ed 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.