s to the right or the wrong
methods of carrying out the numerous operations connected with their
culture. Nevertheless, it may be said that common sense is one of the
most important factors in cultivation, and the grower who carefully
thinks over the various problems as they arise, and, profiting by
experience, does his best to avoid former failures, will obtain a
measure of success far exceeding his expectations. To those who know
anything about the ordinary processes of growth and flower the plants
tell their own tale. They show when actively growing the period when a
reasonable amount of heat and moisture is required, and, on the
completion of growth of the deciduous species and the turning yellow of
the leaves, they tell just as plainly when the resting period has
arrived. It is so in all the important stages of their existence.

The extent of the present work having been determined by others in the
same series, the object has been to get as much useful information into
it as possible, to confine the matter to practical subjects and to avoid
repetition. It has therefore been arranged in a series of chapters, each
dealing with an important matter, and available for reference when any
question on the subject crops up in another portion of the book. Short
notes follow on the principal genera known in gardens, but the cultural
remarks may be supplemented by reference to the cultural chapters.
Anything like an enumeration of the more important species could not be
attempted. So also in the matter of hybrid Orchids, the question is
discussed in two chapters dealing with the practical question of raising
seedlings, but only slight reference could be made to the species used
in hybridising or to the numerous hybrids themselves.[1] The amateur who
engages in Orchid culture and in the raising of seedlings will find that
"practice makes master." It is in indicating the lines on which the
practice may be best pursued that, it is hoped, this book may serve a
useful purpose.

[Footnote 1: Readers may be referred to _List of Orchid Hybrids_,
published by F. Sander and Sons.]

CHAPTER I

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF ORCHID CULTURE

The first tropical Orchid to flower in the British Isles appears to have
been _Bletia verecunda_ (_Helleborine americana_), figured in _Historia
Plantorum Rariorum, 1728-1735_. It bloomed in 1732 on a plant received
by Peter Collinson from the Bahamas in the previous year. In succession
to this