcoal. These things are +piled in heaps against the walls; they are stacked on frames overhead; +they fill the semi-subterranean chambers of which we get a glimpse in +passing. Our farm resembles a factory in this department.</p> + +<p>Ascending to the upper earth again, and crossing the corridor, we may +visit number one of those glass-houses opposite. I cannot imagine, much +more describe, how that spectacle would strike one to whom it was wholly +unfamiliar. These buildings—there are twelve of them, side by +side—measure one hundred and eighty feet in length, and the narrowest +has thirty-two feet breadth. This which we enter is devoted to +<i>Odontoglossum crispum</i>, with a few <i>Masdevallias</i>. There were +twenty-two thousand pots in it the other day; several thousand have been +sold, several thousand have been brought in, and the number at this +moment cannot be computed. Our farmer has no time for speculative +arithmetic; he deals in produce wholesale. Telegraph an order for a +thousand <i>crispums</i> and you cause no stir in the establishment. You take +it for granted that a large dealer only could propose such a +transaction. But it does not follow at all. Nobody would credit, unless +he had talked with one of the great farmers, on what enormous scale +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>[Pg 193]</span>orchids are cultivated up and down by private persons. Our friend has a +client who keeps his stock of <i>O. crispum</i> alone at ten thousand; but +others, less methodical, may have more.</p> + +<p>Opposite the door is a high staging, mounted by steps, with a gangway +down the middle and shelves descending on either hand. Those shelves are +crowded with fine plants of the glorious <i>O. crispum</i>, each bearing one +or two spikes of flower, which trail down, interlace, arch upward. Not +all are in bloom; that amazing sight may be witnessed for a month to +come—for two months, with such small traces of decay as the casual +visitor would not notice. So long and dense are the wreaths, so broad +the flowers, that the structure seems to be festooned from top to bottom +with snowy garlands. But there is more. Overhead hang rows of baskets, +lessening in perspective, with pendent sprays of bloom. And broad tables +which edge the walls beneath that staging display some thousands still, +smaller but not less beautiful. A sight which words could not portray. I +yield in despair.</p> + +<p>The tillage of the farm is our business, and there are many points here +which the amateur should note. Observe the bricks beneath your feet. +They have a hollow pattern which retains <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>[Pg 194]</span>the water, though your boots +keep dry. Each side of the pathway lie shallow troughs, always full. +Beneath that staging mentioned is a bed of leaves, interrupted by a tank +here, by a group of ferns there, vividly green. Slender iron pipes run +through the house from end to end, so perforated that on turning a tap +they soak these beds, fill the little troughs and hollow bricks, play in +all directions down below, but never touch a plant. Under such constant +drenching the leaf-beds decay, throwing up those gases and vapours in +which the orchid delights at home. Thus the amateur should arrange his +greenhouse, so far as he may. But I would not have it understood that +these elaborate contrivances are essential. If you would beat Nature, as +here, making invariably such bulbs and flowers as she produces only +under rare conditions, you must follow this system. But orchids are not +exacting.</p> + +<p>The house opens, at its further end, in a magnificent structure designed +especially to exhibit plants of warm species in bloom. It is three +hundred feet long, twenty-six wide, eighteen high—the piping laid end +to end, would measure as nearly as possible one mile: we see a practical +illustration of the resources of the establishment, when it is expected +to furnish such a show. Here <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>[Pg 195]</span>are stored the huge specimens of +<i>Cymbidium Lowianum</i>, nine of which astounded the good people of Berlin +with a display of one hundred and fifty flower spikes, all open at once. +We observe at least a score as well furnished, and hundreds which a +royal gardener would survey with pride. They rise one above another in a +great bank, crowned and brightened by garlands of pale green and +chocolate. Other Cymbidiums are here, but not the beautiful <i>C. +eburneum</i>. Its large white flowers, erect on a short spike, not drooping +like these, will be found in a cool house—smelt with delight before +they are found.</p> + +<p>Further on we have a bank of Dendrobiums, so densely clothed in bloom +that the leaves are unnoticed. Lovely beyond all to my taste, if, +indeed, one may make a comparison, is <i>D. luteolum</i>, with flowers of +palest, tenderest primrose, rarely seen unhappily, for it will not +reconcile itself to our treatment. Then again a bank of Cattleyas, of +Vandas, of miscellaneous genera. The pathway is hedged on one side with +<i>Begonia coralina</i>, an unimproved species too straggling of growth and +too small of flower to be worth its room under ordinary conditions; but +a glorious thing here, climbing to the roof, festooned at every season +of the year with countless rosy sprays.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>[Pg 196]</span>Beyond this show-house lie the small structures devoted to +"hybridization," but I deal with them in another chapter. Here also are +the Phalœnopsis, the very hot Vandas, Bolleas, Pescatoreas, Anæctochili, +and such dainty but capricious beauties.</p> + +<p>We enter the second of the range of greenhouses, also devoted to +Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, and "cool" genera, as crowded as the last; +pass down it to the corridor, and return through number three, which is +occupied by Cattleyas and such. There is a lofty mass of rock in front, +with a pool below, and a pleasant sound of splashing water. Many orchids +of the largest size are planted out here—Cypripedium, Cattleya, +Sobralia, Phajus, Lœlia, Zygopetalum, and a hundred more, +"specimens," as the phrase runs—that is to say, they have ten, twenty, +fifty, flower spikes. I attempt no more descriptions; to one who knows, +the plain statement of fact is enough, one who does not is unable to +conceive that sight by the aid of words. But the Sobralias demand +attention. They stand here in clumps two feet thick, bearing a +wilderness of loveliest bloom—like Irises magnified and glorified by +heavenly enchantment. Nature designed a practical joke perhaps when she +granted these noble flowers but one day's existence each, while dingy +Epidendrums last six months, or nine. I imagine that for stateliness +and delicacy combined there are no plants that excel the Sobralia. At +any single point they may be surpassed—among orchids, be it understood, +by nothing else in Nature's realm—but their magnificence and grace +together cannot be outshone.</p> + +<p>I must not dwell upon the marvels here, in front, on either side, and +above—a hint is enough. There are baskets of <i>Lœlia anceps</i> three +feet across, lifted bodily from the tree in their native forest where +they had grown perhaps for centuries. One of them—the white variety, +too, which æsthetic infidels might adore, though they believed in +nothing—opened a hundred spikes at Christmas time; we do not concern +ourselves with minute reckonings here.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>[Pg 197]</span> But an enthusiastic novice +counted the flowers blooming one day on that huge mass of <i>Lœlia +albida</i> yonder, and they numbered two hundred and eleven—unless, as +some say, this was the quantity of "spikes," in which case one must have +to multiply by two or three. Such incidents maybe taken for granted at +the farm.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo214.jpg"><img src="images/illo214-tb.jpg" alt="Loelianceps Schroederiana." title="Loelianceps Schroederiana." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Loelianceps Schroederiana.</span><br /> +Reduced to One Sixth</h4> + +<p>But we must not pass a new orchid, quite distinct and supremely +beautiful, for which Professor Reichenbach has not yet found a name +sufficiently appreciative. Only eight pieces were discovered, whence we +must suspect that it is very rare at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>[Pg 198]</span>home; I do not know where the +home is, and I should not tell if I did. Such information is more +valuable than the surest tip for the Derby, or most secrets of State. +This new orchid is a Cyrrhopetalun, of very small size, but, like so +many others, its flower is bigger than itself. The spike inclines almost +at a right angle, and the pendent half is hung with golden bells, nearly +two inches in length. Beneath it stands the very rare scarlet +Utricularia, growing in the axils of its native Vriesia, as in a cup +always full; but as yet the flower has been seen in Europe only by the +eyes of faith. It may be news to some that Utricularias do not belong to +the orchid family—have, in fact, not the slightest kinship, though +associated with it by growers to the degree that Mr. Sander admits them +to his farm. A little story hangs to the exquisite <i>U. Campbelli</i>. All +importers are haunted by the spectral image of <i>Cattleya labiata</i>, +which, in its true form, had been brought to Europe only once, seventy +years ago, when this book was written. Some time since, Mr. Sander was +looking through the drawings of Sir Robert Schomburgk, in the British +Museum, among which is a most eccentric Cattleya named—for reasons +beyond comprehension—a variety of <i>C. Mossiæ</i>. He jumped at the +conclusion that this must be the long-lost <i>C. labiata</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[Pg 199]</span> So strong +indeed was his confidence that he despatched a man post-haste over the +Atlantic to explore the Roraima mountain; and, further, gave him strict +injunctions to collect nothing but this precious species. For eight +months the traveller wandered up and down among the Indians, searching +forest and glade, the wooded banks of streams, the rocks and clefts, but +he found neither <i>C. labiata</i> nor that curious plant which Sir Robert +Schomburgk described. Upon the other hand, he came across the lovely +<i>Utricularia Campbelli</i>, and in defiance of instructions brought it +down. But very few reached England alive. For six weeks they travelled +on men's backs, from their mountain home to the River Essequibo; thence, +six weeks in canoe to Georgetown, with twenty portages; and, so aboard +ship. The single chance of success lies in bringing them down, +undisturbed, in the great clumps of moss which are their habitat, as is +the Vriesia of other species.</p> + +<p>I will allow myself a very short digression here. It may seem +unaccountable that a plant of large growth, distinct flower, and +characteristic appearance, should elude the eye of persons trained to +such pursuits, and encouraged to spend money on the slightest prospect +of success, for half a century and more. But if we recall the +circumstances it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[Pg 200]</span>ceases to astonish. I myself spent many months in the +forests of Borneo, Central America, and the West African coast. After +that experience I scarcely understand how such a quest, for a given +object, can ever be successful unless by mere fortune. To look for a +needle in a bottle of hay is a promising enterprise compared with the +search for an orchid clinging to some branch high up in that green world +of leaves. As a matter of fact, collectors seldom discover what they are +specially charged to seek, if the district be untravelled—the natives, +therefore, untrained to grasp and assist their purpose. This remark does +not apply to orchids alone; not by any means. Few besides the +scientific, probably, are aware that the common <i>Eucharis amasonica</i> has +been found only once; that is to say, but one consignment has ever been +received in Europe, from which all our millions in cultivation have +descended. Where it exists in the native state is unknown, but assuredly +this ignorance is nobody's fault. For a generation at least skilled +explorers have been hunting. Mr. Sander has had his turn, and has +enjoyed the satisfaction of discovering species closely allied, as +<i>Eucharis Mastersii</i> and <i>Eucharis Sanderiana</i>; but the old-fashioned +bulb is still to seek.</p> + +<p>In this third greenhouse is a large importation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[Pg 201]</span> <i>Cattleya Trianæ</i>, +which arrived so late last year that their sheaths have opened +contemporaneously with <i>C. Mossiæ</i>. I should fear to hazard a guess how +many thousand flowers of each are blooming now. As the Odontoglossums +cover their stage with snow wreaths, so this is decked with upright +plumes of <i>Cattleya Trianæ</i>, white and rose and purple in endless +variety of tint, with many a streak of other hue between.</p> + +<p>Suddenly our guide becomes excited, staring at a basket overhead beyond +reach. It contains a smooth-looking object, very green and fat, which +must surely be good to eat—but this observation is alike irrelevant and +disrespectful. Why, yes! Beyond all possibility of doubt that is a spike +issuing from the axil of its fleshy leaf! Three inches long it is +already, thick as a pencil, with a big knob of bud at the tip. Such +pleasing surprises befall the orchidacean! This plant came from Borneo +so many years ago that the record is lost; but the oldest servant of the +farm remembers it, as a poor cripple, hanging between life and death, +season after season. Cheerful as interesting is the discussion that +arises. More like a Vanda than anything else, the authorities resolve, +but not a Vanda! Commending it to the special care of those responsible, +we pass on.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[Pg 202]</span>Here is the largest mass of Catasetum ever found, or even rumoured, +lying in ponderous bulk upon the stage, much as it lay in a Guatemalan +forest. It is engaged in the process of "plumping up." Orchids shrivel +in their long journey, and it is the importer's first care to renew that +smooth and wholesome rotundity which indicates a conscience untroubled, +a good digestion, and an assurance of capacity to fulfil any reasonable +demand. Beneath the staging you may see myriads of withered sticks, +clumps of shrunken and furrowed bulbs by the thousand, hung above those +leaf-beds mentioned; they are "plumping" in the damp shade. The larger +pile of Catasetum—there are two—may be four feet long, three wide, and +eighteen inches thick; how many hundreds of flowers it will bear passes +computation. I remarked that when broken up into handsome pots it would +fill a greenhouse of respectable dimensions; but it appears that there +is not the least intention of dividing it. The farmer has several +clients who will snap at this natural curiosity, when, in due time, it +is put on the market.</p> + +<p>At the far end of the house stands another piece of rockwork, another +little cascade, and more marvels than I can touch upon. In fact, there +are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[Pg 203]</span>several which would demand all the space at my disposition, but, +happily, one reigns supreme. This is a <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i>, the pendant of +the Catasetum, by very far the largest orchid of any kind that was ever +brought to Europe. For some years Mr. Sander, so to speak, hovered round +it, employing his shrewdest and most diplomatic agents. For this was not +a forest specimen. It grew upon a high tree beside an Indian's hut, near +Caraccas, and belonged to him as absolutely as the fruit in his +compound. His great-grandfather, indeed, had "planted" it, so he +declared, but this is highly improbable. The giant has embraced two +stems of the tree, and covers them both so thickly that the bare ends of +wood at top alone betray its secret; for it was sawn off, of course, +above and below. I took the dimensions as accurately as may be, with an +object so irregular and prickly. It measures—the solid bulk of it, +leaves not counted—as nearly as possible five feet in height and four +thick—one plant, observe, pulsating through its thousand limbs from one +heart; at least, I mark no spot where the circulation has been checked +by accident or disease, and the pseudo-bulbs beyond have been obliged to +start an independent existence.</p> + +<p>In speaking of <i>Lœlia elegans</i>, I said that those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>[Pg 204]</span> Brazilian +islanders who have lost it might find solace could they see its +happiness in exile. The gentle reader thought this an extravagant figure +of speech, no doubt, but it is not wholly fanciful. Indians of Tropical +America cherish a fine orchid to the degree that in many cases no sum, +and no offer of valuables, will tempt them to part with it. Ownership is +distinctly recognized when the specimen grows near a village. The root +of this feeling, whether superstition or taste, sense of beauty, rivalry +in magnificence of church displays, I have not been able to trace. It +runs very strong in Costa Rica, where the influence of the aborigines is +scarcely perceptible, and there, at least, the latter motive is +sufficient explanation. Glorious beyond all our fancy can conceive, must +be the show in those lonely forest churches, which no European visits +save the "collector," on a feast day. Mr. Roezl, whose name is so +familiar to botanists, left a description of the scene that time he +first beheld the Flor de Majo. The church was hung with garlands of it, +he says, and such emotions seized him at the view that he choked. The +statement is quite credible. Those who see that wonder now, prepared for +its transcendent glory, find no words to express their feeling: imagine +an enthusiast beholding it for the first time, unwarned, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>[Pg 205]</span>unsuspecting +that earth can show such a sample of the flowers that bloomed in Eden! +And not a single branch, but garlands of it! Mr. Roezl proceeds to speak +of bouquets of <i>Masdevallia Harryana</i> three feet across, and so forth. +The natives showed him "gardens" devoted to this species, for the +ornament of their church; it was not cultivated, of course, but +evidently planted. They were acres in extent.</p> + +<p>The Indian to whom this <i>Cattleya Mossiæ</i> belonged refused to part with +it at any price for years; he was overcome by a rifle of peculiar +fascination, added to the previous offers. A magic-lantern has very +great influence in such cases, and the collector provides himself with +one or more nowadays as part of his outfit. Under that charm, with +47<i>l.</i> in cash, Mr. Sander secured his first <i>C. Mossiæ alba</i>, but it +has failed hitherto in another instance, though backed by 100<i>l.</i>, in +"trade" or dollars, at the Indian's option.</p> + +<p>Thence we pass to a wide and lofty house which was designed for growing +<i>Victoria Regia</i> and other tropic water-lilies. It fulfilled its purpose +for a time, and I never beheld those plants under circumstances so well +fitted to display their beauty. But they generate a small black fly in +myriads beyond belief, and so the culture of <i>Nymphæa</i> was dropped. A +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>[Pg 206]</span>few remain, in manageable quantities, just enough to adorn the tank +with blue and rosy stars; but it is arched over now with baskets as +thick as they will hang—Dendrobium, Cœlogene, Oncidium, +Spathoglottis, and those species which love to dwell in the +neighbourhood of steaming water. My vocabulary is used up by this time. +The wonders here must go unchronicled.</p> + +<p>We have viewed but four houses out of twelve, a most cursory glance at +that! The next also is intermediate, filled with Cattleyas, warm +Oncidiums, Lycastes, Cypripediums—the inventory of names alone would +occupy all my space remaining. At every step I mark some object worth a +note, something that recalls, or suggests, or demands a word. But we +must get along. The sixth house is cool again—Odontoglossums and such; +the seventh is given to Dendrobes. But facing us as we enter stands a +<i>Lycaste Skinneri</i>, which illustrates in a manner almost startling the +infinite variety of the orchid. I positively dislike this species, +obtrusive, pretentious, vague in colour, and stiff in form. But what a +royal glorification of it we have here!—what exquisite veining and +edging of purple or rose; what a velvet lip of crimson darkening to +claret! It is merely a sport of Nature, but she allows herself such +glorious freaks <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>[Pg 207]</span>in no other realm of her domain. And here is a new +Brassia just named by the pontiff of orchidology, Professor Reichenbach. +Those who know the tribe of Brassias will understand why I make no +effort to describe it. This wonderful thing is yet more "all over the +shop" than its kindred. Its dorsal sepal measures three inches in +length, its "tail," five inches, with an enormous lip between. They term +it the Squid Flower, or Octopus, in Mexico; and a good name too. But in +place of the rather weakly colouring habitual it has a grand decision of +character, though the tones are like—pale yellow and greenish; its +raised spots, red and deep green, are distinct as points of velvet upon +muslin.</p> + +<p>In the eighth house we return to Odontoglossums and cool genera. Here +are a number of Hybrids of the "natural class," upon which I should have +a good deal to say if inexorable fate permitted; "natural hybrids" are +plants which seem species, but, upon thoughtful examination and study, +are suspected to be the offspring of kindred and neighbours. Interesting +questions arise in surveying fine specimens side by side, in flower, all +attributed to a cross between <i>Odontoglossum Lindleyanum</i> and +<i>Odontoglossum crispum Alexandræ</i>, and all quite different. But we must +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>[Pg 208]</span>get on to the ninth house, from which the tenth branches.</p> + +<p>Here is the stove, and twilight reigns over that portion where a variety +of super-tropic genera are "plumping up," making roots, and generally +reconciling themselves to a new start in life. Such dainty, delicate +souls may well object to the apprenticeship. It must seem very degrading +to find themselves laid out upon a bed of cinders and moss, hung up by +the heels above it, and even planted therein; but if they have as much +good sense as some believe, they may be aware that it is all for their +good. At the end, in full sunshine, stands a little copse of <i>Vanda +teres</i>, set as closely as their stiff branches will allow. Still we must +get on. There are bits of wood hanging here so rotten that they scarcely +hold together; faintest dots of green upon them assure the experienced +that presently they will be draped with pendant leaves, and presently +again, we hope, with blue and white and scarlet flowers of Utricularia.</p> + +<p>From the stove opens a very long, narrow house, where cool genera are +"plumping," laid out on moss and potsherds; many of them have burst into +strong growth. Pleiones are flowering freely as they lie. This farmer's +crops come to harvest faster than he can attend to them. Things +beauti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>[Pg 209]</span>ful and rare and costly are measured here by the yard—so many +feet of this piled up on the stage, so many of the other, from all +quarters of the world, waiting the leisure of these busy agriculturists. +Nor can we spare them more than a glance. The next house is filled with +Odontoglossums, planted out like "bedding stuff" in a nursery, awaiting +their turn to be potted. They make a carpet so close, so green, that +flowers are not required to charm the eye as it surveys the long +perspective. The rest are occupied just now with cargoes of imported +plants.</p> + +<p>My pages are filled—to what poor purpose, seeing how they might have +been used for such a theme, no one could be so conscious as I.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> I was too sanguine. <i>Vanda teres</i> refused to thrive.</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>[Pg 210]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING.</h2> + + +<p>In the very first place, I declare that this is no scientific chapter. +It is addressed to the thousands of men and women in the realm who tend +a little group of orchids lovingly, and mark the wonders of their +structure with as much bewilderment as interest. They read of +hybridization, they see the result in costly specimens, they get books, +they study papers on the subject. But the deeper their research +commonly, the more they become convinced that these mysteries lie beyond +their attainment. I am not aware of any treatise which makes a serious +effort to teach the uninitiated. Putting technical expressions on one +side—though that obstacle is grave enough—every one of those which +have come under my notice takes the mechanical preliminaries for +granted. All are written by experts for experts. My purpose is contrary. +I wish to show how it is done so clearly that a child or the dullest +gardener may be able to perform the operations—so very easy when you +know how to set to work.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a href="images/illo228.jpg"><img src="images/illo228-tb.jpg" alt="Cypripedium (hybridum) Pollettianum." title="Cypripedium (hybridum) Pollettianum." /></a></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Cypripedium (hybridum) Pollettianum.</span><br /> +Reduced to One Sixth</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>[Pg 211]</span>After a single lesson, in the genus <i>Cypripedium</i> alone, a young lady +of my household amused herself by concerting the most incredible +alliances—<i>Dendrobium</i> with <i>Odontoglossum</i>, <i>Epidendrum</i> with +<i>Oncidium</i>, <i>Oncidium</i> with <i>Odontoglossum</i>, and so forth. It is +unnecessary to tell the experienced that in every case the seed vessel +swelled; that matter will be referred to presently. I mention the +incident only to show how simple are these processes if the key be +grasped.</p> + +<p>Amateur hybridizers of an audacious class are wanted because, hitherto, +operators have kept so much to the beaten paths. The names of Veitch and +Dominy and Seden will endure when those of great <i>savants</i> are +forgotten; but business men have been obliged to concentrate their zeal +upon experiments that pay. Fantastic crosses mean, in all probability, a +waste of time, space, and labour; in fact, it is not until recent years +that such attempts could be regarded as serious. So much the more +creditable, therefore, are Messrs. Veitch's exertions in that line.</p> + +<p>But it seems likely to me that when hybridizing becomes a common pursuit +with those who grow orchids—and the time approaches fast—a very +strange revolution may follow. It will appear, as I think, that the +enormous list of pure species—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>[Pg 212]</span>even genera—recognized at this date may +be thinned in a surprising fashion. I believe—timidly, as becomes the +unscientific—that many distinctions which anatomy recognizes at present +as essential to a true species will be proved, in the future, to result +from promiscuous hybridization through æons of time. "Proved," perhaps, +is the word too strong, since human life is short; but such a mass of +evidence will be collected that reasonable men can entertain no doubt. +Of course the species will be retained, but we shall know it to be a +hybrid—the offspring, perhaps, of hybrids innumerable.</p> + +<p>I incline more and more to think that even genera may be disturbed in a +surprising fashion, and I know that some great authorities agree with me +outright, though they are unprepared to commit themselves at present. A +very few years ago this suggestion would have been absurd, in the sense +that it wanted facts in support. As our ancestors made it an article of +faith that to fertilize an orchid was impossible for man, so we imagined +until lately that genera would not mingle. But this belief grows +unsteady. Though bi-generic crosses have not been much favoured, as +offering little prospect of success, such results have been obtained +already that the field of speculation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>[Pg 213]</span>lies open to irresponsible +persons like myself. When Cattleya has been allied with Sophronitis, +Sophronitis with Epidendrum, Odontoglossum with Zygopetalum, Cœlogene +with Calanthe, one may credit almost anything. What should be stated on +the other side will appear presently.</p> + +<p>How many hybrids have we now, established, and passing from hand to hand +as freely as natural species? There is no convenient record; but in the +trade list of a French dealer those he is prepared to supply are set +apart with Gallic precision. They number 416; but imagination and +commercial enterprise are not less characteristic of the Gaul than +precision.</p> + +<p>In the excellent "Manual" of Messrs. Veitch, which has supplied me with +a mass of details, I find ten hybrid Calanthes; thirteen hybrid +Cattleyas, and fifteen Lœlias, besides sixteen "natural +hybrids"—species thus classed upon internal evidence—and the wondrous +Sophro-Cattleya, bi-generic; fourteen Dendrobiums and one natural; +eighty-seven Cypripediums—but as for the number in existence, it is so +great, and it increases so fast, that Messrs. Veitch have lost count; +Phajus one, but several from alliance with Calanthe; Chysis two; +Epidendrum one; Miltonia one, and two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>[Pg 214]</span>natural; Masdevallia ten, and two +natural; and so on. And it must be borne in mind that these amazing +results have been effected in one generation. Dean Herbert's +achievements eighty years ago were not chronicled, and it is certain +that none of the results survive. Mr. Sander of St. Albans preserves an +interesting relic, the only one as yet connected with the science of +orchidology. This is <i>Cattleya hybrida</i>, the first of that genus raised +by Dominy, manager to Messrs. Veitch, at the suggestion of Mr. Harris of +Exeter, to the stupefaction of our grandfathers. Mr. Harris will ever be +remembered as the gentleman who showed Mr. Veitch's agent how orchids +are fertilized, and started him on his career. This plant was lost for +years, but Mr. Sander found it by chance in the collection of Dr. +Janisch at Hamburg, and he keeps it as a curiosity, for in itself the +object has no value. But this is a digression.</p> + +<p>Dominy's earliest success, actually the very first of garden hybrids to +flower—in 1856—was <i>Calanthe Dominii</i>, offspring of <i>C. Masuca</i> × <i>C. +furcata</i>;—be it here remarked that the name of the mother, or seed +parent, always stands first. Another interest attaches to <i>C. Dominii</i>. +Both its parents belong to the <i>Veratræfolia</i> section of Calanthe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>[Pg 215]</span>the +terrestrial species, and no other hybrid has yet been raised among them. +We have here one of the numberless mysteries disclosed by hybridization. +The epiphytal Calanthes, represented by <i>C. vestita</i>, will not cross +with the terrestrial, represented by <i>C. veratræfolia</i>, nor will the +mules of either. We may "give this up" and proceed. In 1859 flowered <i>C. +Veitchii</i>, from <i>C. rosea</i>, still called, as a rule, <i>Limatodes rosea, × +C. vestita</i>. No orchid is so common as this, and none more simply +beautiful. But although the success was so striking, and the way to it +so easy, twenty years passed before even Messrs. Veitch raised another +hybrid Calanthe. In 1878 Seden flowered <i>C. Sedeni</i> from <i>C. Veitchii × +C. vestita</i>. Others entered the field then, especially Sir Trevor +Lawrence, Mr. Cookson, and Mr. Charles Winn. But the genus is small, and +they mostly chose the same families, often giving new names to the +progeny, in ignorance of each other's labour.</p> + +<p>The mystery I have alluded to recurs again and again. Large groups of +species refuse to inter-marry with their nearest kindred, even plants +which seem identical in the botanist's point of view. There is good +ground for hoping, however, that longer and broader experience will +annihilate some at least of the axioms current in this matter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>[Pg 216]</span> Thus, it +is repeated and published in the very latest editions of standard works +that South American Cattleyas, which will breed, not only among +themselves, but also with the Brazilian Lœlias, decline an alliance +with their Mexican kindred. But Baron Schroeder possesses a hybrid of +such typical parentage as <i>Catt. citrina</i>, Mexican, and <i>Catt. +intermedia</i>, Brazilian. It was raised by Miss Harris, of Lamberhurst, +Kent, one single plant only; and it has flowered several times. Messrs. +Sander have crossed <i>Catt. guttata Leopoldii</i>, Brazil, with <i>Catt. +Dowiana</i>, Costa Rica, giving <i>Catt. Chamberliana</i>; <i>Lœlia crispa</i>, +Brazil, with the same, giving <i>Lœlio-Cattleya Pallas</i>; <i>Catt. +citrina</i>, Mexico, with <i>Catt. intermedia</i>, Brazil, giving <i>Catt. citrina +intermedia</i> (Lamberhurst hybrid); <i>Lœlia flava</i>, Brazil, with <i>Catt. +Skinneri</i>, Costa Rica, giving <i>Lœlio-Catt. Marriottiana</i>; <i>Lœlia +pumila</i>, Brazil, with <i>Catt. Dowiana</i>, Costa Rica, giving +<i>Lœlio-Catt. Normanii</i>; <i>Lœlia Digbyana</i>, Central America, with +<i>Catt. Mossiæ</i>, Venezuela, giving <i>Lœlio-Catt. Digbyana-Mossiæ</i>; +<i>Catt. Mossiæ</i>, Venezuela, with <i>Lœlia cinnabarina</i>, Brazil, giving +<i>Lœlio-Catt. Phoebe</i>. Not yet flowered and unnamed, raised in the +Nursery, are <i>Catt. citrina</i>, Mexico, with <i>Lœlia purpurata</i>, Brazil; +<i>Catt. Harrisoniæ</i>, Brazil, with <i>Catt. citrina</i>, Mexico; <i>Lœlia +anceps</i>, Mexico, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>[Pg 217]</span> <i>Epidendrum ciliare</i>, U.S. Colombia. In other +genera there are several hybrids of Mexican and South American +parentage; as <i>L. anceps</i> × <i>Epid. ciliare</i>, <i>Sophronitis grandiflora</i> × +<i>Epid. radicans</i>, <i>Epid. xanthinum</i> × <i>Epid. radicans</i>.</p> + +<p>But among Cypripediums, the easiest and safest of all orchids to +hybridize, East Indian and American species are unfruitful. Messrs. +Veitch obtained such a cross, as they had every reason to believe, in +one instance. For sixteen years the plants grew and grew until it was +thought they would prove the rule by declining to flower. I wrote to +Messrs. Veitch to obtain the latest news. They inform me that one has +bloomed at last. It shows no trace of the American strain, and they have +satisfied themselves that there was an error in the operation or the +record. Again, the capsules secured from very many by-generic crosses +have proved, time after time, to contain not a single seed. In other +cases the seed was excellent to all appearance, but it has resolutely +refused to germinate. And further, certain by-generic seedlings have +utterly ignored one parent. <i>Zygopetalum Mackayi</i> has been crossed by +Mr. Veitch, Mr. Cookson, and others doubtless, with various +Odontoglossums, but the flower has always turned out <i>Zygopetalum +Mackayi</i> pure and simple—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>[Pg 218]</span>which becomes the more unaccountable more +one thinks of it.</p> + +<p>Hybrids partake of the nature of both parents, but they incline +generally, as in the extreme cases mentioned, to resemble one much more +strongly than the other. When a Cattleya or Lœlia of the single-leaf +section is crossed with one of the two-leaf, some of the offspring, from +the same capsule, show two leaves, others one only; and some show one +and two alternately, obeying no rule perceptible to us at present. So it +is with the charming <i>Lœlia Maynardii</i> from <i>L. Dayana</i> × <i>Cattleya +dolosa</i>, just raised by Mr. Sander and named after the Superintendent of +his hybridizing operations. <i>Catt. dolosa</i> has two leaves, <i>L. Dayana</i> +one; the product has two and one alternately. Sepals and petals are +alike in colour, rosy crimson, veined with a deeper hue; lip brightest +crimson-lake, long, broad and flat, curving in handsomely above the +column, which is closely depressed after the manner of <i>Catt. dolosa</i>.</p> + +<p>The first bi-generic cross deserves a paragraph to itself if only on +that account; but its own merits are more than sufficient. +<i>Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana</i> was raised by Messrs. Veitch from +<i>Sophronitis grandiflora</i> × <i>Catt. intermedia</i>. It flowered in August, +1886; petals and sepals rosy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>[Pg 219]</span>scarlet, lip pale lilac bordered with +amethyst and tipped with rosy purple.</p> + +<p>But one natural hybrid has been identified among Dendrobes—the progeny +doubtless of <i>D. crassinode</i> × <i>D. Wardianum</i>. Messrs. J. Laing have a +fine specimen of this; it shows the growth of the latter species with +the bloom of the former, but enlarged and improved. Several other hybrid +crosses are suspected. Of artificial we have not less than fifty.</p> + +<p>Phaius—it is often spelt Phajus—is so closely allied with Calanthe +that for hybridizing purposes at least there is no distinction. Dominy +raised <i>Ph. irroratus</i> from <i>Ph. grandifolius</i> × <i>Cal. vestita</i>; Seden +made the same cross, but, using the variety <i>Cal. v. rubro-occulata</i>, he +obtained <i>Ph. purpureus</i>. The success is more interesting because one +parent is evergreen, the other, Calanthe, deciduous. On this account +probably very few seedlings survive; they show the former habit. Mr. +Cookson alone has yet raised a cross between two species of Phajus—<i>Ph. +Cooksoni</i> from <i>Ph. Wallichii</i> × <i>Ph. tuberculosus</i>. One may say that +this is the best hybrid yet raised, saving <i>Calanthe Veitchii</i>, if all +merits be considered—stateliness of aspect, freedom in flowering, +striking colour, ease of cultivation. One bulb will throw up four +spikes—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>[Pg 220]</span>twenty-eight have been counted in a twelve-inch pot—each +bearing perhaps thirty flowers.</p> + +<p>Seden has made two crosses of Chysis, both from the exquisite <i>Ch. +bractescens</i>, one of the loveliest flowers that heaven has granted to +this world, but sadly fleeting. Nobody, I believe, has yet been so +fortunate as to obtain seed from <i>Ch. aurea</i>. This species has the rare +privilege of self-fertilization—we may well exclaim, Why! why?—and it +eagerly avails itself thereof so soon as the flower begins to open. +Thus, however watchful the hybridizer may be, hitherto he has found the +pollen masses melted in hopeless confusion before he can secure them.</p> + +<p>One hybrid Epidendrum has been obtained—<i>Epi. O'Brienianum</i> from <i>Epi. +evectum × Epi. radicans</i>; the former purple, the latter scarlet, produce +×a bright crimson progeny.</p> + +<p>Miltonias show two natural hybrids, and one artificial—<i>Mil. Bleuiana</i> +from <i>Mil. vexillaria × Mil. Roezlii</i>; both of these are commonly +classed as Odontoglots, and I refer to them elsewhere under that title. +M. Bleu and Messrs. Veitch made this cross about the same time, but the +seedlings of the former flowered in 1889, of the latter, in 1891. Here +we see an illustration of the advantage which French horticulturists +enjoy, even so far north as Paris; a clear sky and abundant sunshine +made a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>[Pg 221]</span>difference of more than twelve months. When Italians begin +hybridizing, we shall see marvels—and Greeks and Egyptians!</p> + +<p>Masdevallias are so attractive to insects, by striking colour, as a +rule, and sometimes by strong smell—so very easily fertilized +also—that we should expect many natural hybrids in the genus. They are +not forthcoming, however. Reichenbach displayed his scientific instinct +by suggesting that two species submitted to him might probably be the +issue of parents named; since that date Seden has produced both of them +from the crosses which Reichenbach indicated.</p> + +<p>We have three natural hybrids among Phalœnopsis. <i>Ph. intermedia</i> made +its appearance in a lot of <i>Ph. Aphrodite</i>, imported 1852. M. Porte, a +French trader, brought home two in 1861; they were somewhat different, +and he gave them his name. Messrs. Low imported several in 1874, one of +which, being different again, was called after Mr. Brymer. Three have +been found since, always among <i>Ph. Aphrodite</i>; the finest known is +possessed by Lord Rothschild. That these were natural hybrids could not +be doubted; Seden crossed <i>Ph. Aphrodite</i> with <i>Ph. rosea</i>, and proved +it. Our garden hybrids are two: <i>Ph. F.L. Ames</i>, obtained from <i>Ph. +amabilis × Ph. intermedia</i>, and <i>Ph.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>[Pg 222]</span>Harriettæ</i> from <i>Ph. amabilis × Ph. violacea</i>, named after the +daughter of Hon. Erastus Corning, of Albany, U.S.A.</p> + +<p>Oncidiums yield only two natural hybrids at present, and those +uncertain; others are suspected. We have no garden hybrids, I believe, +as yet. So it is with Odontoglossums, as has been said, but in the +natural state they cross so freely that a large proportion of the +species may probably be hybrids. I allude to this hereafter.</p> + +<p>I have left Cypripediums to the last, in these hasty notes, because that +supremely interesting genus demands more than a record of dry facts. +Darwin pointed out that Cypripedium represents the primitive form of +orchid. He was acquainted with no links connecting it with the later and +more complicated genera; some have been discovered since that day, but +it is nevertheless true that "an enormous extinction must have swept +away a multitude of intermediate forms, and left this single genus as +the record of a former and more simple state of the great orchidacean +order." The geographical distribution shows that Cypripedium was more +common in early times—to speak vaguely—and covered an area yet more +extensive than now. And the process of extermination is still working, +as with other primitive types.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>[Pg 223]</span>Messrs. Veitch point out that although few genera of plants are +scattered so widely over the earth as Cypripedium, the species have +withdrawn to narrow areas, often isolated, and remote from their +kindred. Some are rare to the degree that we may congratulate ourselves +upon the chance which put a few specimens in safety under glass before +it was too late, for they seem to have become extinct even in this +generation. Messrs. Veitch give a few striking instances. All the plants +of <i>Cyp. Fairieanum</i> known to exist have sprung from three or four +casually imported in 1856. Two bits of <i>Cyp. superbiens</i> turned up among +a consignment of <i>Cyp. barbatum</i>; none have been found since, and it is +doubtful whether the species survives in its native home. Only three +plants of <i>Cyp. Marstersianium</i> have been discovered. They reached Mr. +Bull in a miscellaneous case of Cypripediums forwarded to him by the +Director of the Botanic Gardens at Buitzenzorze, in Java; but that +gentleman and his successors in office have been unable to find another +plant. These three must have reached the Gardens by an accident—as they +left it—presented perhaps by some Dutchman who had been travelling.</p> + +<p><i>Cyp. purpuratum</i> is almost extinct at Hong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>[Pg 224]</span> Kong, and is vanishing fast +on the mainland. It is still found occasionally in the garden of a +peasant, who, we are told, resolutely declines to sell his treasure. +This may seem incredible to those who know the Chinaman, but Mr. +Roebelin vouches for the fact; it is one more eccentricity to the credit +of that people, who had quite enough already. Collectors expect to find +a new habitat of <i>Cyp. purpuratum</i> in Formosa when they are allowed to +explore that realm. Even our native <i>Cyp. calceolus</i> has almost +disappeared; we get it now from Central Europe, but in several districts +where it abounded the supply grows continually less. The same report +comes from North America and Japan. Fortunate it is, but not surprising +to the thoughtful observer, that this genus grows and multiplies with +singular facility when its simple wants are supplied. There is no danger +that a species which has been rescued from extinction will perish under +human care.</p> + +<p>This seems contradictory. How should a plant thrive better under +artificial conditions than in the spot where Nature placed it? The +reason lies in that archaic character of the Cypriped which Darwin +pointed out. Its time has passed—Nature is improving it off the face of +the earth. A gradual change of circumstances makes it more and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>[Pg 225]</span>more +difficult for this primitive form of orchid to exist, and, conscious of +the fate impending, it gratefully accepts our help.</p> + +<p>One cause of extermination is easily grasped. Cypripeds have not the +power of fertilizing themselves, except a single species, <i>Cyp. +Schlimii</i>, which—accordingly, as we may say—is most difficult to +import and establish; moreover, it flowers so freely that the seedlings +are always weak. In all species the sexual apparatus is so constructed +that it cannot be impregnated by accident, and few insects can perform +the office. Dr. Hermann Muller studied <i>Cyp. calceolus</i> assiduously in +this point of view. He observed only five species of insect which +fertilize it. <i>Cyp. calceolus</i> has perfume and honey, but none of the +tropical species offer those attractions. Their colour is not showy. The +labellum proves to be rather a trap than a bait. Large insects which +creep into it and duly bear away the pollen masses, are caught and held +fast by that sticky substance when they try to escape through the +lateral passages, which smaller insects are too weak to force their way +through.</p> + +<p>Natural hybrids occur so rarely, that their existence is commonly +denied. The assertion is not quite exact; but when we consider the +habits of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>[Pg 226]</span>the genus, it ceases to be extraordinary that Cypripeds +rarely cross in their wild state. Different species of Cattleya, +Odontoglots, and the rest live together on the same tree, side by side. +But those others dwell apart in the great majority of cases, each +species by itself, at a vast distance perhaps from its kindred. The +reason for this state of things has been mentioned—natural laws have +exterminated them in the spaces between, which are not so well fitted to +maintain a doomed race.</p> + +<p>Doubtless Cypripeds rarely fertilize—by comparison, that is, of +course—in their native homes. The difficulty that insects find in +performing that service has been mentioned. Mr. Godseff points out to me +a reason far more curious and striking. When a bee displaces the pollen +masses of a Cattleya, for instance, they cling to its head or thorax by +means of a sticky substance attached to the pollen cases; so, on +entering the next flower, it presents the pollen <i>outwards</i> to the +stigmatic surface. But in the case of a Cypriped there is no such +substance, the adhesive side of the pollen itself is turned outward, and +it clings to any intruding substance. But this is the fertilizing part. +Therefore, an insect which by chance displaces the pollen mass carries +it off, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>[Pg 227]</span>one may say, the wrong side up. On entering the next flower, +it does not commonly present the surface necessary for impregnation, but +a sterile globule which is the backing thereof. We may suppose that in +the earlier age, when this genus flourished as the later forms of orchid +do now, it enjoyed some means of fertilization which have vanished.</p> + +<p>Under such disadvantages it is not to be expected that seed capsules +would be often found upon imported Cypripeds. Messrs. Veitch state that +they rarely observed one among the myriads of plants that have passed +through their hands. With some species, however, it is not by any means +so uncommon. When Messrs. Thompson, of Clovenfords, bought a quantity of +the first <i>Cyp. Spicerianum</i> which came upon the market, they found a +number of capsules, and sowed them, obtaining several hundred fine +plants. Pods are often imported on <i>Cyp. insigne</i> full of good seed.</p> + +<p>In the circumstances enumerated we have the explanation of an +extraordinary fact. Hybrids or natural species of Cypripediums +artificially raised are stronger than their parents, and they produce +finer flowers. The reason is that they get abundance of food in +captivity, and all things are made comfortable for them; whilst Nature, +anxious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>[Pg 228]</span>to be rid of a form of plant no longer approved, starves and +neglects them.</p> + +<p>The same argument enables us to understand why Cypripeds lend themselves +so readily to the hybridizer. Darwin taught us to expect that species +which can rarely hope to secure a chance of reproduction will learn to +make the process as easy and as sure as the conditions would admit—that +none of those scarce opportunities may be lost. And so it proves. +Orchidaceans are apt to declare that "everybody" is hybridizing +Cypripeds nowadays. At least, so many persons have taken up this +agreeable and interesting pursuit that science has lost count of the +less striking results. Briefly, the first hybrid Cypripedium was raised +by Dominy, in 1869, and named after Mr. Harris, who, as has been said, +suggested the operation to him. Seden produced the next in 1874—<i>Cyp. +Sedeni</i> from <i>Cyp. Schlimii × Cyp. longiflorum</i>; curious as the single +instance yet noted in which seedlings turn out identical, whichever +parent furnish the pollen-masses. In every other case they vary when the +functions of the parents are exchanged.</p> + +<p>For a long time after 1853, when serious work begun, Messrs. Veitch had +a monopoly of the business. It is but forty years, therefore, since +experiments commenced, in which time hundreds <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>[Pg 229]</span>of hybrids have been +added to our list of flowers; but—this is my point—Nature has been +busy at the same task for unknown ages, and who can measure the fruits +of her industry? I do not offer the remark as an argument; our +observations are too few as yet. It may well be urged that if Nature had +been thus active, the "natural hybrids" which can be recognized would be +much more numerous than they are. I have pointed out that many of the +largest genera show very few; many none at all. But is it impossible +that the explanation appears to fail only because we cannot yet push it +far enough? When the hybridizer causes by force a fruitful union betwixt +two genera, he seems to triumph over a botanical law. But suppose the +genera themselves are artificial, only links in a grand chain which +Nature has forged slowly, patiently, with many a break and many a +failure, in the course of ages? She would finish her work bit by bit, +and at every stage the new variety may have united with others in +endless succession. Few natural hybrids can be identified among +Cattleyas, for instance. But suppose Cattleyas are all hybrids, the +result of promiscuous intercourse among genera during cycles of +time—suppose, that is, the genus itself sprang from parents widely +diverse, crossing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>[Pg 230]</span>returning, intercrossing from age to age? It is +admitted that Cypripedium represents a primeval form—perhaps <i>the</i> +primeval form—of orchid. Suppose that we behold, in this nineteenth +century, a mere epoch, or stage, in the ceaseless evolution? Only an +irresponsible amateur could dare talk in this way. It would, in truth, +be very futile speculation if experiments already successful did not +offer a chance of proof one day, and others, hourly ripening, did not +summon us to think.</p> + +<p>I may cite, with the utmost brevity, two or three facts which—to me +unscientific—appear inexplicable, unless species of orchid were +developed on the spot; or the theory of special local creations be +admitted. <i>Oncidium cucullatum</i> flourishes in certain limited areas of +Peru, of Ecuador, of Colombia, and of Venezuela. It is not found in the +enormous spaces between, nor are any Oncidiums which might be accepted +as its immediate parents. Can we suppose that the winds or the birds +carried it over mountain ranges and broad rivers more than two thousand +miles, in four several directions, to establish it upon a narrow tract? +It is a question of faith; but, for my own part, I could as soon believe +that æsthetic emigrants took it with them. But even winds and birds +could not bear the seed of <i>Dendrobium heterocarpum</i> from Ceylon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>[Pg 231]</span>to +Burmah, and from Burmah to Luzon in the Philippines; at least, I am +utterly unable to credit it. If the plants were identical, or nearly, in +their different habitats, this case would be less significant. But the +<i>D. heterocarpum</i> of Ceylon has a long, thin pseudo-bulb, with bright +yellow flowers; that of Burmah is short and thick, with paler colouring; +that of Luzon is no less than three feet high, exaggerating the stature +of its most distant relative while showing the colour of its nearest; +but all, absolutely, the same botanic plant. I have already mentioned +other cases.</p> + +<p>Experience hitherto suggests that we cannot raise Odontoglossum +seedlings in this climate; very, very few have ever been obtained. +Attempts in France have been rather more successful. Baron Adolf de +Rothschild has four different hybrids of Odontoglossum in bud at this +present moment in his garden at Armainvilliers, near Paris. M. Moreau +has a variety of seedlings.</p> + +<p>Authorities admit now that a very great proportion of our Odontoglossums +are natural hybrids; so many can be identified beyond the chance of +error that the field for speculation has scarcely bounds. <i>O. excellens</i> +is certainly descended from <i>O. Pescatorei</i> and <i>O. triumphans</i>, <i>O. +elegans</i> from <i>O. cirrhosum</i> and <i>O. Hallii</i>, <i>O. Watti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>[Pg 232]</span>anum</i> from <i>O. +Harryanum</i> and <i>O. hystrix</i>. And it must be observed that we cannot +trace pedigree beyond the parents as yet, saving a very, very few cases. +But unions have been contracting during cycles of time; doubtless, from +the laws of things the orchid is latest born of Nature's children in the +world of flora, but mighty venerable by this time, nevertheless. We can +identify the mixed offspring of <i>O. crispum Alexandræ</i> paired with <i>O. +gloriosum</i>, with <i>O. luteopurpureum</i>, with <i>O. Lindleyanum</i>; these +parents dwell side by side, and they could not fail to mingle. We can +already trace with assurance a few double crosses, as <i>O. lanceans</i>, the +result of an alliance between <i>O. crispum Alexandræ</i> and <i>O. +Ruckerianum</i>, which latter is a hybrid of the former with <i>O. +gloriosum</i>. When we observe <i>O. Roezlii</i> upon the bank of the River +Cauca and <i>O. vexillarium</i> on the higher ground, whilst <i>O. vexillarium +superbum</i> lives between, we may confidently attribute its peculiarity of +a broad dark blotch upon the lip to the influence of <i>O. Roezlii</i>. So, +taking station at Manaos upon the Amazons, we find, to eastward, +<i>Cattleya superba</i>, to westward <i>C. Eldorado</i>, and in the midst <i>C. +Brymeriana</i>, which, it is safe to assume, represents the union of the +two; for that matter, the theory will very soon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>[Pg 233]</span>be tested, for M. +Alfred Bleu has "made the cross" of <i>C. superba</i> and <i>C. Eldorado</i>, and +its flower is expected with no little interest.</p> + +<p>These cases, and many more, are palpable. We see a variety in the making +at this date. A thousand years hence, or ten thousand, by more distant +alliances, by a change of conditions, the variety may well have +developed into a species, or, by marriage excursions yet wider, it may +have founded a genus.</p> + +<p>I have named Mr. Cookson several times; in fact, to discourse of +hybridization for amateurs without reference to his astonishing "record" +would be grotesque. One Sunday afternoon, ten years ago, he amused +himself with investigating the structure of a few Cypripeds, after +reading Darwin's book; and he impregnated them. To his astonishment the +seed-vessel began to swell, and so did Mr. Cookson's enthusiasm +simultaneously. He did not yet know, and, happily, these experiments +gave him no reason to suspect, that pseudo-fertilization can be +produced, actually, by anything. So intensely susceptible is the +stigmatic surface of the Cypriped that a touch excites it furiously. +Upon the irritation caused by a bit of leaf, it will go sometimes +through all the visible processes of fecundation, the ovary will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>[Pg 234]</span>swell +and ripen, and in due time burst, with every appearance of fertility; +but, of course, there is no seed. Beginners, therefore, must not be too +sanguine when their bold attempts promise well.</p> + +<p>From that day Mr. Cookson gave his leisure to hybridization, with such +results as, in short, are known to everybody who takes an interest in +orchids. Failures in abundance he had at first, but the proportion has +grown less and less until, at this moment, he confidently looks for +success in seventy-five per cent. of his attempts; but this does not +apply to bi-generic crosses, which hitherto have not engaged his +attention much. Beginning with Cypripedium, he has now ninety-four +hybrids—very many plants of each—produced from one hundred and forty +capsules sown. Of Calanthe, sixteen hybrids from nineteen capsules; of +Dendrobium, thirty-six hybrids from forty-one capsules; of Masdevallia, +four hybrids from seventeen capsules; of Odontoglossum, none from nine +capsules; of Phajus, two from two capsules; of Vanda, none from one +capsule; of bi-generic, one from nine capsules. There may be another +indeed, but the issue of an alliance so startling, and produced under +circumstances so dubious, that Mr. Cookson will not own it until he sees +the flower.</p> + +<p>It does not fall within the scope of this chapter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>[Pg 235]</span>to analyze the list +of this gentleman's triumphs, but even <i>savants</i> will be interested to +hear a few of the most remarkable crosses therein, for it is not +published. I cite the following haphazard:—</p> + + +<div class='left'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="SUCESSFULL HYBRIDS"> +<tr><td align='left'>Phajus Wallichii</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Phajus tuberculosus.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia præstans.</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Dowiana.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia purpurata</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Dowiana.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia purpurata</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Lœlia grandis tenebrosa.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia purpurata</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Mendellii.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia marginata</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Lœlia elegans Cooksoni.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Mendellii</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Lœlia purpurata.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Trianæ</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Lœlia harpophylla.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Percivalliana</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Lœlia harpophylla</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Lawrenceana</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Mossiæ.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya gigas</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Gaskelliana.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya crispa</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Gaskelliana.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Dowiana</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Gaskelliana.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Schofieldiana</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya gigas imperialis.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya Leopoldii</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cattleya Dowiana.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium Stonei</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cypripedium Godefroyæ.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium Stonei</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cypripedium Spicerianum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium Sanderianum</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cypripedium Veitchii.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium Spicerianum</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cypripedium Sanderianum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium Io</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Cypripedium vexillarium.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium nobile nobilus</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Dendrobium Falconerii.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium nobile nobilus</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Dendrobium nobile Cooksonianum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium Wardianum</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Dendrobium aureum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium Wardianum</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Dendrobium Linawianum.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium luteolum</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Dendrobium nobile nobilius.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Masdevallia Tovarensis</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Masdevallia bella.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Masdevallia Shuttleworthii</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Masdevallia Tovarensis.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Masdevallia Shuttleworthii</td><td align='left'>×</td><td align='left'>Masdevallia rosea.</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Of these, and so many more, Mr. Cookson has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>[Pg 236]</span>at this moment fifteen +thousand plants. Since my object is to rouse the attention of amateurs, +that they may go and do likewise, I may refer lightly to a consideration +which would be out of place under other circumstances. Professional +growers of orchids are fond of speculating how much the Wylam collection +would realize if judiciously put on the market. I shall not mention the +estimates I have heard; it is enough to say they reach many, many +thousands of pounds; that the difference between the highest and the +lowest represents a handsome fortune. And this great sum has been earned +by brains alone, without increase of expenditure, by boldness of +initiative, thought, care, and patience; without special knowledge also, +at the beginning, for ten years ago Mr. Cookson had no more acquaintance +with orchids than is possessed by every gentleman who takes an interest +in them, while his gardener the early time was both ignorant and +prejudiced. This should encourage enterprise, I think—the revelation of +means to earn great wealth in a delightful employment. But amateurs must +be quick. Almost every professional grower of orchids is preparing to +enter the field. They, however, must needs give the most of their +attention to such crosses as may be confi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>[Pg 237]</span>dently expected to catch the +public fancy, as has been said. I advise my readers to be daring, even +desperate. It is satisfactory to learn that Mr. Cookson intends to make +a study of bi-generic hybridization henceforward.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>The common motive for crossing orchids is that, of course, which urges +the florist in other realms of botany. He seeks to combine tints, forms, +varied peculiarities, in a new shape. Orchids lend themselves to +experiment with singular freedom, within certain limits, and their array +of colours seems to invite our interference. Taking species and genera +all round, yellow dominates, owing to its prevalence in the great family +of Oncidium; purples and mauves stand next by reason of their supremacy +among the Cattleyas. Green follows—if we admit the whole group of +Epidendrums—the great majority of which are not beautiful, however. Of +magenta, the rarest of natural hues, we have not a few instances. +Crimson, in a thousand shades, is frequent; pure white a little rare, +orange much rarer; scarlet very uncommon, and blue almost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>[Pg 238]</span>unknown, +though supremely lovely in the few instances that occur. Thus the +temptation to hybridize with the object of exchanging colours is +peculiarly strong.</p> + +<p>It becomes yet stronger by reason of the delightful uncertainty which +attends one's efforts. So far as I have heard or read, no one has yet +been able to offer a suggestion of any law which decides the result of +combination. In a general way, both parents will be represented in the +offspring, but how, to what degree either will dominate, in what parts, +colours, or fashions a hybrid will show its mixed lineage, the +experienced refuse to conjecture, saving certain easy classes. After +choosing parents thoughtfully, with a clear perception of the aim in +view, one must "go it blind." Very often the precise effect desired +appears in due time; very often something unlooked for turns up; but +nearly always the result is beautiful, whether or no it serve the +operator's purpose. Besides effect, however, there is an utility in +hybridization which relates to culture. Thus, for example, the lovely +<i>Cypripedium Fairieanum</i> is so difficult to grow that few dealers keep +it in their stock; by crossing it with <i>Cyp. barbatum</i>, from Mount +Ophir, a rough-and-ready cool species, we get <i>Cyp. vexil<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>[Pg 239]</span>larium</i>, which +takes after the latter in constitution while retaining much of the +beauty of the former. Or again, <i>Cypripedium Sanderianum</i>, from the +Malay Archipelago, needs such swampy heat as few even of its fellows +appreciate; it has been crossed with <i>Cyp. insigne</i>, which will flourish +anywhere, and though the seedlings have not yet bloomed, there is no +reasonable doubt that they will prove as useful and beautiful as in the +other case. <i>Cypripedium insigne</i>, of the fine varieties, has been +employed in a multitude of such instances. There is the striking <i>Cyp. +hirsutissimum</i>, with sepals of a nameless green, shaded yellow, studded +with spiculæ, exquisitely frilled, and tipped, by a contrast almost +startling, with pale purple. It is very "hot" in the first place, and, +in the second, its appearance would be still more effective if some +white could be introduced; present it to <i>Cyp. niveum</i> and confidently +expect that the progeny will bear cooler treatment, whilst their "dorsal +sepal" will be blanched. So the charming <i>Masdevallia Tovarensis</i>, warm, +white and lowly, will take to itself the qualities, in combination, of +<i>Mas. bella</i>, tall, cool, and highly coloured red and yellow, as Mr. +Cookson has proved; so <i>Phalœnopsis Wightii</i>, delicate of growth and +small of flower, will become strong <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>[Pg 240]</span>and generous by union with <i>Phal. +grandiflora</i>, without losing its dainty tones.</p> + +<p>It is worth mention that the first Flora medal offered by the Royal +Horticultural Society for a seedling—a hybrid—in open competition was +won by <i>Lœlia Arnoldiana</i> in 1891; the same variety took the first +prize in 1892. It was raised by Messrs. Sander from <i>L. purpurata</i> × +<i>Catt. labiata</i>; seed sown 1881, flowered 1891.</p> + +<p>And now for the actual process by which these most desirable results, +and ten thousand others, may be obtained. I shall not speak upon my own +authority, which the universe has no reason to trust. Let us observe the +methods practised in the great establishment of Mr. Sander at St. +Albans.</p> + +<p>Remark, in the first place, the low, unshaded range of houses devoted to +hybridization, a contrast to those lofty structures, a hundred yards +long or more, where plants merely flourish and bloom. Their span roofs +one may touch with the hand, and their glass is always newly cleaned. +The first and last demand of the hybridizer is light—light—eternally +light. Want of it stands at the bottom of all his disappointments, +perhaps. The very great majority of orchids, such as I refer to, have +their home in the tropics; even the "cool" Odontoglots and Masde<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>[Pg 241]</span>vallias +owe that quality to their mountaineering habit, not to latitude. They +live so near the equator that sunshine descends almost +perpendicularly—and the sun shines for more than half the year. But in +this happy isle of ours, upon the very brightest day of midsummer, its +rays fall at an angle of 28°, declining constantly until, at midwinter, +they struggle through the fogs at an inclination of 75°. The reader may +work out this proportion for himself, but he must add to his reckoning +the thickness of our atmosphere at its best, and the awful number of +cloudy days. We cannot spare one particle of light. The ripening seed +must stand close beneath the glass, and however fierce the sunshine no +blind may be interposed. It is likely that the mother-plant will be +burnt up—quite certain that it will be much injured.</p> + +<p>This house is devoted to the hybridizing of Cypripediums; I choose that +genus for our demonstration, because, as has been said, it is so very +easy and so certain that an intelligent girl mastered all its +eccentricities of structure after a single lesson, which made her +equally proficient in those of Dendrobes, Oncidiums, Odontoglots, +Epidendrums, and I know not how many more. The leaves are green and +smooth as yet, with many a fantastic bloom, and many an ovary that has +just <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>[Pg 242]</span>begun to swell, rising amidst the verdure. Each flower spike which +has been crossed carries its neat label, registering the father's name +and the date of union.</p> + +<p>Mr. Maynard takes the two first virgin blooms to hand: <i>Cypripedium +Sanderianum</i>, and <i>Cypripedium Godefroyæ</i>, as it chances. Let us cut off +the lip in order to see more clearly. Looking down now upon the flower, +we mark two wings, the petals, which stood on either side of the +vanished lip. From the junction of these wings issues a round stalk, +about one quarter of an inch long, and slightly hairy, called the +"column." It widens out at the tip, forming a pretty table, rather more +than one-third of an inch long and wide. This table serves no purpose in +our inquiry; it obstructs the view, and we will remove it; but the +reader understands, of course, that these amputations cannot be +performed when business is intended. Now—the table snipped off—we see +those practical parts of the flower that interest us. Beneath its +protection, the column divides into three knobbly excrescences, the +central plain, those on either side of it curling back and down, each +bearing at its extremity a pad, the size of a small pin's head, outlined +distinctly with a brown colour. It is quite impossible to mistake these +things; equally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>[Pg 243]</span>impossible, I hope, to misunderstand my description. +The pads are the male, the active organs.</p> + +<p>But the column does not finish here. It trends downward, behind and +below the pads, and widens out, with an exquisitely graceful curve, into +a disc one-quarter of an inch broad. This is the female, the receptive +part; but here we see the peculiarity of orchid structure. For the upper +surface of the disc is not susceptible; it is the under surface which +must be impregnated, though the imagination cannot conceive a mere +accident which would throw those fertilizing pads upon their destined +receptacle. They are loosely attached and adhesive, when separated, to a +degree actually astonishing, as is the disc itself; but if it were +possible to displace them by shaking, they could never fall where they +ought. Some outside impulse is needed to bring the parts together. In +their native home insects perform that service—sometimes. Here we may +take the first implement at hand, a knife, a bit of stick, a pencil. We +remove the pads, which yield at a touch, and cling to the object. We lay +them one by one on the receptive disc, where they seem to melt into the +surface—and the trick is done. Write out your label—<i>"Cyp. Sanderianum +× Cyp. Godefroyæ</i>, Maynard." Add the date, and leave Nature to her work.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>[Pg 244]</span>She does not linger. One may almost say that the disc begins to swell +instantly. That part which we term the column is the termination of the +seed-purse, the ovary, which occupies an inch, or two, or three, of the +stalk, behind the flower. In a very few days its thickening becomes +perceptible. The unimpregnated bloom falls off at its appointed date, as +everybody knows; but if fertilized it remains entire, saving the +labellum, until the seed is ripe, perhaps half a year afterwards—but +withered, of course. Very singular and quite inexplicable are the +developments that arise in different genera, or even species, after +fertilization. In the Warscewiczellas, for example, not the seed-purse +only, but the whole column swells. <i>Phalœnopsis Luddemanniana</i> is +specially remarkable. Its exquisite bars and mottlings of rose, brown, +and purple begin to take a greenish hue forthwith. A few days later, the +lip jerks itself off with a sudden movement, as observers declare. Then +the sepals and petals remaining take flesh, thicken and thicken, while +the hues fade and the green encroaches, until, presently, they assume +the likeness of a flower, abnormal in shape but perfect, of dense green +wax.</p> + +<p>This Cypripedium of ours will ripen its seed in about twelve months, +more or less. Then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>[Pg 245]</span>the capsule, two inches long and two-thirds of an +inch diameter, will burst. Mr. Maynard will cut it off, open it wide, +and scatter the thousands of seeds therein, perhaps 150,000, over pots +in which orchids are growing. After experiments innumerable, this has +been found the best course. The particles, no bigger than a grain of +dust, begin to swell at once, reach the size of a mustard-seed, and in +five or six weeks—or as many months—they put out a tiny leaf, then a +tiny root, presently another leaf, and in four or five years we may look +for the hybridized flower. Long before, naturally, they have been +established in their own pots.</p> + +<p>Strange incidents occur continually in this pursuit, as may be believed. +Nine years since, Mr. Godseff crossed <i>Catasetum macrocarpum</i> with +<i>Catasetum callosum</i>. The seed ripened, and in due time it was sown; but +none ever germinated in the proper place. A long while afterwards Mr. +Godseff remarked a tiny little green speck in a crevice above the door +of this same house. It grew and grew very fast, never receiving water +unless by the rarest accident, until those experts could identify a +healthy young Catasetum. And there it has flourished ever since, +receiving no attention; for it is the first rule in orchid culture to +leave a plant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>[Pg 246]</span>to itself where it is doing well, no matter how strange +the circumstances may appear to us. This Catasetum, wafted by the wind, +when the seed was sown, found conditions suitable where it lighted, and +quickened, whilst all its fellows, carefully provided for, died without +a sign. It thrives upon the moisture of the house. In a very few years +it will flower. In another case, when all hope of the germination of a +quantity of seed had long been lost, it became necessary to take up the +wooden trellis that formed the flooring of the path; a fine crop of +young hybrids was discovered clinging to the under side.</p> + +<p>The amateur who has followed us thus far with interest, may inquire how +long it will be before he can reasonably expect to see the outcome of +our proceedings? In the first place, it must be noted that the time +shortens continually as we gain experience. The statements following I +leave unaltered, because they are given by Messrs. Veitch, our oldest +authority, in the last edition of their book. But at the Temple Show +this year Norman C. Cookson, Esq., exhibited <i>Catt. William Murray</i>, +offspring of <i>Catt. Mendellii x Catt. Lawrenceana</i>, a lovely flower +which gained a first class certificate. It was only four years old.</p> + +<p>The quickest record as yet is <i>Calanthe Alex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a>[Pg 247]</span>anderii</i>, with which Mr. +Cookson won a first-class certificate of the Royal Horticultural +Society. It flowered within three years of fertilizing. As a genus, +perhaps, Dendrobiums are readiest to show. Plants have actually been +"pricked out" within two months of sowing, and they have bloomed within +the fourth year. Phajus and Calanthe rank next for rapid development. +Masdevallia, Chysis, and Cypripedium require four to five years, Lycaste +seven to eight, Lœlia and Cattleya ten to twelve. These are Mr. +Veitch's calculations in a rough way, but there are endless exceptions, +of course. Thus his <i>Lœlia triophthalma</i> flowered in its eighth +season, whilst his <i>Lœlia caloglossa</i> delayed till its nineteenth. +The genus <i>Zygopetalum</i>, which plays odd tricks in hybridizing, as I +have mentioned, is curious in this matter also. <i>Z. maxillare</i> crossed +with <i>Z. Mackayi</i> demands five years to bloom, but <i>vice versâ</i> nine +years. There is a case somewhat similar, however, among the Cypripeds. +<i>C. Schlimii</i> crossed with <i>C. longifolium</i> flowers in four years, but +<i>vice versâ</i> in six. It is not to be disputed, therefore, that the +hybridizer's reward is rather slow in coming; the more earnestly should +he take measures to ensure, so far as is possible, that it be worth +waiting for.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Mr. Cookson writes to me: "Give some of the credit to my +present gardener, William Murray, who is entitled to a large proportion, +at least."</p></div> +</div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>[Pg 248]</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>INDEX.</h2> + + + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="80%" cellspacing="2" summary="INDEX"> +<tr><td align='left'>Aerides</td><td align='left'>Lawrenciæ</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Angræcum</td><td align='left'>arcuatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>caudatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Duchailluianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Ellisii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>falcatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Kotschyi</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Leonis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Sanderianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Scottianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>sesquipedale (Æranthus sesquipedalis)</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Anomatheca cruenta</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Begonia coralina</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_195'>195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Begonias</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_86'>86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brassias</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_207'>207</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Brassavola</td><td align='left'>Digbyana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bulbophyllum</td><td align='left'>barbigerum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_169'>169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Beccarii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_169'>169</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Dearei</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Godseffianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Lobbii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Bullthorn</td><td align='left'>acacia</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_124'>124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Calanthe</td><td align='left'>Alexanderii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_246'>246</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Dominii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Sedeni</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_215'>215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Veitchii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_215'>215</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Catasetum</td><td align='left'>barbatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_123'>123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Bungerothi (C. pileatum)</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_125'>125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>callosum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_123'>123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>fimbriatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_123'>123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cattleya</td><td align='left'>Acklandiæ</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>amethystoglossa</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>aurea</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Brymeriana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_232'>232</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Dowiana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_115'>115</a>,<a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Hardyana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>hybrida</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>labiata</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_111'>111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Lawrenceana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Mendellii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_117'>117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Mendellii fly</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_117'>117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Mossiæ</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_111'>111</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Sanderiana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Skinneri alba</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>superba</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Trianæ</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_111'>111</a>,<a href='#Page_201'>201</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>violacea</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_110'>110</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cœlogene</td><td align='left'>cristata</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Dayana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_161'>161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>pandurata</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Sanderiana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_161'>161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cookson, Norman, Esq.</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_233'>233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>Collectors:—</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Arnold</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a>,<a href='#Page_28'>28</a>,<a href='#Page_71'>71</a>,<a href='#Page_185'>185</a>,<a href='#Page_186'>186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bartholomeus</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_124'>124</a>,<a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Bestwood</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Chaillu, M. Du</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Chesterton</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_185'>185</a>,<a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Clarke</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_186'>186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Digance</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_186'>186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Dressel</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_78'>78</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Endres</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ericksson</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32</a>,<a href='#Page_33'>33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Falkenberg</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Forstermann</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_166'>166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Gardner</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_179'>179</a>,<a href='#Page_180'>180</a>,<a href='#Page_186'>186</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hartweg</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_67'>67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Humblot</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Kerbach</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_73'>73</a>,<a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Klaboch</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_71'>71</a>,<a href='#Page_107'>107</a>,<a href='#Page_185'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Kromer</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a>,<a href='#Page_100'>100</a>,<a href='#Page_101'>101</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lawrenceson</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Micholitz</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_30'>30</a>,<a href='#Page_31'>31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Osmers</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_94'>94</a>,<a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oversluys</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_163'>163</a>,<a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Roebelin</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a>,<a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Roezl</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_66'>66</a>,<a href='#Page_75'>75</a>,<a href='#Page_76'>76</a>,<a href='#Page_105'>105</a>,<a href='#Page_139'>139</a>,<a href='#Page_204'>204</a>,<a href='#Page_205'>205</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Schroeder</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Seyler</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Smith</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_180'>180</a>,<a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Steigfers</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_99'>99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Swainson</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_173'>173-175</a>-<a href='#Page_177'>177</a>,<a href='#Page_179'>179</a>,<a href='#Page_181'>181</a>,<a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Wallace</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_35'>35</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Wallis</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Weir</span></td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_67'>67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cypripedium</td><td align='left'>calceolus</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a>,<a href='#Page_224'>224</a>,<a href='#Page_225'>225</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>candidum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Curtisi</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_32'>32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Fairieanum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>guttatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>insigne</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a>,<a href='#Page_84'>84</a>,<a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>macranthum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>niveum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_85'>85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>parviflorum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>planifolium</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_87'>87</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>pubescens</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>purpuratum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Sedeni</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_228'>228</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>spectabile</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_82'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Spicerianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a>,<a href='#Page_85'>85</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>vexillarium</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_238'>238</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Cymbidium</td><td align='left'>Lowianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_195'>195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Albertesii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Dendrobium</td><td align='left'>atro-violaceum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>bigibbum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Broomfieldianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Brymerianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_127'>127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Forstermanni</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_127'>127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Goldiei</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_130'>130</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>heterocarpum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_230'>230</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Johannis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>luteolum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_195'>195</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>nobile nobilius</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>nobile Cooksoni</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>nobile Sanderianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>phalœnopsis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>phalœnopsis Schroederianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>rhodopterygium</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_127'>127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>superbiens</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Wardianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_125'>125</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Disa</td><td align='left'>Cooperi</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_166'>166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>discolor</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_166'>166</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>grandiflora</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>racemosa</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Epidendrum</td><td align='left'>bicornutum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>O'Brienianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>prismatocarpum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_167'>167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>radicans</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_167'>167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Randii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>rhizophorum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_167'>167</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Frogs, green,</td><td align='left'>value of</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_13'>13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Galleandra</td><td align='left'>Devoniana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Grammatophyllum</td><td align='left'>speciosum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_171'>171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Measureseanum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_171'>171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>multiflorum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_172'>172</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Hybridizing</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lycaste</td><td align='left'>Skinneri</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_79'>79-81</a>,<a href='#Page_206'>206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Skinneri alba</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_79'>79</a>,<a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>Skinneri aromatica</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_80'>80</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>cruenta</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lœlia</td><td align='left'>anceps</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_109'>109</a>,<a href='#Page_120'>120</a>,<a href='#Page_122'>122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>elegans</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Maynardii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_218'>218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>purpurata</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a>,<a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>guttata Leopoldi</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a>,<a href='#Page_153'>153</a>,<a href='#Page_157'>157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>anceps alba</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_122'>122</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>anceps Amesiana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_109'>109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Masdevallia</td><td align='left'>Livingstoniana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Schlimii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_76'>76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Tovarensis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Odontoglossum</td><td align='left'>Alexandræ</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a>,<a href='#Page_67'>67</a>,<a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>citrosmum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_58'>58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>grande</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Hallii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Harryanum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_75'>75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Hybrids</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a>,<a href='#Page_78'>78</a>,<a href='#Page_108'>108</a>,<a href='#Page_231'>231</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>nœveum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>ramossissimum (cœleste)</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Roezlii (Miltonia Roezlii)</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Schlieperianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>vexillarium (Miltonia vexillaria)</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Williamsi</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Oncidium</td><td align='left'>cibolletum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>crispum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_47'>47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>cucullatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_230'>230</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>fuscatum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_90'>90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Jonesianum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>juncifolium</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Lanceanum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_164'>164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>luridum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>macranthum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_88'>88</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>papilio</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_164'>164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>sculptum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>serratum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>splendidum</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_162'>162</a>,<a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>superbiens</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Peristeria</td><td align='left'>elata</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_138'>138</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phajus</td><td align='left'>Cooksoni</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Humblotii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>irroratus</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>purpureus</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>tuberculosus</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phalœnopsis</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>amabilis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>cornucervi</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>F.L. Ames</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_221'>221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Harriettæ</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_221'>221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>intermedia</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_221'>221</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Luddemanniana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Manni</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Portei</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Sanderiana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_159'>159</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Schilleriana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>speciosa</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_157'>157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>tetraspis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_156'>156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Renanthera</td><td align='left'>coccinea</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_113'>113</a>,<a href='#Page_146'>146</a>,<a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Roraima Mountain</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_77'>77</a>,<a href='#Page_94'>94</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Schomburgkia</td><td align='left'>tibicinis</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_124'>124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sobralias</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_196'>196</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sophro-Cattleya</td><td align='left'>Batemaniana</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_218'>218</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Thanatophore</td><td> </td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Utricularia</td><td align='left'>Campbelli</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_199'>199</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan='3'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Vanda</td><td align='left'>limbata</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>Lowii</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_143'>143</a>,<a href='#Page_148'>148</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"</span></td><td align='left'>teres</td><td align='left'><a href='#Page_143'>143</a>,<a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of About Orchids, by Frederick Boyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT ORCHIDS *** + +***** This file should be named 17155-h.htm or 17155-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/5/17155/ + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State +University Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: About Orchids + A Chat + +Author: Frederick Boyle + +Release Date: November 26, 2005 [EBook #17155] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT ORCHIDS *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State +University Libraries.) + + + + + + +[Illustration: VANDA SANDERIANA +Reduced to One Sixth.] + + + + + ABOUT ORCHIDS + + _A CHAT_ + + BY + + FREDERICK BOYLE + + _WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LTD. + 1893 + + [_All rights reserved_] + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED, + ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL, E.C. + + + + + I INSCRIBE + THIS BOOK TO MY GUIDE, COMFORTER + AND FRIEND, + JOSEPH GODSEFF. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + PAGE + MY GARDENING 1 + + AN ORCHID SALE 24 + + ORCHIDS 42 + + COOL ORCHIDS 60 + + WARM ORCHIDS 103 + + HOT ORCHIDS 138 + + THE LOST ORCHID 173 + + AN ORCHID FARM 183 + + ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING 210 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + PAGE + VANDA SANDERIANA _Frontispiece_ + + ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM ALEXANDRAE 67 + + ONCIDIUM MACRANTHUM 88 + + DENDROBIUM BRYMERIANUM 127 + + COELOGENE PANDURATA 160 + + CATTLEYA LABIATA 173 + + LOELIA ANCEPS SCHROEDERIANA 197 + + CYPRIPEDIUM (HYBRIDUM) POLLETTIANUM 210 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The purport of this book is shown in the letter following which I +addressed to the editor of the _Daily News_ some months ago:-- + +"I thank you for reminding your readers, by reference to my humble work, +that the delight of growing orchids can be enjoyed by persons of very +modest fortune. To spread that knowledge is my contribution to +philanthropy, and I make bold to say that it ranks as high as some which +are commended from pulpits and platforms. For your leader-writer is +inexact, though complimentary, in assuming that any 'special genius' +enables me to cultivate orchids without more expense than other +greenhouse plants entail, or even without a gardener. I am happy to know +that scores of worthy gentlemen--ladies too--not more gifted than their +neighbours in any sense, find no greater difficulty. If the pleasure of +one of these be due to any writings of mine, I have wrought some good in +my generation." + +With the same hope I have collected those writings, dispersed and buried +more or less in periodicals. The articles in this volume are +collected--with permission which I gratefully acknowledge--from _The +Standard_, _Saturday Review_, _St. James's Gazette_, _National Review_, +and _Longman's Magazine_. With some pride I discover, on reading them +again, that hardly a statement needs correction, for they contain many +statements, and some were published years ago. But in this, as in other +lore, a student still gathers facts. The essays have been brought up to +date by additions--in especial that upon "Hybridizing," a theme which +has not interested the great public hitherto, simply because the great +public knows nothing about it. There is not, in fact, so far as I am +aware, any general record of the amazing and delightful achievements +which have been made therein of late years. It does not fall within my +province to frame such a record. But at least any person who reads this +unscientific account, not daunted by the title, will understand the +fascination of the study. + +These essays profess to be no more than chat of a literary man about +orchids. They contain a multitude of facts, told in some detail where +such attention seems necessary, which can only be found elsewhere in +baldest outline if found at all. Everything that relates to orchids has +a charm for me, and I have learned to hold it as an article of faith +that pursuits which interest one member of the cultured public will +interest all, if displayed clearly and pleasantly, in a form to catch +attention at the outset. Savants and professionals have kept the +delights of orchidology to themselves as yet. They smother them in +scientific treatises, or commit them to dry earth burial in gardening +books. Very few outsiders suspect that any amusement could be found +therein. Orchids are environed by mystery, pierced now and again by a +brief announcement that something with an incredible name has been sold +for a fabulous number of guineas; which passing glimpse into an unknown +world makes it more legendary than before. It is high time such noxious +superstitions were dispersed. Surely, I think, this volume will do the +good work--if the public will read it. + +The illustrations are reduced from those delightful drawings by Mr. Moon +admired throughout the world in the pages of "Reichenbachia." The +licence to use them is one of many favours for which I am indebted to +the proprietors of that stately work. + +I do not give detailed instructions for culture. No one could be more +firmly convinced that a treatise on that subject is needed, for no one +assuredly has learned, by more varied and disastrous experience, to see +the omissions of the text-books. They are written for the initiated, +though designed for the amateur. Naturally it is so. A man who has been +brought up to business can hardly resume the utter ignorance of the +neophyte. Unconsciously he will take a certain degree of knowledge for +granted, and he will neglect to enforce those elementary principles +which are most important of all. Nor is the writer of a gardening book +accustomed, as a rule, to marshal his facts in due order, to keep +proportion, to assure himself that his directions will be exactly +understood by those who know nothing. + +The brief hints in "Reichenbachia" are admirable, but one does not +cheerfully refer to an authority in folio. Messrs. Veitch's "Manual of +Orchidaceous Plants" is a model of lucidity and a mine of information. +Repeated editions of Messrs. B.S. Williams' "Orchid Growers' Manual" +have proved its merit, and, upon the whole, I have no hesitation in +declaring that this is the most useful work which has come under my +notice. But they are all adapted for those who have passed the +elementary stage. + +Thus, if I have introduced few remarks on culture, it is not because I +think them needless. The reason may be frankly confessed. I am not sure +that my time would be duly paid. If this little book should reach a +second edition, I will resume once more the ignorance that was mine +eight years ago, and as a fellow-novice tell the unskilled amateur how +to grow orchids. + +FREDERICK BOYLE. + +North Lodge, Addiscombe, 1893. + + + + +ABOUT ORCHIDS. + + + + +MY GARDENING. + + +I. + +The contents of my Bungalow gave material for some "Legends" which +perhaps are not yet universally forgotten. I have added few curiosities +to the list since that work was published. My days of travel seem to be +over; but in quitting that happiest way of life--not willingly--I have +had the luck to find another occupation not less interesting, and better +suited to grey hairs and stiffened limbs. This volume deals with the +appurtenances of my Bungalow, as one may say--the orchid-houses. But a +man who has almost forgotten what little knowledge he gathered in youth +about English plants does not readily turn to that higher branch of +horticulture. More ignorant even than others, he will cherish all the +superstitions and illusions which environ the orchid family. +Enlightenment is a slow process, and he will make many experiences +before perceiving his true bent. How I came to grow orchids will be told +in this first article. + +The ground at my disposal is a quarter of an acre. From that tiny area +deduct the space occupied by my house, and it will be seen that myriads +of good people dwelling in the suburbs, whose garden, to put it +courteously, is not sung by poets, have as much land as I. The aspect is +due north--a grave disadvantage. Upon that side, from the house-wall to +the fence, I have forty-five feet, on the east fifty feet, on the south +sixty feet, on the west a mere _ruelle_. Almost every one who works out +these figures will laugh, and the remainder sneer. Here's a garden to +write about! That area might do for a tennis-court or for a general +meeting of Mr. Frederic Harrison's persuasion. You might kennel a pack +of hounds there, or beat a carpet, or assemble those members of the +cultured class who admire Mr. Gladstone. But grow flowers--roses--to cut +by the basketful, fruit to make jam for a jam-eating household the year +round, mushrooms, tomatoes, water-lilies, orchids; those Indian jugglers +who bring a mango-tree to perfection on your verandah in twenty minutes +might be able to do it, but not a consistent Christian. Nevertheless I +affirm that I have done all these things, and I shall even venture to +make other demands upon the public credulity. + +When I first surveyed my garden sixteen years ago, a big Cupressus stood +before the front door, in a vast round bed one half of which would yield +no flowers at all, and the other half only spindlings. This was +encircled by a carriage-drive! A close row of limes, supported by more +Cupressus, overhung the palings all round; a dense little shrubbery hid +the back door; a weeping-ash, already tall and handsome, stood to +eastward. Curiously green and snug was the scene under these conditions, +rather like a forest glade; but if the space available be considered and +allowance be made for the shadow of all those trees, any tiro can +calculate the room left for grass and flowers--and the miserable +appearance of both. Beyond that dense little shrubbery the soil was +occupied with potatoes mostly, and a big enclosure for hens. + +First I dug up the fine Cupressus. They told me such a big tree could +not possibly "move;" but it did, and it now fills an out-of-the-way +place as usefully as ornamentally. I suppressed the carriage-drive, +making a straight path broad enough for pedestrians only, and cut down a +number of the trees. The blessed sunlight recognized my garden once +more. Then I rooted out the shrubbery; did away with the fowl-house, +using its materials to build two little sheds against the back fence; +dug up the potato-garden--made _tabula rasa_, in fact; dismissed my +labourers, and considered. I meant to be my own gardener. But already, +sixteen years ago, I had a dislike of stooping. To kneel was almost as +wearisome. Therefore I adopted the system of raised beds--common enough. +Returning home, however, after a year's absence, I found my oak posts +decaying--unseasoned, doubtless, when put in. To prevent trouble of this +sort in future, I substituted drain-pipes set on end; the first of those +ideas which have won commendation from great authorities. Drain-pipes do +not encourage insects. Filled with earth, each bears a showy +plant--lobelia, pyrethrum, saxifrage, or what not, with the utmost +neatness, making a border; and they last eternally. But there was still +much stooping, of course, whilst I became more impatient of it. One day +a remedy flashed through my mind: that happy thought which became the +essence or principle of my gardening, and makes this account thereof +worth attention perhaps. Why not raise to a comfortable level all parts +of the area over which I had need to bend? Though no horticulturist, +perhaps, ever had such a thought before, expense was the sole objection +visible. Called away just then for another long absence, I gave orders +that no "dust" should leave the house; and found a monstrous heap on my +return. The road-contractors supplied "sweepings" at a shilling a load. +Beginning at the outskirts of my property, I raised a mound three feet +high and three feet broad, replanted the shrubs on the back edge, and +left a handsome border for flowers. So well this succeeded, so admirably +every plant throve in that compost, naturally drained and lifted to the +sunlight, that I enlarged my views. + +The soil is gravel, peculiarly bad for roses; and at no distant day my +garden was a swamp, not unchronicled had we room to dwell on such +matters. The bit of lawn looked decent only at midsummer. I first +tackled the rose question. The bushes and standards, such as they were, +faced south, of course--that is, behind the house. A line of fruit-trees +there began to shade them grievously. Experts assured me that if I +raised a bank against these, of such a height as I proposed, they would +surely die; I paid no attention to the experts, nor did my fruit-trees. +The mound raised is, in fact, a crescent on the inner edge, thirty feet +broad, seventy feet between the horns, square at the back behind the +fruit-trees; a walk runs there, between it and the fence, and in the +narrow space on either hand I grow such herbs as one cannot easily +buy--chervil, chives, tarragon. Also I have beds of celeriac, and cold +frames which yield a few cucumbers in the summer when emptied of plants. +Not one inch of ground is lost in my garden. + +The roses occupy this crescent. After sinking to its utmost now, the +bank stands two feet six inches above the gravel path. At that elevation +they defied the shadow for years, and for the most part they will +continue to do so as long as I feel any interest in their well-being. +But there is a space, the least important fortunately, where the shade, +growing year by year, has got the mastery. That space I have surrendered +frankly, covering it over with the charming saxifrage, _S. hypnoides_, +through which in spring push bluebells, primroses, and miscellaneous +bulbs, while the exquisite green carpet frames pots of scarlet geranium +and such bright flowers, movable at will. That saxifrage, indeed, is one +of my happiest devices. Finding that grass would not thrive upon the +steep bank of my mounds, I dotted them over with tufts of it, which have +spread, until at this time they are clothed in vivid green the year +round, and white as an untouched snowdrift in spring. Thus also the +foot-wide paths of my rose-beds are edged; and a neater or a lovelier +border could not be imagined. + +With such a tiny space of ground the choice of roses is very important. +Hybrids take up too much room for general service. One must have a few +for colour; but the mass should be Teas, Noisettes, and, above all, +Bengals. This day, the second week in October, I can pick fifty roses; +and I expect to do so every morning till the end of the month in a sunny +autumn. They will be mostly Bengals; but there are two exquisite +varieties sold by Messrs. Paul--I forget which of them--nearly as free +flowering. These are Camoens and Mad. J. Messimy. They have a tint +unlike any other rose; they grow strongly for their class, and the bloom +is singularly graceful. + +The tiny but vexatious lawn was next attacked. I stripped off the turf, +planted drain-pipes along the gravel walk, filled in with road-sweepings +to the level of their tops, and relaid the turf. It is now a little +picture of a lawn. Each drain-pipe was planted with a cutting of ivy, +which now form a beautiful evergreen roll beside the path. Thus as you +walk in my garden, everywhere the ground is more or less above its +natural level; raised so high here and there that you cannot look over +the plants which crown the summit. Any gardener at least will understand +how luxuriantly everything grows and flowers under such conditions. +Enthusiastic visitors declare that I have "scenery," and picturesque +effects, and delightful surprises, in my quarter-acre of ground! +Certainly I have flowers almost enough, and fruit, and perfect seclusion +also. Though there are houses all round within a few yards, you catch +but a glimpse of them at certain points while the trees are still +clothed. Those mounds are all the secret. + + +II. + +I was my own gardener, and sixteen years ago I knew nothing whatever of +the business. The process of education was almost as amusing as +expensive; but that fashion of humour is threadbare. In those early days +I would have none of your geraniums, hardy perennials, and such common +things. Diligently studying the "growers'" catalogues, I looked out, +not novelties alone, but curious novelties. Not one of them "did any +good" to the best of my recollection. Impatient and disgusted, I formed +several extraordinary projects to evade my ignorance of horticulture. +Among others which I recollect was an idea of growing bulbs the year +round! No trouble with bulbs! you just plant them and they do their +duty. A patient friend at Kew made me a list of genera and species +which, if all went well, should flower in succession. But there was a +woeful gap about midsummer--just the time when gardens ought to be +brightest. Still, I resolved to carry out the scheme, so far as it went, +and forwarded my list to Covent Garden for an estimate of the expense. +It amounted to some hundreds of pounds. So that notion fell through. + +But the patient friend suggested something for which I still cherish his +memory. He pointed out that bulbs look very formal mostly, unless +planted in great quantities, as may be done with the cheap sorts--tulips +and such. An undergrowth of low brightly-coloured annuals would correct +this disadvantage. I caught the hint, and I profit by it to this more +enlightened day. Spring bulbs are still a _specialite_ of my gardening. +I buy them fresh every autumn--but of Messrs. Protheroe and Morris, in +Cheapside; not at the dealers'. Thus they are comparatively inexpensive. +After planting my tulips, narcissus, and such tall things, however, I +clothe the beds with forget-me-not or _Silene pendula_, or both, which +keep them green through the winter and form a dense carpet in spring. +Through it the bulbs push, and both flower at the same time. Thus my +brilliant tulips, snowy narcissus poeticus, golden daffodils, rise above +and among a sheet of blue or pink--one or the other to match their +hue--and look infinitely more beautiful on that ground colour. I venture +to say, indeed, that no garden on earth can be more lovely than mine +while the forget-me-not and the bulbs are flowering together. This may +be a familiar practice, but I never met with it elsewhere. + +Another wild scheme I recollect. Water-plants need no attention. The +most skilful horticulturist cannot improve, the most ignorant cannot +harm them. I seriously proposed to convert my lawn into a tank two feet +deep lined with Roman cement and warmed by a furnace, there to grow +tropical nymphaea, with a vague "et cetera." The idea was not so +absolutely mad as the unlearned may think, for two of my relatives were +first and second to flower _Victoria Regia_ in the open-air--but they +had more than a few feet of garden. The chances go, in fact, that it +would have been carried through had I been certain of remaining in +England for the time necessary. Meanwhile I constructed two big tanks of +wood lined with sheet-zinc, and a small one to stand on legs. The +experts were much amused. Neither fish nor plant, they said, could live +in a zinc vessel. They proved to be right in the former case, but +utterly wrong in the latter--which, you will observe, is their special +domain. I grew all manner of hardy nymphaea and aquatics for years, until +my big tanks sprung a leak. Having learned by that time the ABC, at +least, of _terra-firma_ gardening, I did not trouble to have them +mended. On the contrary, making more holes, I filled the centre with +Pampas grass and variegated Eulalias, set lady-grass and others round, +and bordered the whole with lobelia--renewing, in fact, somewhat of the +spring effect. Next year, however, I shall plant them with _Anomatheca +cruenta_--quaintest of flowering grasses, if a grass it must be called. +This charming species from South Africa is very little known; readers +who take the hint will be grateful to me. They will find it decidedly +expensive bought by the plant, as growers prefer to sell. But, with a +little pressing seed may be obtained, and it multiplies fast. I find +_Anomatheca cruenta_ hardy in my sheltered garden. + +The small tank on legs still remains, and I cut a few _Nymphaea odorata_ +every year. But it is mostly given up to _Aponogeton distachyon_--the +"Cape lily." They seed very freely in the open; and if this tank lay in +the ground, long since their exquisite white flowers, so strange in +shape and so powerful of scent, would have stood as thick as blades of +grass upon it--such a lovely sight as was beheld in the garden of the +late Mr. Harrison, at Shortlands. But being raised two feet or so, with +a current of air beneath, its contents are frozen to a solid block, soil +and all, again and again, each winter. That a Cape plant should survive +such treatment seems incredible--contrary to all the books. But my +established Aponogeton do somehow; only the seedlings perish. Here again +is a useful hint, I trust. But evidently it would be better, if +convenient, to take the bulbs indoors before frost sets in. + +Having water thus at hand, it very soon occurred to me to make war upon +the slugs by propagating their natural enemies. Those banks and borders +of _Saxifraga hypnoides_, to which I referred formerly, exact some +precaution of the kind. Much as every one who sees admires them, the +slugs, no doubt, are more enthusiastic still. Therefore I do not +recommend that idea, unless it be supplemented by some effective method +of combating a grave disadvantage. My own may not commend itself to +every one. Each spring I entrust some casual little boy with a pail; he +brings it back full of frog-spawn and receives sixpence. I speculate +sometimes with complacency how many thousand of healthy and industrious +batrachians I have reared and turned out for the benefit of my +neighbours. Enough perhaps, but certainly no more, remain to serve +me--that I know because the slugs give very little trouble in spite of +the most favourable circumstances. You can always find frogs in my +garden by looking for them, but of the thousands hatched every year, +ninety-nine per cent. must vanish. Do blackbirds and thrushes eat young +frogs? They are strangely abundant with me. But those who cultivate +tadpoles must look over the breeding-pond from time to time. My whole +batch was devoured one year by "devils"--the larvae of _Dytiscus +marginalis_, the Plunger beetle. I have benefited, or at least have +puzzled my neighbours also by introducing to them another sort of frog. +Three years ago I bought twenty-five Hyloe, the pretty green tree +species, to dwell in my Odontoglossum house and exterminate the +insects. Every ventilator there is covered with perforated zinc--to +prevent insects getting in; but, by some means approaching the +miraculous, all my Hyloe contrived to escape. Several were caught in +the garden and put back, but again they found their way to the open-air; +and presently my fruit-trees became vocal. So far, this is the +experience of every one, probably, who has tried to keep green frogs. +But in my case they survived two winters--one which everybody +recollects, the most severe of this generation. My frogs sang merrily +through the summer; but all in a neighbour's garden. I am not acquainted +with that family; but it is cheering to think how much innocent +diversion I have provided for its members. + +Pleasant also it is, by the way, to vindicate the character of green +frogs. I never heard them spoken of by gardeners but with contempt. Not +only do they persist in escaping; more than that, they decline to catch +insects, sitting motionless all day long--pretty, if you like, but +useless. The fact is, that all these creatures are nocturnal of habit. +Very few men visit their orchid-houses at night, as I do constantly. +They would see the frogs active enough then, creeping with wondrous +dexterity among the leaves, and springing like a green flash upon their +prey. Naturally, therefore, they do not catch thrips or mealy-bug or +aphis; these are too small game for the midnight sports-man. Wood-lice, +centipedes, above all, cockroaches, those hideous and deadly foes of the +orchid, are their victims. All who can keep them safe should have green +frogs by the score in every house which they do not fumigate. + +I have come to the orchids at last. It follows, indeed, almost of +necessity that a man who has travelled much, an enthusiast in +horticulture, should drift into that branch as years advance. Modesty +would be out of place here. I have had successes, and if it please +Heaven, I shall win more. But orchid culture is not to be dealt with at +the end of an article. + + +III. + +In the days of my apprenticeship I put up a big greenhouse: unable to +manage plants in the open-air, I expected to succeed with them under +unnatural conditions! These memories are strung together with the hope +of encouraging a forlorn and desperate amateur here or there; and surely +that confession will cheer him. However deep his ignorance, it could +not possibly be more finished than mine some dozen years ago; and yet I +may say, _Je suis arrive_! What that greenhouse cost, "chilled +remembrance shudders" to recall; briefly, six times the amount, at +least, which I should find ample now. And it was all wrong when done; +not a trace of the original arrangement remains at this time, but there +are inherent defects. Nothing throve, of course--except the insects. +Mildew seized my roses as fast as I put them in; camellias dropped their +buds with rigid punctuality; azaleas were devoured by thrips; "bugs," +mealy and scaly, gathered to the feast; geraniums and pelargoniums grew +like giants, but declined to flower. I consulted the local authority who +was responsible for the well-being of a dozen gardens in the +neighbourhood--an expert with a character to lose, from whom I bought +largely. Said he, after a thorough inspection: "This concrete floor +holds the water; you must have it swept carefully night and morning." +That worthy man had a large business. His advice was sought by scores of +neighbours like myself. And I tell the story as a warning; for he +represents no small section of his class. My plants wanted not less but +a great deal more water on that villainous concrete floor. + +Despairing of horticulture indoors as out, I sometimes thought of +orchids. I had seen much of them in their native homes, both East and +West--enough to understand that their growth is governed by strict law. +Other plants--roses and so forth--are always playing tricks. They must +have this and that treatment at certain times, the nature of which could +not be precisely described, even if gardening books were written by men +used to carry all the points of a subject in their minds, and to express +exactly what they mean. Experience alone, of rather a dirty and +uninteresting class, will give the skill necessary for success. And then +they commit villanies of ingratitude beyond explanation. I knew that +orchids must be quite different. Each class demands certain conditions +as a preliminary: if none of them can be provided, it is a waste of +money to buy plants. But when the needful conditions are present, and +the poor things, thus relieved of a ceaseless preoccupation, can attend +to business, it follows like a mathematical demonstration that if you +treat them in such and such a way, such and such results will assuredly +ensue. I was not aware then that many defy the most patient analysis of +cause and effect. That knowledge is familiar now; but it does not touch +the argument. Those cases also are governed by rigid laws, which we do +not yet understand. + +Therefore I perceived or suspected, at an early date, that orchid +culture is, as one may say, the natural province of an intelligent and +enthusiastic amateur who has not the technical skill required for +growing common plants. For it is brain-work--the other mechanical. But I +shared the popular notion--which seems so very absurd now--that they are +costly both to purchase and to keep: shared it so ingenuously that I +never thought to ask myself how or why they could be more expensive, +after the first outlay, than azaleas or gardenias. And meanwhile I was +laboriously and impatiently gathering some comprehension of the ordinary +plants. It was accident which broke the spell of ignorance. Visiting +Stevens' Auction Rooms one day to buy bulbs, I saw a _Cattleya Mossiae_, +in bloom, which had not found a purchaser at the last orchid sale. A +lucky impulse tempted me to ask the price. "Four shillings," said the +invaluable Charles. I could not believe it--there must be a mistake: as +if Charles ever made a mistake in his life! When he repeated the price, +however, I seized that precious Cattleya, slapped down the money, and +fled with it along King Street, fearing pursuit. Since no one followed, +and Messrs. Stevens did not write within the next few days reclaiming +my treasure, I pondered the incident calmly. Perhaps they had been +selling bankrupt stock, and perhaps they often do so. Presently I +returned. + +"Charles!" I said, "you sold me a _Cattleya Mossiae_ the other day." + +Charles, in shirt-sleeves of course, was analyzing and summing up half a +hundred loose sheets of figures, as calm and sure as a calculating +machine. "I know I did, sir," he replied, cheerfully. + +"It was rather dear, wasn't it?" I said. + +"That's your business, sir," he laughed. + +"Could I often get an established plant of _Cattleya Mossiae_ in flower +for 4s.?" I asked. + +"Give me the order, and I'll supply as many as you are likely to want +within a month." + +That was a revelation; and I tell the little story because I know it +will be a revelation to many others. People hear of great sums paid for +orchids, and they fancy that such represent only the extreme limits of +an average. In fact, they have no relation whatsoever to the ordinary +price. One of our largest general growers, who has but lately begun +cultivating those plants, tells me that half-a-crown is the utmost he +has paid for Cattleyas and Dendrobes, one shilling for Odontoglots and +Oncidiums. At these rates he has now a fine collection, many turning up +among the lot for which he asks, and gets, as many pounds as the pence +he gave. For such are imported, of course, and sold at auction as they +arrive. This is not an article on orchids, but on "My Gardening," or I +could tell some extraordinary tales. Briefly, I myself once bought a +case two feet long, a foot wide, half-full of Odontoglossums for 8s. 6d. +They were small bits, but perfect in condition. Of the fifty-three +pots they made, not one, I think, has been lost. I sold the less +valuable some years ago, when established and tested, at a fabulous +profit. Another time I bought three "strings" of _O. Alexandrae_, the +Pacho variety, which is finest, for 15s. They filled thirty-six pots, +some three to a pot, for I could not make room for them all singly. +Again--but this is enough. I only wish to demonstrate, for the service +of very small amateurs like myself, that costliness at least is no +obstacle if they have a fancy for this culture: unless, of course, they +demand wonders and "specimens." + +That _Cattleya Mossiae_, was my first orchid, bought in 1884. It dwindled +away, and many another followed it to limbo; but I knew enough, as has +been said, to feel neither surprised nor angry. First of all, it is +necessary to understand the general conditions, and to secure them. +Books give little help in this stage of education; they all lack detail +in the preliminaries. I had not the good fortune to come across a friend +or a gardener who grasped what was wrong until I found out for myself. +For instance, no one told me that the concrete flooring of my house was +a fatal error. When, a little disheartened, I made a new one, by glazing +that _ruelle_ mentioned in the preliminary survey of my garden, they +allowed me to repeat it. Ingenious were my contrivances to keep the air +moist, but none answered. It is not easy to find a material trim and +clean which can be laid over concrete, but unless one can discover such, +it is useless to grow orchids. I have no doubt that ninety-nine cases of +failure in a hundred among amateurs are due to an unsuitable flooring. +Glazed tiles, so common, are infinitely worst of all. May my experience +profit others in like case! + +Looking over the trade list of a man who manufactures orchid-pots one +day, I observed, "Sea-sand for Garden Walks," and the preoccupation of +years was dissipated. Sea-sand will hold water, yet will keep a firm, +clean surface; it needs no rolling, does not show footprints nor muddy a +visitor's boots. By next evening the floors were covered therewith six +inches deep, and forthwith my orchids began to flourish--not only to +live. Long since, of course, I had provided a supply of water from the +main to each house for "damping down." All round them now a leaden pipe +was fixed, with pin-holes twelve inches apart, and a length of +indiarubber hose at the end to fix upon the "stand-pipe." Attaching +this, I turn the cock, and from each tiny hole spurts forth a jet, which +in ten minutes will lay the whole floor under water, and convert the +house into a shallow pond; but five minutes afterwards not a sign of the +deluge is visible. Then I felt the joys of orchid culture. Much remained +to learn--much still remains. We have some five thousand species in +cultivation, of which an alarming number demand some difference of +treatment if one would grow them to perfection. The amateur does not +easily collect nor remember all this, and he is apt to be daunted if he +inquire too deeply before "letting himself go." Such in especial I would +encourage. Perfection is always a noble aim; but orchids do not exact +it--far from that! The dear creatures will struggle to fulfil your +hopes, to correct your errors, with pathetic patience. Give them but a +chance, and they will await the progress of your education. That chance +lies, as has been said, in the general conditions--the degree of +moisture you can keep in the air, the ventilation, and the light. These +secured, you may turn up the books, consult the authorities, and +gradually accumulate the knowledge which will enable you to satisfy the +preferences of each class. So, in good time, you may enjoy such a thrill +of pleasure as I felt the other day when a great pundit was good enough +to pay me a call. He entered my tiny Odontoglossum house, looked round, +looked round again, and turned to me. "Sir," he said, "we don't call +this an amateur's collection!" + +I have jotted down such hints of my experience as may be valuable to +others, who, as Juvenal put it, own but a single lizard's run of earth. +That space is enough to yield endless pleasure, amusement, and indeed +profit, if a man cultivate it himself. Enthusiast as I am, I would not +accept another foot of garden.[1] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: It is not inappropriate to record that when these articles +were published in the _St. James' Gazette_, the editor received several +communications warning him that his contributor was abusing his good +faith--to put it in the mild French phrase. Happily, my friend was able +to reply that he could personally vouch for the statements.] + + + + +AN ORCHID SALE. + + +Shortly after noon on a sale day, the habitual customers of Messrs. +Protheroe and Morris begin to assemble in Cheapside. On tables of +roughest plank round the auction-rooms there, are neatly ranged the +various lots; bulbs and sticks of every shape, big and little, withered +or green, dull or shining, with a brown leaf here and there, or a mass +of roots dry as last year's bracken. No promise do they suggest of the +brilliant colours and strange forms buried in embryo within their +uncouth bulk. On a cross table stand some dozens of "established" plants +in pots and baskets, which the owners would like to part with. Their +growths of this year are verdant, but the old bulbs look almost as +sapless as those new arrivals. Very few are in flower just now--July +and August are a time of pause betwixt the glories of the Spring +and the milder effulgence of Autumn. Some great Dendrobes--_D. +Dalhousianum_--are bursting into untimely bloom, betraying to the +initiated that their "establishment" is little more than a phrase. Those +garlands of bud were conceived, so to speak, in Indian forests, have +lain dormant through the long voyage, and began to show a few days since +when restored to a congenial atmosphere. All our interest concentrates +in the unlovely things along the wall. + +The habitual attendants at an auction-room are always somewhat of a +family party, but, as a rule, an ugly one. It is quite different with +the regular group of orchid-buyers. No black sheep there. A dispute is +the rarest of events, and when it happens everybody takes for granted +that the cause is a misunderstanding. The professional growers are men +of wealth, the amateurs men of standing at least. All know each other, +and a cheerful familiarity rules. We have a duke in person frequently, +who compares notes and asks a hint from the authorities around; some +clergymen; gentry of every rank; the recognized agents of great +cultivators, and, of course, the representatives of the large trading +firms. So narrow even yet is the circle of orchidaceans that almost all +the faces at a sale are recognized, and if one wish to learn the names, +somebody present can nearly always supply them. There is reason to hope +that this will not be the case much longer. As the mysteries and +superstitions environing the orchid are dispersed, our small and select +throng of buyers will be swamped, no doubt; and if a certain pleasing +feature of the business be lost, all who love the flower and their +fellow-men alike will cheerfully submit. + +The talk is of orchids mostly, as these gentlemen stroll along the +tables, lifting a root and scrutinizing it with practised glance that +measures its vital strength in a second. But nurserymen take advantage +of the gathering to show any curious or striking flower they chance to +have at the moment. Mr. Bull's representative goes round, showing to one +and another the contents of a little box--a lovely bloom of +_Aristolochia elegans_, figured in dark red on white ground like a +sublime cretonne--and a new variety of Impatiens; he distributes the +latter presently, and gentlemen adorn their coats with the pale crimson +flower. + +Excitement does not often run so high as in the times, which most of +those present can recall, when orchids common now were treasured by +millionaires. Steam, and the commercial enterprise it fosters, have so +multiplied our stocks, that shillings--or pence, often enough--represent +the guineas of twenty years back. There are many here, scarcely yet +grey, who could describe the scene when _Masdevallia Tovarensis_ first +covered the stages of an auction-room. Its dainty white flowers had been +known for several years. A resident in the German colony at Tovar, New +Granada, sent one plant to a friend at Manchester, by whom it was +divided. Each fragment brought a great sum, and the purchasers repeated +this operation as fast as their morsels grew. Thus a conventional price +was established--one guinea per leaf. Importers were few in those days, +and the number of Tovars in South America bewildered them. At length +Messrs. Sander got on the track, and commissioned Mr. Arnold to solve +the problem. Arnold was a man of great energy and warm temper. Legend +reports that he threw up the undertaking once because a gun offered him +was second-hand; his prudence was vindicated afterwards by the +misfortune of a _confrere_, poor Berggren, whose second-hand gun, +presented by a Belgian employer, burst at a critical moment and crippled +him for life. At the very moment of starting, Arnold had trouble with +the railway officials. He was taking a quantity of Sphagnum moss in +which to wrap the precious things, and they refused to let him carry it +by passenger train. The station-master at Waterloo had never felt the +atmosphere so warm, they say. In brief, this was a man who stood no +nonsense. + +A young fellow-passenger showed much sympathy while the row went on, and +Arnold learned with pleasure that he also was bound for Caraccas. This +young man, whose name it is not worth while to cite, presented himself +as agent for a manufacturer of Birmingham goods. There was no need for +secrecy with a person of that sort. He questioned Arnold about orchids +with a blank but engaging ignorance of the subject, and before the +voyage was over he had learned all his friend's hopes and projects. But +the deception could not be maintained at Caraccas. There Arnold +discovered that the hardware agent was a collector and grower of orchids +sufficiently well known. He said nothing, suffered his rival to start, +overtook him at a village where the man was taking supper, marched in, +barred the door, sat down opposite, put a revolver on the table, and +invited him to draw. It should be a fair fight, said Arnold, but one of +the pair must die. So convinced was the traitor of his earnestness--with +good reason, too, as Arnold's acquaintances declare--that he slipped +under the table, and discussed terms of abject surrender from that +retreat. So, in due time, Messrs. Sander received more than forty +thousand plants of _Masdevallia Tovarensis_--sent them direct to the +auction-room--and drove down the price in one month from a guinea a leaf +to the fraction of a shilling. + +Other great sales might be recalled, as that of _Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_ +and _Vanda Sanderiana_, when a sum as yet unparalleled was taken in the +room; _Cypripedium Spicerianum_, _Cyp. Curtisii_, _Loelia anceps alba_. +Rarely now are we thrilled by sensations like these. But 1891 brought +two of the old-fashioned sort, the reappearance of _Cattleya labiata +autumnalis_ and the public sale of _Dendrobium phaloenopsis +Schroderianum_. The former event deserves a special article, "The Lost +Orchid;" but the latter also was most interesting. Messrs. Sander are +the heroes of both. _Dendrobium ph. Schroederianum_ was not quite a +novelty. The authorities of Kew obtained two plants from an island in +Australasia a good many years ago. They presented a piece to Mr. Lee of +Leatherhead, and another to Baron Schroeder; when Mr. Lee's grand +collection was dispersed, the Baron bought his plant also, for L35, and +thus possessed the only specimens in private hands. His name was given +to the species. + +Under these conditions, the man lucky and enterprising enough to secure +a few cases of the Dendrobium might look for a grand return. It seemed +likely that New Guinea would prove to be its chief habitat, and thither +Mr. Micholitz was despatched. He found it without difficulty, and +collected a great number of plants. But then troubles began. The vessel +which took them aboard caught fire in port, and poor Micholitz escaped +with bare life. He telegraphed the disastrous news, "Ship burnt! What +do?" "Go back," replied his employer. "Too late. Rainy season," was the +answer. "Go back!" Mr. Sander repeated. Back he went. + +This was in Dutch territory. "Well," writes Mr. Micholitz, "there is no +doubt these are the meanest people on earth. On my telling them that it +was very mean to demand anything from a shipwrecked man, they gave me +thirty per cent. deduction on my passage"--201 dollars instead of 280 +dollars. However, he reached New Guinea once more and tried fresh +ground, having exhausted the former field. Again he found the +Dendrobiums, of better quality and in greater number than before. But +they were growing among bones and skeletons, in the graveyard of the +natives. Those people lay their dead in a slight coffin, which they +place upon the rocks just above high tide, a situation which the +Dendrobes love. Mr. Micholitz required all his tact and all his most +attractive presents before he could persuade the Papuans to let him even +approach. But brass wire proved irresistible. They not only suffered him +to disturb the bones of their ancestors, but even helped him to stow the +plunder. One condition they made: that a favourite idol should be packed +therewith; this admitted, they performed a war dance round the cases, +and assisted in transporting them. All went well this time, and in due +course the tables were loaded with thousands of a plant which, before +the consignment was announced, had been the special glory of a +collection which is among the richest of the universe. + +There were two memorable items in this sale: the idol aforesaid and a +skull to which one of the Dendrobes had attached itself. Both were +exhibited as trophies and curiosities, not to be disposed of; but by +mistake, the idol was put up. It fetched only a trifle--quite as much as +it was worth, however. But Hon. Walter de Rothschild fancied it for his +museum, and on learning what had happened Mr. Sander begged the +purchaser to name his own price. That individual refused. + +It was a great day indeed. Very many of the leading orchid-growers of +the world were present, and almost all had their gardeners or agents +there. Such success called rivals into the field, but New Guinea is a +perilous land to explore. Only last week we heard that Mr. White, of +Winchmore Hill, has perished in the search for _Dendrobium ph. +Schroederianum_. + +I mentioned the great sale of _Cyp. Curtisi_ just now. An odd little +story attaches to it. Mr. Curtis, now Director of the Botanic Gardens, +Penang, sent this plant home from Sumatra when travelling for Messrs. +Veitch, in 1882. The consignment was small, no more followed, and _Cyp. +Curtisi_ became a prize. Its habitat was unknown. Mr. Sander instructed +his collector to look for it. Five years the search lasted--with many +intermissions, of course, and many a success in discovering other fine +things. But Mr. Ericksson despaired at last. In one of his expeditions +to Sumatra he climbed a mountain--it has been observed before that one +must not ask details of locality when collecting orchid legends. So well +known is this mountain, however, that the Government, Dutch I presume, +has built a shelter for travellers upon it. There Mr. Ericksson put up +for the night. Several Europeans had inscribed their names upon the +wall, with reflections and sentiments, as is the wont of people who +climb mountains. Among these, by the morning light, Mr. Ericksson +perceived the sketch of a Cypripedium, as he lay upon his rugs. It +represented a green flower, white tipped, veined and spotted with +purple, purple of lip. "_Curtisi_, by Jove!" he cried, in his native +Swedish, and jumped up. No doubt of it! Beneath the drawing ran: "C.C.'s +contribution to the adornment of this house." Whipping out his pencil, +Mr. Ericksson wrote: "Contribution accepted. Cypripedium +collected!--C.E." But day by day he sought the plant in vain. His cases +filled with other treasures. But for the hope that sketch conveyed, long +since he would have left the spot. After all, Mr. Curtis might have +chosen the flower by mere chance to decorate the wall. The natives did +not know it. So orders were given to pack, and next day Mr. Ericksson +would have withdrawn. On the very evening, however, one of his men +brought in the flower. A curious story, if one think, but I am in a +position to guarantee its truth. + +Of another class, but not less renowned in its way, was the sale of +March 11th last year. It had been heavily advertised. A leading +continental importer announced the discovery of a new Odontoglossum. No +less than six varieties of type were employed to call public attention +to its merits, and this was really no extravagant allowance under the +circumstances alleged. It was a "grand new species," destined to be a +"gem in the finest collections," a "favourite," the "most attractive of +plants." Its flowers were wholly "tinged with a most delicate mauve, the +base of the segment and the lip of a most charming violet"--in short, it +was "the blue Odontoglossum" and well deserved the title _coeleste_. +And the whole stock of two hundred plants would be offered to British +enthusiasm. No wonder the crowd was thick at Messrs. Protheroe's room on +that March morning. Few leading amateurs or growers who could not attend +in person were unrepresented. At the psychological moment, when +eagerness had reached the highest pitch, an orchid was brought in and +set before them. Those experienced persons glanced at it and said, "Very +nice, but haven't you an _Odontoglossum coeleste_ to show?" The +unhappy agent protested that this was the divine thing. No one would +believe at first; the joke was too good--to put it in that mild form. +When at length it became evident that this grand new species, heavenly +gem, &c., was the charming but familiar _Odontoglossum ramossissimum_, +such a tumult of laughter and indignation arose, that Messrs. Protheroe +quashed the sale. A few other instances of the kind might be given but +none so grand. + +The special interest of the sale to us lies in some novelties collected +by Mr. Edward Wallace in parts unknown, and he is probably among us. Mr. +Wallace has no adventures in particular to relate this time, but he +tells, with due caution, where and how his treasures were gathered in +South America. There is a land which those who have geographical +knowledge sufficient may identify, surrounded by the territories of +Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. It is traversed by some +few Indian tribes, and no collector hitherto had penetrated it. Mr. +Wallace followed the central line of mountains from Colombia for a +hundred and fifty miles, passing a succession of rich valleys described +as the loveliest ever seen by this veteran young traveller, such as +would support myriads of cattle. League beyond league stretches the +"Pajadena grass," pasturage unequalled; but "the wild herds that never +knew a fold" are its only denizens. Here, on the mountain slopes, Mr. +Wallace found _Bletia Sherrattiana_, the white form, very rare; another +terrestrial orchid, unnamed and, as is thought, unknown, which sends up +a branching spike two feet to three feet high, bearing ten to twelve +flowers, of rich purple hue, in shape like a Sobralia, three and four +inches across; and yet another of the same family, growing on the rocks, +and "looking like masses of snow on the hill-side." Such descriptions +are thrilling, but these gentlemen receive them placidly; they would +like to know, perhaps, what is the reserve price on such fine things, +and what the chance of growing them to a satisfactory result. Dealers +have a profound distrust of novelties, especially those of terrestrial +genus; and their feeling is shared, for a like reason, by most who have +large collections. Mr. Burbidge estimates roughly that we have fifteen +hundred to two thousand species and varieties of orchid in cultivation; +a startling figure, which almost justifies the belief of those who hold +that no others worth growing will be found in countries already +explored. But beyond question there are six times this number in +existence, which collectors have not taken the trouble to gather. The +chances, therefore, are against any new thing. Many species well known +show slight differences of growth in different localities. Upon the +whole, regular orchidaceans prefer that some one else should try +experiments, and would rather pay a good price, when assured that it is +worth their while, than a few shillings when the only certainty is +trouble and the strong probability is failure. Mr. Wallace has nothing +more to tell of the undiscovered country. The Indians received him with +composure, after he had struck up friendship with an old woman, and for +the four days of his stay made themselves both useful and agreeable in +their fashion. + +The auctioneer has been chatting among his customers. He feels an +interest in his wares, as who would not that dealt in objects of the +extremest beauty and fascination? To him are consigned occasionally +plants of unusual class, which the owner regards as unique, and expects +to sell at the fanciest of prices. Unique indeed they must be which can +pass unchallenged the ordeal of those keen and learned eyes. _Plumeria +alba_, for instance, may be laid before them, and by no inexperienced +horticulturist, with such a "reserve" as befits one of the most +exquisite flowers known, and the only specimen in England. But a quiet +smile goes round, and a gentleman present offers, in an audible whisper, +to send in a dozen of that next week at a fraction of the price. So +pleasant chat goes on, until, at the stroke of half-past twelve, the +auctioneer mounts his rostrum. First to come before him are a hundred +lots of _Odontoglossum crispum Alexandrae_, described as of "the very +best type, and in splendid condition." For the latter point everyone +present is able to judge, and for the former all are willing to accept +the statements of vendors. The glossy bulbs are clean as new pins, with +the small "eye" just bursting among their roots; but nobody seems to +want _Odontoglossum Alexandrae_ in particular. One neat little bunch is +sold for 11s., which will surely bear a wreath of white flowers, +splashed with red brown, in the spring--perhaps two. And then bidding +ceases. The auctioneer exclaims, "Does anybody want any _crispums_?" and +instantly passes by the ninety-nine lots remaining. + +It would mislead the unlearned public, and would not greatly interest +them, to go through the catalogue of an orchid sale and quote the +selling price of every lot. From week to week the value of these things +fluctuates--that is, of course, of bulbs imported and unestablished. +Various circumstances effect it, but especially the time of year. They +sell best in spring, when they have months of light and sun before them, +in which to recover from the effects of a long voyage and uncomfortable +quarters. The buyer must make them grow strong before the dark days of +an English winter are upon him; and every month that passes weakens his +chance. In August it is already late; in September, the periodical +auctions ceased until lately. Some few consignments will be received, +detained by accident, or forwarded by persons who do not understand the +business. + +That instance of _Odontoglossum Alexandrae_ shows well enough the price +of orchids this month, and the omission of all that followed illustrates +it. The same lots would have been eagerly contested at twice the sum in +April. But those who want that queenliest of flowers may get it for +shillings at any time. The reputation of the importer, and his assurance +that the plants belong to the very best type, give these more value than +usual. He will try his luck once more perhaps this season; and then he +will pot the bulbs unsold to offer them as "established" next year. + +_Oncidium luridum_ follows the Odontoglots, a broad-leaved, handsome +orchid, which the untrained eye might think to have no pseudo-bulb at +all. This species always commands a sale, if cheap, and ten shillings is +a reasonable figure for a piece of common size. If all go well, it may +throw out a branching spike six or seven feet long next summer, +with--such a sight has been offered--several hundred blooms, yellow, +brown and orange, _Oncidium juncifolium_, which comes next, is unknown +to us, and probably to others; no offer is made for its reed-like +growths described as "very free blooming all the year round, with small +yellow flowers." _Epidendrum bicornutum_, on the other hand, is very +well known and deeply admired, when seen; but this is an event too rare. +The description of its exquisite white blossoms, crimson spotted on the +lip, is still rather a legend than a matter of eye-witness. Somebody is +reported to have grown it for some years "like a cabbage;" but his +success was a mystery to himself. At Kew they find no trouble in certain +parts of a certain house. Most of these, however, are fine growths, and +the average price should be 12s. 6d. to 15s. Compare such figures with +those that ruled when the popular impression of the cost of orchids was +forming. I have none at hand which refer to the examples mentioned, but +in the cases following, one may safely reckon shillings at the present +day for pounds in 1846. That year, I perceive, such common species as +_Barkeria spectabilis_ fetched 5l. to 17l. each; _Epidendrum +Stamfordianum_, five guineas; _Dendrobium formosum_, fifteen guineas; +_Aerides maculosum_, _crispum_ and _odoratum_ 20l., 21l., and +16l., respectively. No one who understands orchids will believe that +the specimens which brought such monstrous prices were superior in any +respect to those we now receive, and he will be absolutely sure that +they were landed in much worse condition. But the average cost of the +most expensive at the present day might be 30s., and only a large +piece would fetch that sum. It is astonishing to me that so few people +grow orchids. Every modern book on gardening tells how five hundred +varieties at least, the freest to flower and assuredly as beautiful as +any, may be cultivated without heat for seven or eight months of the +year. It is those "legends," I have spoken of which deter the public +from entertaining the notion. An afternoon at an orchid sale would +dispel them. + + + + +ORCHIDS. + + +There is no room to deal with this great subject historically, +scientifically, or even practically, in the space of a chapter. I am an +enthusiast, and I hold some strong views, but this is not the place to +urge them. It is my purpose to ramble on, following thoughts as they +arise, yet with a definite aim. The skilled reader will find nothing to +criticize, I hope, and the indifferent, something to amuse. + +Those amiable theorists who believe that the resources of Nature, if +they be rightly searched, are able to supply every wholesome want the +fancy of man conceives, have a striking instance in the case of orchids. +At the beginning of this century, the science of floriculture, so far as +it went, was at least as advanced as now. Under many disadvantages which +we escape--the hot-air flue especially, and imperfect means of +ventilation--our fore-fathers grew the plants known to them quite as +well as we do. Many tricks have been discovered since, but for lasting +success assuredly our systems are no improvement. Men interested in such +matters began to long for fresh fields, and they knew where to look. +Linnaeus had told them something of exotic orchids in 1763, though his +knowledge was gained through dried specimens and drawings. One bulb, +indeed--we spare the name--showed life on arrival, had been planted, and +had flowered thirty years before, as Mr. Castle shows. Thus +horticulturists became aware, just when the information was most +welcome, that a large family of plants unknown awaited their attention; +plants quite new, of strangest form, of mysterious habits, and beauty +incomparable. Their notions were vague as yet, but the fascination of +the subject grew from year to year. Whilst several hundred species were +described in books, the number in cultivation, including all those +gathered by Sir Joseph Banks, and our native kinds, was only fifty. Kew +boasted no more than one hundred and eighteen in 1813; amateurs still +watched in timid and breathless hope. + +Gradually they came to see that the new field was open, and they entered +with a rush. In 1830 a number of collections still famous in the legends +of the mystery are found complete. At the Orchid Conference, Mr. O'Brien +expressed a "fear that we could not now match some of the specimens +mentioned at the exhibitions of the Horticultural Society in Chiswick +Gardens between 1835 and 1850;" and extracts which he gave from reports +confirm this suspicion. The number of species cultivated at that time +was comparatively small. People grew magnificent "specimens" in place of +many handsome pots. We read of things amazing to the experience of forty +years later. Among the contributions of Mrs. Lawrence, mother to our +"chief," Sir Trevor, was an Aerides with thirty to forty flower spikes; +a Cattleya with twenty spikes; an _Epidendrum bicornutum_, difficult to +keep alive, much more to bloom, until the last few years, with "many +spikes;" an Oncidium, "bearing a head of golden flowers four feet +across." Giants dwelt in our greenhouses then. + +So the want of enthusiasts was satisfied. In 1852 Mr. B.S. Williams +could venture to publish "Orchids for the Million," a hand-book of +world-wide fame under the title it presently assumed, "The Orchid +Grower's Manual." An occupation or amusement the interest of which grows +year by year had been discovered. All who took trouble to examine found +proof visible that these masterworks of Nature could be transplanted and +could be made to flourish in our dull climate with a regularity and a +certainty unknown to them at home. The difficulties of their culture +were found to be a myth--we speak generally, and this point must be +mentioned again. The "Million" did not yet heed Mr. Williams' +invitation, but the Ten Thousand did, heartily. + +I take it that orchids meet a craving of the cultured soul which began +to be felt at the moment when kindly powers provided means to satisfy +it. People of taste, unless I err, are tiring of those conventional +forms in which beauty has been presented in all past generations. It may +be an unhealthy sentiment, it may be absurd, but my experience is that +it exists and must be taken into account. A picture, a statue, a piece +of china, any work of art, is eternally the same, however charming. The +most one can do is to set it in different positions, different lights. +Theophile Gautier declared in a moment of frank impatience that if the +Transfiguration hung in his study, he would assuredly find blemishes +therein after awhile--quite fanciful and baseless, as he knew, but such, +nevertheless, as would drive him to distraction presently. I entertain a +notion, which may appear very odd to some, that Gautier's influence on +the aesthetic class of men has been more vigorous than that of any other +teacher; thousands who never read a line of his writing are +unconsciously inspired by him. The feeling that gave birth to his +protest nearly two generations since is in the air now. Those who own a +collection of art, those who have paid a great sum for pictures, will +not allow it, naturally. As a rule, indeed, a man looks at his fine +things no more than at his chairs and tables. But he who is best able to +appreciate good work, and loves it best when he sees it, is the one who +grows restless when it stands constantly before him. + +"Oh, that those lips had language!" cried Cowper. "Oh, that those lovely +figures would combine anew--change their light--do anything, anything!" +cries the aesthete after awhile. "Oh, that the wind would rise upon that +glorious sea; the summer green would fade to autumn yellow; that night +would turn to day, clouds to sunshine, or sunshine to clouds." But the +_littera scripta manet_--the stroke of the brush is everlasting. Apollo +always bends the bow in marble. One may read a poem till it is known by +heart, and in another second the familiar words strike fresh upon the +ear. Painters lay a canvas aside, and presently come to it, as they say, +with a new eye; but a purchaser once seized with this desperate malady +has no such refuge. After putting his treasure away for years, at the +first glance all his satiety returns. I myself have diagnosed a case +where a fine drawing by Gerome grew to be a veritable incubus. It is +understood that the market for pictures is falling yearly. I believe +that the growth of this dislike to the eternal stillness of a painted +scene is a chief cause of the disaster. It operates among the best class +of patrons. + +For such men orchids are a blessed relief. Fancy has not conceived such +loveliness, complete all round, as theirs--form, colour, grace, +distribution, detail, and broad effect. Somewhere, years ago--in Italy +perhaps, but I think at the Taylor Institution, Oxford--I saw the +drawings made by Rafaelle for Leo X. of furniture and decoration in his +new palace; be it observed in parenthesis, that one who has not beheld +the master's work in this utilitarian style of art has but a limited +understanding of his supremacy. Among them were idealizations of +flowers, beautiful and marvellous as fairyland, but compared with the +glory divine that dwells in a garland of _Odontoglossum Alexandrae_, +artificial, earthy. Illustrations of my meaning are needless to experts, +and to others words convey no idea. But on the table before me now +stands a wreath of _Oncidium crispum_ which I cannot pass by. What +colourist would dare to mingle these lustrous browns with pale gold, +what master of form could shape the bold yet dainty waves and crisps and +curls in its broad petals, what human imagination could bend the +graceful curve, arrange the clustering masses of its bloom? All beauty +that the mind can hold is there--the quintessence of all charm and +fancy. Were I acquainted with an atheist who, by possibility, had brain +and feeling, I would set that spray before him and await reply. If +Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a lily of the field, the +angels of heaven have no vesture more ethereal than the flower of the +orchid. Let us take breath. + +Many persons indifferent to gardening--who are repelled, indeed, by its +prosaic accompaniments, the dirt, the manure, the formality, the spade, +the rake, and all that--love flowers nevertheless. For such these plants +are more than a relief. Observe my Oncidium. It stands in a pot, but +this is only for convenience--a receptacle filled with moss. The long +stem feathered with great blossoms springs from a bare slab of wood. No +mould nor peat surrounds it; there is absolutely nothing save the roots +that twine round their support, and the wire that sustains it in the +air. It asks no attention beyond its daily bath. From the day I tied it +on that block last year--reft from home and all its pleasures, bought +with paltry silver at Stevens' Auction Rooms--I have not touched it save +to dip and to replace it on its hook. When the flowers fade, thither it +will return, and grow and grow, please Heaven, until next summer it +rejoices me again; and so, year by year, till the wood rots. Then +carefully I shall transfer it to a larger perch and resume. Probably I +shall sever the bulbs without disturbing them, and in seasons following +two spikes will push--then three, then a number, multiplying and +multiplying when my remotest posterity is extinct. That is, so Nature +orders it; whether my descendants will be careful to allow her fair play +depends on circumstances over which I have not the least control. + +For among their innumerable claims to a place apart among all things +created, orchids may boast immortality. Said Sir Trevor Lawrence, in the +speech which opened our famous Congress, 1885: "I do not see, in the +case of most of them, the least reason why they should ever die. The +parts of the orchideae are annually reproduced in a great many instances, +and there is really no reason they should not live for ever unless, as +is generally the case with them in captivity, they be killed by errors +in cultivation." Sir Trevor was addressing an assemblage of +authorities--a parterre of kings in the empire of botany--or he might +have enlarged upon this text. + +The epiphytal orchid, to speak generally, and to take the simple form, +is one body with several limbs, crowned by one head. Its circulation +pulsates through the whole, less and less vigorously, of course, in the +parts that have flowered, as the growing head leaves them behind. At +some age, no doubt, circulation fails altogether in those old limbs, but +experience does not tell me distinctly as yet in how long time the +worn-out bulbs of an Oncidium or a Cattleya, for example, would perish +by natural death. One may cut them off when apparently lifeless, even +beginning to rot, and under proper conditions--it may be a twelvemonth +after--a tiny green shoot will push from some "eye," withered and +invisible, that has slept for years, and begin existence on its own +account. Thus, I am not old enough as an orchidacean to judge through +how many seasons these plants will maintain a limb apparently +superfluous. Their charming disposition is characterized above all +things by caution and foresight. They keep as many strings to their bow, +as many shots in their locker, as may be, and they keep them as long as +possible. The tender young head may be nipped off by a thousand chances, +but such mishaps only rouse the indomitable thing to replace it with +two, or even more. Beings designed for immortality are hard to kill. + +Among the gentle forms of intellectual excitement I know not one to +compare with the joy of restoring a neglected orchid to health. One may +buy such for coppers--rare species, too--of a size and a "potentiality" +of display which the dealers would estimate at as many pounds were they +in good condition on their shelves. I am avoiding names and details, but +it will be allowed me to say, in brief, that I myself have bought more +than twenty pots for five shillings at the auction-rooms, not twice nor +thrice either. One half of them were sick beyond recovery, some few had +been injured by accident, but by far the greater part were victims of +ignorance and ill-treatment which might still be redressed. Orchids tell +their own tale, whether of happiness or misery, in characters beyond +dispute. Mr. O'Brien alleged, indeed, before the grave and experienced +signors gathered in conference, that "like the domestic animals, they +soon find out when they are in hands that love them. With such a +guardian they seem to be happy, and to thrive, and to establish an +understanding, indicating to him their wants in many important matters +as plainly as though they could speak." And the laugh that followed this +statement was not derisive. He who glances at the endless tricks, +methods, and contrivances devised by one or other species to serve its +turn may well come to fancy that orchids are reasoning things. + +At least, many keep the record of their history in form unmistakable. +Here is a Cattleya which I purchased last autumn, suspecting it to be +rare and valuable, though nameless; I paid rather less than one +shilling. The poor thing tells me that some cruel person bought it five +years ago--an imported piece, with two pseudo-bulbs. They still remain, +towering like columns of old-world glory above an area of shapeless +ruin. To speak in mere prose--though really the conceit is not +extravagant--these fine bulbs, grown in their native land, of course, +measure eight inches high by three-quarters of an inch diameter. In the +first season, that _malheureux_ reduced their progeny to a stature of +three and a half inches by the foot-rule; next season, to two inches; +the third, to an inch and a half. By this time the patient creature had +convinced itself that there was something radically wrong in the +circumstances attending its normal head, and tried a fresh departure +from the stock--a "back growth," as we call it, after the fashion I have +described. In the third year then, there were two heads. In the fourth +year, the chief of them had dwindled to less than one inch and the +thickness of a straw, while the second struggled into growth with pain +and difficulty, reached the size of a grain of wheat, and gave it up. +Needless to say that the wicked and unfortunate proprietor had not seen +trace of a bloom. Then at length, after five years' torment, he set it +free, and I took charge of the wretched sufferer. Forthwith he began to +show his gratitude, and at this moment--the summer but half through--his +leading head has regained all the strength lost in three years, while +the back growth, which seemed dead, outtops the best bulb my predecessor +could produce. + +And I have perhaps a hundred in like case, cripples regaining activity, +victims rescued on their death-bed. If there be a placid joy in life +superior to mine, as I stroll through my houses of a morning, much +experience of the world in many lands and many circumstances has not +revealed it to me. And any of my readers can attain it, for--in no +conventional sense--I am my own gardener; that is to say, no male being +ever touches an orchid of mine. + +One could hardly cite a stronger argument to demolish the superstitions +that still hang around this culture. If a busy man, journalist, +essayist, novelist, and miscellaneous _litterateur_, who lives by his +pen, can keep many hundreds of orchids in such health that he is proud +to show them to experts--with no help whatsoever beyond, in emergency, +that which ladies of his household, or a woman-servant give--if he can +do this, assuredly the pursuit demands little trouble and little +expense. I am not to lay down principles of cultivation here, but this +must be said: orchids are indifferent to detail. There lies a secret. +Secure the general conditions necessary for their well-doing, and they +will gratefully relieve you of further anxiety; neglect those general +conditions, and no care will reconcile them. The gentleman who reduced +my Cattleya to such straits gave himself vast pains, it is likely, +consulted no end of books, did all they recommend; and now declares that +orchids are unaccountable. It is just the reverse. No living things +follow with such obstinate obedience a few most simple laws; no machine +produces its result more certainly, if one comply with the rules of its +being. + +This is shown emphatically by those cases which we do not clearly +understand; I take for example the strangest, as is fitting. Some +irreverent zealots have hailed the Phaloenopsis as Queen of Flowers, +dethroning our venerable rose. I have not to consider the question of +allegiance, but decidedly this is, upon the whole, the most interesting +of all orchids in the cultivator's point of view. For there are some +genera and many species that refuse his attentions more or less +stubbornly--in fact, we do not yet know how to woo them. But the +Phaloenopsis is not among them. It gives no trouble in the great majority +of cases. For myself, I find it grow with the calm complacency of the +cabbage. Yet we are all aware that our success is accidental, in a +measure. The general conditions which it demands are fulfilled, +commonly, in any stove where East Indian plants flourish; but from time +to time we receive a vigorous hint that particular conditions, not +always forthcoming, are exacted by Phaloenopsis. Many legends on this +theme are current; I may cite two, notorious and easily verified. The +authorities at Kew determined to build a special house for the genus, +provided with every comfort which experience or scientific knowledge +could suggest. But when it was opened, six or eight years ago, not a +Phaloenopsis of all the many varieties would grow in it; after vain +efforts, Mr. Thiselton Dyer was obliged to seek another use for the +building, which is now employed to show plants in flower. Sir Trevor +Lawrence tells how he laid out six hundred pounds for the same object +with the same result. And yet one may safely reckon that this orchid +does admirably in nine well-managed stoves out of ten, and fairly in +nineteen out of twenty. Nevertheless, it is a maxim with growers that +Phaloenopsis should never be transferred from a situation where they are +doing well. Their hooks are sacred as that on which Horace suspended his +lyre. Nor could a reasonable man think this fancy extravagant, seeing +the evidence beyond dispute which warns us that their health is governed +by circumstances more delicate than we can analyze at present. + +It would be wrong to leave the impression that orchid culture is +actually as facile as market gardening, but we may say that the +eccentricities of Phaloenopsis and the rest have no more practical +importance for the class I would persuade than have the terrors of the +deep for a Thames water-man. How many thousand householders about this +city have a "bit of glass" devoted to geraniums and fuchsias and the +like! They started with more ambitious views, but successive +disappointments have taught modesty, if not despair. The poor man now +contents himself with anything that will keep tolerably green and show +some spindling flower. The fact is, that hardy plants under glass +demand skilful treatment--all their surroundings are unnatural, and with +insect pest on one hand, mildew on the other, an amateur stands betwixt +the devil and the deep sea. Under those circumstances common plants +become really capricious--that is, being ruled by no principles easy to +grasp and immutable in operation, their discomfort shows itself in +perplexing forms. But such species of orchids as a poor man would think +of growing are incapable of pranks. For one shilling he can buy a manual +which will teach him what these species are, and most of the things +necessary for him to understand besides. An expenditure of five pounds +will set him up for life and beyond--since orchids are immortal. Nothing +else is needed save intelligence. + +Not even heat, since his collection will be "cool" naturally; if frost +be excluded, that is enough. I should not have ventured to say this some +few years ago--before, in fact, I had visited St. Albans. But in the +cool house of that palace of enchantment with which Mr. Sander has +adorned the antique borough, before the heating arrangements were quite +complete though the shelves were occupied, often the glass would fall +very low into the thirties. I could never learn distinctly that mischief +followed, though Mr. Godseff did not like it at all. One who beheld the +sight when those fields of Odontoglossum burst into bloom might well +entertain a doubt whether improvement was possible. There is nothing to +approach it in this lower world. I cannot forbear to indicate one +picture in the grand gallery. Fancy a corridor four hundred feet long, +six wide, roofed with square baskets hanging from the glass as close as +they will fit. Suspend to each of these--how many hundreds or thousands +has never been computed--one or more garlands of snowy flowers, a +thicket overhead such as one might behold in a tropic forest, with +myriads of white butterflies clustering amongst the vines. But +imagination cannot bear mortal man thus far. "Upon the banks of +Paradise" those "twa clerks" may have seen the like; yet, had they done +so their hats would have been adorned not with "the birk," but with +plumes of _Odontoglossum citrosmum_. + +I have but another word to say. If any of the class to whom I appeal +incline to let "I dare not wait upon I would," hear the experience of a +bold enthusiast, as recounted by Mr. Castle in his small brochure, +"Orchids." This gentleman had a fern-case outside his sitting-room +window, six feet long by three wide. He ran pipes through it, warmed +presumably by gas. More ambitious than I venture to recommend, "in this +miniature structure," says Mr. Castle, "with liberal supplies of water, +the owner succeeded in growing, in a smoky district of London"--I will +not quote the amazing list of fine things, but it numbers twenty-five +species, all the most delicate and beautiful of the stove kinds. If so +much could be done under such circumstances, what may rightly be called +difficult in the cultivation of orchids? + + + + +COOL ORCHIDS. + + +This is a subject which would interest every cultured reader, I believe, +every householder at least, if he could be brought to understand that it +lies well within the range of his practical concerns. But the public has +still to be persuaded. It seems strange to the expert that delusions +should prevail when orchids are so common and so much talked of; but I +know by experience that the majority of people, even among those who +love their garden, regard them as fantastic and mysterious creations, +designed, to all seeming, for the greater glory of pedants and +millionaires. I try to do my little part, as occasion serves, in +correcting this popular error, and spreading a knowledge of the facts. +It is no less than a duty. If every human being should do what he can to +promote the general happiness, it would be downright wicked to leave +one's fellow-men under the influence of hallucinations that debar them +from the most charming of quiet pleasures. I suspect also that the +misapprehension of the public is largely due to the conduct of experts +in the past. It was a rule with growers formerly, avowed among +themselves, to keep their little secrets. When Mr. B.S. Williams +published the first edition of his excellent book forty years ago, he +fluttered his colleagues sadly. The plain truth is that no class of +plant can be cultivated so easily, as none are so certain to repay the +trouble, as the Cool Orchids. + +Nearly all the genera of this enormous family have species which grow in +a temperate climate, if not in the temperate zone. At this moment, in +fact, I recall but two exceptions, Vanda and Phaloenopsis. Many more +there are, of course--half a dozen have occurred to me while I wrote the +last six words--but in the small space at command I must cling to +generalities. We have at least a hundred genera which will flourish +anywhere if the frost be excluded; and as for species, a list of two +thousand would not exhaust them probably. But a reasonable man may +content himself with the great classes of Odontoglossum, Oncidium, +Cypripedium, and Lycaste; among the varieties of these, which no one has +ventured to calculate perhaps, he may spend a happy existence. They have +every charm--foliage always green, a graceful habit, flowers that rank +among the master works of Nature. The poor man who succeeds with them +in his modest "bit of glass" has no cause to envy Dives his flaunting +Cattleyas and "fox-brush" Aerides. I should like to publish it in +capitals--that nine in ten of those suburban householders who read this +book may grow the loveliest of orchids if they can find courage to try. + +Odontoglossums stand first, of course--I know not where to begin the +list of their supreme merits. It will seem perhaps a striking advantage +to many that they burst into flower at any time, as they chance to +ripen. I think that the very perfection of culture is discounted +somewhat in this instance. The gardener who keeps his plants at the _ne +plus ultra_ stage brings them all into bloom within the space of a few +weeks. Thus in the great collections there is such a show during April, +May, and June as the Gardens of Paradise could not excel, and hardly a +spike in the cool houses for the rest of the year. At a large +establishment this signifies nothing; when the Odontoglossums go off +other things "come on" with equal regularity. But the amateur, with his +limited assortment, misses every bloom. He has no need for anxiety with +this genus. It is their instinct to flower in spring, of course, but +they are not pedantic about it in the least. Some tiny detail overlooked +here and there, absolutely unimportant to health, will retard +florescence. It might very well happen that the owner of a dozen pots +had one blooming every month successively. And that would mean two +spikes open, for, with care, most Odontoglossums last above four weeks. + +Another virtue, shared by others of the cool class in some degree, is +their habit of growing in winter. They take no "rest;" all the year +round their young bulbs are swelling, graceful foliage lengthening, +roots pushing, until the spike demands a concentration of all their +energy. But winter is the most important time. I think any man will see +the peculiar blessing of this arrangement. It gives interest to the long +dull days, when other plant life is at a standstill. It furnishes +material for cheering meditations on a Sunday morning--is that a trifle? +And at this season the pursuit is joy unmixed. We feel no anxious +questionings, as we go about our daily business, whether the _placens +uxor_ forgot to remind Mary, when she went out, to pull the blinds down; +whether Mary followed the instructions if given; whether those +confounded patent ventilators have snapped to again. Green fly does not +harass us. One syringing a day, and one watering per week suffice. Truly +these are not grave things, but the issue at stake is precious: we +enjoy the boon of relief proportionately. + +Very few of those who grow Odontoglossums know much about the "Trade," +or care, seemingly. It is a curious subject, however. The genus is +American exclusively. It ranges over the continent from the northern +frontier of Mexico to the southern frontier of Peru, excepting, to speak +roughly, the empire of Brazil. This limitation is odd. It cannot be due +to temperature simply, for, upon the one hand, we receive Sophronitis, a +very cool genus, from Brazil, and several of the coolest Cattleyas; upon +the other, _Odontoglossum Roezlii_, a very hot species, and _O. +vexillarium_, most decidedly warm, flourish up to the boundary. Why +these should not step across, even if their mountain sisters refuse +companionship with the Sophronitis, is a puzzle. Elsewhere, however, +they abound. Collectors distinctly foresee the time when all the +districts they have "worked" up to this will be exhausted. But South +America contains a prodigious number of square miles, and a day's march +from the track carries one into _terra incognita_. Still, the end will +come. The English demand has stripped whole provinces, and now all the +civilized world is entering into competition. We are sadly assured that +Odontoglossums carried off will not be replaced for centuries. Most +other genera of orchid propagate so freely that wholesale depredations +are made good in very few years. For reasons beyond our comprehension as +yet, the Odontoglossum stands in different case. No one in England has +raised a plant from seed--that we may venture to say definitely. Mr. +Cookson and Mr. Veitch, perhaps others also, have obtained living germs, +but they died incontinently. Frenchmen, aided by the climate, have been +rather more successful. MM. Bleu and Moreau have both flowered seedling +Odontoglots. M. Jacob, who takes charge of M. Edmund de Rothschild's +orchids at Armainvilliers, has a considerable number of young plants. +The reluctance of Odontoglots to propagate is regarded as strange; it +supplies a constant theme for discussion among orchidologists. But I +think that if we look more closely it appears consistent with other +facts known. For among importations of every genus but this--and +Cypripedium--a plant bearing its seed-capsules is frequently discovered; +but I cannot hear of such an incident in the case of Odontoglossums. +They have been arriving in scores of thousands, year by year, for half a +century almost, and scarcely anyone recollects observing a seed-capsule. +This shows how rarely they fertilize in their native home. When that +event happens, the Odontoglossum is yet more prolific than most, and the +germs, of course, are not so delicate under their natural conditions. +But the moral to be drawn is that a country once stripped will not be +reclothed. + +I interpolate here a profound observation of Mr. Roezl. That wonderful +man remarked that Odontoglossums grow upon branches thirty feet above +the ground. It is rare to find them at thirty-five feet, rarer at +twenty-five; at greater and less heights they do not exist. Here, +doubtless, we have the secret of their reluctance to fertilize; but I +will offer no comments, because the more one reflects the more puzzling +it becomes. Evidently the seed must be carried above and must fall below +that limit, under circumstances which, to our apprehension, seem just as +favourable as those at the altitude of thirty feet. But they do not +germinate. Upon the other hand, Odontoglossums show no such daintiness +of growth in our houses. They flourish at any height, if the general +conditions be suitable. Mr. Roezl discovered a secret nevertheless, and +in good time we shall learn further. + +To the Royal Horticultural Society of England belongs the honour of +first importing orchids methodically and scientifically. Messrs. Weir +and Fortune, I believe, were their earliest employes. Another was +Theodor Hartweg, who discovered _Odontoglossum crispum Alexandrae_ in +1842; but he sent home only dried specimens. From these Lindley +described and classed the plant, aided by the sketch of a Spanish or +Peruvian artist, Tagala. A very curious mistake Lindley fell into on +either point. The scientific error does not concern us, but he +represented the colouring of the flower as yellow with a purple centre. +So Tagala painted it, and his drawing survives. It is an odd little +story. He certainly had Hartweg's bloom before him, and that certainly +was white. But then again yellow Alexandraes have been found since that +day. To the Horticultural Society we are indebted, not alone for the +discovery of this wonder, but also for its introduction. John Weir was +travelling for them when he sent living specimens in 1862. It is not +surprising that botanists thought it new after what has been said. As +such Mr. Bateman named it after the young Princess of Wales--a choice +most appropriate in every way. + +[Illustration: ODONTOGLOSSUM CRISPUM ALEXANDRAE +Flower reduced to One Fourth +Flower Stem to One Sixth] + +Then a few wealthy amateurs took up the business of importation, such as +the Duke of Devonshire. But "the Trade" came to see presently that there +was money in this new fashion, and imported so vigorously that the +Society found its exertions needless. Messrs. Rollisson of Tooting, +Messrs. Veitch of Chelsea, and Messrs. Low of Clapton distinguished +themselves from the outset. Of these three firms one is extinct; the +second has taken up, and made its own, the fascinating study of +hybridization among orchids; the third still perseveres. Twenty years +ago, nearly all the great nurserymen in London used to send out their +travellers; but they have mostly dropped the practice. Correspondents +forward a shipment from time to time. The expenses of the collector are +heavy, even if he draw no more than his due--and the temptation to make +up a fancy bill cannot be resisted by some weak mortals. Then, grave +losses are always probable--in the case of South American importations, +certain. It has happened not once but a hundred times that the toil of +months, the dangers, the sufferings, and the hard money expended go to +absolute waste. Twenty or thirty thousand plants or more an honest man +collects, brings down from the mountains or the forests, packs +carefully, and ships. The freight alone may reach from three to eight +hundred pounds--I have personally known instances when it exceeded five +hundred. The cases arrive in England--and not a living thing therein! A +steamship company may reduce its charge under such circumstances, but +again and again it will happen that the speculator stands out of a +thousand pounds clean when his boxes are opened. He may hope to recover +it on the next cargo, but that is still a question of luck. No wonder +that men whose business is not confined to orchids withdrew from the +risks of importation, returning to roses and lilies and daffodowndillies +with a new enthusiasm. + +There is another point also, which has varying force with different +characters. The loss of life among those men who "go out collecting" has +been greater proportionately, than in any class of which I have heard. +In former times, at least, they were chosen haphazard, among intelligent +and trustworthy employes of the firm. Trustworthiness was a grand point, +for reasons hinted. The honest youth, not very strong perhaps in an +English climate, went bravely forth into the unhealthiest parts of +unhealthy lands, where food is very scarce, and very, very rough; where +he was wet through day after day, for weeks at a time; where "the +fever," of varied sort, comes as regularly as Sunday; where from month +to month he found no one with whom to exchange a word. I could make out +a startling list of the martyrs of orchidology. Among Mr. Sander's +collectors alone, Falkenberg perished at Panama, Klaboch in Mexico, +Endres at Rio Hacha, Wallis in Ecuador, Schroeder in Sierra Leone, +Arnold on the Orinoco, Digance in Brazil, Brown in Madagascar. Sir +Trevor Lawrence mentions a case where the zealous explorer "waded for a +fortnight up to his middle in mud," searching for a plant he had heard +of. I have not identified this instance of devotion, but we know of +rarities which would demand perseverance and sufferings almost equal to +secure them. If employers could find the heart to tempt a +fellow-creature into such risks, the chances are that it would prove bad +business. For to discover a new or valuable orchid is only the first +step in a commercial enterprise. It remains to secure the "article," to +bring it safely into a realm that may be called civilized, to pack it +and superintend its transport through the sweltering lowland to a +shipping place. If the collector sicken after finding his prize, these +cares are neglected more or less; if he die, all comes to a full stop. +Thus it happens that the importing business has been given up by one +firm after another. + +Odontoglossums, as I said, belong to America--to the mountainous parts +of the continent in general. Though it would be wildly rash to pronounce +which is the loveliest of orchids, no man with eyes would dispute that +_O. crispum Alexandrae_ is the queen of this genus. She has her home in +the States of Colombia, and those who seek her make Bogota their +headquarters. If the collector wants the broad-petalled variety, he goes +about ten days to the southward before commencing operations; if the +narrow-petalled, about two days to the north--on mule-back of course. +His first care on arrival in the neighbourhood--which is unexplored +ground, if such he can discover--is to hire a wood; that is, a track of +mountain clothed more or less with timber. I have tried to procure one +of these "leases," which must be odd documents; but orchid-farming is a +close and secret business. The arrangement concluded in legal form, he +hires natives, twenty or fifty or a hundred, as circumstances advise, +and sends them to cut down trees, building meantime a wooden stage of +sufficient length to bear the plunder expected. This is used for +cleaning and drying the plants brought in. Afterwards, if he be prudent, +he follows his lumber-men, to see that their indolence does not shirk +the big trunks--which give extra trouble naturally, though they yield +the best and largest return. It is a terribly wasteful process. If we +estimate that a good tree has been felled for every three scraps of +Odontoglossum which are now established in Europe, that will be no +exaggeration. And for many years past they have been arriving by +hundreds of thousands annually! But there is no alternative. An European +cannot explore that green wilderness overhead; if he could, his +accumulations would be so slow and costly as to raise the proceeds to an +impossible figure. The natives will not climb, and they would tear the +plants to bits. Timber has no value in those parts as yet, but the day +approaches when Government must interfere. The average yield of +_Odontoglossum crispum_ per tree is certainly not more than five large +and small together. Once upon a time Mr. Kerbach recovered fifty-three +at one felling, and the incident has grown into a legend; two or three +is the usual number. Upon the other hand, fifty or sixty of _O. +gloriosum_, comparatively worthless, are often secured. The cutters +receive a fixed price of sixpence for each orchid, without reference to +species or quality. + +When his concession is exhausted, the traveller overhauls the produce +carefully, throwing away those damaged pieces which would ferment in the +long, hot journey home, and spoil the others. When all are clean and +dry, he fixes them with copper wire on sticks, which are nailed across +boxes for transport. Long experience has laid down rules for each +detail of this process. The sticks, for example, are one inch in +diameter, fitting into boxes two feet three inches wide, two feet deep, +neither more nor less. Then the long file of mules sets out for Bogota, +perhaps ten days' march, each animal carrying two boxes--a burden +ridiculously light, but on such tracks it is dimension which has to be +considered. On arrival at Bogota, the cases are unpacked and examined +for the last time, restowed, and consigned to the muleteers again. In +six days they reach Honda, on the Magdalena River, where, until lately, +they were embarked on rafts for a voyage of fourteen days to Savanilla. +At the present time, an American company has established a service of +flat-bottomed steamers which cover the distance in seven days, thus +reducing the risks of the journey by one-half. But they are still +terrible. Not a breath of wind stirs the air at that season, for the +collector cannot choose his time. The boxes are piled on deck; even the +pitiless sunshine is not so deadly as the stewing heat below. He has a +store of blankets to cover them, on which he lays a thatch of +palm-leaves, and all day long he souses the pile with water; but too +well the poor fellow knows that mischief is busy down below. Another +anxiety possesses him too. It may very well be that on arrival at +Savanilla he has to wait days in that sweltering atmosphere for the +Royal Mail steamer. And when it comes in, his troubles do not cease, for +the stowage of the precious cargo is vastly important. On deck it will +almost certainly be injured by salt water. In the hold it will ferment. +Amidships it is apt to be baked by the engine fire. Whilst writing I +learn that Mr. Sander has lost two hundred and sixty-seven cases by this +latter mishap, as is supposed. So utterly hopeless is their condition, +that he will not go to the expense of overhauling them; they lie at +Southampton, and to anybody who will take them away all parties +concerned will be grateful. The expense of making this shipment a reader +may judge from the hints given. The Royal Mail Company's charge for +freight from Manzanilla is 750l. I could give an incident of the same +class yet more startling with reference to Phaloenopsis. It is proper to +add that the most enterprising of Assurance Companies do not yet see +their way to accept any kind of risks in the orchid trade; importers +must bear all the burden. To me it seems surprising that the plants can +be sold so cheap, all things considered. Many persons think and hope +that prices will fall, and that may probably happen with regard to some +genera. But the shrewdest of those very shrewd men who conduct the +business all look for a rise. + +_Od. Harryanum_ always reminds me--in such an odd association of ideas +as everyone has experienced--of a thunderstorm. The contrast of its +intense brown blotches with the azure throat and the broad, snowy lip, +affect me somehow with admiring oppression. Very absurd; but _on est +fait comme ca_, as Nana excused herself. To call this most striking +flower "Harryanum" is grotesque. The public is not interested in those +circumstances which give the name significance for a few, and if there +be any flower which demands an expressive title, it is this, in my +judgment. Possibly it was some Indian report which had slipped his +recollection that led Roezl to predict the discovery of a new +Odontoglot, unlike any other, in the very district where _Od. Harryanum_ +was found after his death, though the story is quoted as an example of +that instinct which guides the heaven-born collector. The first plants +came unannounced in a small box sent by Senor Pantocha, of Colombia, to +Messrs. Horsman in 1885, and they were flowered next year by Messrs. +Veitch. The dullest who sees it can now imagine the excitement when this +marvel was displayed, coming from an unknown habitat. Roezl's +prediction occurred to many of his acquaintance, I have heard; but Mr. +Sander had a living faith in his old friend's sagacity. Forthwith he +despatched a collector to the spot which Roezl had named--but not +visited--and found the treasure. The legends of orchidology will be +gathered one day, perhaps; and if the editor be competent, his volume +should be almost as interesting to the public as to the cognoscenti. + +I have been speaking hitherto of Colombian Odontoglossums, which are +reckoned among the hardiest of their class. Along with them, in the same +temperature, grow the cool Masdevallias, which probably are the most +difficult of all to transport. There was once a grand consignment of +_Masdevallia Schlimii_, which Mr. Roezl despatched on his own account. +It contained twenty-seven thousand plants of this species, representing +at that time a fortune. Mr. Roezl was the luckiest and most experienced +of collectors, and he took special pains with this unique shipment. +Among twenty-seven thousand two bits survived when the cases were +opened; the agent hurried them off to Stevens's auction-rooms, and sold +them forthwith at forty guineas each. But I must stick to +Odontoglossums. Speculative as is the business of importing the northern +species, to gather those of Peru and Ecuador is almost desperate. The +roads of Colombia are good, the population civilized, conveniences +abound, if we compare that region with the orchid-bearing territories of +the south. There is a fortune to be secured by anyone who will bring to +market a lot of _O. noeveum_ in fair condition. Its habitat is +perfectly well known. I am not aware that it has a delicate +constitution; but no collector is so rash or so enthusiastic as to try +that adventure again, now that its perils are understood; and no +employer is so reckless as to urge him. The true variety of _O. Hallii_ +stands in much the same case. To obtain it the explorer must march in +the bed of a torrent and on the face of a precipice alternately for an +uncertain period of time, with a river to cross about every day. And he +has to bring back his loaded mules, or Indians, over the same pathless +waste. The Roraima Mountain begins to be regarded as quite easy travel +for the orchid-hunter nowadays. If I mention that the canoe-work on this +route demands thirty-two portages, thirty-two loadings and unloadings of +the cargo, the reader can judge what a "difficult road" must be. +Ascending the Roraima, Mr. Dressel, collecting for Mr. Sander, lost his +herbarium in the Essequibo River. Savants alone are able to estimate the +awful nature of the crisis when a comrade looses his grip of that +treasure. For them it is needless to add that everything else went to +the bottom.[2] + +One is tempted to linger among the Odontoglots, though time is pressing. +In no class of orchids are natural hybrids so mysterious and frequent. +Sometimes one can detect the parentage; in such cases, doubtless, the +crossing occurred but a few generations back: as a rule, however, such +plants are the result of breeding in and in from age to age, causing all +manner of delightful complications. How many can trace the lineage of +Mr. Bull's _Od. delectabile_--ivory white, tinged with rose, strikingly +blotched with red and showing a golden labellum? or Mr. Sander's _Od. +Alberti-Edwardi_, which has a broad soft margin of gold about its +stately petals? Another is rosy white, closely splashed with pale +purple, and dotted round the edge with spots of the same tint so thickly +placed that they resemble a fringe. Such marvels turn up in an +importation without the slightest warning--no peculiarity betrays them +until the flowers open; when the lucky purchaser discovers that a plant +for which he gave perhaps a shilling is worth an indefinite number of +guineas. + +Lycaste also is a genus peculiar to America, such a favourite among +those who know its merits that the species _L. Skinneri_ is called the +"Drawing-Room Flower." Professor Reichenbach observes in his superb +volume that many people utterly ignorant of orchids grow this plant in +their miscellaneous collection. I speak of it without prejudice, for to +my mind the bloom is stiff, heavy, and poor in colour. But there are +tremendous exceptions. In the first place, _Lycaste Skinneri alba_, the +pure white variety, beggars all description. Its great flower seems to +be sculptured in the snowiest of transparent marble. That stolid +pretentious air which offends one--offends me, at least--in the coloured +examples, becomes virginal dignity in this case. Then, of the normal +type there are more than a hundred variations recognized, some with lips +as deep in tone, and as smooth in texture, as velvet, of all shades from +maroon to brightest crimson. It will be understood that I allude to the +common forms in depreciating this species. How vast is the difference +between them, their commercial value shows. Plants of the same size and +the same species range from 3s. 6d. to 35 guineas, or more +indefinitely. + +Lycastes are found in the woods, of Guatemala especially, and I have +heard no such adventures in the gathering of them as attend +Odontoglossums. Easily obtained, easily transported, and remarkably easy +to grow, of course they are cheap. A man must really "give his mind to +it" to kill a Lycaste. This counts for much, no doubt, in the popularity +of the genus, but it has plenty of other virtues. _L. Skinneri_ opens in +the depth of winter, and all the rest, I think, in the dull months. +Then, they are profuse of bloom, throwing up half a dozen spikes, or, in +some species, a dozen, from a single bulb, and the flowers last a +prodigious time. Their extraordinary thickness in every part enables +them to withstand bad air and changes of temperature, so that ladies +keep them on a drawing-room table, night and day, for months, without +change perceptible. Mr. Williams names an instance where a _L. +Skinneri_, bought in full bloom on February 2, was kept in a +sitting-room till May 18, when the purchaser took it back, still +handsome. I have heard cases more surprising. Of species somewhat less +common there is _L. aromatica_, a little gem, which throws up an +indefinite number of short spikes, each crowned with a greenish yellow +triangular sort of cup, deliciously scented. I am acquainted with no +flower that excites such enthusiasm among ladies who fancy Messrs. +Liberty's style of toilette; sad experience tells me that ten +commandments or twenty will not restrain them from appropriating it. _L. +cruenta_ is almost as tempting. As for _L. leucanthe_, an exquisite +combination of pale green and snow white, it ranks with _L. Skinneri +alba_ as a thing too beautiful for words. This species has not been long +introduced, and at the moment it is dear proportionately. There is yet +another virtue of the Lycaste which appeals to the expert. It lends +itself readily to hybridization. This most fascinating pursuit attracts +few amateurs as yet, and the professionals have little time or +inclination for experiments. They naturally prefer to make such crosses +as are almost certain to pay. Thus it comes about that the hybridization +of Lycastes has been attempted but recently, and none of the seedlings, +so far as I can learn, have flowered. They have been obtained, however, +in abundance, not only from direct crossing, but also from alliance with +Zygopetalum, Anguloa, and Maxillaria. + +The genus Cypripedium, Lady's Slipper, is perhaps more widely scattered +over the globe than any other class of plant; I, at least, am acquainted +with none that approaches it. From China to Peru--nay, beyond, from +Archangel to Torres Straits,--but it is wise to avoid these semi-poetic +descriptions. In brief, if we except Africa and the temperate parts of +Australia, there is no large tract of country in the world that does not +produce Cypripediums; and few authorities doubt that a larger +acquaintance with those realms will bring them under the rule. We have a +species in England, _C. calceolus_, by no means insignificant; it can be +purchased from the dealers, but it is almost extinct in this country +now. America furnishes a variety of species; which ought to be hardy. +They will bear a frost below zero, but our winter damp is intolerable. +Mr. Godseff tells me that he has seen _C. spectabile_ growing like any +water-weed in the bogs of New Jersey, where it is frozen hard, roots and +all, for several months of the year; but very few survive the season in +this country, even if protected. Those fine specimens so common at our +spring shows are imported in the dry state. From the United States also +we get the charming _C. candidum_, _C. parviflorum_, _C. pubescens_, and +many more less important. Canada and Siberia furnish _C. guttatum_, _C. +macranthum_, and others. I saw in Russia, and brought home, a +magnificent species, tall and stately, bearing a great golden flower, +which is not known "in the trade;" but they all rotted gradually. +Therefore I do not recommend these fine outdoor varieties, which the +inexperienced are apt to think so easy. At the same cost others may be +bought, which, coming from the highlands of hot countries, are used to a +moderate damp in winter. + +Foremost of these, perhaps the oldest of cool orchids in cultivation, is +_C. insigne_, from Nepal. Everyone knows its original type, which has +grown so common that I remarked a healthy pot at a window-garden +exhibition some years ago in Westminster. One may say that this, the +early and familiar form, has no value at present, so many fine varieties +have been introduced. A reader may form a notion of the difference when +I state that a small plant of exceptional merit sold for thirty guineas +a short time ago--it was _C. insigne_, but glorified. This ranks among +the fascinations of orchid culture. You may buy a lot of some common +kind, imported, at a price representing coppers for each individual, and +among them may appear, when they come to bloom, an eccentricity which +sells for a hundred pounds or more. The experienced collector has a +volume of such legends. There is another side to the question, truly, +but it does not personally interest the class which I address. To make a +choice among numberless stories of this sort, we may take the instance +of _C. Spicerianum_. + +It turned up among a quantity of _Cypripedium insigne_ in the +greenhouse of Mrs. Spicer, a lady residing at Twickenham. Astonished at +the appearance of this swan among her ducks, she asked Mr. Veitch to +look at it. He was delighted to pay seventy guineas down for such a +prize. Cypripediums propagate easily, no more examples came into the +market, and for some years this lovely species was a treasure for dukes +and millionaires. It was no secret that the precious novelty came from +Mrs. Spicer's greenhouse; but to call on a strange lady and demand how +she became possessed of a certain plant is not a course of action that +commends itself to respectable business men. The circumstances gave no +clue. Messrs. Spicer were and are large manufacturers of paper; there is +no visible connection betwixt paper and Indian orchids. By discreet +inquiries, however, it was ascertained that one of the lady's sons had a +tea-plantation in Assam. No more was needed. By the next mail Mr. +Forstermann started for that vague destination, and in process of time +reached Mr. Spicer's bungalow. There he asked for "a job." None could be +found for him; but tea-planters are hospitable, and the stranger was +invited to stop a day or two. But he could not lead the conversation +towards orchids--perhaps because his efforts were too clever, perhaps +because his host took no interest in the subject. One day, however, Mr. +Spicer's manager invited him to go shooting, and casually remarked "we +shall pass the spot where I found those orchids they're making such a +fuss about at home." Be sure Mr. Forstermann was alert that morning! +Thus put upon the track, he discovered quantities of it, bade the +tea-planter adieu, and went to work; but in the very moment of triumph a +tiger barred the way, his coolies bolted, and nothing would persuade +them to go further. Mr. Forstermann was no shikari, but he felt himself +called upon to uphold the cause of science and the honour of England at +this juncture. In great agitation he went for that feline, and, in +short, its skin still adorns Mrs. Sander's drawing-room. Thus it +happened that on a certain Thursday a small pot of _C. Spicerianum_ was +sold, as usual, for sixty guineas at Stevens's; on the Thursday +following all the world could buy fine plants at a guinea. + +Cypripedium is the favourite orchid of the day. It has every advantage, +except, to my perverse mind--brilliancy of colour. None show a whole +tone; even the lovely _C. niveum_ is not pure white. My views, however, +find no backing. At all other points the genus deserves to be a +favourite. In the first place, it is the most interesting of all orchids +to science.[3] Then its endless variations of form, its astonishing +oddities, its wide range of hues, its easy culture, its readiness to +hybridize and to ripen seed, the certainty, by comparison, of rearing +the proceeds, each of these merits appeals to one or other of +orchid-growers. Many of the species which come from torrid lands, +indeed, are troublesome, but with such we are not concerned. The cool +varieties will do well anywhere, provided they receive water enough in +summer, and not too little in winter. I do not speak of the American and +Siberian classes, which are nearly hopeless for the amateur, nor of the +Hong-Kong _Cypripedium purpuratum_, a very puzzling example. + +On the roll of martyrs to orchidology, Mr. Pearce stands high. To him we +owe, among many fine things, the hybrid Begonias which are becoming such +favourites for bedding and other purposes. He discovered the three +original types, parents of the innumerable "garden flowers" now on +sale--_Begonia Pearcii_, _B. Veitchii_, and _B. Boliviensis_. It was his +great luck, and great honour, to find _Masdevallia Veitchii_--so long, +so often, so laboriously searched for from that day to this, but never +even heard of. To collect another shipment of that glorious orchid, Mr. +Pearce sailed for Peru, in the service, I think, of Mr. Bull. +Unhappily--for us all as well as for himself--he was detained at Panama. +Somewhere in those parts there is a magnificent Cypripedium with which +we are acquainted only by the dried inflorescence, named _planifolium_. +The poor fellow could not resist this temptation. They told him at +Panama that no white man had returned from the spot, but he went on. The +Indians brought him back, some days or weeks later, without the prize; +and he died on arrival. + +Oncidiums also are a product of the New World exclusively; in fact, of +the four classes most useful to amateurs, three belong wholly to +America, and the fourth in great part. I resist the temptation to +include Masdevallia, because that genus is not so perfectly easy as the +rest; but if it be added, nine-tenths, assuredly, of the plants in our +cool house come from the West. Among the special merits of the Oncidium +is its colour. I have heard thoughtless persons complain that they are +"all yellow;" which, as a statement of fact, is near enough to the +truth, for about three-fourths may be so described roughly. But this +dispensation is another proof of Nature's kindly regard for the +interests of our science. A clear, strong, golden yellow is the colour +that would have been wanting in our cool houses had not the Oncidium +supplied it. Shades of lemon and buff are frequent among Odontoglossums, +but, in a rough, general way of speaking, they have a white ground. +Masdevallias give us scarlet and orange and purple; Lycastes, green and +dull yellow; Sophronitis, crimson; Mesospinidium, rose, and so forth. +Blue must not be looked for. Even counting the new Utricularia for an +orchid, as most people do, there are, I think, but five species that +will live among us at present, in all the prodigious family, showing +this colour; and every one of them is very "hot." Thus it appears that +the Oncidium fills a gap--and how gloriously! There is no such pure gold +in the scheme of the universe as it displays under fifty shapes +wondrously varied. Thus--_Oncidium macranthum!_ one is continually +tempted to exclaim, as one or other glory of the orchid world recurs to +mind, that it is the supreme triumph of floral beauty. I have sinned +thus, and I know it. Therefore, let the reader seek an opportunity to +behold _O. macranthum_, and judge for himself. But it seems to me that +Nature gives us a hint. As though proudly conscious what a marvel it +will unfold, this superb flower often demands nine months to perfect +itself. Dr. Wallace told me of an instance in his collection where +eighteen months elapsed from the appearance of the spike until the +opening of the first bloom. But it lasts a time proportionate. + +[Illustration: ONCIDIUM MACRANTHUM +Reduced to One Sixth] + +Nature forestalled the dreams of aesthetic colourists when she designed +_Oncidium macranthum_. Thus, and not otherwise, would the thoughtful of +them arrange a "harmony" in gold and bronze; but Nature, with +characteristic indifference to the fancies of mankind, hid her +_chef-d'oeuvre_ in the wilds of Ecuador. Hardly less striking, +however, though perhaps less beautiful, are its sisters of the +"small-lipped" species--_Onc. serratum_, _O. superbiens_, and _O. +sculptum_. This last is rarely seen. As with others of its class, the +spike grows very long, twelve feet perhaps, if it were allowed to +stretch. The flowers are small comparatively, clear bronze-brown, highly +polished, so closely and daintily frilled round the edges that a fairy +goffering-iron could not give more regular effects, and outlined by a +narrow band of gold. _Onc. serratum_ has a much larger bloom, but less +compact, rather fly-away indeed, its sepals widening gracefully from a +narrow neck. Excessively curious is the disposition of the petals, which +close their tips to form a circle of brown and gold around the column. +The purpose of this extraordinary arrangement--unique among orchids, I +believe--will be discovered one day, for purpose there is, no doubt; to +judge by analogy, it may be supposed that the insect upon which _Onc. +serratum_ depends for fertilization likes to stand upon this ring while +thrusting its proboscis into the nectary. The fourth of these fine +species, _Onc. superbiens_, ranks among the grandest of flowers--knowing +its own value, it rarely consents to "oblige;" the dusky green sepals +are margined with yellow, petals white, clouded with pale purple, lip +very small, of course, purple, surmounted by a great golden crest. + +Most strange and curious is _Onc. fuscatum_, of which the shape defies +description. Seen from the back, it shows a floriated cross of equal +limbs; but in front the nethermost is hidden by a spreading lip, very +large proportionately. The prevailing tint is a dun-purple, but each arm +has a broad white tip. Dun-purple, also, is the centre of the labellum, +edged with a distinct band of lighter hue, which again, towards the +margin, becomes white. These changes of tone are not gradual, but as +clear as a brush could make them. Botanists must long to dissect this +extraordinary flower, but the opportunity seldom occurs. It is +desperately puzzling to understand how nature has packed away the +component parts of its inflorescence, so as to resolve them into four +narrow arms and a labellum. But the colouring of this plant is not +always dull. In the small Botanic Garden at Florence, by Santa Maria +Maggiore, I remarked with astonishment an _Onc. fuscatum_, of which the +lip was scarlet-crimson and the other tints bright to match. That +collection is admirably grown, but orchids are still scarce in Italy. +The Society did not know what a prize it had secured by chance. + +The genus Oncidium has, perhaps, more examples of a startling +combination in hues than any other--but one must speak thoughtfully and +cautiously upon such points. + +I have not to deal with culture, but one hint may be given. Gardeners +who have a miscellaneous collection to look after, often set themselves +against an experiment in orchid-growing because these plants suffer +terribly from green-fly and other pests, and will not bear "smoking." To +keep them clean and healthy by washing demands labour for which they +have no time. This is a very reasonable objection. But though the smoke +of tobacco is actual ruination, no plant whatever suffers from the steam +thereof. An ingenious Frenchman has invented and patented in England +lately a machine called the Thanatophore, which I confidently +recommend. It can be obtained from Messrs. B.S. Williams, of Upper +Holloway. The Thanatophore destroys every insect within reach of its +vapour, excepting, curiously enough, scaly-bug, which, however, does not +persecute cool orchids much. The machine may be obtained in different +sizes through any good ironmonger. + +To sum up: these plants ask nothing in return for the measureless +enjoyment they give but light, shade from the summer sun, protection +from the winter frost, moisture--and brains. + + * * * * * + +I am allowed to print a letter which bears upon several points to which +I have alluded. It is not cheerful reading for the enthusiast. He will +be apt to cry, "Would that the difficulties and perils were infinitely +graver--so grave that the collecting grounds might have a rest for +twenty years!" + + +_January 19th, 1893._ + +DEAR SIR, + +I have received your two letters asking for _Cattleya Lawrenceana_, +_Pancratium Guianense_, and _Catasetum pileatum_. Kindly excuse my +answering your letters only to-day. But I have been away in the +interior, and on my return was sick, besides other business taking up my +time; I was unable to write until to-day. Now let me give you some +information concerning orchid-collecting in this colony. Six or seven +years ago, just when the gold industry was starting, very few people +ever ventured in the far interior. Boats, river-hands, and Indians could +be hired at ridiculously low prices, and travelling and bartering paid; +wages for Indians being about a shilling per day, and all found; the +same for river-hands. Captains and boatswains to pilot the boat through +the rapids up and down for sixty-four cents a day. To-day you have got +to pay sixty-four to eighty cents per day for Indians and river-hands. +Captains and boatswains, $2 the former, and $1:50 the latter per day, +and then you often cannot get them. Boat-hire used to be $8 to $10 for a +big boat for three to four months; to-day $5, $6, and $7 per day, and +all through the rapid development of the gold industry. As you can +calculate twenty-five days' river travel to get within reach of the +Savannah lands, you can reckon what the expenses must be, and then again +about five to seven days coming down the river, and a couple of days to +lay over. Then you must count two trips like this, one to bring you up, +and one to bring you down three months after, when you return with your +collection. Besides this, you run the risk of losing your boat in the +rapids either way, which happens not very unfrequently either going or +coming; and we have not only to record the loss of several boats with +goods, etc., every month, but generally to record the loss of life; only +two cases happening last month, in one case seven, in the other twelve +men losing their lives. Besides, river-hands and blacks will not go +further than the boats can travel, and nothing will induce them to go +among the Indians, being afraid of getting poisoned by Inds. +(Kaiserimas) or strangled. So you have to rely utterly on Indians, which +you often cannot get, as the district of Roraima is very poorly +inhabited, and most of the Indians died by smallpox and measles breaking +out among them four years ago, and those that survived left the +district, and you will find whole districts nearly uninhabited. About +five years ago I went up with Mr. Osmers to Roraima, but he broke down +before we reached the Savannah. He lay there for a week, and I gave him +up; he recovered, however, and dragged himself into the Savannah near +Roraima, about three days distant from it, where I left him. Here we +found and made a splendid collection of about 3000 first-class plants of +different kinds. + +While I was going up to Roraima, he stayed in the Savannah, still too +sick to go further. At Roraima I collected everything except _Catt. +Lawrenceana_, which was utterly rooted out already by former collectors. +On my return to Osmers' camp, I found him more dead than alive, thrown +down by a new attack of sickness; but not alone that, I also found him +abandoned by most of our Indians, who had fled on account of the Kanaima +having killed three of their number. So Mr. Osmers--who got soon +better--and I, made up our baskets with plants, and made everything +ready. Our Indians returning partly, I sent him ahead with as many loads +as we could carry, I staying behind with the rest of baskets of plants. +Had all our Indians come back, we would have been all right, but this +not being the case I had to stay until the Indians returned and fetched +me off. After this we got back all right. This was before the sickness +broke out among the Indians. + +Last year I went up with Mr. Kromer, who met me going up-river while I +was coming down. So I joined him. We got up all right to the river's +head, but here our troubles began, as we got only about eight Indians to +go on with us who had worked in the gold-diggings, and no others could +be had, the district being abandoned. We had to pay them half a dollar +a day to carry loads. So we pushed on, carrying part of our loads, +leaving the rest of our cargo behind, until we reached the Savannah, +when we had to send them back several times to get the balance of our +goods. From the time we reached the Savannah we were starving, more or +less, as we could procure only very little provisions. We hunted all +about for _Catt. Lawrenceana_, and got only about 1500 or so, it growing +only here and there. At Roraima we did not hunt at all, as the district +is utterly rubbed out by the Indians. We were about fourteen days at +Roraima and got plenty of _Utricularia Campbelliana_, _U. Humboldtii_, +and _U. montana_. Also _Zygopetalum_, _Cyp. Lindleyanum_, _Oncidium +nigratum_ (only fifty--very rare now), _Cypripedium Schomburgkianum_, +_Zygopetalum Burkeii_, and in fact, all that is to be found on and about +Roraima, except the _Cattleya Lawrenceana_. Also plenty others, as +Sobralia, Liliastrum, etc. So our collection was not a very great one; +we had the hardest trouble now through the want of Indians to carry the +loads. Besides this, the rainy weather set in and our loads suffered +badly for all the care we took of them. Besides, the Indians got +disagreeable, having to go back several times to bring the remaining +baskets. Nevertheless, we got down as far as the Curubing mountains. Up +to this time we were more or less always starving. Arrived at the +Curubing mountains, procured a scant supply of provisions, but lost +nearly all of them in a small creek, and what was saved was spoiling +under our eyes, it being then that the rainy season had fully started, +drenching us from morning to night. It took us nine days to get our +loads over the mountain, where our boat was to reach us to take us down +river. And we were for two and a half days entirely without food. +Besides the plants being damaged by stress of weather, the Indians had +opened the baskets and thrown partly the loads away, not being able to +carry the heavy soaked-through baskets over the mountains, so making us +lose the best of our plants. + +Arrived at our landing we had to wait for our boat, which arrived a week +later in consequence of the river being high, and, of course, short of +provisions. Still, we got away with what we had of our loads until we +reached the first gold places kept by a friend of mine, who supplied us +with food. Thereafter we started for town. Halfway, at Kapuri falls (one +of the most dangerous), we swamped down over a rock, and so we lost some +of our things; still saved all our plants, though they lay for a few +hours under water with the boat. After this we reached town in safety. +So after coming home we found, on packing up, that we had only about 900 +plants, that is, _Cattleya Lawrenceana_, of which about one-third good, +one-third medium, and one-third poor quality. This trip took us about +three and a half months, and cost over 2500 dollars. Besides, I having +poisoned my leg on a rotten stump which I run up in my foot, lay for +four months suffering terrible pain. + +You will, of course, see from this that orchid-hunting is no pleasure, +as you of course know, but what I want to point out to you is that +_Cattleya Lawrenceana_ is very rare in the interior now. + +The river expenses fearfully high, in fact, unreasonably high, on +account of the gold-digging. Labourers getting 64 c. to $1.00 per day, +and all found. No Indians to be got, and those that you can get at +ridiculous prices, and getting them, too, by working on places where +they build and thatch houses and clear the ground from underbush, and as +huntsmen for gold-diggers. Even if Mr. Kromer had succeeded to get 3000 +or 4000 fine _Cattleya Lawrenceana_, it would have been of no value to +us, as we could not have got anybody to carry them to the river where a +boat could reach. Besides this, I also must tell you that there is a +license to be paid out here if you want to collect orchids, amounting +to $100, which Mr. Kromer had to pay, and also an export tax duty of 2 +cents per piece. So that orchid collecting is made a very expensive +affair. Besides its success being very doubtful, even if a man is very +well acquainted with Indian life and has visited the Savannah reaches +year after year. We spent something over $2500 to $2900, including Mr. +Kromer's and Steigfer's passage out, on our last expedition. + +If you want to get any _Lawrenceana_, you will have to send yourself, +and as I said before, the results will be very doubtful. As far as I +myself am concerned, I am interested besides my baking business, in the +gold-diggings, and shall go up to the Savannah in a few months. I can +give you first-class references if you should be willing to send an +expedition, and we could come to some arrangement; at least, you would +save the expenses of the passage of one of your collectors. I may say +that I am quite conversant with the way of packing orchids and handling +them as well for travel as shipment. + +Kindly excuse, therefore, my lengthy letter and its bad writing. And if +you should be inclined to go in for an expedition, just send me a list +of what you require, and I will tell you whether the plants are found +along the route of travel and in the Savannah visited; as, for +instance, _Catt. superba_ does not grow at all in the district where +_Catt. Lawrenceana_ is to be found, but far further south. + +Before closing, I beg you to let me know the prices of about twenty-five +of the best of and prettiest South American orchids, which I want for my +own collection, as _Catt. Medellii_, _Catt. Trianae_, _Odontoglossum +crispum_, _Miltonia vexillaria_, _Catt. labiata_, &c. + +I shall await your answer as soon as possible, and send you a list by +last mail of what is to be got in this colony. + +We also found on our last visit something new--a very large bulbed +Oncidium, or may be Catasetum, on the top of Roraima, where we spent a +night, but got only two specimens, one of which got lost, and the other +one I left in the hands of Mr. Rodway, but so we tried our best. It +decayed, having been too seriously damaged to revive and flower, and so +enable us to see what it was, it not being in flower when found. + + Awaiting your kind reply, + Yours truly, + SEYLER. + +P.S.--If you should send out one of your collectors, or require any +information, I shall be glad to give it. + + +One of the most experienced collectors, M. Oversluys, writes from the +Rio de Yanayacca, January, 1893:-- + +"Here it is absolutely necessary that one goes himself into the woods +ahead of the peons, who are quite cowards to enter the woods; and not +altogether without reason, for the larger part of them get sick here, +and it is very hard to enter--nearly impenetrable and full of insects, +which make fresh-coming people to get cracked and mad. I have from the +wrist down not a place to put in a shilling piece which is not a wound, +through the very small red spider and other insects. Also my people are +the same. Of the five men I took out, two have got fever already, and +one ran back. To-morrow I expect other peons, but not a single one from +Mengobamba. It is a trouble to get men who will come into the woods, and +I cannot have more than eight or ten to work with, because when I should +not be continually behind them or ahead they do nothing. It is not a +question of money to do good here, but merely luck and the way one +treats people. The peons come out less for their salaries than for good +and plenty of food, which is very difficult to find in these scarce +times.... + +"The plants are here one by one, and we have got but one tree with three +plants. They are on the highest and biggest trees, and these must be +cut down with axes. Below are all shrubs, full of climbers and lianas +about a finger thick. Every step must be cut to advance, and the ground +cleared below the high trees in order to spy the branches. It is a very +difficult job. Nature has well protected this Cattleya.... Nobody can +like this kind of work." + +The poor man ends abruptly, "I will write when I can--the mosquitos +don't leave me a moment." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: See a letter at p. 92.] + +[Footnote 3: _Vide_ "Orchids and Hybridizing," _infra_, p. 210.] + + + + +WARM ORCHIDS. + + +By the expression "warm" we understand that condition which is +technically known as "intermediate." It is waste of time to ask, at this +day, why a Latin combination should be employed when there is an English +monosyllable exactly equivalent; we, at least, will use our +mother-tongue. Warm orchids are those which like a minimum temperature, +while growing, of 60 deg.; while resting, of 55 deg.. As for the maximum, it +signifies little in the former case, but in the latter--during the +months of rest--it cannot be allowed to go beyond 60 deg., for any length of +time, without mischief. These conditions mean, in effect, that the house +must be warmed during nine months of the twelve in this realm of +England. "Hot" orchids demand a fire the whole year round--saving a few +very rare nights when the Briton swelters in tropical discomfort. Upon +this dry subject of temperature, however, I would add one word of +encouragement for those who are not willing to pay a heavy bill for +coke. The cool-house, in general, requires a fire, at night, until June +1. Under that condition, if it face the south, in a warm locality, very +many genera and species classed as intermediate should be so thoroughly +started before artificial heat is withdrawn that they will do +excellently, unless the season be unusual. + +Warm orchids come from a sub-tropic region, or from the mountains of a +hotter climate, where their kinsfolk dwelling in the plains defy the +thermometer; just as in sub-tropic lands warm species occupy the +lowlands, while the heights furnish Odontoglossums and such lovers of a +chilly atmosphere. There are, however, some warm Odontoglossums, notable +among them _O. vexillarium_, which botanists class with the Miltonias. +This species is very fashionable, and I give it the place of honour; but +not, in my own view, for its personal merits. The name is so singularly +appropriate that one would like to hear the inventor's reasons for +transfiguring it. _Vexillum_ we know, and _vexillarius_, but +_vexillarium_ goes beyond my Latin. However, it is an intelligible word, +and those acquainted with the appearance of "regimental colours" in Old +Rome perceive its fitness at a glance. The flat bloom seems to hang +suspended from its centre, just as the _vexillum_ figures in +bas-relief--on the Arch of Antoninus, for example. To my mind the +colouring is insipid, as a rule, and the general effect stark--fashion +in orchids, as in other things, has little reference to taste. I repeat +with emphasis, _as a rule_, for some priceless specimens are no less +than astounding in their blaze of colour, the quintessence of a million +uninteresting blooms. The poorest of these plants have merit, no doubt, +for those who can accommodate giants. They grow fast and big. There are +specimens in this country a yard across, which display a hundred and +fifty or two hundred flowers open at the same time for months. A superb +show they make, rising over the pale sea-green foliage, four spikes +perhaps from a single bulb. But this is a beauty of general effect, +which must not be analyzed, as I think. + +_Odontoglossum vexillarium_ is brought from Colombia. There are two +forms: the one--small, evenly red, flowering in autumn--was discovered +by Frank Klaboch, nephew to the famous Roezl, on the Dagua River, in +Antioquia. For eight years he persisted in despatching small quantities +to Europe, though every plant died; at length a safer method of +transmission was found, but simultaneously poor Klaboch himself +succumbed. It is an awful country--perhaps the wettest under the sun. +Though a favourite hunting-ground of collectors now--for Cattleyas of +value come from hence, besides this precious Odontoglot--there are still +no means of transport, saving Indians and canoes. _O. vexillarium_ would +not be thought costly if buyers knew how rare it is, how expensive to +get, and how terribly difficult to bring home. Forty thousand pieces +were despatched to Mr. Sander in one consignment--he hugged himself with +delight when three thousand proved to have some trace of vitality. + +Mr. Watson, Assistant Curator at Kew, recalls an amusing instance of the +value and the mystery attached to this species so late as 1867. In that +year Professor Reichenbach described it for the first time. He tells how +a friend lent him the bloom upon a negative promise under five +heads--"First, not to show it to any one else; (2) not to speak much +about it; (3) not to take a drawing of it; (4) not to have a photograph +made; (5) not to look oftener than three times at it." By-the-bye, Mr. +Watson gives the credit of the first discovery to the late Mr. Bowman; +but I venture to believe that my account is exact--in reference to the +Antioquia variety, at least. + +The other form occurs in the famous district of Frontino, about two +hundred and fifty miles due north of the first habitat, and +shows--_savants_ would add "of course"--a striking difference. In the +geographical distinctions of species will be found the key to whole +volumes of mystery that perplex us now. I once saw three Odontoglossums +ranged side by side, which even an expert would pronounce mere varieties +of the same plant if he were not familiar with them--_Od. Williamsi_, +_Od. grande_, and _Od. Schlieperianum_. The middle one everybody knows, +by sight at least, a big, stark, spread-eagle flower, gamboge yellow +mottled with red-brown, vastly effective in the mass, but individually +vulgar. On one side was _Od. Williamsi_, essentially the same in flower +and bulb and growth, but smaller; opposite stood _Od. Schlieperianum_, +only to be distinguished as smaller still. But both these latter rank as +species. They are separated from the common type, _O. grande_, by nearly +ten degrees of latitude and ten degrees of longitude, nor--we might +almost make an affidavit--do any intermediate forms exist in the space +between; and those degrees are sub-tropical, by so much more significant +than an equal distance in our zone. Instances of the same class and more +surprising are found in many genera of orchid. + +The Frontino _vexillarium_ grows "cooler," has a much larger bloom, +varies in hue from purest white to deepest red, and flowers in May or +June. The most glorious of these things, however, is _O. vex. +superbum_, a plant of the greatest rarity, conspicuous for its blotch of +deep purple in the centre of the lip, and its little dot of the same on +each wing. Doubtless this is a natural hybrid betwixt the Antioquia form +and _Odontoglossum Roezlii_, which is its neighbour. The chance of +finding a bit of _superbum_ in a bundle of the ordinary kind lends +peculiar excitement to a sale of these plants. Such luck first occurred +to Mr. Bath, in Stevens' Auction Rooms. He paid half-a-crown for a very +weakly fragment, brought it round, flowered it, and received a prize for +good gardening in the shape of seventy-two pounds, cheerfully paid by +Sir Trevor Lawrence for a plant unique at that time. I am reminded of +another little story. Among a great number of _Cypripedium insigne_ +received at St. Albans, and "established," Mr. Sander noted one +presently of which the flower-stalk was yellow instead of brown, as is +usual. Sharp eyes are a valuable item of the orchid-grower's +stock-in-trade, for the smallest peculiarity among such "sportive" +objects should not be neglected. Carefully he put the yellow stalk +aside--the only one among thousands, one might say myriads, since _C. +insigne_ is one of our oldest and commonest orchids, and it never +showed this phenomenon before. In due course the flower opened, and +proved to be all golden! Mr. Sander cut his plant in two, sold half for +seventy-five pounds to a favoured customer, and the other half, +publicly, for one hundred guineas. One of the purchasers has divided his +plant now and sold two bits at 100 guineas. Another piece was bought +back by Mr. Sander, who wanted it for hybridizing, at 250 guineas--not a +bad profit for the buyer, who has still two plants left. Another +instance occurs to me while I write--such legends of shrewdness worthily +rewarded fascinate a poor journalist who has the audacity to grow +orchids. Mr. Harvey, solicitor, of Liverpool, strolling through the +houses at St. Albans on July 24, 1883, remarked a plant of _Loelia +anceps_, which had the ring-mark on its pseudo-bulb much higher up than +is usual. There might be some meaning in that eccentricity, he thought, +paid two guineas for the little thing, and on December 1, 1888, sold it +back to Mr. Sander for 200l. It proved to be _L. a. Amesiana_, the +grandest form of _L. anceps_ yet discovered--rosy white, with petals +deeply splashed; thus named after F.L. Ames, an American amateur. Such +pleasing opportunities might arise for you or me any day. + +The first name that arises to most people in thinking of warm orchids +is Cattleya, and naturally. The genus Odontoglossum alone has more +representatives under cultivation. Sixty species of Cattleya are grown +by amateurs who pay special attention to these plants; as for the number +of "varieties" in a single species, one boasts forty, another thirty, +several pass the round dozen. They are exclusively American, but they +flourish over all the enormous space between Mexico and the Argentine +Republic. The genus is not a favourite of my own, for somewhat of the +same reason which qualifies my regard for _O. vexillarium_. Cattleyas +are so obtrusively beautiful, they have such great flowers, which they +thrust upon the eye with such assurance of admiration! Theirs is a style +of effect--I refer to the majority--which may be called infantine; such +as an intelligent and tasteful child might conceive if he had no fine +sense of colour, and were too young to distinguish a showy from a +charming form. But I say no more. + +The history of Orchids long established is uncertain, but I believe that +the very first Cattleya which appeared in Europe was _C. violacea +Loddigesi_, imported by the great firm whose name it bears, to which we +owe such a heavy debt. Two years later came _C. labiata_, of which more +must be said; then _C. Mossiae_, from Caraccas; fourth, _C. Trianae_ named +after Colonel Trian, of Tolima, in the United States of Colombia. Trian +well deserved immortality, for he was a native of that secluded +land--and a botanist! It is a natural supposition that his orchid must +be the commonest of weeds in its home; seeing how all Europe is stocked +with it, and America also, rash people might say there are millions in +cultivation. But it seems likely that _C. Trianae_ was never very +frequent, and at the present time assuredly it is so scarce that +collectors are not sent after it. Probably the colonel, like many other +_savants_, was an excellent man of business, and he established "a +corner" when he saw the chance. _C. Mossiae_ stands in the same +situation--or indeed worse; it can scarcely be found now. These +instances convey a serious warning. In seventy years we have destroyed +the native stock of two orchids, both so very free in propagating that +they have an exceptional advantage in the struggle for existence. How +long can rare species survive, when the demand strengthens and widens +year by year, while the means of communication and transport become +easier over all the world? Other instances will be mentioned in their +place. + +Island species are doomed, unless, like _Loelia elegans_, they have +inaccessible crags on which to find refuge. It is only a question of +time; but we may hope that Governments will interfere before it is too +late. Already Mr. Burbidge has suggested that "some one" who takes an +interest in orchids should establish a farm, a plantation, here and +there about the world, where such plants grow naturally, and devote +himself to careful hybridization on the spot. "One might make as much," +he writes, "by breeding orchids as by breeding cattle, and of the two, +in the long run, I should prefer the orchid farm." This scheme will be +carried out one day, not so much for the purpose of hybridization as for +plain "market-gardening;" and the sooner the better. + +The prospect is still more dark for those who believe--as many do--that +no epiphytal orchid under any circumstances can be induced to establish +itself permanently in our greenhouses as it does at home. Doubtless, +they say, it is possible to grow them and to flower them, by assiduous +care, upon a scale which is seldom approached under the rough treatment +of Nature. But they are dying from year to year, in spite of +appearances. That it is so in a few cases can hardly be denied; but, +seeing how many plants which have not changed hands since their +establishment, twenty or thirty or forty years ago, have grown +continually bigger and finer, it seems much more probable that our +ignorance is to blame for the loss of those species which suddenly +collapse. Sir Trevor Lawrence observed the other day: "With regard to +the longevity of orchids, I have one which I know to have been in this +country for more than fifty years, probably even twenty years longer +than that--_Renanthera coccinea_." The finest specimens of Cattleya in +Mr. Stevenson Clarke's houses have been "grown on" from small pieces +imported twenty years ago. If there were more collections which could +boast, say, half a century of uninterrupted attention, we should have +material for forming a judgment; as a rule, the dates of purchase or +establishment were not carefully preserved till late years. + +But there is one species of Cattleya which must needs have seventy years +of existence in Europe, since it had never been re-discovered till 1890. +When we see a pot of _C. labiata_, the true, autumn-flowering variety, +more than two years old, we know that the very plant itself must have +been established about 1818, or at least its immediate parent--for no +seedling has been raised to public knowledge.[4] + +In avowing a certain indifference to Cattleyas, I referred to the bulk, +of course. The most gorgeous, the stateliest, the most imperial of all +flowers on this earth, is _C. Dowiana_--unless it be _C. aurea_, a +"geographical variety" of the same. They dwell a thousand miles apart at +least, the one in Colombia, the other in Costa Rica; and neither occurs, +so far as is known, in the great intervening region. Not even a +connecting link has been discovered; but the Atlantic coast of Central +America is hardly explored, much less examined. In my time it was held, +from Cape Camarin to Chagres, by independent tribes of savages--not +independent in fact alone, but in name also. The Mosquito Indians are +recognized by Europe as free; the Guatusos kept a space of many hundred +miles from which no white man had returned; when I was in those parts, +the Talamancas, though not so unfriendly, were only known by the report +of adventurous pedlars. I made an attempt--comparatively spirited--to +organize an exploring party for the benefit of the Guatusos, but no +single volunteer answered our advertisements in San Jose de Costa Rica; +I have lived to congratulate myself on that disappointment. Since my day +a road has been cut through their wilds to Limon, certain luckless +Britons having found the money for a railway; but an engineer who +visited the coast but two years ago informs me that no one ever wandered +into "the bush." Collectors have not been there, assuredly. So there may +be connecting links between _C. Dowiana_ and _C. aurea_ in that vast +wilderness, but it is quite possible there are none. + +Words could not picture the glory of these marvels. In each the scheme +of colour is yellow and crimson, but there are important modifications. +Yellow is the ground all through in _Cattleya aurea_--sepals, petals, +and lip; unbroken in the two former, in the latter superbly streaked +with crimson. But _Cattleya Dowiana_ shows crimson pencillings on its +sepals, while the ground colour of the lip is crimson, broadly lined and +reticulated with gold. Imagine four of these noble flowers on one stalk, +each half a foot across! But it lies beyond the power of imagination. + +_C. Dowiana_ was discovered by Warscewicz about 1850, and he sent home +accounts too enthusiastic for belief. Steady-going Britons utterly +refused to credit such a marvel--his few plants died, and there was an +end of it for the time. I may mention an instance of more recent date, +where the eye-witness of a collector was flatly rejected at home. +Monsieur St. Leger, residing at Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, wrote +a warm description of an orchid in those parts to scientific friends. +The account reached England, and was treated with derision. Monsieur St. +Leger, nettled, sent some dried flowers for a testimony; but the mind of +the Orchidaceous public was made up. In 1883 he brought a quantity of +plants and put them up at auction; nobody in particular would buy. So +those reckless or simple or trusting persons who invested a few +shillings in a bundle had all the fun to themselves a few months +afterwards, when the beautiful _Oncidium Jonesianum_ appeared, to +confound the unbelieving. It must be added, however, that orchid-growers +may well become an incredulous generation. When their judgment leads +them wrong we hear of it, the tale is published, and outsiders mock. But +these gentlemen receive startling reports continually, honest enough for +the most part. Much experience and some loss have made them rather +cynical when a new wonder is announced. The particular case of Monsieur +St. Leger was complicated by the extreme resemblance which the foliage +of _Onc. Jonesianum_ bears to that of _Onc. cibolletum_, a species +almost worthless. Unfortunately the beautiful thing declines to live +with us--as yet. + +_Cattleya Dowiana_ was rediscovered by Mr. Arce, when collecting birds: +it must have been a grand moment for Warscewicz when the horticultural +world was convulsed by its appearance in bloom. _Cattleya aurea_ had no +adventures of this sort. Mr. Wallis found it in 1868 in the province of +Antioquia, and again on the west bank of the Magdalena; but it is very +rare. This species is persecuted in its native home by a beetle, which +accompanies it to Europe not infrequently--in the form of eggs, no +doubt. A more troublesome alien is the fly which haunts _Cattleya +Mendellii_, and for a long time prejudiced growers against that fine +species, until, in fact, they had made a practical and rather costly +study of its habits. An experienced grower detects the presence of this +enemy at a glance. It pierces an "eye"--a back one in general, +happily--and deposits an egg in the very centre. Presently this growth +begins to swell in a manner that delights the ingenuous horticulturist, +until he remarks that its length does not keep pace with its breadth. +But one remedy has yet been discovered--cutting off any suspected +growth. We understand now that _C. Mendellii_ is as safe to import as +any other species, unless it be gathered at the wrong time.[5] + +Among the most glorious, rarest, and most valuable of Cattleyas is _C. +Hardyana_, doubtless a natural hybrid of _C. aurea_ with _C. gigas +Sanderiana_. Few of us have seen it--two-hundred-guinea plants are not +common spectacles. It has an immense flower, rose-purple; the lip +purple-magenta, veined with gold. _Cattleya Sanderiana_ offers an +interesting story. Mr. Mau, one of Mr. Sander's collectors, was +despatched to Bogota in search of _Odontoglossum crispum_. While +tramping through the woods, he came across a very large Cattleya at +rest, and gathered such pieces as fell in his way--attaching so little +importance to them, however, that he did not name the matter in his +reports. Four cases Mr. Mau brought home with his stock of +Odontoglossums, which were opened in due course of business. We can +quite believe that it was one of the stirring moments of Mr. Sander's +life. The plants bore many dry specimens of last year's inflorescence, +displaying such extraordinary size as proved the variety to be new; and +there is no large Cattleya of indifferent colouring. To receive a plant +of that character unannounced, undescribed, is an experience without +parallel for half a century. Mr. Mau was sent back by next mail to +secure every fragment he could find. Meantime, those in hand were +established, and Mr. Brymer, M.P., bought one--Mr. Brymer is +immortalized by the Dendrobe which bears his name. The new Cattleya +proved kindly, and just before Mr. Mau returned with some thousands of +its like Mr. Brymer's purchase broke into bloom. That must have been +another glorious moment for Mr. Sander, when the great bud unfolded, +displaying sepals and petals of the rosiest, freshest, softest pink, +eleven inches across; and a crimson labellum exquisitely shown up by a +broad patch of white on either side of the throat. Mr. Brymer was good +enough to lend his specimen for the purpose of advertisement, and +Messrs. Stevens enthusiastically fixed a green baize partition across +their rooms as a background for the wondrous novelty. What excitement +reigned there on the great day is not to be described. I have heard that +over 2000l. was taken in the room. + +Most of the Cattleyas with which the public is familiar--_Mossiae_, +_Trianae_, _Mendellii_, and so forth--have white varieties; but an +example absolutely pure is so uncommon that it fetches a long price. +Loveliest of these is _C. Skinneri alba_. For generations, if not for +ages, the people of Costa Rica have been gathering every morsel they can +find, and planting it upon the roofs of their mud-built churches. Roezl +and the early collectors had a "good time," buying these semi-sacred +flowers from the priests, bribing the parishioners to steal them, or, +when occasion served, playing the thief themselves. But the game is +nearly up. Seldom now can a piece of _Cat. Skinneri alba_ be obtained by +honest means, and when a collector arrives guards are set upon the +churches that still keep their decoration. No plant has ever been found +in the forest, we understand. + +It is just the same case with _Loelia anceps alba_. The genus Loelia +is distinguished from Cattleya by a peculiarity to be remarked only in +dissection; its pollen masses are eight as against four. To my taste, +however, the species are more charming on the whole. There is _L. +purpurata_. Casual observers always find it hard to grasp the fact that +orchids are weeds in their native homes, just like foxgloves and +dandelions with us. In this instance, as I have noted, they flatly +refuse to believe, and certainly "upon the face of it" their incredulity +is reasonable. + +_Loelia purpurata_ falls under the head of hot orchids. _L. anceps_, +however, is not so exacting; many people grow it in the cool house when +they can expose it there to the full blaze of sunshine. In its commonest +form it is divinely beautiful. I have seen a plant in Mr. Eastey's +collection with twenty-three spikes, the flowers all open at once. Such +a spectacle is not to be described in prose. But when the enthusiast has +rashly said that earth contains no more ethereal loveliness, let him +behold _L. a. alba_, the white variety. The dullest man I ever knew, who +had a commonplace for all occasions, found no word in presence of that +marvel. Even the half-castes of Mexico who have no soul, apparently, for +things above horseflesh and cockfights, and love-making, reverence this +saintly bloom. The Indians adore it. Like their brethren to the south, +who have tenderly removed every plant of _Cattleya Skinneri alba_ for +generations unknown, to set upon their churches, they collect this +supreme effort of Nature and replant it round their huts. So thoroughly +has the work been done in either case that no single specimen was ever +seen in the forest. Every one has been bought from the Indians, and the +supply is exhausted; that is to say, a good many more are known to +exist, but very rarely now can the owner be persuaded to part with one. +The first example reached England nearly half a century ago, sent +probably by a native trader to his correspondent in this country; but, +as was usual at that time, the circumstances are doubtful. It found its +way, somehow, to Mr. Dawson, of Meadowbank, a famous collector, and by +him it was divided. Search was made for the treasure in its home, but +vainly; travellers did not look in the Indian gardens. No more arrived +for many years. Mr. Sander once conceived a fine idea. He sent one of +his collectors to gather _Loelia a. alba_ at the season when it is in +bud, with an intention of startling the universe by displaying a mass of +them in full bloom; they were still more uncommon then than now, when a +dozen flowering plants is still a show of which kings may be proud. Mr. +Bartholomeus punctually fulfilled his instructions, collected some forty +plants with their spikes well developed; attached them to strips of wood +which he nailed across shallow boxes, and shipped them to San Francisco. +Thence they travelled by fast train to New York, and proceeded without a +moment's delay to Liverpool on board the _Umbria_; it was one of her +first trips. All went well. Confidently did Mr. Sander anticipate the +sensation when a score of those glorious plants were set out in full +bloom upon the tables. But on opening the boxes he found every spike +withered. The experiment is so tempting that it has been essayed once +more, with a like result. The buds of _Loelia anceps_ will not stand +sea air. + +Catasetums do not rank as a genus among our beauties; in fact, saving +_C. pileatum_, commonly called _C. Bungerothi_, and _C. barbatum_, I +think of none, at this moment, which are worthy of attraction on that +ground. _C. fimbriatum_, indeed, would be lovely if it could be +persuaded to show itself. I have seen one plant which condescended to +open its spotted blooms, but only one. No orchids, however, give more +material for study; on this account Catasetum was a favourite with Mr. +Darwin. It is approved also by unlearned persons who find relief from +the monotony of admiration as they stroll round in observing its +acrobatic performances. The "column" bears two horns; if these be +touched, the pollen-masses fly as if discharged from a catapult. _C. +pileatum_, however, is very handsome, four inches across, ivory white, +with a round well in the centre of its broad lip, which makes a theme +for endless speculation. The daring eccentricities of colour in this +class of plant have no stronger example than _C. callosum_, a novelty +from Caraccas, with inky brown sepals and petals, brightest orange +column, labellum of verdigris-green tipped with orange to match. + +Schomburgkias are not often seen. Having a boundless choice of fine +things which grow and flower without reluctance, the practical gardener +gets irritated in these days when he finds a plant beyond his skill. It +is a pity, for the Schomburgkias are glorious things--in especial _Sch. +tibicinis_. No description has done it justice, and few are privileged +to speak as eye-witnesses. The clustering flowers hang down, sepals and +petals of dusky mauve, most gracefully frilled and twisted, encircling a +great hollow labellum which ends in a golden drop. That part of the +cavity which is visible between the handsome incurved wings has bold +stripes of dark crimson. The species is interesting, too. It comes from +Honduras, where the children use its great hollow pseudo-bulbs as +trumpets--whence the name. At their base is a hole--a touch-hole, as we +may say, the utility of which defies our botanists. Had Mr. Belt +travelled in those parts, he might have discovered the secret, as in the +similar case of the Bullthorn, one of the _Gummiferae_. The great thorns +of that bush have just such a hole, and Mr. Belt proved by lengthy +observations that it is designed, to speak roughly, for the ingress of +an ant peculiar to that acacia, whose duty it is to defend the young +shoots--_vide_ Belt's "Naturalist in Nicaragua," page 218. Importers are +too well aware that _Schomburgkia tibicinis_ also is inhabited by an ant +of singular ferocity, for it survives the voyage, and rushes forth to +battle when the case is opened. We may suppose that it performs a like +service. + +Dendrobiums are "warm" mostly; of the hot species, which are many, and +the cool, which are few, I have not to speak here. But a remark made at +the beginning of this chapter especially applies to Dendrobes. If they +be started early, so that the young growths are well advanced by June 1; +if the situation be warm, and a part of the house sunny--if they be +placed in that part without any shade till July, and freely +syringed--with a little extra attention many of them will do well +enough. That is to say, they will make such a show of blossom as is +mighty satisfactory in the winter time. We must not look for +"specimens," but there should be bloom enough to repay handsomely the +very little trouble they give. Among those that may be treated so are +_D. Wardianum_, _Falconeri_, _crassinode_, _Pierardii_, _crystallinum_, +_Devonianum_--sometimes--and _nobile_, of course. Probably there are +more, but these I have tried myself. + +_Dendrobium Wardianum_, at the present day, comes almost exclusively +from Burmah--the neighbourhood of the Ruby Mines is its favourite +habitat. But it was first brought to England from Assam in 1858, when +botanists regarded it as a form of _D. Falconeri_. This error was not so +strange as its seems, for the Assamese variety has pseudo-bulbs much +less sturdy than those we are used to see, and they are quite pendulous. +It was rather a lively business collecting orchids in Burmah before the +annexation. The Roman Catholic missionaries established there made it a +source of income, and they did not greet an intruding stranger with +warmth--not genial warmth, at least. He was forbidden to quit the town +of Bhamo, an edict which compelled him to employ native collectors--in +fact, coolies--himself waiting helplessly within the walls; but his +reverend rivals, having greater freedom and an acquaintance with the +language, organized a corps of skirmishers to prowl round and intercept +the natives returning with their loads. Doubtless somebody received the +value when they made a haul, but who, is uncertain perhaps--and the +stranger was disappointed, anyhow. It may be believed that unedifying +scenes arose--especially on two or three occasions when an agent had +almost reached one of the four gates before he was intercepted. For the +hapless collector--having nothing in the world to do--haunted those +portals all day long, flying from one to the other in hope to see +"somebody coming." Very droll, but Burmah is a warm country for jests +of the kind. Thus it happened occasionally that he beheld his own +discomfiture, and rows ensued at the Mission-house. At length Mr. Sander +addressed a formal petition to the Austrian Archbishop, to whom the +missionaries owed allegiance. He received a sympathetic answer, and some +assistance. + +From the Ruby Mines also comes a Dendrobium so excessively rare that I +name it only to call the attention of employes in the new company. This +is _D. rhodopterygium_. Sir Trevor Lawrence has or had a plant, I +believe; there are two or three at St. Albans; but the lists of other +dealers will be searched in vain. Sir Trevor Lawrence had also a scarlet +species from Burmah; but it died even before the christening, and no +second has yet been found. Sumatra furnishes a scarlet Dendrobe, _D. +Forstermanni_, but it again is of the utmost rarity. Baron Schroeder +boasts three specimens--which have not yet flowered, however. From +Burmah comes _D. Brymerianum_, of which the story is brief, but very +thrilling if we ponder it a moment. For the missionaries sent this plant +to Europe without a description--they had not seen the bloom, +doubtless--and it sold cheap enough. We may fancy Mr. Brymer's emotion, +therefore, when the striking flower opened. Its form is unique, though +some other varieties display a long fringe--as that extraordinary +object, _Nanodes Medusae_, and also _Brassavola Digbyana_, which is +exquisitely lovely sometimes. In the case of _D. Brymerianum_ the bright +yellow lip is split all round, for two-thirds of its expanse, into +twisted filaments. We may well ask what on earth is Nature's purpose in +this eccentricity; but it is a question that arises every hour to the +most thoughtless being who grows orchids. + +[Illustration: DENDROBIUM BRYMERIANUM. +Reduced To One Fourth.] + +Everybody knows _Dendrobium nobile_ so well that it is not to be +discussed in prose; something might be done in poetry, perhaps, by young +gentlemen who sing of buttercups and daisies, but the rhyme would be +difficult. _D. nobile nobilius_, however, is by no means so +common--would it were! This glorified form turned up among an +importation made by Messrs. Rollisson. They propagated it, and sold four +small pieces, which are still in cultivation. But the troubles of that +renowned firm, to which we owe so great a debt, had already begun. The +mother-plant was neglected. It had fallen into such a desperate +condition when Messrs. Rollisson's plants were sold, under a decree in +bankruptcy, that the great dealers refused to bid for what should have +been a little gold-mine. A casual market-gardener hazarded thirty +shillings, brought it round so far that he could establish a number of +young plants, and sold the parent for forty pounds at last. There are, +however, several fine varieties of _D. nobile_ more valuable than +_nobilius_. _D. n. Sanderianum_ resembles that form, but it is smaller +and darker. Albinos have been found; Baron Schroeder has a beautiful +example. One appeared at Stevens' Rooms, announced as the single +instance in cultivation--which is not quite the fact, but near enough +for the auction-room, perhaps. It also was imported originally by Mr. +Sander, with _D. n. Sanderianum_. Biddings reached forty-three pounds, +but the owner would not deal at the price. Albinos are rare among the +Dendrobes. + +_D. nobile Cooksoni_ was the _fons et origo_ of an unpleasant +misunderstanding. It turned up in the collection of Mr. Lange, +distinguished by a reversal of the ordinary scheme of colour. There is +actually no end to the delightful vagaries of these plants. If people +only knew what interest and pleasing excitement attends the +inflorescence of an imported orchid--one, that is, which has not bloomed +before in Europe--they would crowd the auction-rooms in which every +strange face is marked now. There are books enough to inform them, +certainly; but who reads an Orchid Book? Even the enthusiast only +consults it. + +_Dendrobium nobile Cooksoni_, then, has white tips to petal and sepal; +the crimson spot keeps its place; and the inside of the flower is deep +red--an inversion of the usual colouring. Mr. Lange could scarcely fail +to observe this peculiarity, but he seems to have thought little of it. +Mr. Cookson, paying him a visit, was struck, however--as well he might +be--and expressed a wish to have the plant. So the two distinguished +amateurs made an exchange. Mr. Cookson sent a flower at once to +Professor Reichenbach, who, delighted and enthusiastic, registered it +upon the spot under the name of the gentleman from whom he received it. +Mr. Lange protested warmly, demanding that his discovery should be +called, after his residence, _Heathfieldsayeanum_. But Professor +Reichenbach drily refused to consider personal questions; and really, +seeing how short is life, and how long _Dendrobium nobile Heathfield_, +&c., true philanthropists will hold him justified. + +We may expect wondrous Dendrobes from New Guinea. Some fine species have +already arrived, and others have been sent in the dried inflorescence. +Of _D. phaloenopsis Schroederi_ I have spoken elsewhere. There is _D. +Goldiei_; a variety of _D. superbiens_--but much larger. There is _D. +Albertesii_, snow-white; _D. Broomfieldianum_, curiously like _Loelia +anceps alba_ in its flower--which is to say that it must be the +loveliest of all Dendrobes. But this species has a further charm, almost +incredible. The lip in some varieties is washed with lavender blue, in +some with crimson! Another is nearly related to _D. bigibbum_, but much +larger, with sepals more acute. Its hue is a glorious rosy-purple, +deepening on the lip, the side lobes of which curl over and meet, +forming a cylindrical tube, while the middle lobe, prolonged, stands out +at right angles, veined with very dark purple; this has just been named +_D. Statterianum_. It has upon the disc an elevated, hairy crest, like +_D. bigibbum_, but instead of being white as always, more or less, in +that instance, the crest of the new species is dark purple. I have been +particular in describing this noble flower, because very, very few have +beheld it. Those who live will see marvels when the Dutch and German +portions of New Guinea are explored. + +Recently I have been privileged to see another, the most impressive to +my taste, of all the lovely genus. It is called _D. atro-violaceum_. The +stately flowers hang down their heads, reflexed like a "Turban Lily," +ten or a dozen on a spike. The colour is ivory-white, with a faintest +tinge of green, and green spots are dotted all over. The lobes of the +lip curl in, making half the circumference of a funnel, the outside of +which is dark violet-blue; with that fine colour the lip itself is +boldly striped. They tell me that the public is not expected to "catch +on" to this marvel. It hangs its head too low, and the contrast of hues +is too startling. If that be so, we multiply schools of art and County +Council lectures perambulate the realm, in vain. The artistic sense is +denied us. + +Madagascar also will furnish some astonishing novelties; it has already +begun, in fact--with a vengeance. Imagine a scarlet Cymbidium! That such +a wonder existed has been known for some years, and three collectors +have gone in search of it; two died, and the third has been terribly ill +since his return to Europe--but he won the treasure, which we shall +behold in good time. Those parts of Madagascar which especially attract +botanists must be death-traps indeed! M. Leon Humblot tells how he dined +at Tamatave with his brother and six compatriots, exploring the country +with various scientific aims. Within twelve months he was the only +survivor. One of these unfortunates, travelling on behalf of Mr. Cutler, +the celebrated naturalist of Bloomsbury Street, to find butterflies and +birds, shot at a native idol, as the report goes. The priests soaked +him with paraffin, and burnt him on a table--perhaps their altar. M. +Humblot himself has had awful experiences. He was attached to the +geographical survey directed by the French Government, and ten years ago +he found _Phajus Humblotii_ and _Phajus tuberculosus_ in the deadliest +swamps of the interior. A few of the bulbs gathered lived through the +passage home, and caused much excitement when offered for sale at +Stevens' Auction Rooms. M. Humblot risked his life again, and secured a +great quantity for Mr. Sander, but at a dreadful cost. He spent twelve +months in the hospital at Mayotte, and on arrival at Marseilles with his +plants the doctors gave him no hope of recovery. _P. Humblotii_ is a +marvel of beauty--rose-pink, with a great crimson labellum exquisitely +frilled, and a bright green column. + +Everybody who knows his "Darwin" is aware that Madagascar is the chosen +home of the Angraecums. All, indeed, are natives of Africa, so far as I +know, excepting the delightful _A. falcatum_, which comes, strangely +enough, from Japan. One cannot but suspect, under the circumstances, +that this species was brought from Africa ages ago, when the Japanese +were enterprising seamen, and has been acclimatized by those skilful +horticulturists. It is certainly odd that the only "cool" Aerides--the +only one found, I believe, outside of India and the Eastern +Tropics--also belongs to Japan, and a cool Dendrobe, _A. arcuatum_, is +found in the Transvaal; and I have reason to hope that another or more +will turn up when South Africa is thoroughly searched. A pink Angraecum, +very rarely seen, dwells somewhere on the West Coast; the only species, +so far as I know, which is not white. It bears the name of M. Du +Chaillu, who found it--he has forgotten where, unhappily. I took that +famous traveller to St. Albans in the hope of quickening his +recollection, and I fear I bored him afterwards with categorical +inquiries. But all was vain. M. Du Chaillu can only recall that once on +a time, when just starting for Europe, it occurred to him to run into +the bush and strip the trees indiscriminately. Mr. Sander was prepared +to send a man expressly for this Angraecum. The exquisite _A. +Sanderianum_ is a native of the Comorro Islands. No flower could be +prettier than this, nor more deliciously scented--when scented it is! It +grows in a climate which travellers describe as Paradise, and, in truth, +it becomes such a scene. Those who behold young plants with graceful +garlands of snowy bloom twelve to twenty inches long are prone to fall +into raptures; but imagine it as a long-established specimen appears +just now at St Albans, with racemes drooping two and a half feet from +each new growth, clothed on either side with flowers like a double train +of white long-tailed butterflies hovering! _A. Scottianum_ comes from +Zanzibar, discovered, I believe, by Sir John Kirk; _A. caudatum_, from +Sierra Leone. This latter species is the nearest rival of _A. +sesquipedale_, showing "tails" ten inches long. Next in order for this +characteristic detail rank _A. Leonis_ and _Kotschyi_--the latter rarely +grown--with seven-inch "tails;" _Scottianum_ and _Ellisii_ with +six-inch; that is to say, they ought to show such dimensions +respectively. Whether they fulfil their promise depends upon the grower. + +With the exceptions named, this family belongs to Madagascar. It has a +charming distinction, shared by no other genus which I recall, save, in +less degree, Cattleya--every member is attractive. But I must +concentrate myself on the most striking--that which fascinated Darwin. +In the first place it should be pointed out that _savants_ call this +plant _AEranthus sesquipedalis_, not _Angraecum_--a fact useful to know, +but unimportant to ordinary mortals. It was discovered by the Rev. Mr. +Ellis, and sent home alive, nearly thirty years ago; but civilized +mankind has not yet done wondering at it. The stately growth, the +magnificent green-white flowers, command admiration at a glance, but the +"tail," or spur, offers a problem of which the thoughtful never tire. It +is commonly ten inches long, sometimes fourteen inches, and at home, I +have been told, even longer; about the thickness of a goose-quill, +hollow, of course, the last inch and a half filled with nectar. Studying +this appendage by the light of the principles he had laid down, Darwin +ventured on a prophecy which roused special mirth among the unbelievers. +Not only the abnormal length of the nectary had to be considered; there +was, besides, the fact that all its honey lay at the base, a foot or +more from the orifice. Accepting it as a postulate that every detail of +the apparatus must be equally essential for the purpose it had to serve, +he made a series of experiments which demonstrated that some insect of +Madagascar--doubtless a moth--must be equipped with a proboscis long +enough to reach the nectar, and at the same time thick enough at the +base to withdraw the pollinia--thus fertilizing the bloom. For, if the +nectar had lain so close to the orifice that moths with a proboscis of +reasonable length and thickness could get at it, they would drain the +cup without touching the pollinia. Darwin never proved his special +genius more admirably than in this case. He created an insect beyond +belief, as one may say, by the force of logic; and such absolute +confidence had he in his own syllogism that he declared, "If such great +moths were to become extinct in Madagascar, assuredly this Angraecum +would become extinct." I am not aware that Darwin's fine argument has +yet been clinched by the discovery of that insect. But cavil has ceased. +Long before his death a sphinx moth arrived from South Brazil which +shows a proboscis between ten and eleven inches long--very nearly equal, +therefore, to the task of probing the nectary of _Angraecum +sesquipidale_. And we know enough of orchids at this time to be +absolutely certain that the Madagascar species must exist. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: _Vide_ "The Lost Orchid," _infra_, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 5: I have learned by a doleful experience that this fly, +commonly called "the weavil," is quite at home on _Loelia purpurata_; +in fact, it will prey on any Cattleya.] + + + + +HOT ORCHIDS. + + +In former chapters I have done my best to show that orchid culture is no +mystery. The laws which govern it are strict and simple, easy to define +in books, easily understood, and subject to few exceptions. It is not +with Odontoglossums and Dendrobes as with roses--an intelligent man or +woman needs no long apprenticeship to master their treatment. Stove +orchids are not so readily dealt with; but then, persons who own a stove +usually keep a gardener. Coming from the hot lowlands of either +hemisphere, they show much greater variety than those of the temperate +and sub-tropic zones; there are more genera, though not so many species, +and more exceptions to every rule. These, therefore, are not to be +recommended to all householders. Not everyone indeed is anxious to grow +plants which need a minimum night heat of 60 deg. in winter, 70 deg. in summer, +and cannot dispense with fire the whole year round. + +The hottest of all orchids probably is _Peristeria elata_, the famous +"Spirito Santo," flower of the Holy Ghost. The dullest soul who observes +that white dove rising with wings half spread, as in the very act of +taking flight, can understand the frenzy of the Spaniards when they came +upon it. Rumours of Peruvian magnificence had just reached them at +Panama--on the same day, perhaps--when this miraculous sign from heaven +encouraged them to advance. The empire of the Incas did not fall a prey +to that particular band of ruffians, nevertheless. _Peristeria elata_ is +so well known that I would not dwell upon it, but an odd little tale +rises to my mind. The great collector Roezl was travelling homeward, in +1868, by Panama. The railway fare to Colon was sixty dollars at that +time, and he grudged the money. Setting his wits to work, Roezl +discovered that the company issued tickets from station to station at a +very low price for the convenience of its employes. Taking advantage of +this system, he crossed the isthmus for five dollars--such an advantage +it is in travelling to be an old campaigner! At one of the intermediate +stations he had to wait for his train, and rushed into the jungle of +course. _Peristeria_ abounded in that steaming swamp, but the collector +was on holiday. To his amazement, however, he found, side by side with +it, a Masdevallia--that genus most impatient of sunshine among all +orchids, flourishing here in the hottest blaze! Snatching up half a +dozen of the tender plants with a practised hand, he brought them safe +to England. On the day they were put up to auction news of Livingstone's +death arrived, and in a flash of inspiration Roezl christened his +novelty _M. Livingstoniana_. Few, indeed, even among authorities, know +where that rarest of Masdevallias has its home; none have reached Europe +since. A pretty flower it is--white, rosy tipped, with yellow "tails." +And it dwells by the station of Culebras, on the Panama railway. + +Of genera, however, doubtless the Vandas are hottest; and among these, +_V. Sanderiana_ stands first. It was found in Mindanao, the most +southerly of the Philippines, by Mr. Roebelin when he went thither in +search of the red Phaloenopsis, as will be told presently. _Vanda +Sanderiana_ is a plant to be described as majestic rather than lovely, +if we may distinguish among these glorious things. Its blooms are five +inches across, pale lilac in their ground colour, suffused with brownish +yellow, and covered with a network of crimson brown. Twelve or more of +such striking flowers to a spike, and four or five spikes upon a plant +make a wonder indeed. But, to view matters prosaically, _Vanda_ +_Sanderiana_ is "bad business." It is not common, and it grows on the +very top of the highest trees, which must be felled to secure the +treasure; and of those gathered but a small proportion survive. In the +first place, the agent must employ natives, who are paid so much per +plant, no matter what the size--a bad system, but they will allow no +change. It is evidently their interest to divide any "specimen" that +will bear cutting up; if the fragments bleed to death, they have got +their money meantime. Then, the Manilla steamers call at Mindanao only +once a month. Three months are needed to get together plants enough to +yield a fair profit. At the end of that time a large proportion of those +first gathered will certainly be doomed--Vandas have no pseudo-bulbs to +sustain their strength. Steamers run from Manilla to Singapore every +fortnight. If the collector be fortunate he may light upon a captain +willing to receive his packages; in that case he builds structures of +bamboo on deck, and spends the next fortnight in watering, shading, and +ventilating his precious _trouvailles_, alternately. But captains +willing to receive such freight must be waited for too often. At +Singapore it is necessary to make a final overhauling of the plants--to +their woeful diminution. This done, troubles recommence. Seldom will +the captain of a mail steamer accept that miscellaneous cargo. Happily, +the time of year is, or ought to be, that season when tea-ships arrive +at Singapore. The collector may reasonably hope to secure a passage in +one of these, which will carry him to England in thirty-five days or so. +If this state of things be pondered, even without allowance for +accident, it will not seem surprising that _V. Sanderiana_ is a costly +species. The largest piece yet secured was bought by Sir Trevor Lawrence +at auction for ninety guineas. It had eight stems, the tallest four feet +high. No consignment has yet returned a profit, however. + +The favoured home of Vandas is Java. They are noble plants even when at +rest, if perfect--that is, clothed in their glossy, dark green leaves +from base to crown. If there be any age or any height at which the lower +leaves fall of necessity, I have not been able to identify it. In Mr. +Sander's collection, for instance, there is a giant plant of _Vanda +suavis_, eleven growths, a small thicket, established in 1847. The +tallest stem measures fifteen feet, and every one of its leaves remain. +They fall off easily under bad treatment, but the mischief is reparable +at a certain sacrifice. The stem may be cut through and the crown +replanted, with leaves perfect; but it will be so much shorter, of +course. The finest specimen I ever heard of is the _V. Lowii_ at +Ferrieres, seat of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, near Paris. It fills +the upper part of a large greenhouse, and year by year its twelve stems +produce an indefinite number of spikes, eight to ten feet long, covered +with thousands of yellow and brown blooms.[6] Vandas inhabit all the +Malayan Archipelago; some are found even in India. The superb _V. teres_ +comes from Sylhet; from Burmah also. This might be called the floral +cognizance of the house of Rothschild. At Frankfort, Vienna, Ferrieres, +and Gunnersbury little meadows of it are grown--that is, the plants +flourish at their own sweet will, uncumbered with pots, in houses +devoted to them. Rising from a carpet of palms and maidenhair, each +crowned with its drooping garland of rose and crimson and +cinnamon-brown, they make a glorious show indeed. A pretty little +coincidence was remarked when the Queen paid a visit to Waddesdon the +other day. _V. teres_ first bloomed in Europe at Syon House, and a small +spray was sent to the young Princess, unmarried then and uncrowned. The +incident recurred to memory when Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild chose +this same flower for the bouquet presented to Her Majesty; he adorned +the luncheon table therewith besides. This story bears a moral. The +plant of which one spray was a royal gift less than sixty years ago has +become so far common that it may be used in masses to decorate a room. +Thousands of unconsidered subjects of Her Majesty enjoy the pleasure +which one great duke monopolized before her reign began. There is matter +for an essay here. I hasten back to my theme. + +_V. teres_ is not such a common object that description would be +superfluous. It belongs to the small class of climbing orchids, +delighting to sun itself upon the rafters of the hottest stove. If this +habit be duly regarded, it is not difficult to flower by any means, +though gardeners who do not keep pace with their age still pronounce it +a hopeless rebel. Sir Hugh Low tells me that he clothed all the trees +round Government House at Pahang with _Vanda teres_, planting its near +relative, _V. Hookeri_, more exquisite still, if that were possible, in +a swampy hollow. His servants might gather a basket of these flowers +daily in the season. So the memory of the first President for Pahang +will be kept green. A plant rarely seen is _V. limbata_ from the island +of Timor--dusky yellow, the tip purple, outlined with white, formed +like a shovel. + +I may cite a personal reminiscence here, in the hope that some reader +may be able to supply what is wanting. In years so far back that they +seem to belong to a "previous existence," I travelled in Borneo, and +paid a visit to the antimony-mines of Bidi. The manager, Mr. Bentley, +showed me a grand tapong-tree at his door from which he had lately +gathered a "blue orchid,"--we were desperately vague about names in the +jungle at that day, or in England for that matter. In a note published +on my return, I said, "As Mr. Bentley described it, the blossoms hung in +an azure garland from the bough, more gracefully than art could design." +This specimen is, I believe, the only one at present known, and both +Malays and Dyaks are quite ignorant of such a flower! What was this? +There is no question of the facts. Mr. Bentley sent the plant, a large +mass to the chairman of the Company, and it reached home in fair +condition. I saw the warm letter, enclosing cheque for 100l., in which +Mr. Templar acknowledged receipt. But further record I have not been +able to discover. One inclines to assume that a blue orchid which puts +forth a "garland" of bloom must be a Vanda. The description might be +applied to _V. coerulea_, but that species is a native of the Khasya +hills; more appropriately, as I recall Mr. Bentley's words, to _V. +coerulescens_, which, however, is Burmese. Furthermore, neither of +these would be looked for on the branch of a great tree. Possibly +someone who reads this may know what became of Mr. Templar's specimen. + +Both the species of Renanthera need great heat. Among "facts not +generally known" to orchid-growers, but decidedly interesting for them, +is the commercial habitat, as one may say, of _R. coccinea_. The books +state correctly that it is a native of Cochin China. Orchids coming from +such a distance must needs be withered on arrival. Accordingly, the most +experienced horticulturist who is not up to a little secret feels +assured that all is well when he beholds at the auction-room or at one +of the small dealer's a plant full of sap, with glossy leaves and +unshrivelled roots. It must have been in cultivation for a year at the +very least, and he buys with confidence. Too often, however, a +disastrous change sets in from the very moment his purchase reaches +home. Instead of growing it falls back and back, until in a very few +weeks it has all the appearance of a newly-imported piece. The +explanation is curious. At some time, not distant, a quantity of _R. +coccinea_ must have found its way to the neighbourhood of Rio. There it +flourishes as a weed, with a vigour quite unparalleled in its native +soil. Unscrupulous persons take advantage of this extraordinary +accident. From a country so near and so readily accessible they can get +plants home, pot them up, and sell them, before the withering process +sets in. May this revelation confound such knavish tricks! The moral is +old--buy your orchids from one of the great dealers, if you do not care +to "establish" them yourself. + +_R. coccinea_ is another of the climbing species, and it demands, even +more urgently than _V. teres_, to reach the top of the house, where +sunshine is fiercest, before blooming. Under the best conditions, +indeed, it is slow to produce its noble wreaths of flower--deep red, +crimson, and orange. Upon the other hand, the plant itself is +ornamental, and it grows very fast. The Duke of Devonshire has some at +Chatsworth which never fail to make a gorgeous show in their season; but +they stand twenty feet high, twisted round birch-trees, and they have +occupied their present quarters for half a century or near it. There is +but one more species in the genus, so far as the unlearned know, but +this, generally recognized as _Vanda Lowii_, as has been already +mentioned, ranks among the grand curiosities of botanic science. Like +some of the Catasetums and Cycnoches, it bears two distinct types of +flower on each spike, but the instance of _R. Lowii_ is even more +perplexing. In those other cases the differing forms represent male and +female sex, but the microscope has not yet discovered any sort of reason +for the like eccentricity of this Renanthera. Its proper inflorescence, +as one may put it, is greenish yellow, blotched with brown, three inches +in diameter, clothing a spike sometimes twelve feet long. The first two +flowers to open, however--those at the base--present a strong contrast +in all respects--smaller, of different shape, tawny yellow in colour, +dotted with crimson. It would be a pleasing task for ingenious youth +with a bent towards science to seek the utility of this arrangement. + +Orchids are spreading fast over the world in these days, and we may +expect to hear of other instances where a species has taken root in +alien climes like _R. coccinea_ in Brazil. I cannot cite a parallel at +present. But Mr. Sander informs me that there is a growing demand for +these plants in realms which have their own native orchids. We have an +example in the letter which has been already quoted.[7] Among customers +who write to him direct are magnates of China and Siam, an Indian and a +Javanese rajah. Orders are received--not unimportant, nor +infrequent--from merchants at Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rio de +Janeiro, and smaller places, of course. It is vastly droll to hear that +some of these gentlemen import species at a great expense which an +intelligent coolie could gather for them in any quantity within a few +furlongs of their go-down! But for the most part they demand foreigners. + +The plants thus distributed will be grown in the open air; naturally +they will seed; at least, we may hope so. Even _Angraecum sesquipedale_, +of which I wrote in the preceding chapter, would find a moth able to +impregnate it in South Brazil. Such species as recognize the conditions +necessary for their existence will establish themselves. It is fairly +safe to credit that in some future time, not distant, Cattleyas may +flourish in the jungles of India, Dendrobiums on the Amazons, +Phaloenopsis in the coast lands of Central America. Those who wish well +to their kind would like to hasten that day. + +Mr. Burbidge suggested at the Orchid Conference that gentlemen who have +plantations in a country suitable should establish a "farm," or rather +a market-garden, and grow the precious things for exportation. It is an +excellent idea, and when tea, coffee, sugar-cane, all the regular crops +of the East and West Indies, are so depreciated by competition, one +would think that some planters might adopt it. Perhaps some have; it is +too early yet for results. Upon inquiry I hear of a case, but it is not +encouraging. One of Mr. Sander's collectors, marrying when on service in +the United States of Colombia, resolved to follow Mr. Burbidge's advice. +He set up his "farm" and began "hybridizing" freely. No man living is +better qualified as a collector, for the hero of this little tale is Mr. +Kerbach, a name familiar among those who take interest in such matters; +but I am not aware that he had any experience in growing orchids. To +start with hybridizing seems very ambitious--too much of a short cut to +fortune. However, in less than eighteen months Mr. Kerbach found it did +not answer, for reasons unexplained, and he begged to be reinstated in +Mr. Sander's service. It is clear, indeed, that the orchid-farmer of the +future, in whose success I firmly believe, will be wise to begin +modestly, cultivating the species he finds in his neighbourhood. It is +not in our greenhouses alone that these plants sometimes show likes and +dislikes beyond explanation. For example, many gentlemen in Costa +Rica--a wealthy land, and comparatively civilized--have tried to +cultivate the glorious _Cattleya Dowiana_. For business purposes also +the attempt has been made. But never with success. In those tropical +lands a variation of climate or circumstances, small perhaps, but such +as plants that subsist mostly upon air can recognize, will be found in a +very narrow circuit. We say that Trichopilias have their home at Bogota. +As a matter of fact, however, they will not live in the immediate +vicinity of that town, though the woods, fifteen miles away, are stocked +with them. The orchid-farmer will have to begin cautiously, propagating +what he finds at hand, and he must not be hasty in sending his crop to +market. It is a general rule of experience that plants brought from the +forest and "established" before shipment do less well than those shipped +direct in good condition, though the public, naturally, is slow to admit +a conclusion opposed by _a priori_ reasoning. The cause may be that they +exhaust their strength in that first effort, and suffer more severely on +the voyage. + +I hear of one gentleman, however, who appears to be cultivating orchids +with success. This is Mr. Rand, dwelling on the Rio Negro, in Brazil, +where he has established a plantation of _Hevia Brazilienses_, a new +caoutchouc of the highest quality, indigenous to those parts. Some years +ago Mr. Rand wrote to Mr. Godseff, at St. Albans, begging plants of +_Vanda Sanderiana_ and other Oriental species, which were duly +forwarded. In return he despatched some pieces of a new Epidendrum, +named in his honour _E. Randii_, a noble flower, with brown sepals and +petals, the lip crimson, betwixt two large white wings. This and others +native to the Rio Negro Mr. Rand is propagating on a large scale in +shreds of bamboo, especially a white _Cattleya superba_ which he himself +discovered. It is pleasing to add that by latest reports all the +Oriental species were thriving to perfection on the other side of the +Atlantic. + +Vandas, indeed, should flourish where _Cattleya superba_ is at home, or +anything else that loves the atmosphere of a kitchen on washing-day at +midsummer. Though all the Cattleyas, or very nearly all, will "do" in an +intermediate house, several prefer the stove. Of two among them, _C. +Dowiana_ and _C. aurea_, I spoke in the preceding chapter with an +enthusiasm that does not bear repetition. _Cattleya guttata Leopoldi_ +grows upon rocks in the little island of Sta. Catarina, Brazil, in +company with _Loelia elegans_ and _L. purpurata_. There the four dwelt +in such numbers only twenty years ago that the supply was thought +inexhaustible. It has come to an end already, and collectors no longer +visit the spot. Cliffs and ravines which men still young can recollect +ablaze with colour, are as bare now as a stone-quarry. Nature had done +much to protect her treasures; they flourished mostly in places which +the human foot cannot reach--_Loelia elegans_ and _Cattleya g. +Leopoldi_ inextricably entwined, clinging to the face of lofty rocks. +The blooms of the former are white and mauve, of the latter +chocolate-brown, spotted with dark red, the lip purple. A wondrous sight +that must have been in the time of flowering. It is lost now, probably +for ever. Natives went down, suspended on a rope, and swept the whole +circuit of the island, year by year. A few specimens remain in nooks +absolutely inaccessible, but those happy mortals who possess a bit of +_L. elegans_ should treasure it, for more are very seldom forthcoming. +_Loelia elegans Statteriana_ is the finest variety perhaps; the +crimson velvet tip of its labellum is as clearly and sharply-defined +upon the snow-white surface as pencil could draw; it looks like +painting by the steadiest of hands in angelic colour. _C. g. Leopoldi_ +has been found elsewhere. It is deliciously scented. I observed a plant +at St. Albans lately with three spikes, each bearing over twenty +flowers; many strong perfumes there were in the house, but that +overpowered them all. The _Loelia purpurata_ of Sta. Catarina, to +which the finest varieties in cultivation belong, has shared the same +fate. It occupied boulders jutting out above the swamps in the full +glare of tropic sunshine. Many gardeners give it too much shade. This +species grows also on the mainland, but of inferior quality in all +respects; curiously enough it dwells upon trees there, even though rocks +be at hand, while the island variety, I believe, was never found on +timber. + +Another hot Cattleya of the highest class is _C. Acklandiae_ It belongs +to the dwarf section of the genus, and inexperienced persons are vastly +surprised to see such a little plant bearing two flowers on a spike, +each larger than itself. They are four inches in diameter, petals and +sepals chocolate-brown, barred with yellow, lip large, of colour varying +from rose to purple. _C. Acklandiae_ is found at Bahia, where it grows +side by side with _C. amethystoglossa_, also a charming species, very +tall, leafless to the tip of its pseudo-bulbs. Thus the dwarf beneath +is seen in all its beauty. As they cling together in great masses the +pair must make a flower-bed to themselves--above, the clustered spikes +of _C. amethystoglossa_, dusky-lilac, purple-spotted, with a lip of +amethyst; upon the ground the rich chocolate and rose of _C. Acklandiae_. + +_Cattleya superba_, as has been said, dwells also on the Rio Negro in +Brazil; it has a wide range, for specimens have been sent from the Rio +Meta in Colombia. This species is not loved by gardeners, who find it +difficult to cultivate and almost impossible to flower, probably because +they cannot give it sunshine enough. I have heard that Baron Hruby, a +Hungarian enthusiast in our science, has no sort of trouble; wonders, +indeed, are reported of that admirable collection, where all the hot +orchids thrive like weeds. The Briton may find comfort in assuming that +cool species are happier beneath his cloudy skies; if he be prudent, he +will not seek to verify the assumption. The Assistant Curator of Kew +assures us, in his excellent little work, "Orchids," that the late Mr. +Spyers grew _C. superba_ well, and he details his method. I myself have +never seen the bloom. Mr. Watson describes it as five inches across, +"bright rosy-purple suffused with white, very fragrant, lip with acute +side lobes folding over the column,"--making a funnel, in short--"the +front lobe spreading, kidney-shaped, crimson-purple, with a blotch of +white and yellow in front." + +In the same districts with _Cattleya superba_ grows _Galleandra +Devoniana_ under circumstances rather unusual. It clings to the very tip +of a slender palm, in swamps which the Indians themselves regard with +dread as the chosen home of fever and mosquitoes. It was discovered by +Sir Robert Schomburgk, who compared the flower to a foxglove, referring +especially, perhaps, to the graceful bend of its long pseudo-bulbs, +which is almost lost under cultivation. The tube-like flowers are +purple, contrasting exquisitely with a snow-white lip, striped with +lilac in the throat. + +Phaloenopsis, of course, are hot. This is one of our oldest genera which +still rank in the first class. It was drawn and described so early as +1750, and a plant reached Messrs. Rollisson in 1838; they sold it to the +Duke of Devonshire for a hundred guineas. Many persons regard +Phaloenopsis as the loveliest of all, and there is no question of their +supreme beauty, though not everyone may rank them first. They come +mostly from the Philippines, but Java, Borneo, Cochin China, Burmah, +even Assam contribute some species. Colonel Berkeley found _Ph. +tetraspis_, snow-white, and _Ph. speciosa_, purple, in the Andamans, +when he was Governor of that settlement, clinging to low bushes along +the mangrove creeks. So far as I know, all the species dwell within +breath of the sea, as it may be put, where the atmosphere is laden with +salt; this gives a hint to the thoughtful. Mr. Partington, of Cheshunt, +who was the most renowned cultivator of the genus in his time, used to +lay down salt upon the paths and beneath the stages of his Phaloenopsis +house. Lady Howard de Walden stands first, perhaps, at the present day, +and her gardener follows the same system. These plants, indeed, are +affected, for good or ill, by influences too subtle for our perception +as yet. Experiment alone will decide whether a certain house, or a +certain neighbourhood even, is agreeable to their taste. It is a waste +of money in general to make alterations; if they do not like the place +they won't live there, and that's flat! It is probable that Maidstone, +where Lady Howard de Walden resides, may be specially suited to their +needs, but her ladyship's gardener knows how to turn a lucky chance to +the best account. Some of his plants have ten leaves!--the uninitiated +may think that fact grotesquely undeserving of a note of exclamation, +but to explain would be too technical. It may be observed that the +famous Swan orchid, _Cycnoches chlorochilon_, flourishes at Maidstone as +nowhere else perhaps in England. + +Phaloenopsis were first introduced by Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting, a +firm that vanished years ago, but will live in the annals of +horticulture as the earliest of the great importers. In 1836 they got +home a living specimen of _Ph. amabilis_, which had been described, and +even figured, eighty years before. A few months later the Duke of +Devonshire secured _Ph. Schilleriana_. The late Mr. B.S. Williams told +me a very curious incident relating to this species. It comes from the +Philippines, and exacts a very hot, close atmosphere of course. Once +upon a time, however, a little piece was left in the cool house at +Holloway, and remained there some months unnoticed by the authorities. +When at length the oversight was remarked, to their amaze this stranger +from the tropics, abandoned in the temperate zone, proved to be thriving +more vigorously than any of his fellows who enjoyed their proper +climate!--so he was left in peace and cherished as a "phenomenon." Four +seasons had passed when I beheld the marvel, and it was a picture of +health and strength, flowering freely; but the reader is not advised to +introduce a few Phaloenopsis to his Odontoglossums--not by any means. +Mr. Williams himself never repeated the experiment. It was one of those +delightfully perplexing vagaries which the orchid-grower notes from time +to time. + +There are rare species of this genus which will not be found in the +dealers' catalogues, and amateurs who like a novelty may be pleased to +hear some names. _Ph. Manni_, christened in honour of Mr. Mann, Director +of the Indian Forest Department, is yellow and red; _Ph. cornucervi_, +yellow and brown; _Ph. Portei_, a natural hybrid, of _Ph. rosea_ and +_Ph. Aphrodite_, white, the lip amethyst. It is found very, very rarely +in the woods near Manilla. Above all, _Ph. Sanderiana_, to which hangs a +little tale. + +So soon as the natives of the Philippines began to understand that their +white and lilac weeds were cherished in Europe, they talked of a scarlet +variety, which thrilled listening collectors with joy; but the precious +thing never came to hand, and, on closer inquiry, no responsible witness +could be found who had seen it. Years passed by and the scarlet +Phaloenopsis became a jest among orchidaceans. The natives persisted, +however, and Mr. Sander found the belief so general, if shadowy, that +when a service of coasting steamers was established, he sent Mr. +Roebelin to make a thorough investigation. His enterprise and sagacity +were rewarded, as usual. After floating round for twenty-five years +amidst derision, the rumour proved true in part. _Ph. Sanderiana_ is not +scarlet but purplish rose, a very handsome and distinct species. + +To the same collector we owe the noblest of Aerides, _A. Lawrenciae_, +waxy white tipped with purple, and deep purple lip. Besides the lovely +colouring it is the largest by far of that genus. Mr. Roebelin sent two +plants from the Far East; he had not seen the flower, nor received any +description from the natives. Mr. Sander grew them in equal ignorance +for three years, and sent one to auction in blossom; it fell to Sir +Trevor Lawrence's bid for 235 guineas. + +[Illustration: COELOGENE PANDURATA. +Reduced to One Sixth] + +Many of the Coelogenes classed as cool, which, indeed, rub along with +Odontoglossums, do better in the stove while growing. _Coel. cristata_ +itself comes from Nepaul, where the summer sun is terrible, and it +covers the rocks most exposed. But I will only name a few of those +recognized as hot. Amongst the most striking of flowers, exquisitely +pretty also, is _Coel. pandurata_, from Borneo. Its spike has been +described by a person of fine fancy as resembling a row of glossy +pea-green frogs with black tongues, each three inches in diameter. The +whole bloom is brilliantly green, but several ridges clothed with hairs +as black and soft as velvet run down the lip, seeming to issue from a +mouth. It is strange to see that a plant so curious, so beautiful, and +so sweet should be so rarely cultivated; I own, however, that it is very +unwilling to make itself at home with us. _Coel. Dayana_, also a +native of Borneo, one of our newest discoveries, is named after Mr. Day, +of Tottenham. I may interpolate a remark here for the encouragement of +poor but enthusiastic members of our fraternity. When Mr. Day sold his +collection lately, an American "Syndicate" paid 12,000l. down, and the +remaining plants fetched 12,000l. at auction; so, at least, the +uncontradicted report goes. _Coel. Dayana_ is rare, of course, and +dear, but Mr. Sander has lately imported a large quantity. The spike is +three feet long sometimes, a pendant wreath of buff-yellow flowers +broadly striped with chocolate. _Coel. Massangeana_, from Assam, +resembles this, but the lip is deep crimson-brown, with lines of yellow, +and a white edge. Newest of all the Coelogenes, and supremely +beautiful, is _Coel. Sanderiana_, imported by the gentleman whose name +it bears. He has been called "The Orchid King." This superb species has +only flowered once in Europe as yet; Baron Ferdinand Rothschild is the +happy man. Its snow-white blooms, six on a spike generally, each three +inches across, have very dark brown stripes on the lip. It was +discovered in Borneo by Mr. Forstermann, the same collector who happed +upon the wondrous scarlet Dendrobe, mentioned in a former chapter. There +I stated that Baron Schroeder had three pieces; this was a mistake +unfortunately. Mr. Forstermann only secured three, of which two died on +the journey. Baron Schroeder bought the third, but it has perished. No +more can be found as yet. + +Of Oncidiums there are many that demand stove treatment. The story of +_Onc. splendidum_ is curious. It first turned up in France some thirty +years ago. A ship's captain sailing from St. Lazare brought half a dozen +pieces, which he gave to his "owner," M. Herman. The latter handed them +to MM. Thibaut and Ketteler, of Sceaux, who split them up and +distributed them. Two of the original plants found their way to England, +and they also appear to have been cut up. A legend of the King Street +Auction Room recalls how perfervid competitors ran up a bit of _Onc. +splendidum_, that had only one leaf, to thirty guineas. The whole stock +vanished presently, which is not surprising if it had all been divided +in the same ruthless manner. From that day the species was lost until +Mr. Sander turned his attention to it. There was no record of its +habitat. The name of the vessel, or even of the captain, might have +furnished a clue had it been recorded, for the shipping intelligence of +the day would have shown what ports he was frequenting about that time. +I could tell of mysterious orchids traced home upon indications less +distinct. But there was absolutely nothing. Mr. Sander, however, had +scrutinized the plant carefully, while specimens were still extant, and +from the structure of the leaf he formed a strong conclusion that it +must belong to the Central American flora; furthermore, that it must +inhabit a very warm locality. In 1882 he directed one of his collectors, +Mr. Oversluys, to look for the precious thing in Costa Rica. Year after +year the search proceeded, until Mr. Oversluys declared with some warmth +that _Onc. splendidum_ might grow in heaven or in the other place, but +it was not to be found in Costa Rica. But theorists are stubborn, and +year after year he was sent back. At length, in 1882, riding through a +district often explored, the collector found himself in a grassy plain, +dotted with pale yellow flowers. He had beheld the same many times, but +his business was orchids. On this occasion, however, he chanced to +approach one of the masses, and recognized the object of his quest. It +was the familiar case of a man who overlooks the thing he has to find, +because it is too near and too conspicuous. But Mr. Oversluys had excuse +enough. Who could have expected to see an Oncidium buried in long grass, +exposed to the full power of a tropic sun? + +_Oncidium Lanceanum_ is, perhaps, the hottest of its genus. Those happy +mortals who can grow it declare they have no trouble, but unless +perfectly strong and healthy it gets "the spot," and promptly goes to +wreck. In the houses of the "New Plant and Bulb Company," at +Colchester--now extinct--_Onc. Lanceanum_ flourished with a vigour +almost embarrassing, putting forth such enormous leaves, as it hung +close to the glass, as made blinds quite superfluous at midsummer. But +this was an extraordinary case. Certainly it is a glorious spectacle in +flower--yellow, barred with brown; the lip violet. The spikes last a +month in full beauty--sometimes two. + +An Oncidium which always commands attention from the public and grateful +regard from the devotee is _Onc. papilio_. Its strange form fascinated +the Duke of Devonshire, grandfather to the present, who was almost the +first of our lordly amateurs, and tempted him to undertake the +explorations which introduced so many fine plants to Europe. + +The "Butterfly orchid" is so familiar that I do not pause to describe +it. But imagine that most interesting flower all blue, instead of gold +and brown! I have never been able to learn what was the foundation of +the old belief in such a marvel. But the great Lindley went to his grave +in unshaken confidence that a blue _papilio_ exists. Once he thought he +had a specimen; but it flowered, and his triumph had to be postponed. I +myself heard of it two years back, and tried to cherish a belief that +the news was true. A friend from Natal assured me that he had seen one +on the table of the Director of the Gardens at Durban; but it proved to +be one of those terrestrial orchids, so lovely and so tantalizing to us, +with which South Africa abounds. Very slowly do we lengthen the +catalogue of them in our houses. There are gardeners, such as Mr. Cook +at Loughborough, who grow _Disa grandiflora_ like a weed. Mr. Watson of +Kew demonstrated that _Disa racemosa_ will flourish under conditions +easily secured. I had the good fortune to do as much for _Disa +Cooperi_, though not by my own skill. One supreme little triumph is +mine, however. In very early days, when animated with the courage of +utter ignorance, I bought eight bulbs of _Disa discolor_, and flowered +them, every one! No mortal in Europe had done it before, nor has any +tried since, I charitably hope, for a more rubbishing bloom does not +exist. But there it was--_Ego feci_! And the specimen in the Herbarium +at Kew bears my name. + +But legends should not be disregarded when it is certain that they reach +us from a native source. Some of the most striking finds had been +announced long since by observant savages. I have told the story of +_Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_. It was a Zulu who put the discoverer of the +new yellow Calla on the track. The blue Utricularia had been heard of +and discredited long before it was found--Utricularias are not orchids +indeed, but only botanists regard the distinction. The natives of Assam +persistently assert that a bright yellow Cymbidium grows there, of +supremest beauty, and we expect it to turn up one day; the Malagasy +describe a scarlet one. But I am digressing. + +Epidendrums mostly will bear as much heat as can be given them while +growing; all demand more sunshine than they can get in our climate. +Amateurs do not seem to be so well acquainted with the grand things of +this genus as they should be. They distrust all imported Epidendrums. +Many worthless species, indeed, bear a perplexing resemblance to the +finest; so much so, that the most observant of authorities would not +think of buying at the auction-room unless he had confidence enough in +the seller's honesty to accept his description of a "lot." Gloriously +beautiful, however, are some of those rarely met with; easy to cultivate +also, in a sunny place, and not dear. _Epid. rhizophorum_ has been +lately rechristened _Epid. radicans_--a name which might be confined to +the Mexican variety. For the plant recurs in Brazil, practically the +same, but with a certain difference. The former grows on shrubs, a true +epiphyte; the latter has its bottom roots in the soil, at foot of the +tallest trees, and runs up to the very summit, perhaps a hundred and +fifty feet. The flowers also show a distinction, but in effect they are +brilliant orange-red, the lip yellow, edged with scarlet. Forty or fifty +of them hanging in a cluster from the top of the raceme make a show to +remember. Mr. Watson "saw a plant a few years ago, that bore eighty-six +heads of flowers!" They last for three months. _Epid. prismatocarpum_, +also, is a lovely thing, with narrow dagger-like sepals and petals, +creamy-yellow, spotted black, lip mauve or violet, edged with pale +yellow. + +Of the many hot Dendrobiums, Australia supplies a good proportion. There +is _D. bigibbum_, of course, too well known for description; it dwells +on the small islands in Torres Straits. This species flowered at Kew so +early as 1824, but the plant died. Messrs. Loddiges, of Hackney, +re-introduced it thirty years later. _D. Johannis_, from Queensland, +brown and yellow, streaked with orange, the flowers curiously twisted. +_D. superbiens_, from Torres Straits, rosy purple, edged with white, lip +crimson. Handsomest of all by far is _D. phaloenopsis_. It throws out a +long, slender spike from the tip of the pseudo-bulb, bearing six or more +flowers, three inches across. The sepals are lance-shaped, and the +petals, twice as broad, rosy-lilac, with veins of darker tint; the lip, +arched over by its side lobes, crimson-lake in the throat, paler and +striped at the mouth. It was first sent home by Mr. Forbes, of Kew +Gardens, from Timor Lauet, in 1880. But Mr. Fitzgerald had made drawings +of a species substantially the same, some years before, from a plant he +discovered on the property of Captain Bloomfield, Balmain, in +Queensland, nearly a thousand miles south of Timor. Mr. Sander caused +search to be made, and he has introduced Mr. Fitzgerald's variety under +the name of _D. ph. Statterianum_. It is smaller than the type, and +crimson instead of lilac. + +Bulbophyllums rank among the marvels of nature. It is a point +comparatively trivial that this genus includes the largest of orchids +and, perhaps, the smallest. + +_B. Beccarii_ has leaves two feet long, eighteen inches broad. It +encircles the biggest tree in one clasp of its rhizomes, which +travellers mistake for the coil of a boa constrictor. Furthermore, this +species emits the vilest stench known to scientific persons, which is a +great saying. But these points are insignificant. The charm of +Bulbophyllums lies in their machinery for trapping insects. Those who +attended the Temple show last year saw something of it, if they could +penetrate the crush around _B. barbigerum_ on Sir Trevor Lawrence's +stand. This tiny but amazing plant comes from Sierra Leone. The long +yellow lip is attached to the column by the slenderest possible joint, +so that it rocks without an instant's pause. At the tip is set a brush +of silky hairs, which wave backwards and forwards with the precision of +machinery. No wonder that the natives believe it a living thing. The +purpose of these arrangements is to catch flies, which other species +effect with equal ingenuity if less elaboration. Very pretty too are +some of them, as _B. Lobbii_. Its clear, clean, orange-creamy hue is +delightful to behold. The lip, so delicately balanced, quivers at every +breath. If the slender stem be bent back, as by a fly alighting on the +column, that quivering cap turns and hangs imminent; another tiny shake, +as though the fly approached the nectary, and it falls plump, head over +heels, like a shot, imprisoning the insect. Thus the flower is +impregnated. If we wished to excite a thoughtful child's interest in +botany--not regardless of the sense of beauty either--we should make an +investment in _Bulbophyllum Lobbii_. _Bulbophyllum Dearei_ also is +pretty--golden ochre spotted red, with a wide dorsal sepal, very narrow +petals flying behind, lower sepals broadly striped with red, and a +yellow lip, upon a hinge, of course; but the gymnastic performances of +this species are not so impressive as in most of its kin. + +A new Bulbophyllum, _B. Godseffianum_, has lately been brought from the +Philippines, contrived on the same principle, but even more charming. +The flowers, two inches broad, have the colour of "old gold," with +stripes of crimson on the petals, and the dorsal sepal shows membranes +almost transparent, which have the effect of silver embroidery. + +Until _B. Beccarii_ was introduced, from Borneo, in 1867, the +Grammatophyllums were regarded as monsters incomparable. Mr. Arthur +Keyser, Resident Magistrate at Selangor, in the Straits Settlement, +tells of one which he gathered on a Durian tree, seven feet two inches +high, thirteen feet six inches across, bearing seven spikes of flower, +the longest eight feet six inches--a weight which fifteen men could only +just carry. Mr. F.W. Burbidge heard a tree fall in the jungle one night +when he was four miles away, and on visiting the spot, he found, "right +in the collar of the trunk, a Grammatophyllum big enough to fill a +Pickford's van, just opening its golden-brown spotted flowers, on stout +spikes two yards long." It is not to be hoped that we shall ever see +monsters like these in Europe. The genus, indeed, is unruly. _G. +speciosum_ has been grown to six feet high, I believe, which is big +enough to satisfy the modest amateur, especially when it develops leaves +two feet long. The flowers are--that is, they ought to be--six inches in +diameter, rich yellow, blotched with reddish purple. They have some +giants at Kew now, of which fine things are expected. _G. +Measureseanum_, named after Mr. Measures, a leading amateur, is pale +buff, speckled with chocolate, the ends of the sepals and petals +charmingly tipped with the same hue. Within the last few months Mr. +Sander has obtained _G. multiflorum_ from the Philippines, which seems +to be not only the most beautiful, but the easiest to cultivate of those +yet introduced. Its flowers droop in a garland of pale green and yellow, +splashed with brown, not loosely set, as is the rule, but scarcely half +an inch apart. The effect is said to be lovely beyond description. We +may hope to judge for ourselves in no long time, for Mr. Sander has +presented a wondrous specimen to the Royal Gardens, Kew. This is +assuredly the biggest orchid ever brought to Europe. Its snakey +pseudo-bulbs measure nine feet, and the old flower spikes stood eighteen +feet high. It will be found in the Victoria Regia house, growing +strongly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 6: _Vanda Lowii_ is properly called _Renanthera Lowii_.] + +[Footnote 7: _Vide_ page 100.] + + + + +THE LOST ORCHID. + + +Not a few orchids are "lost"--have been described that is, and named, +even linger in some great collection, but, bearing no history, cannot +now be found. Such, for instance, are _Cattleya Jongheana_, _Cymbidium +Hookerianum_, _Cypripedium Fairianum_. But there is one to which the +definite article might have been applied a very few days ago. This is +_Cattleya labiata vera_. It was the first to bear the name of Cattleya, +though not absolutely the first of that genus discovered. _C. +Loddigesii_ preceded it by a few years, but was called an Epidendrum. +Curious it is to note how science has returned in this latter day to the +views of a pre-scientific era. Professor Reichenbach was only restrained +from abolishing the genus Cattleya, and merging all its species into +Epidendrum, by regard for the weakness of human nature. _Cattleya +labiata vera_ was sent from Brazil to Dr. Lindley by Mr. W. Swainson, +and reached Liverpool in 1818. So much is certain, for Lindley makes +the statement in his _Collectanea Botanica_. But legends and myths +encircle that great event. It is commonly told in books that Sir W. +Jackson Hooker, Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow, begged Mr. +Swainson--who was collecting specimens in natural history--to send him +some lichens. He did so, and with the cases arrived a quantity of +orchids which had been used to pack them. Less suitable material for +"dunnage" could not be found, unless we suppose that it was thrust +between the boxes to keep them steady. Paxton is the authority for this +detail, which has its importance. The orchid arriving in such humble +fashion proved to be _Cattleya labiata_; Lindley gave it that +name--there was no need to add _vera_ then. He established a new genus +for it, and thus preserved for all time the memory of Mr. Cattley, a +great horticulturist dwelling at Barnet. There was no ground in +supposing the species rare. A few years afterwards, in fact, Mr. +Gardner, travelling in pursuit of butterflies and birds, sent home +quantities of a Cattleya which he found on the precipitous sides of the +Pedro Bonita range, and also on the Gavea, which our sailors call +"Topsail" Mountain, or "Lord Hood's Nose." These orchids passed as _C. +labiata_ for a while. Paxton congratulated himself and the world in his +_Flower Garden_ that the stock was so greatly increased. Those were the +coaching days, when botanists had not much opportunity for comparison. +It is to be observed, also, that Gardner's Cattleya was the nearest +relative of Swainson's;--it is known at present as _C. labiata Warneri_. +The true species, however, has points unmistakable. Some of its kinsfolk +show a double flower-sheath;--very, very rarely, under exceptional +circumstances. But _Cattleya labiata vera_ never fails, and an +interesting question it is to resolve why this alone should be so +carefully protected. One may cautiously surmise that its habitat is even +damper than others'. In the next place, some plants have their leaves +red underneath, others green, and the flower-sheath always corresponds; +this peculiarity is shared by _C. l. Warneri_ alone. Thirdly--and there +is the grand distinction, the one which gives such extreme value to the +species--it flowers in the late autumn, and thus fills a gap. Those who +possess a plant may have Cattleyas in bloom the whole year round--and +they alone. Accordingly, it makes a section by itself in the +classification of _Reichenbachia_, as the single species that flowers +from the current year's growth, after resting. Section II. contains the +species that flower from the current year's growth before resting. +Section III., those that flower from last year's growth after resting. +All these are many, but _C. l. vera_ stands alone. + +[Illustration: CATTLEYA LABIATA. +Reduced to One Sixth.] + +We have no need to dwell upon the contest that arose at the introduction +of _Cattleya Mossiae_ in 1840, which grew more and more bitter as others +of the class came in, and has not yet ceased. It is enough to say that +Lindley declined to recognize _C. Mossiae_ as a species, though he stood +almost solitary against "the trade," backed by a host of enthusiastic +amateurs. The great botanist declared that he could see nothing in the +beautiful new Cattleya to distinguish it as a species from the one +already named, _C. labiata_, except that most variable of +characteristics, colour. Modes of growth and times of flowering do not +concern science. The structure of the plants is identical, and to admit +_C. Mossiae_ as a sub-species of the same was the utmost concession +Lindley would make. This was in 1840. Fifteen years later came _C. +Warscewiczi_, now called _gigas_; then, next year, _C. Trianae_; _C. +Dowiana_ in 1866; _C. Mendellii_ in 1870--all _labiatas_, strictly +speaking. At each arrival the controversy was renewed; it is not over +yet. But Sir Joseph Hooker succeeded Lindley and Reichenbach succeeded +Hooker as the supreme authority, and each of them stood firm. There +are, of course, many Cattleyas recognized as species, but Lindley's rule +has been maintained. We may return to the lost orchid. + +As time went on, and the merits of _C. labiata vera_ were understood, +the few specimens extant--proceeding from Mr. Swainson's +importation--fetched larger and larger prices. Those merits, indeed, +were conspicuous. Besides the season of flowering, this proved to be the +strongest and most easily grown of Cattleyas. Its normal type was at +least as charming as any, and it showed an extraordinary readiness to +vary. Few, as has been said, were the plants in cultivation, but they +gave three distinct varieties. Van Houtte shows us two in his admirable +_Flore des Serres; C. l. candida_, from Syon House, pure white excepting +the ochrous throat--which is invariable--and _C. l. picta_, deep red, +from the collection of J.J. Blandy, Esq., Reading. The third was _C. l. +Pescatorei_, white, with a deep red blotch upon the lip, formerly owned +by Messrs. Rouget-Chauvier, of Paris, now by the Duc de Massa. + +Under such circumstances the dealers began to stir in earnest. From the +first, indeed, the more enterprising had made efforts to import a plant +which, as they supposed, must be a common weed at Rio, since men used +it to "pack" boxes. But that this was an error they soon perceived. +Taking the town as a centre, collectors pushed out on all sides. +Probably there is not one of the large dealers, in England or the +Continent, dead or living, who has not spent money--a large sum, too--in +searching for _C. l. vera_. Probably, also, not one has lost by the +speculation, though never a sign nor a hint, scarcely a rumour, of the +thing sought rewarded them. For all secured new orchids, new +bulbs--Eucharis in especial--Dipladenias, Bromeliaceae, Calladiums, +Marantas, Aristolochias, and what not. In this manner the lost orchid +has done immense service to botany and to mankind. One may say that the +hunt lasted seventy years, and led collectors to strike a path through +almost every province of Brazil--almost, for there are still vast +regions unexplored. A man might start, for example, at Para, and travel +to Bogota, two thousand miles or so, with a stretch of six hundred miles +on either hand which is untouched. It may well be asked what Mr. +Swainson was doing, if alive, while his discovery thus agitated the +world. Alive he was, in New Zealand, until the year 1855, but he offered +no assistance. It is scarcely to be doubted that he had none to give. +The orchids fell in his way by accident--possibly collected in distant +parts by some poor fellow who died at Rio. Swainson picked them up, and +used them to stow his lichens. + +Not least extraordinary, however, in this extraordinary tale is the fact +that various bits of _C. l. vera_ turned up during this time. Lord Home +has a noble specimen at Bothwell Castle, which did not come from +Swainson's consignment. His gardener told the story five years ago. "I +am quite sure," he wrote, "that my nephew told me the small bit I had +from him"--forty years before--"was off a newly-imported plant, and I +understood it had been brought by one of Messrs. Horsfall's ships." Lord +Fitzwilliam seems to have got one in the same way, from another ship. +But the most astonishing case is recent. About seven years ago two +plants made their appearance in the Zoological Gardens at Regent's +Park--in the conservatory behind Mr. Bartlett's house. How they got +there is an eternal mystery. Mr. Bartlett sold them for a large sum; but +an equal sum offered him for any scrap of information showing how they +came into his hands he was sorrowfully obliged to refuse--or, rather, +found himself unable to earn. They certainly arrived in company with +some monkeys; but when, from what district of South America, the closest +search of his papers failed to show. In 1885, Dr. Regel, Director of +the Imperial Gardens at St. Petersburg, received a few plants. It may be +worth while to name those gentlemen who recently possessed examples of +_C. l. vera_, so far as our knowledge goes. They were Sir Trevor +Lawrence, Lord Rothschild, Duke of Marlborough, Lord Home, Messrs. J. +Chamberlain, T. Statten, J.J. Blandy, and G. Hardy, in England; in +America, Mr. F.L. Ames, two, and Mr. H.H. Hunnewell; in France, Comte de +Germiny, Duc de Massa, Baron Alphonse and Baron Adolf de Rothschild, M. +Treyeran of Bordeaux. There were two, as is believed, in Italy. + +And now the horticultural papers inform us that the lost orchid is +found, by Mr. Sander of St. Albans. Assuredly he deserves his luck--if +the result of twenty years' labour should be so described. It was about +1870, we believe, that Mr. Sander sent out Arnold, who passed five years +in exploring Venezuela. He had made up his mind that the treasure must +not be looked for in Brazil. Turning next to Colombia, in successive +years, Chesterton, Bartholomeus, Kerbach, and the brothers Klaboch +overran that country. Returning to Brazil, his collectors, Oversluys, +Smith, Bestwood, went over every foot of the ground which Swainson +seems, by his books, to have traversed. At the same time Clarke followed +Gardner's track through the Pedro Bonita and Topsail Mountains. Then +Osmers traced the whole coast-line of the Brazils from north to south, +employing five years in the work. Finally, Digance undertook the search, +and died this year. To these men we owe grand discoveries beyond +counting. To name but the grandest, Arnold found _Cattleya +Percevaliana_; from Colombia were brought _Odont. vex. rubellum_, +_Bollea coelestis_, _Pescatorea Klabochorum_; Smith sent _Cattleya +O'Brieniana_; Clarke the dwarf Cattleyas, _pumila_ and _praestans_; +Lawrenceson _Cattleya Schroederae_; Chesterton _Cattleya Sanderiana_; +Digance _Cattleya Diganceana_, which received a Botanical certificate +from the Royal Horticultural Society on September 8th, 1890. But they +heard not a whisper of the lost orchid. + +In 1889 a collector employed by M. Moreau, of Paris, to explore Central +and North Brazil in search of insects, sent home fifty plants--for M. +Moreau is an enthusiast in orchidology also. He had no object in keeping +the secret of its habitat, and when Mr. Sander, chancing to call, +recognized the treasure so long lost, he gave every assistance. +Meanwhile, the International Horticultural Society of Brussels had +secured a quantity, but they regarded it as new, and gave it the name of +_Catt. Warocqueana_; in which error they persisted until Messrs. Sander +flooded the market. + + + + +AN ORCHID FARM. + + +My articles brought upon me a flood of questions almost as embarrassing +as flattering to a busy journalist. The burden of them was curiously +like. Three ladies or gentlemen in four wrote thus: "I love orchids. I +had not the least suspicion that they may be cultivated so easily and so +cheaply. I am going to begin. Will you please inform me"--here diversity +set in with a vengeance! From temperature to flower-pots, from the +selection of species to the selection of peat, from the architecture of +a greenhouse to the capabilities of window-gardening, with excursions +between, my advice was solicited. I replied as best I could. It must be +feared, however, that the most careful questioning and the most +elaborate replies by post will not furnish that ground-work of +knowledge, the ABC of the science, which is needed by a person utterly +unskilled; nor will he find it readily in the hand-books. Written by men +familiar with the alphabet of orchidology from their youth up, though +they seem to begin at the beginning, ignorant enthusiasts who study them +find woeful gaps. It is little I can do in this matter; yet, believing +that the culture of these plants will be as general shortly as the +culture of pelargoniums under glass--and firmly convinced that he who +hastens that day is a real benefactor to his kind--I am most anxious to +do what lies in my power. Considering the means by which this end may be +won, it appears necessary above all to avoid boring the student. He +should be led to feel how charming is the business in hand even while +engaged with prosaic details; and it seems to me, after some thought, +that the sketch of a grand orchid nursery will best serve our purpose +for the moment. There I can show at once processes and results, passing +at a step as it were from the granary into the harvest-field, from the +workshop to the finished and glorious production. + +"An orchid farm" is no extravagant description of the establishment at +St. Albans. There alone in Europe, so far as I know, three acres of +ground are occupied by orchids exclusively. It is possible that larger +houses might be found--everything is possible; but such are devoted more +or less to a variety of plants, and the departments are not all +gathered beneath one roof. I confess, for my own part, a hatred of +references. They interrupt the writer, and they distract the reader. At +the place I have chosen to illustrate our theme, one has but to cross a +corridor from any of the working quarters to reach the showroom. We may +start upon our critical survey from the very dwelling-house. Pundits of +agricultural science explore the sheds, I believe, the barns, stables, +machine-rooms, and so forth, before inspecting the crops. We may follow +the same course, but our road offers an unusual distraction. + +It passes from the farmer's hall beneath a high glazed arch. Some thirty +feet beyond, the path is stopped by a wall of tufa and stalactite which +rises to the lofty roof, and compels the traveller to turn right or +left. Water pours down it and falls trickling into a narrow pool +beneath. Its rough front is studded with orchids from crest to base. +Coelogenes have lost those pendant wreaths of bloom which lately +tipped the rock as with snow. But there are Cymbidiums arching long +sprays of green and chocolate; thickets of Dendrobe set with flowers +beyond counting--ivory and rose and purple and orange; scarlet +Anthuriums: huge clumps of Phajus and evergreen Calanthe, with a score +of spikes rising from their broad leaves; Cypripediums of quaint form +and striking half-tones of colour; Oncidiums which droop their slender +garlands a yard long, golden yellow and spotted, purple and white--a +hundred tints. The crown of the rock bristles all along with Cattleyas, +a dark-green glossy little wood against the sky. The _Trianaes_ are +almost over, but here and there a belated beauty pushes through, white +or rosy, with a lip of crimson velvet. _Mossiaes_ have replaced them +generally, and from beds three feet in diameter their great blooms start +by the score, in every shade of pink and crimson and rosy purple. There +is _Loelia elegans_, exterminated in its native home, of such bulk and +such luxuriance of growth that the islanders left forlorn might almost +find consolation in regarding it here. Over all, climbing up the +spandrils of the roof in full blaze of sunshine, is _Vanda teres_, round +as a pencil both leaves and stalk, which will drape those bare iron rods +presently with crimson and pink and gold.[8] The way to our farmyard is +not like others. It traverses a corner of fairyland. + +We find a door masked by such a rock as that faintly and vaguely +pictured, which opens on a broad corridor. Through all its length, four +hundred feet, it is ceilinged with baskets of Mexican orchid, as close +as they will fit. Upon the left hand lie a series of glass structures; +upon the right, below the level of the corridor, the workshops; at the +end--why, to be frank, the end is blocked by a ponderous screen of +matting just now. But this dingy barrier is significant of a work in +hand which will not be the least curious nor the least charming of the +strange sights here. The farmer has already a "siding" of course, for +the removal of his produce; he finds it necessary to have a station of +his own also for the convenience of clients. Beyond the screen at +present lies an area of mud and ruin, traversed by broken walls and rows +of hot-water piping swathed in felt to exclude the chill air. A few +weeks since, this little wilderness was covered with glass, but the ends +of the long "houses" have been cut off to make room for a structure into +which visitors will step direct from the train. The platform is already +finished, neat and trim; so are the vast boilers and furnaces, newly +rebuilt, which would drive a cotton factory. + +A busy scene that is which we survey, looking down through openings in +the wall of the corridor. Here is the composing-room, where that +magnificent record of orchidology in three languages, the +"Reichenbachia," slowly advances from year to year. There is the +printing-room, with no steam presses or labour-saving machinery, but the +most skilful craftsmen to be found, the finest paper, the most +deliberate and costly processes, to rival the great works of the past in +illustrating modern science. These departments, however, we need not +visit, nor the chambers, lower still, where mechanical offices are +performed. + +The "Importing Room" first demands notice. Here cases are received by +fifties and hundreds, week by week, from every quarter of the orchid +world, unpacked, and their contents stored until space is made for them +up above. It is a long apartment, broad and low, with tables against the +wall and down the middle, heaped with things which to the uninitiated +seem, for the most part, dry sticks and dead bulbs. Orchids everywhere! +They hang in dense bunches from the roof. They lie a foot thick upon +every board, and two feet thick below. They are suspended on the walls. +Men pass incessantly along the gangways, carrying a load that would fill +a barrow. And all the while fresh stores are accumulating under the +hands of that little group in the middle, bent and busy at cases just +arrived. They belong to a lot of eighty that came in from Burmah last +night--and while we look on, a boy brings a telegram announcing fifty +more from Mexico, that will reach Waterloo at 2.30 p.m. Great is the +wrath and great the anxiety at this news, for some one has blundered; +the warning should have been despatched three hours before. Orchids must +not arrive at unknown stations unless there be somebody of discretion +and experience to meet them, and the next train does not leave St. +Albans until 2.44 p.m. Dreadful is the sense of responsibility, alarming +the suggestions of disaster, that arise from this incident. + +The Burmese cases in hand just now are filled with Dendrobiums, +_crassinode_ and _Wardianum_, stowed in layers as close as possible, +with _D. Falconerii_ for packing material. A royal way of doing things +indeed to substitute an orchid of value for shavings or moss, but mighty +convenient and profitable. For that packing will be sent to the +auction-rooms presently, and will be sold for no small proportion of the +sum which its more delicate charge attains. We remark that the +experienced persons who remove these precious sticks, layer by layer, +perform their office gingerly. There is not much danger or +unpleasantness in unpacking Dendrobes, compared with other genera, but +ship-rats spring out occasionally and give an ugly bite; scorpions and +centipedes have been known to harbour in the close roots of _D. +Falconerii_; stinging ants are by no means improbable, nor huge spiders; +while cockroaches of giant size, which should be killed, may be looked +for with certainty. But men learn a habit of caution by experience of +cargoes much more perilous. In those masses of _Arundina bambusaefolia_ +beneath the table yonder doubtless there are centipedes lurking, perhaps +even scorpions, which have escaped the first inspection. Happily, these +pests are dull, half-stupefied with the cold, when discovered, and no +man here has been stung, circumspect as they are; but ants arrive as +alert and as vicious as in their native realm. Distinctly they are no +joke. To handle a consignment of _Epidendrum bicornutum_ demands some +nerve. A very ugly species loves its hollow bulbs, which, when +disturbed, shoots out with lightning swiftness and nips the arm or hand +so quickly that it can seldom be avoided. But the most awkward cases to +deal with are those which contain _Schomburghkia tibicinis_. This superb +orchid is so difficult to bloom that very few will attempt it; I have +seen its flower but twice. Packers strongly approve the reluctance of +the public to buy, since it restricts importation. The foreman has been +laid up again and again. But they find pleasing curiosities also, +tropic beetles, and insects, and cocoons. Dendrobiums in especial are +favoured by moths; _D. Wardianum_ is loaded with their webs, empty as a +rule. Hitherto the men have preserved no chrysalids, but at this moment +they have a few, of unknown species. + +The farmer gets strange bits of advice sometimes, and strange offers of +assistance. Talking of insects reminds him of a letter received last +week. Here it is:-- + + + SIRS,--I have heard that you are large growers of orchids; + am I right in supposing that in their growth or production you are + much troubled with some insect or caterpillar which retards or + hinders their arrival at maturity, and that these insects or + caterpillars can be destroyed by small snakes? I have tracts of + land under my occupation, and if these small snakes can be of use + in your culture of orchids you might write, as I could get you some + on knowing what these might be worth to you. + + Yours truly + ---- + +Thence we mount to the potting-rooms, where a dozen skilled workmen try +to keep pace with the growth of the imported plants; taking up, day by +day, those which thrust out roots so fast that postponement is +injurious. The broad middle tables are heaped with peat and moss and +leaf-mould and white sand. At counters on either side unskilled +labourers are sifting and mixing, while boys come and go, laden with +pots and baskets of teak-wood and crocks and charcoal. These things are +piled in heaps against the walls; they are stacked on frames overhead; +they fill the semi-subterranean chambers of which we get a glimpse in +passing. Our farm resembles a factory in this department. + +Ascending to the upper earth again, and crossing the corridor, we may +visit number one of those glass-houses opposite. I cannot imagine, much +more describe, how that spectacle would strike one to whom it was wholly +unfamiliar. These buildings--there are twelve of them, side by +side--measure one hundred and eighty feet in length, and the narrowest +has thirty-two feet breadth. This which we enter is devoted to +_Odontoglossum crispum_, with a few _Masdevallias_. There were +twenty-two thousand pots in it the other day; several thousand have been +sold, several thousand have been brought in, and the number at this +moment cannot be computed. Our farmer has no time for speculative +arithmetic; he deals in produce wholesale. Telegraph an order for a +thousand _crispums_ and you cause no stir in the establishment. You take +it for granted that a large dealer only could propose such a +transaction. But it does not follow at all. Nobody would credit, unless +he had talked with one of the great farmers, on what enormous scale +orchids are cultivated up and down by private persons. Our friend has a +client who keeps his stock of _O. crispum_ alone at ten thousand; but +others, less methodical, may have more. + +Opposite the door is a high staging, mounted by steps, with a gangway +down the middle and shelves descending on either hand. Those shelves are +crowded with fine plants of the glorious _O. crispum_, each bearing one +or two spikes of flower, which trail down, interlace, arch upward. Not +all are in bloom; that amazing sight may be witnessed for a month to +come--for two months, with such small traces of decay as the casual +visitor would not notice. So long and dense are the wreaths, so broad +the flowers, that the structure seems to be festooned from top to bottom +with snowy garlands. But there is more. Overhead hang rows of baskets, +lessening in perspective, with pendent sprays of bloom. And broad tables +which edge the walls beneath that staging display some thousands still, +smaller but not less beautiful. A sight which words could not portray. I +yield in despair. + +The tillage of the farm is our business, and there are many points here +which the amateur should note. Observe the bricks beneath your feet. +They have a hollow pattern which retains the water, though your boots +keep dry. Each side of the pathway lie shallow troughs, always full. +Beneath that staging mentioned is a bed of leaves, interrupted by a tank +here, by a group of ferns there, vividly green. Slender iron pipes run +through the house from end to end, so perforated that on turning a tap +they soak these beds, fill the little troughs and hollow bricks, play in +all directions down below, but never touch a plant. Under such constant +drenching the leaf-beds decay, throwing up those gases and vapours in +which the orchid delights at home. Thus the amateur should arrange his +greenhouse, so far as he may. But I would not have it understood that +these elaborate contrivances are essential. If you would beat Nature, as +here, making invariably such bulbs and flowers as she produces only +under rare conditions, you must follow this system. But orchids are not +exacting. + +The house opens, at its further end, in a magnificent structure designed +especially to exhibit plants of warm species in bloom. It is three +hundred feet long, twenty-six wide, eighteen high--the piping laid end +to end, would measure as nearly as possible one mile: we see a practical +illustration of the resources of the establishment, when it is expected +to furnish such a show. Here are stored the huge specimens of +_Cymbidium Lowianum_, nine of which astounded the good people of Berlin +with a display of one hundred and fifty flower spikes, all open at once. +We observe at least a score as well furnished, and hundreds which a +royal gardener would survey with pride. They rise one above another in a +great bank, crowned and brightened by garlands of pale green and +chocolate. Other Cymbidiums are here, but not the beautiful _C. +eburneum_. Its large white flowers, erect on a short spike, not drooping +like these, will be found in a cool house--smelt with delight before +they are found. + +Further on we have a bank of Dendrobiums, so densely clothed in bloom +that the leaves are unnoticed. Lovely beyond all to my taste, if, +indeed, one may make a comparison, is _D. luteolum_, with flowers of +palest, tenderest primrose, rarely seen unhappily, for it will not +reconcile itself to our treatment. Then again a bank of Cattleyas, of +Vandas, of miscellaneous genera. The pathway is hedged on one side with +_Begonia coralina_, an unimproved species too straggling of growth and +too small of flower to be worth its room under ordinary conditions; but +a glorious thing here, climbing to the roof, festooned at every season +of the year with countless rosy sprays. + +Beyond this show-house lie the small structures devoted to +"hybridization," but I deal with them in another chapter. Here also are +the Phaloenopsis, the very hot Vandas, Bolleas, Pescatoreas, Anaectochili, +and such dainty but capricious beauties. + +We enter the second of the range of greenhouses, also devoted to +Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, and "cool" genera, as crowded as the last; +pass down it to the corridor, and return through number three, which is +occupied by Cattleyas and such. There is a lofty mass of rock in front, +with a pool below, and a pleasant sound of splashing water. Many orchids +of the largest size are planted out here--Cypripedium, Cattleya, +Sobralia, Phajus, Loelia, Zygopetalum, and a hundred more, +"specimens," as the phrase runs--that is to say, they have ten, twenty, +fifty, flower spikes. I attempt no more descriptions; to one who knows, +the plain statement of fact is enough, one who does not is unable to +conceive that sight by the aid of words. But the Sobralias demand +attention. They stand here in clumps two feet thick, bearing a +wilderness of loveliest bloom--like Irises magnified and glorified by +heavenly enchantment. Nature designed a practical joke perhaps when she +granted these noble flowers but one day's existence each, while dingy +Epidendrums last six months, or nine. I imagine that for stateliness +and delicacy combined there are no plants that excel the Sobralia. At +any single point they may be surpassed--among orchids, be it understood, +by nothing else in Nature's realm--but their magnificence and grace +together cannot be outshone. + +I must not dwell upon the marvels here, in front, on either side, and +above--a hint is enough. There are baskets of _Loelia anceps_ three +feet across, lifted bodily from the tree in their native forest where +they had grown perhaps for centuries. One of them--the white variety, +too, which aesthetic infidels might adore, though they believed in +nothing--opened a hundred spikes at Christmas time; we do not concern +ourselves with minute reckonings here. But an enthusiastic novice +counted the flowers blooming one day on that huge mass of _Loelia +albida_ yonder, and they numbered two hundred and eleven--unless, as +some say, this was the quantity of "spikes," in which case one must have +to multiply by two or three. Such incidents maybe taken for granted at +the farm. + +[Illustration: LOELIANCEPS SCHROEDERIANA. +Reduced to One Sixth] + +But we must not pass a new orchid, quite distinct and supremely +beautiful, for which Professor Reichenbach has not yet found a name +sufficiently appreciative. Only eight pieces were discovered, whence we +must suspect that it is very rare at home; I do not know where the +home is, and I should not tell if I did. Such information is more +valuable than the surest tip for the Derby, or most secrets of State. +This new orchid is a Cyrrhopetalun, of very small size, but, like so +many others, its flower is bigger than itself. The spike inclines almost +at a right angle, and the pendent half is hung with golden bells, nearly +two inches in length. Beneath it stands the very rare scarlet +Utricularia, growing in the axils of its native Vriesia, as in a cup +always full; but as yet the flower has been seen in Europe only by the +eyes of faith. It may be news to some that Utricularias do not belong to +the orchid family--have, in fact, not the slightest kinship, though +associated with it by growers to the degree that Mr. Sander admits them +to his farm. A little story hangs to the exquisite _U. Campbelli_. All +importers are haunted by the spectral image of _Cattleya labiata_, +which, in its true form, had been brought to Europe only once, seventy +years ago, when this book was written. Some time since, Mr. Sander was +looking through the drawings of Sir Robert Schomburgk, in the British +Museum, among which is a most eccentric Cattleya named--for reasons +beyond comprehension--a variety of _C. Mossiae_. He jumped at the +conclusion that this must be the long-lost _C. labiata_. So strong +indeed was his confidence that he despatched a man post-haste over the +Atlantic to explore the Roraima mountain; and, further, gave him strict +injunctions to collect nothing but this precious species. For eight +months the traveller wandered up and down among the Indians, searching +forest and glade, the wooded banks of streams, the rocks and clefts, but +he found neither _C. labiata_ nor that curious plant which Sir Robert +Schomburgk described. Upon the other hand, he came across the lovely +_Utricularia Campbelli_, and in defiance of instructions brought it +down. But very few reached England alive. For six weeks they travelled +on men's backs, from their mountain home to the River Essequibo; thence, +six weeks in canoe to Georgetown, with twenty portages; and, so aboard +ship. The single chance of success lies in bringing them down, +undisturbed, in the great clumps of moss which are their habitat, as is +the Vriesia of other species. + +I will allow myself a very short digression here. It may seem +unaccountable that a plant of large growth, distinct flower, and +characteristic appearance, should elude the eye of persons trained to +such pursuits, and encouraged to spend money on the slightest prospect +of success, for half a century and more. But if we recall the +circumstances it ceases to astonish. I myself spent many months in the +forests of Borneo, Central America, and the West African coast. After +that experience I scarcely understand how such a quest, for a given +object, can ever be successful unless by mere fortune. To look for a +needle in a bottle of hay is a promising enterprise compared with the +search for an orchid clinging to some branch high up in that green world +of leaves. As a matter of fact, collectors seldom discover what they are +specially charged to seek, if the district be untravelled--the natives, +therefore, untrained to grasp and assist their purpose. This remark does +not apply to orchids alone; not by any means. Few besides the +scientific, probably, are aware that the common _Eucharis amasonica_ has +been found only once; that is to say, but one consignment has ever been +received in Europe, from which all our millions in cultivation have +descended. Where it exists in the native state is unknown, but assuredly +this ignorance is nobody's fault. For a generation at least skilled +explorers have been hunting. Mr. Sander has had his turn, and has +enjoyed the satisfaction of discovering species closely allied, as +_Eucharis Mastersii_ and _Eucharis Sanderiana_; but the old-fashioned +bulb is still to seek. + +In this third greenhouse is a large importation of _Cattleya Trianae_, +which arrived so late last year that their sheaths have opened +contemporaneously with _C. Mossiae_. I should fear to hazard a guess how +many thousand flowers of each are blooming now. As the Odontoglossums +cover their stage with snow wreaths, so this is decked with upright +plumes of _Cattleya Trianae_, white and rose and purple in endless +variety of tint, with many a streak of other hue between. + +Suddenly our guide becomes excited, staring at a basket overhead beyond +reach. It contains a smooth-looking object, very green and fat, which +must surely be good to eat--but this observation is alike irrelevant and +disrespectful. Why, yes! Beyond all possibility of doubt that is a spike +issuing from the axil of its fleshy leaf! Three inches long it is +already, thick as a pencil, with a big knob of bud at the tip. Such +pleasing surprises befall the orchidacean! This plant came from Borneo +so many years ago that the record is lost; but the oldest servant of the +farm remembers it, as a poor cripple, hanging between life and death, +season after season. Cheerful as interesting is the discussion that +arises. More like a Vanda than anything else, the authorities resolve, +but not a Vanda! Commending it to the special care of those responsible, +we pass on. + +Here is the largest mass of Catasetum ever found, or even rumoured, +lying in ponderous bulk upon the stage, much as it lay in a Guatemalan +forest. It is engaged in the process of "plumping up." Orchids shrivel +in their long journey, and it is the importer's first care to renew that +smooth and wholesome rotundity which indicates a conscience untroubled, +a good digestion, and an assurance of capacity to fulfil any reasonable +demand. Beneath the staging you may see myriads of withered sticks, +clumps of shrunken and furrowed bulbs by the thousand, hung above those +leaf-beds mentioned; they are "plumping" in the damp shade. The larger +pile of Catasetum--there are two--may be four feet long, three wide, and +eighteen inches thick; how many hundreds of flowers it will bear passes +computation. I remarked that when broken up into handsome pots it would +fill a greenhouse of respectable dimensions; but it appears that there +is not the least intention of dividing it. The farmer has several +clients who will snap at this natural curiosity, when, in due time, it +is put on the market. + +At the far end of the house stands another piece of rockwork, another +little cascade, and more marvels than I can touch upon. In fact, there +are several which would demand all the space at my disposition, but, +happily, one reigns supreme. This is a _Cattleya Mossiae_, the pendant of +the Catasetum, by very far the largest orchid of any kind that was ever +brought to Europe. For some years Mr. Sander, so to speak, hovered round +it, employing his shrewdest and most diplomatic agents. For this was not +a forest specimen. It grew upon a high tree beside an Indian's hut, near +Caraccas, and belonged to him as absolutely as the fruit in his +compound. His great-grandfather, indeed, had "planted" it, so he +declared, but this is highly improbable. The giant has embraced two +stems of the tree, and covers them both so thickly that the bare ends of +wood at top alone betray its secret; for it was sawn off, of course, +above and below. I took the dimensions as accurately as may be, with an +object so irregular and prickly. It measures--the solid bulk of it, +leaves not counted--as nearly as possible five feet in height and four +thick--one plant, observe, pulsating through its thousand limbs from one +heart; at least, I mark no spot where the circulation has been checked +by accident or disease, and the pseudo-bulbs beyond have been obliged to +start an independent existence. + +In speaking of _Loelia elegans_, I said that those Brazilian +islanders who have lost it might find solace could they see its +happiness in exile. The gentle reader thought this an extravagant figure +of speech, no doubt, but it is not wholly fanciful. Indians of Tropical +America cherish a fine orchid to the degree that in many cases no sum, +and no offer of valuables, will tempt them to part with it. Ownership is +distinctly recognized when the specimen grows near a village. The root +of this feeling, whether superstition or taste, sense of beauty, rivalry +in magnificence of church displays, I have not been able to trace. It +runs very strong in Costa Rica, where the influence of the aborigines is +scarcely perceptible, and there, at least, the latter motive is +sufficient explanation. Glorious beyond all our fancy can conceive, must +be the show in those lonely forest churches, which no European visits +save the "collector," on a feast day. Mr. Roezl, whose name is so +familiar to botanists, left a description of the scene that time he +first beheld the Flor de Majo. The church was hung with garlands of it, +he says, and such emotions seized him at the view that he choked. The +statement is quite credible. Those who see that wonder now, prepared for +its transcendent glory, find no words to express their feeling: imagine +an enthusiast beholding it for the first time, unwarned, unsuspecting +that earth can show such a sample of the flowers that bloomed in Eden! +And not a single branch, but garlands of it! Mr. Roezl proceeds to speak +of bouquets of _Masdevallia Harryana_ three feet across, and so forth. +The natives showed him "gardens" devoted to this species, for the +ornament of their church; it was not cultivated, of course, but +evidently planted. They were acres in extent. + +The Indian to whom this _Cattleya Mossiae_ belonged refused to part with +it at any price for years; he was overcome by a rifle of peculiar +fascination, added to the previous offers. A magic-lantern has very +great influence in such cases, and the collector provides himself with +one or more nowadays as part of his outfit. Under that charm, with +47l. in cash, Mr. Sander secured his first _C. Mossiae alba_, but it +has failed hitherto in another instance, though backed by 100l., in +"trade" or dollars, at the Indian's option. + +Thence we pass to a wide and lofty house which was designed for growing +_Victoria Regia_ and other tropic water-lilies. It fulfilled its purpose +for a time, and I never beheld those plants under circumstances so well +fitted to display their beauty. But they generate a small black fly in +myriads beyond belief, and so the culture of _Nymphaea_ was dropped. A +few remain, in manageable quantities, just enough to adorn the tank +with blue and rosy stars; but it is arched over now with baskets as +thick as they will hang--Dendrobium, Coelogene, Oncidium, +Spathoglottis, and those species which love to dwell in the +neighbourhood of steaming water. My vocabulary is used up by this time. +The wonders here must go unchronicled. + +We have viewed but four houses out of twelve, a most cursory glance at +that! The next also is intermediate, filled with Cattleyas, warm +Oncidiums, Lycastes, Cypripediums--the inventory of names alone would +occupy all my space remaining. At every step I mark some object worth a +note, something that recalls, or suggests, or demands a word. But we +must get along. The sixth house is cool again--Odontoglossums and such; +the seventh is given to Dendrobes. But facing us as we enter stands a +_Lycaste Skinneri_, which illustrates in a manner almost startling the +infinite variety of the orchid. I positively dislike this species, +obtrusive, pretentious, vague in colour, and stiff in form. But what a +royal glorification of it we have here!--what exquisite veining and +edging of purple or rose; what a velvet lip of crimson darkening to +claret! It is merely a sport of Nature, but she allows herself such +glorious freaks in no other realm of her domain. And here is a new +Brassia just named by the pontiff of orchidology, Professor Reichenbach. +Those who know the tribe of Brassias will understand why I make no +effort to describe it. This wonderful thing is yet more "all over the +shop" than its kindred. Its dorsal sepal measures three inches in +length, its "tail," five inches, with an enormous lip between. They term +it the Squid Flower, or Octopus, in Mexico; and a good name too. But in +place of the rather weakly colouring habitual it has a grand decision of +character, though the tones are like--pale yellow and greenish; its +raised spots, red and deep green, are distinct as points of velvet upon +muslin. + +In the eighth house we return to Odontoglossums and cool genera. Here +are a number of Hybrids of the "natural class," upon which I should have +a good deal to say if inexorable fate permitted; "natural hybrids" are +plants which seem species, but, upon thoughtful examination and study, +are suspected to be the offspring of kindred and neighbours. Interesting +questions arise in surveying fine specimens side by side, in flower, all +attributed to a cross between _Odontoglossum Lindleyanum_ and +_Odontoglossum crispum Alexandrae_, and all quite different. But we must +get on to the ninth house, from which the tenth branches. + +Here is the stove, and twilight reigns over that portion where a variety +of super-tropic genera are "plumping up," making roots, and generally +reconciling themselves to a new start in life. Such dainty, delicate +souls may well object to the apprenticeship. It must seem very degrading +to find themselves laid out upon a bed of cinders and moss, hung up by +the heels above it, and even planted therein; but if they have as much +good sense as some believe, they may be aware that it is all for their +good. At the end, in full sunshine, stands a little copse of _Vanda +teres_, set as closely as their stiff branches will allow. Still we must +get on. There are bits of wood hanging here so rotten that they scarcely +hold together; faintest dots of green upon them assure the experienced +that presently they will be draped with pendant leaves, and presently +again, we hope, with blue and white and scarlet flowers of Utricularia. + +From the stove opens a very long, narrow house, where cool genera are +"plumping," laid out on moss and potsherds; many of them have burst into +strong growth. Pleiones are flowering freely as they lie. This farmer's +crops come to harvest faster than he can attend to them. Things +beautiful and rare and costly are measured here by the yard--so many +feet of this piled up on the stage, so many of the other, from all +quarters of the world, waiting the leisure of these busy agriculturists. +Nor can we spare them more than a glance. The next house is filled with +Odontoglossums, planted out like "bedding stuff" in a nursery, awaiting +their turn to be potted. They make a carpet so close, so green, that +flowers are not required to charm the eye as it surveys the long +perspective. The rest are occupied just now with cargoes of imported +plants. + +My pages are filled--to what poor purpose, seeing how they might have +been used for such a theme, no one could be so conscious as I. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 8: I was too sanguine. _Vanda teres_ refused to thrive.] + + + + +ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING. + + +In the very first place, I declare that this is no scientific chapter. +It is addressed to the thousands of men and women in the realm who tend +a little group of orchids lovingly, and mark the wonders of their +structure with as much bewilderment as interest. They read of +hybridization, they see the result in costly specimens, they get books, +they study papers on the subject. But the deeper their research +commonly, the more they become convinced that these mysteries lie beyond +their attainment. I am not aware of any treatise which makes a serious +effort to teach the uninitiated. Putting technical expressions on one +side--though that obstacle is grave enough--every one of those which +have come under my notice takes the mechanical preliminaries for +granted. All are written by experts for experts. My purpose is contrary. +I wish to show how it is done so clearly that a child or the dullest +gardener may be able to perform the operations--so very easy when you +know how to set to work. + +[Illustration: CYPRIPEDIUM (HYBRIDUM) POLLETTIANUM. +Reduced to One Sixth.] + +After a single lesson, in the genus _Cypripedium_ alone, a young lady +of my household amused herself by concerting the most incredible +alliances--_Dendrobium_ with _Odontoglossum_, _Epidendrum_ with +_Oncidium_, _Oncidium_ with _Odontoglossum_, and so forth. It is +unnecessary to tell the experienced that in every case the seed vessel +swelled; that matter will be referred to presently. I mention the +incident only to show how simple are these processes if the key be +grasped. + +Amateur hybridizers of an audacious class are wanted because, hitherto, +operators have kept so much to the beaten paths. The names of Veitch and +Dominy and Seden will endure when those of great _savants_ are +forgotten; but business men have been obliged to concentrate their zeal +upon experiments that pay. Fantastic crosses mean, in all probability, a +waste of time, space, and labour; in fact, it is not until recent years +that such attempts could be regarded as serious. So much the more +creditable, therefore, are Messrs. Veitch's exertions in that line. + +But it seems likely to me that when hybridizing becomes a common pursuit +with those who grow orchids--and the time approaches fast--a very +strange revolution may follow. It will appear, as I think, that the +enormous list of pure species--even genera--recognized at this date may +be thinned in a surprising fashion. I believe--timidly, as becomes the +unscientific--that many distinctions which anatomy recognizes at present +as essential to a true species will be proved, in the future, to result +from promiscuous hybridization through aeons of time. "Proved," perhaps, +is the word too strong, since human life is short; but such a mass of +evidence will be collected that reasonable men can entertain no doubt. +Of course the species will be retained, but we shall know it to be a +hybrid--the offspring, perhaps, of hybrids innumerable. + +I incline more and more to think that even genera may be disturbed in a +surprising fashion, and I know that some great authorities agree with me +outright, though they are unprepared to commit themselves at present. A +very few years ago this suggestion would have been absurd, in the sense +that it wanted facts in support. As our ancestors made it an article of +faith that to fertilize an orchid was impossible for man, so we imagined +until lately that genera would not mingle. But this belief grows +unsteady. Though bi-generic crosses have not been much favoured, as +offering little prospect of success, such results have been obtained +already that the field of speculation lies open to irresponsible +persons like myself. When Cattleya has been allied with Sophronitis, +Sophronitis with Epidendrum, Odontoglossum with Zygopetalum, Coelogene +with Calanthe, one may credit almost anything. What should be stated on +the other side will appear presently. + +How many hybrids have we now, established, and passing from hand to hand +as freely as natural species? There is no convenient record; but in the +trade list of a French dealer those he is prepared to supply are set +apart with Gallic precision. They number 416; but imagination and +commercial enterprise are not less characteristic of the Gaul than +precision. + +In the excellent "Manual" of Messrs. Veitch, which has supplied me with +a mass of details, I find ten hybrid Calanthes; thirteen hybrid +Cattleyas, and fifteen Loelias, besides sixteen "natural +hybrids"--species thus classed upon internal evidence--and the wondrous +Sophro-Cattleya, bi-generic; fourteen Dendrobiums and one natural; +eighty-seven Cypripediums--but as for the number in existence, it is so +great, and it increases so fast, that Messrs. Veitch have lost count; +Phajus one, but several from alliance with Calanthe; Chysis two; +Epidendrum one; Miltonia one, and two natural; Masdevallia ten, and two +natural; and so on. And it must be borne in mind that these amazing +results have been effected in one generation. Dean Herbert's +achievements eighty years ago were not chronicled, and it is certain +that none of the results survive. Mr. Sander of St. Albans preserves an +interesting relic, the only one as yet connected with the science of +orchidology. This is _Cattleya hybrida_, the first of that genus raised +by Dominy, manager to Messrs. Veitch, at the suggestion of Mr. Harris of +Exeter, to the stupefaction of our grandfathers. Mr. Harris will ever be +remembered as the gentleman who showed Mr. Veitch's agent how orchids +are fertilized, and started him on his career. This plant was lost for +years, but Mr. Sander found it by chance in the collection of Dr. +Janisch at Hamburg, and he keeps it as a curiosity, for in itself the +object has no value. But this is a digression. + +Dominy's earliest success, actually the very first of garden hybrids to +flower--in 1856--was _Calanthe Dominii_, offspring of _C. Masuca_ x _C. +furcata_;--be it here remarked that the name of the mother, or seed +parent, always stands first. Another interest attaches to _C. Dominii_. +Both its parents belong to the _Veratraefolia_ section of Calanthe, the +terrestrial species, and no other hybrid has yet been raised among them. +We have here one of the numberless mysteries disclosed by hybridization. +The epiphytal Calanthes, represented by _C. vestita_, will not cross +with the terrestrial, represented by _C. veratraefolia_, nor will the +mules of either. We may "give this up" and proceed. In 1859 flowered _C. +Veitchii_, from _C. rosea_, still called, as a rule, _Limatodes rosea, x +C. vestita_. No orchid is so common as this, and none more simply +beautiful. But although the success was so striking, and the way to it +so easy, twenty years passed before even Messrs. Veitch raised another +hybrid Calanthe. In 1878 Seden flowered _C. Sedeni_ from _C. Veitchii x +C. vestita_. Others entered the field then, especially Sir Trevor +Lawrence, Mr. Cookson, and Mr. Charles Winn. But the genus is small, and +they mostly chose the same families, often giving new names to the +progeny, in ignorance of each other's labour. + +The mystery I have alluded to recurs again and again. Large groups of +species refuse to inter-marry with their nearest kindred, even plants +which seem identical in the botanist's point of view. There is good +ground for hoping, however, that longer and broader experience will +annihilate some at least of the axioms current in this matter. Thus, it +is repeated and published in the very latest editions of standard works +that South American Cattleyas, which will breed, not only among +themselves, but also with the Brazilian Loelias, decline an alliance +with their Mexican kindred. But Baron Schroeder possesses a hybrid of +such typical parentage as _Catt. citrina_, Mexican, and _Catt. +intermedia_, Brazilian. It was raised by Miss Harris, of Lamberhurst, +Kent, one single plant only; and it has flowered several times. Messrs. +Sander have crossed _Catt. guttata Leopoldii_, Brazil, with _Catt. +Dowiana_, Costa Rica, giving _Catt. Chamberliana_; _Loelia crispa_, +Brazil, with the same, giving _Loelio-Cattleya Pallas_; _Catt. +citrina_, Mexico, with _Catt. intermedia_, Brazil, giving _Catt. citrina +intermedia_ (Lamberhurst hybrid); _Loelia flava_, Brazil, with _Catt. +Skinneri_, Costa Rica, giving _Loelio-Catt. Marriottiana_; _Loelia +pumila_, Brazil, with _Catt. Dowiana_, Costa Rica, giving +_Loelio-Catt. Normanii_; _Loelia Digbyana_, Central America, with +_Catt. Mossiae_, Venezuela, giving _Loelio-Catt. Digbyana-Mossiae_; +_Catt. Mossiae_, Venezuela, with _Loelia cinnabarina_, Brazil, giving +_Loelio-Catt. Phoebe_. Not yet flowered and unnamed, raised in the +Nursery, are _Catt. citrina_, Mexico, with _Loelia purpurata_, Brazil; +_Catt. Harrisoniae_, Brazil, with _Catt. citrina_, Mexico; _Loelia +anceps_, Mexico, with _Epidendrum ciliare_, U.S. Colombia. In other +genera there are several hybrids of Mexican and South American +parentage; as _L. anceps_ x _Epid. ciliare_, _Sophronitis grandiflora_ x +_Epid. radicans_, _Epid. xanthinum_ x _Epid. radicans_. + +But among Cypripediums, the easiest and safest of all orchids to +hybridize, East Indian and American species are unfruitful. Messrs. +Veitch obtained such a cross, as they had every reason to believe, in +one instance. For sixteen years the plants grew and grew until it was +thought they would prove the rule by declining to flower. I wrote to +Messrs. Veitch to obtain the latest news. They inform me that one has +bloomed at last. It shows no trace of the American strain, and they have +satisfied themselves that there was an error in the operation or the +record. Again, the capsules secured from very many by-generic crosses +have proved, time after time, to contain not a single seed. In other +cases the seed was excellent to all appearance, but it has resolutely +refused to germinate. And further, certain by-generic seedlings have +utterly ignored one parent. _Zygopetalum Mackayi_ has been crossed by +Mr. Veitch, Mr. Cookson, and others doubtless, with various +Odontoglossums, but the flower has always turned out _Zygopetalum +Mackayi_ pure and simple--which becomes the more unaccountable more +one thinks of it. + +Hybrids partake of the nature of both parents, but they incline +generally, as in the extreme cases mentioned, to resemble one much more +strongly than the other. When a Cattleya or Loelia of the single-leaf +section is crossed with one of the two-leaf, some of the offspring, from +the same capsule, show two leaves, others one only; and some show one +and two alternately, obeying no rule perceptible to us at present. So it +is with the charming _Loelia Maynardii_ from _L. Dayana_ x _Cattleya +dolosa_, just raised by Mr. Sander and named after the Superintendent of +his hybridizing operations. _Catt. dolosa_ has two leaves, _L. Dayana_ +one; the product has two and one alternately. Sepals and petals are +alike in colour, rosy crimson, veined with a deeper hue; lip brightest +crimson-lake, long, broad and flat, curving in handsomely above the +column, which is closely depressed after the manner of _Catt. dolosa_. + +The first bi-generic cross deserves a paragraph to itself if only on +that account; but its own merits are more than sufficient. +_Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana_ was raised by Messrs. Veitch from +_Sophronitis grandiflora_ x _Catt. intermedia_. It flowered in August, +1886; petals and sepals rosy scarlet, lip pale lilac bordered with +amethyst and tipped with rosy purple. + +But one natural hybrid has been identified among Dendrobes--the progeny +doubtless of _D. crassinode_ x _D. Wardianum_. Messrs. J. Laing have a +fine specimen of this; it shows the growth of the latter species with +the bloom of the former, but enlarged and improved. Several other hybrid +crosses are suspected. Of artificial we have not less than fifty. + +Phaius--it is often spelt Phajus--is so closely allied with Calanthe +that for hybridizing purposes at least there is no distinction. Dominy +raised _Ph. irroratus_ from _Ph. grandifolius_ x _Cal. vestita_; Seden +made the same cross, but, using the variety _Cal. v. rubro-occulata_, he +obtained _Ph. purpureus_. The success is more interesting because one +parent is evergreen, the other, Calanthe, deciduous. On this account +probably very few seedlings survive; they show the former habit. Mr. +Cookson alone has yet raised a cross between two species of Phajus--_Ph. +Cooksoni_ from _Ph. Wallichii_ x _Ph. tuberculosus_. One may say that +this is the best hybrid yet raised, saving _Calanthe Veitchii_, if all +merits be considered--stateliness of aspect, freedom in flowering, +striking colour, ease of cultivation. One bulb will throw up four +spikes--twenty-eight have been counted in a twelve-inch pot--each +bearing perhaps thirty flowers. + +Seden has made two crosses of Chysis, both from the exquisite _Ch. +bractescens_, one of the loveliest flowers that heaven has granted to +this world, but sadly fleeting. Nobody, I believe, has yet been so +fortunate as to obtain seed from _Ch. aurea_. This species has the rare +privilege of self-fertilization--we may well exclaim, Why! why?--and it +eagerly avails itself thereof so soon as the flower begins to open. +Thus, however watchful the hybridizer may be, hitherto he has found the +pollen masses melted in hopeless confusion before he can secure them. + +One hybrid Epidendrum has been obtained--_Epi. O'Brienianum_ from _Epi. +evectum x Epi. radicans_; the former purple, the latter scarlet, produce +xa bright crimson progeny. + +Miltonias show two natural hybrids, and one artificial--_Mil. Bleuiana_ +from _Mil. vexillaria x Mil. Roezlii_; both of these are commonly +classed as Odontoglots, and I refer to them elsewhere under that title. +M. Bleu and Messrs. Veitch made this cross about the same time, but the +seedlings of the former flowered in 1889, of the latter, in 1891. Here +we see an illustration of the advantage which French horticulturists +enjoy, even so far north as Paris; a clear sky and abundant sunshine +made a difference of more than twelve months. When Italians begin +hybridizing, we shall see marvels--and Greeks and Egyptians! + +Masdevallias are so attractive to insects, by striking colour, as a +rule, and sometimes by strong smell--so very easily fertilized +also--that we should expect many natural hybrids in the genus. They are +not forthcoming, however. Reichenbach displayed his scientific instinct +by suggesting that two species submitted to him might probably be the +issue of parents named; since that date Seden has produced both of them +from the crosses which Reichenbach indicated. + +We have three natural hybrids among Phaloenopsis. _Ph. intermedia_ made +its appearance in a lot of _Ph. Aphrodite_, imported 1852. M. Porte, a +French trader, brought home two in 1861; they were somewhat different, +and he gave them his name. Messrs. Low imported several in 1874, one of +which, being different again, was called after Mr. Brymer. Three have +been found since, always among _Ph. Aphrodite_; the finest known is +possessed by Lord Rothschild. That these were natural hybrids could not +be doubted; Seden crossed _Ph. Aphrodite_ with _Ph. rosea_, and proved +it. Our garden hybrids are two: _Ph. F.L. Ames_, obtained from _Ph. +amabilis x Ph. intermedia_, and _Ph. Harriettae_ from _Ph. amabilis x +Ph. violacea_, named after the daughter of Hon. Erastus Corning, of +Albany, U.S.A. + +Oncidiums yield only two natural hybrids at present, and those +uncertain; others are suspected. We have no garden hybrids, I believe, +as yet. So it is with Odontoglossums, as has been said, but in the +natural state they cross so freely that a large proportion of the +species may probably be hybrids. I allude to this hereafter. + +I have left Cypripediums to the last, in these hasty notes, because that +supremely interesting genus demands more than a record of dry facts. +Darwin pointed out that Cypripedium represents the primitive form of +orchid. He was acquainted with no links connecting it with the later and +more complicated genera; some have been discovered since that day, but +it is nevertheless true that "an enormous extinction must have swept +away a multitude of intermediate forms, and left this single genus as +the record of a former and more simple state of the great orchidacean +order." The geographical distribution shows that Cypripedium was more +common in early times--to speak vaguely--and covered an area yet more +extensive than now. And the process of extermination is still working, +as with other primitive types. + +Messrs. Veitch point out that although few genera of plants are +scattered so widely over the earth as Cypripedium, the species have +withdrawn to narrow areas, often isolated, and remote from their +kindred. Some are rare to the degree that we may congratulate ourselves +upon the chance which put a few specimens in safety under glass before +it was too late, for they seem to have become extinct even in this +generation. Messrs. Veitch give a few striking instances. All the plants +of _Cyp. Fairieanum_ known to exist have sprung from three or four +casually imported in 1856. Two bits of _Cyp. superbiens_ turned up among +a consignment of _Cyp. barbatum_; none have been found since, and it is +doubtful whether the species survives in its native home. Only three +plants of _Cyp. Marstersianium_ have been discovered. They reached Mr. +Bull in a miscellaneous case of Cypripediums forwarded to him by the +Director of the Botanic Gardens at Buitzenzorze, in Java; but that +gentleman and his successors in office have been unable to find another +plant. These three must have reached the Gardens by an accident--as they +left it--presented perhaps by some Dutchman who had been travelling. + +_Cyp. purpuratum_ is almost extinct at Hong Kong, and is vanishing fast +on the mainland. It is still found occasionally in the garden of a +peasant, who, we are told, resolutely declines to sell his treasure. +This may seem incredible to those who know the Chinaman, but Mr. +Roebelin vouches for the fact; it is one more eccentricity to the credit +of that people, who had quite enough already. Collectors expect to find +a new habitat of _Cyp. purpuratum_ in Formosa when they are allowed to +explore that realm. Even our native _Cyp. calceolus_ has almost +disappeared; we get it now from Central Europe, but in several districts +where it abounded the supply grows continually less. The same report +comes from North America and Japan. Fortunate it is, but not surprising +to the thoughtful observer, that this genus grows and multiplies with +singular facility when its simple wants are supplied. There is no danger +that a species which has been rescued from extinction will perish under +human care. + +This seems contradictory. How should a plant thrive better under +artificial conditions than in the spot where Nature placed it? The +reason lies in that archaic character of the Cypriped which Darwin +pointed out. Its time has passed--Nature is improving it off the face of +the earth. A gradual change of circumstances makes it more and more +difficult for this primitive form of orchid to exist, and, conscious of +the fate impending, it gratefully accepts our help. + +One cause of extermination is easily grasped. Cypripeds have not the +power of fertilizing themselves, except a single species, _Cyp. +Schlimii_, which--accordingly, as we may say--is most difficult to +import and establish; moreover, it flowers so freely that the seedlings +are always weak. In all species the sexual apparatus is so constructed +that it cannot be impregnated by accident, and few insects can perform +the office. Dr. Hermann Muller studied _Cyp. calceolus_ assiduously in +this point of view. He observed only five species of insect which +fertilize it. _Cyp. calceolus_ has perfume and honey, but none of the +tropical species offer those attractions. Their colour is not showy. The +labellum proves to be rather a trap than a bait. Large insects which +creep into it and duly bear away the pollen masses, are caught and held +fast by that sticky substance when they try to escape through the +lateral passages, which smaller insects are too weak to force their way +through. + +Natural hybrids occur so rarely, that their existence is commonly +denied. The assertion is not quite exact; but when we consider the +habits of the genus, it ceases to be extraordinary that Cypripeds +rarely cross in their wild state. Different species of Cattleya, +Odontoglots, and the rest live together on the same tree, side by side. +But those others dwell apart in the great majority of cases, each +species by itself, at a vast distance perhaps from its kindred. The +reason for this state of things has been mentioned--natural laws have +exterminated them in the spaces between, which are not so well fitted to +maintain a doomed race. + +Doubtless Cypripeds rarely fertilize--by comparison, that is, of +course--in their native homes. The difficulty that insects find in +performing that service has been mentioned. Mr. Godseff points out to me +a reason far more curious and striking. When a bee displaces the pollen +masses of a Cattleya, for instance, they cling to its head or thorax by +means of a sticky substance attached to the pollen cases; so, on +entering the next flower, it presents the pollen _outwards_ to the +stigmatic surface. But in the case of a Cypriped there is no such +substance, the adhesive side of the pollen itself is turned outward, and +it clings to any intruding substance. But this is the fertilizing part. +Therefore, an insect which by chance displaces the pollen mass carries +it off, as one may say, the wrong side up. On entering the next flower, +it does not commonly present the surface necessary for impregnation, but +a sterile globule which is the backing thereof. We may suppose that in +the earlier age, when this genus flourished as the later forms of orchid +do now, it enjoyed some means of fertilization which have vanished. + +Under such disadvantages it is not to be expected that seed capsules +would be often found upon imported Cypripeds. Messrs. Veitch state that +they rarely observed one among the myriads of plants that have passed +through their hands. With some species, however, it is not by any means +so uncommon. When Messrs. Thompson, of Clovenfords, bought a quantity of +the first _Cyp. Spicerianum_ which came upon the market, they found a +number of capsules, and sowed them, obtaining several hundred fine +plants. Pods are often imported on _Cyp. insigne_ full of good seed. + +In the circumstances enumerated we have the explanation of an +extraordinary fact. Hybrids or natural species of Cypripediums +artificially raised are stronger than their parents, and they produce +finer flowers. The reason is that they get abundance of food in +captivity, and all things are made comfortable for them; whilst Nature, +anxious to be rid of a form of plant no longer approved, starves and +neglects them. + +The same argument enables us to understand why Cypripeds lend themselves +so readily to the hybridizer. Darwin taught us to expect that species +which can rarely hope to secure a chance of reproduction will learn to +make the process as easy and as sure as the conditions would admit--that +none of those scarce opportunities may be lost. And so it proves. +Orchidaceans are apt to declare that "everybody" is hybridizing +Cypripeds nowadays. At least, so many persons have taken up this +agreeable and interesting pursuit that science has lost count of the +less striking results. Briefly, the first hybrid Cypripedium was raised +by Dominy, in 1869, and named after Mr. Harris, who, as has been said, +suggested the operation to him. Seden produced the next in 1874--_Cyp. +Sedeni_ from _Cyp. Schlimii x Cyp. longiflorum_; curious as the single +instance yet noted in which seedlings turn out identical, whichever +parent furnish the pollen-masses. In every other case they vary when the +functions of the parents are exchanged. + +For a long time after 1853, when serious work begun, Messrs. Veitch had +a monopoly of the business. It is but forty years, therefore, since +experiments commenced, in which time hundreds of hybrids have been +added to our list of flowers; but--this is my point--Nature has been +busy at the same task for unknown ages, and who can measure the fruits +of her industry? I do not offer the remark as an argument; our +observations are too few as yet. It may well be urged that if Nature had +been thus active, the "natural hybrids" which can be recognized would be +much more numerous than they are. I have pointed out that many of the +largest genera show very few; many none at all. But is it impossible +that the explanation appears to fail only because we cannot yet push it +far enough? When the hybridizer causes by force a fruitful union betwixt +two genera, he seems to triumph over a botanical law. But suppose the +genera themselves are artificial, only links in a grand chain which +Nature has forged slowly, patiently, with many a break and many a +failure, in the course of ages? She would finish her work bit by bit, +and at every stage the new variety may have united with others in +endless succession. Few natural hybrids can be identified among +Cattleyas, for instance. But suppose Cattleyas are all hybrids, the +result of promiscuous intercourse among genera during cycles of +time--suppose, that is, the genus itself sprang from parents widely +diverse, crossing, returning, intercrossing from age to age? It is +admitted that Cypripedium represents a primeval form--perhaps _the_ +primeval form--of orchid. Suppose that we behold, in this nineteenth +century, a mere epoch, or stage, in the ceaseless evolution? Only an +irresponsible amateur could dare talk in this way. It would, in truth, +be very futile speculation if experiments already successful did not +offer a chance of proof one day, and others, hourly ripening, did not +summon us to think. + +I may cite, with the utmost brevity, two or three facts which--to me +unscientific--appear inexplicable, unless species of orchid were +developed on the spot; or the theory of special local creations be +admitted. _Oncidium cucullatum_ flourishes in certain limited areas of +Peru, of Ecuador, of Colombia, and of Venezuela. It is not found in the +enormous spaces between, nor are any Oncidiums which might be accepted +as its immediate parents. Can we suppose that the winds or the birds +carried it over mountain ranges and broad rivers more than two thousand +miles, in four several directions, to establish it upon a narrow tract? +It is a question of faith; but, for my own part, I could as soon believe +that aesthetic emigrants took it with them. But even winds and birds +could not bear the seed of _Dendrobium heterocarpum_ from Ceylon to +Burmah, and from Burmah to Luzon in the Philippines; at least, I am +utterly unable to credit it. If the plants were identical, or nearly, in +their different habitats, this case would be less significant. But the +_D. heterocarpum_ of Ceylon has a long, thin pseudo-bulb, with bright +yellow flowers; that of Burmah is short and thick, with paler colouring; +that of Luzon is no less than three feet high, exaggerating the stature +of its most distant relative while showing the colour of its nearest; +but all, absolutely, the same botanic plant. I have already mentioned +other cases. + +Experience hitherto suggests that we cannot raise Odontoglossum +seedlings in this climate; very, very few have ever been obtained. +Attempts in France have been rather more successful. Baron Adolf de +Rothschild has four different hybrids of Odontoglossum in bud at this +present moment in his garden at Armainvilliers, near Paris. M. Moreau +has a variety of seedlings. + +Authorities admit now that a very great proportion of our Odontoglossums +are natural hybrids; so many can be identified beyond the chance of +error that the field for speculation has scarcely bounds. _O. excellens_ +is certainly descended from _O. Pescatorei_ and _O. triumphans_, _O. +elegans_ from _O. cirrhosum_ and _O. Hallii_, _O. Wattianum_ from _O. +Harryanum_ and _O. hystrix_. And it must be observed that we cannot +trace pedigree beyond the parents as yet, saving a very, very few cases. +But unions have been contracting during cycles of time; doubtless, from +the laws of things the orchid is latest born of Nature's children in the +world of flora, but mighty venerable by this time, nevertheless. We can +identify the mixed offspring of _O. crispum Alexandrae_ paired with _O. +gloriosum_, with _O. luteopurpureum_, with _O. Lindleyanum_; these +parents dwell side by side, and they could not fail to mingle. We can +already trace with assurance a few double crosses, as _O. lanceans_, the +result of an alliance between _O. crispum Alexandrae_ and _O. +Ruckerianum_, which latter is a hybrid of the former with _O. +gloriosum_. When we observe _O. Roezlii_ upon the bank of the River +Cauca and _O. vexillarium_ on the higher ground, whilst _O. vexillarium +superbum_ lives between, we may confidently attribute its peculiarity of +a broad dark blotch upon the lip to the influence of _O. Roezlii_. So, +taking station at Manaos upon the Amazons, we find, to eastward, +_Cattleya superba_, to westward _C. Eldorado_, and in the midst _C. +Brymeriana_, which, it is safe to assume, represents the union of the +two; for that matter, the theory will very soon be tested, for M. +Alfred Bleu has "made the cross" of _C. superba_ and _C. Eldorado_, and +its flower is expected with no little interest. + +These cases, and many more, are palpable. We see a variety in the making +at this date. A thousand years hence, or ten thousand, by more distant +alliances, by a change of conditions, the variety may well have +developed into a species, or, by marriage excursions yet wider, it may +have founded a genus. + +I have named Mr. Cookson several times; in fact, to discourse of +hybridization for amateurs without reference to his astonishing "record" +would be grotesque. One Sunday afternoon, ten years ago, he amused +himself with investigating the structure of a few Cypripeds, after +reading Darwin's book; and he impregnated them. To his astonishment the +seed-vessel began to swell, and so did Mr. Cookson's enthusiasm +simultaneously. He did not yet know, and, happily, these experiments +gave him no reason to suspect, that pseudo-fertilization can be +produced, actually, by anything. So intensely susceptible is the +stigmatic surface of the Cypriped that a touch excites it furiously. +Upon the irritation caused by a bit of leaf, it will go sometimes +through all the visible processes of fecundation, the ovary will swell +and ripen, and in due time burst, with every appearance of fertility; +but, of course, there is no seed. Beginners, therefore, must not be too +sanguine when their bold attempts promise well. + +From that day Mr. Cookson gave his leisure to hybridization, with such +results as, in short, are known to everybody who takes an interest in +orchids. Failures in abundance he had at first, but the proportion has +grown less and less until, at this moment, he confidently looks for +success in seventy-five per cent. of his attempts; but this does not +apply to bi-generic crosses, which hitherto have not engaged his +attention much. Beginning with Cypripedium, he has now ninety-four +hybrids--very many plants of each--produced from one hundred and forty +capsules sown. Of Calanthe, sixteen hybrids from nineteen capsules; of +Dendrobium, thirty-six hybrids from forty-one capsules; of Masdevallia, +four hybrids from seventeen capsules; of Odontoglossum, none from nine +capsules; of Phajus, two from two capsules; of Vanda, none from one +capsule; of bi-generic, one from nine capsules. There may be another +indeed, but the issue of an alliance so startling, and produced under +circumstances so dubious, that Mr. Cookson will not own it until he sees +the flower. + +It does not fall within the scope of this chapter to analyze the list +of this gentleman's triumphs, but even _savants_ will be interested to +hear a few of the most remarkable crosses therein, for it is not +published. I cite the following haphazard:-- + + Phajus Wallichii x Phajus tuberculosus. + Loelia praestans. x Cattleya Dowiana. + " purpurata x Cattleya Dowiana. + " " x Loelia grandis tenebrosa. + " " x Cattleya Mendellii. + " marginata x Loelia elegans Cooksoni. + Cattleya Mendellii x " purpurata. + " Trianae x " harpophylla. + " Percivalliana x " + " Lawrenceana x Cattleya Mossiae. + " gigas x " Gaskelliana. + " crispa x " " + " Dowiana x " " + " Schofieldiana x " gigas imperialis. + " Leopoldii x " Dowiana. + Cypripedium Stonei x Cypripedium Godefroyae. + " " x " Spicerianum. + " Sanderianum x " Veitchii. + " Spicerianum x " Sanderianum. + " Io x " vexillarium. + Dendrobium nobile nobilus x Dendrobium Falconerii. + " " x " nobile Cooksonianum. + " Wardianum x " aureum. + " " x " Linawianum. + " luteolum x " nobile nobilius. + Masdevallia Tovarensis x Masdevallia bella. + " Shuttleworthii x " Tovarensis. + " " x " rosea. + +Of these, and so many more, Mr. Cookson has at this moment fifteen +thousand plants. Since my object is to rouse the attention of amateurs, +that they may go and do likewise, I may refer lightly to a consideration +which would be out of place under other circumstances. Professional +growers of orchids are fond of speculating how much the Wylam collection +would realize if judiciously put on the market. I shall not mention the +estimates I have heard; it is enough to say they reach many, many +thousands of pounds; that the difference between the highest and the +lowest represents a handsome fortune. And this great sum has been earned +by brains alone, without increase of expenditure, by boldness of +initiative, thought, care, and patience; without special knowledge also, +at the beginning, for ten years ago Mr. Cookson had no more acquaintance +with orchids than is possessed by every gentleman who takes an interest +in them, while his gardener the early time was both ignorant and +prejudiced. This should encourage enterprise, I think--the revelation of +means to earn great wealth in a delightful employment. But amateurs must +be quick. Almost every professional grower of orchids is preparing to +enter the field. They, however, must needs give the most of their +attention to such crosses as may be confidently expected to catch the +public fancy, as has been said. I advise my readers to be daring, even +desperate. It is satisfactory to learn that Mr. Cookson intends to make +a study of bi-generic hybridization henceforward.[9] + +The common motive for crossing orchids is that, of course, which urges +the florist in other realms of botany. He seeks to combine tints, forms, +varied peculiarities, in a new shape. Orchids lend themselves to +experiment with singular freedom, within certain limits, and their array +of colours seems to invite our interference. Taking species and genera +all round, yellow dominates, owing to its prevalence in the great family +of Oncidium; purples and mauves stand next by reason of their supremacy +among the Cattleyas. Green follows--if we admit the whole group of +Epidendrums--the great majority of which are not beautiful, however. Of +magenta, the rarest of natural hues, we have not a few instances. +Crimson, in a thousand shades, is frequent; pure white a little rare, +orange much rarer; scarlet very uncommon, and blue almost unknown, +though supremely lovely in the few instances that occur. Thus the +temptation to hybridize with the object of exchanging colours is +peculiarly strong. + +It becomes yet stronger by reason of the delightful uncertainty which +attends one's efforts. So far as I have heard or read, no one has yet +been able to offer a suggestion of any law which decides the result of +combination. In a general way, both parents will be represented in the +offspring, but how, to what degree either will dominate, in what parts, +colours, or fashions a hybrid will show its mixed lineage, the +experienced refuse to conjecture, saving certain easy classes. After +choosing parents thoughtfully, with a clear perception of the aim in +view, one must "go it blind." Very often the precise effect desired +appears in due time; very often something unlooked for turns up; but +nearly always the result is beautiful, whether or no it serve the +operator's purpose. Besides effect, however, there is an utility in +hybridization which relates to culture. Thus, for example, the lovely +_Cypripedium Fairieanum_ is so difficult to grow that few dealers keep +it in their stock; by crossing it with _Cyp. barbatum_, from Mount +Ophir, a rough-and-ready cool species, we get _Cyp. vexillarium_, which +takes after the latter in constitution while retaining much of the +beauty of the former. Or again, _Cypripedium Sanderianum_, from the +Malay Archipelago, needs such swampy heat as few even of its fellows +appreciate; it has been crossed with _Cyp. insigne_, which will flourish +anywhere, and though the seedlings have not yet bloomed, there is no +reasonable doubt that they will prove as useful and beautiful as in the +other case. _Cypripedium insigne_, of the fine varieties, has been +employed in a multitude of such instances. There is the striking _Cyp. +hirsutissimum_, with sepals of a nameless green, shaded yellow, studded +with spiculae, exquisitely frilled, and tipped, by a contrast almost +startling, with pale purple. It is very "hot" in the first place, and, +in the second, its appearance would be still more effective if some +white could be introduced; present it to _Cyp. niveum_ and confidently +expect that the progeny will bear cooler treatment, whilst their "dorsal +sepal" will be blanched. So the charming _Masdevallia Tovarensis_, warm, +white and lowly, will take to itself the qualities, in combination, of +_Mas. bella_, tall, cool, and highly coloured red and yellow, as Mr. +Cookson has proved; so _Phaloenopsis Wightii_, delicate of growth and +small of flower, will become strong and generous by union with _Phal. +grandiflora_, without losing its dainty tones. + +It is worth mention that the first Flora medal offered by the Royal +Horticultural Society for a seedling--a hybrid--in open competition was +won by _Loelia Arnoldiana_ in 1891; the same variety took the first +prize in 1892. It was raised by Messrs. Sander from _L. purpurata_ x +_Catt. labiata_; seed sown 1881, flowered 1891. + +And now for the actual process by which these most desirable results, +and ten thousand others, may be obtained. I shall not speak upon my own +authority, which the universe has no reason to trust. Let us observe the +methods practised in the great establishment of Mr. Sander at St. +Albans. + + Remark, in the first place, the low, unshaded range of houses + devoted to hybridization, a contrast to those lofty structures, a + hundred yards long or more, where plants merely flourish and bloom. + Their span roofs one may touch with the hand, and their glass is + always newly cleaned. The first and last demand of the hybridizer is + light--light--eternally light. Want of it stands at the bottom of + all his disappointments, perhaps. The very great majority of + orchids, such as I refer to, have their home in the tropics; even + the "cool" Odontoglots and Masdevallias owe that quality to their + mountaineering habit, not to latitude. They live so near the equator + that sunshine descends almost perpendicularly--and the sun shines + for more than half the year. But in this happy isle of ours, upon + the very brightest day of midsummer, its rays fall at an angle of + 28 deg., declining constantly until, at midwinter, they struggle through + the fogs at an inclination of 75 deg.. The reader may work out this + proportion for himself, but he must add to his reckoning the + thickness of our atmosphere at its best, and the awful number of + cloudy days. We cannot spare one particle of light. The ripening + seed must stand close beneath the glass, and however fierce the + sunshine no blind may be interposed. It is likely that the + mother-plant will be burnt up--quite certain that it will be much + injured. + +This house is devoted to the hybridizing of Cypripediums; I choose that +genus for our demonstration, because, as has been said, it is so very +easy and so certain that an intelligent girl mastered all its +eccentricities of structure after a single lesson, which made her +equally proficient in those of Dendrobes, Oncidiums, Odontoglots, +Epidendrums, and I know not how many more. The leaves are green and +smooth as yet, with many a fantastic bloom, and many an ovary that has +just begun to swell, rising amidst the verdure. Each flower spike which +has been crossed carries its neat label, registering the father's name +and the date of union. + +Mr. Maynard takes the two first virgin blooms to hand: _Cypripedium +Sanderianum_, and _Cypripedium Godefroyae_, as it chances. Let us cut off +the lip in order to see more clearly. Looking down now upon the flower, +we mark two wings, the petals, which stood on either side of the +vanished lip. From the junction of these wings issues a round stalk, +about one quarter of an inch long, and slightly hairy, called the +"column." It widens out at the tip, forming a pretty table, rather more +than one-third of an inch long and wide. This table serves no purpose in +our inquiry; it obstructs the view, and we will remove it; but the +reader understands, of course, that these amputations cannot be +performed when business is intended. Now--the table snipped off--we see +those practical parts of the flower that interest us. Beneath its +protection, the column divides into three knobbly excrescences, the +central plain, those on either side of it curling back and down, each +bearing at its extremity a pad, the size of a small pin's head, outlined +distinctly with a brown colour. It is quite impossible to mistake these +things; equally impossible, I hope, to misunderstand my description. +The pads are the male, the active organs. + +But the column does not finish here. It trends downward, behind and +below the pads, and widens out, with an exquisitely graceful curve, into +a disc one-quarter of an inch broad. This is the female, the receptive +part; but here we see the peculiarity of orchid structure. For the upper +surface of the disc is not susceptible; it is the under surface which +must be impregnated, though the imagination cannot conceive a mere +accident which would throw those fertilizing pads upon their destined +receptacle. They are loosely attached and adhesive, when separated, to a +degree actually astonishing, as is the disc itself; but if it were +possible to displace them by shaking, they could never fall where they +ought. Some outside impulse is needed to bring the parts together. In +their native home insects perform that service--sometimes. Here we may +take the first implement at hand, a knife, a bit of stick, a pencil. We +remove the pads, which yield at a touch, and cling to the object. We lay +them one by one on the receptive disc, where they seem to melt into the +surface--and the trick is done. Write out your label--_"Cyp. Sanderianum +x Cyp. Godefroyae_, Maynard." Add the date, and leave Nature to her work. + +She does not linger. One may almost say that the disc begins to swell +instantly. That part which we term the column is the termination of the +seed-purse, the ovary, which occupies an inch, or two, or three, of the +stalk, behind the flower. In a very few days its thickening becomes +perceptible. The unimpregnated bloom falls off at its appointed date, as +everybody knows; but if fertilized it remains entire, saving the +labellum, until the seed is ripe, perhaps half a year afterwards--but +withered, of course. Very singular and quite inexplicable are the +developments that arise in different genera, or even species, after +fertilization. In the Warscewiczellas, for example, not the seed-purse +only, but the whole column swells. _Phaloenopsis Luddemanniana_ is +specially remarkable. Its exquisite bars and mottlings of rose, brown, +and purple begin to take a greenish hue forthwith. A few days later, the +lip jerks itself off with a sudden movement, as observers declare. Then +the sepals and petals remaining take flesh, thicken and thicken, while +the hues fade and the green encroaches, until, presently, they assume +the likeness of a flower, abnormal in shape but perfect, of dense green +wax. + +This Cypripedium of ours will ripen its seed in about twelve months, +more or less. Then the capsule, two inches long and two-thirds of an +inch diameter, will burst. Mr. Maynard will cut it off, open it wide, +and scatter the thousands of seeds therein, perhaps 150,000, over pots +in which orchids are growing. After experiments innumerable, this has +been found the best course. The particles, no bigger than a grain of +dust, begin to swell at once, reach the size of a mustard-seed, and in +five or six weeks--or as many months--they put out a tiny leaf, then a +tiny root, presently another leaf, and in four or five years we may look +for the hybridized flower. Long before, naturally, they have been +established in their own pots. + +Strange incidents occur continually in this pursuit, as may be believed. +Nine years since, Mr. Godseff crossed _Catasetum macrocarpum_ with +_Catasetum callosum_. The seed ripened, and in due time it was sown; but +none ever germinated in the proper place. A long while afterwards Mr. +Godseff remarked a tiny little green speck in a crevice above the door +of this same house. It grew and grew very fast, never receiving water +unless by the rarest accident, until those experts could identify a +healthy young Catasetum. And there it has flourished ever since, +receiving no attention; for it is the first rule in orchid culture to +leave a plant to itself where it is doing well, no matter how strange +the circumstances may appear to us. This Catasetum, wafted by the wind, +when the seed was sown, found conditions suitable where it lighted, and +quickened, whilst all its fellows, carefully provided for, died without +a sign. It thrives upon the moisture of the house. In a very few years +it will flower. In another case, when all hope of the germination of a +quantity of seed had long been lost, it became necessary to take up the +wooden trellis that formed the flooring of the path; a fine crop of +young hybrids was discovered clinging to the under side. + +The amateur who has followed us thus far with interest, may inquire how +long it will be before he can reasonably expect to see the outcome of +our proceedings? In the first place, it must be noted that the time +shortens continually as we gain experience. The statements following I +leave unaltered, because they are given by Messrs. Veitch, our oldest +authority, in the last edition of their book. But at the Temple Show +this year Norman C. Cookson, Esq., exhibited _Catt. William Murray_, +offspring of _Catt. Mendellii x Catt. Lawrenceana_, a lovely flower +which gained a first class certificate. It was only four years old. + +The quickest record as yet is _Calanthe Alexanderii_, with which Mr. +Cookson won a first-class certificate of the Royal Horticultural +Society. It flowered within three years of fertilizing. As a genus, +perhaps, Dendrobiums are readiest to show. Plants have actually been +"pricked out" within two months of sowing, and they have bloomed within +the fourth year. Phajus and Calanthe rank next for rapid development. +Masdevallia, Chysis, and Cypripedium require four to five years, Lycaste +seven to eight, Loelia and Cattleya ten to twelve. These are Mr. +Veitch's calculations in a rough way, but there are endless exceptions, +of course. Thus his _Loelia triophthalma_ flowered in its eighth +season, whilst his _Loelia caloglossa_ delayed till its nineteenth. +The genus _Zygopetalum_, which plays odd tricks in hybridizing, as I +have mentioned, is curious in this matter also. _Z. maxillare_ crossed +with _Z. Mackayi_ demands five years to bloom, but _vice versa_ nine +years. There is a case somewhat similar, however, among the Cypripeds. +_C. Schlimii_ crossed with _C. longifolium_ flowers in four years, but +_vice versa_ in six. It is not to be disputed, therefore, that the +hybridizer's reward is rather slow in coming; the more earnestly should +he take measures to ensure, so far as is possible, that it be worth +waiting for. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: Mr. Cookson writes to me: "Give some of the credit to my +present gardener, William Murray, who is entitled to a large proportion, +at least."] + + + + +INDEX. + + + PAGE + Aerides Lawrenciae 160 + Angraecum arcuatum 134 + " caudatum 135 + " Duchailluianum 134 + " Ellisii 135 + " falcatum 133 + " Kotschyi 135 + " Leonis 135 + " Sanderianum 134 + " Scottianum 135 + " sesquipedale (AEranthus sesquipedalis) 135 + Anomatheca cruenta 11 + + Begonia coralina 195 + Begonias 86 + Brassias 207 + Brassavola Digbyana 128 + Bulbophyllum barbigerum 169 + " Beccarii 169 + " Dearei 170 + " Godseffianum 170 + " Lobbii 170 + Bullthorn acacia 124 + + Calanthe Alexanderii 246 + " Dominii 214 + " Sedeni 215 + " Veitchii 215 + Catasetum barbatum 123 + " Bungerothi (C. pileatum) 123 + " callosum 123 + " fimbriatum 123 + Cattleya Acklandiae 154 + " amethystoglossa 154 + " aurea 115 + " Brymeriana 232 + " Dowiana 115, 151 + " Hardyana 118 + " hybrida 214 + " labiata 111 + " Lawrenceana 92 + " Mendellii 117 + " " fly 117 + " Mossiae 111 + " Sanderiana 118 + " Skinneri alba 119 + " superba 152 + " Trianae 111, 201 + " violacea 110 + Coelogene cristata 160 + " Dayana 161 + " pandurata 160 + " Sanderiana 161 + Cookson, Norman, Esq. 22433 + + Collectors:-- + Arnold 27, 28, 70, 180, 181 + Bartholomeus 122, 180 + Bestwood 180 + Chaillu, M. Du 134 + Chesterton 180, 181 + Clarke 181 + Digance 181 + Dressel 77 + Endres 70 + Ericksson 32, 33 + Falkenberg 69 + Forstermann 162 + Gardner 174, 175, 181 + Hartweg 67 + Humblot 133 + Kerbach 72, 180 + Klaboch 70, 105, 180 + Kromer 95, 98, 99 + Lawrenceson 181 + Micholitz 30, 31 + Osmers 94, 181 + Oversluys 163, 180 + Roebelin 140, 160 + Roezl 66, 75, 76, 105, 139, 204, 205 + Schroeder 70 + Seyler 100 + Smith 180, 181 + Steigfers 99 + Swainson 173-175, 177, 179, 181 + Wallace 35 + Wallis 70 + Weir 67 + Cypripedium calceolus 82, 224, 225 + " candidum 82 + " Curtisi 32 + " Fairieanum 223 + " guttatum 82 + " insigne 83, 84, 108 + " macranthum 82 + " niveum 85 + " parviflorum 82 + " planifolium 87 + " pubescens 82 + " purpuratum 223 + " Sedeni 228 + " spectabile 82 + " Spicerianum 83, 85 + " vexillarium 238 + Cymbidium Lowianum 195 + " Albertesii 131 + + Dendrobium atro-violaceum 131 + " bigibbum 168 + " Broomfieldianum 131 + " Brymerianum 127 + " Forstermanni 127 + " Goldiei 130 + " heterocarpum 230 + " Johannis 168 + " luteolum 195 + " nobile nobilius 128 + " " Cooksoni 129 + " " Sanderianum 129 + " phaloenopsis 168 + " " Schroederianum 29 + " rhodopterygium 127 + " superbiens 168 + " Wardianum 125 + Disa Cooperi 166 + " discolor 166 + " grandiflora 165 + " racemosa 165 + + Epidendrum bicornutum 40 + " O'Brienianum 220 + " prismatocarpum 167 + " radicans 167 + " Randii 152 + " rhizophorum 167 + + Frogs, green, value of 13 + + Galleandra Devoniana 156 + Grammatophyllum speciosum 171 + " Measureseanum 171 + " multiflorum 172 + + Hybridizing 210 + + Lycaste Skinneri 79-81, 206 + " " alba 79, 81 + " aromatica 80 + " cruenta 81 + Loelia anceps 109, 120, 122 + " elegans 153 + " Maynardii 218 + " purpurata 153, 154 + " guttata Leopoldi 152, 153, 154 + " anceps alba 122 + " " Amesiana 109 + + Masdevallia Livingstoniana 140 + " Schlimii 76 + " Tovarensis 27 + + Odontoglossum Alexandrae 39, 67, 71 + " citrosmum 58 + " grande 107 + " Hallii 77 + " Harryanum 75 + " Hybrids 64, 78, 108, 231 + " noeveum 77 + " ramossissimum (coeleste) 34 + " Roezlii (Miltonia Roezlii) 64 + " Schlieperianum 107 + " vexillarium (Miltonia vexillaria) 104 + " Williamsi 107 + Oncidium cibolletum 116 + " crispum 47 + " cucullatum 230 + " fuscatum 90 + " Jonesianum 116 + " juncifolium 39 + " Lanceanum 164 + " luridum 39 + " macranthum 88 + " papilio 164 + " sculptum 89 + " serratum 89 + " splendidum 162, 163 + " superbiens 89 + + Peristeria elata 138 + Phajus Cooksoni 219 + " Humblotii 133 + " irroratus 219 + " purpureus 219 + " tuberculosus 133 + Phaloenopsis 54 + " amabilis 158 + " cornucervi 159 + " F.L. Ames 221 + " Harriettae 221 + " intermedia 221 + " Luddemanniana 244 + " Manni 159 + " Portei 159 + " Sanderiana 159 + " Schilleriana 158 + " speciosa 157 + " tetraspis 156 + + Renanthera coccinea 113, 146, 147 + Roraima Mountain 77, 94 + + Schomburgkia tibicinis 124 + Sobralias 196 + Sophro-Cattleya Batemaniana 218 + + Thanatophore 92 + + Utricularia Campbelli 199 + + Vanda limbata 144 + " Lowii 143, 148 + " teres 143, 144 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of About Orchids, by Frederick Boyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT ORCHIDS *** + +***** This file should be named 17155.txt or 17155.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/5/17155/ + +Produced by Ben Beasley, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Digital & Multimedia Center, Michigan State +University Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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