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 phal?nopsis. 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 alexandr? 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 alexandr?s 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.

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 alexandr? 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 phal?nopsis. 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 ?a, 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 se?or 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. n?veum 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.

nature forestalled the dreams of ?sthetic 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'?uvre 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.