About Orchids | Page 7

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