Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-08
Price Four Cents.

and long green pods. A huge wanda stands nearly six feet high, throwing out white snaky looking roots in regular succession at the points where it unsheathes one after an- other it's vivid green leaves. Close by is small copse of the beautiful Mexican orchid, the Espiritu Santo or Flower of the Holy Ghost Inside the delicate waxen calyx rests perfect dove with wings spread, in color pearly white, shaded at the tips of the wings into rare pink. The eyes, the beak and the plumage are all exquisitely suggested. The gorgeous butterfly orchid, the o7act- dunn TdptlIio. with it's polished oval leaves, curlously mottled, Suspends in the air at the end of long waving flower stems, almost in- visible at little distance, yet elastic and strong as If of steel, the singular flower which has given the plant it's name Sway ing to and fro in the slight current of air admitted to the greenhouse. it resembles golden butterfly lowering over a favorite flower. Its glowing wings of bright yellow, barbed with an intense brown, are poised on either side; heshy stamen in the middle forms the body with beak and eyes; and
 three long attenn@ above complete the illu- Gon.
 Here is number of cypripedia, with hel-
 met-shaped calyx of the deepest, purest
 shade of pink imaginable, a perfect little
 Clnderella's slipper in the center The char acter of the whole plant is entirely free from the eccentricities displayed by the other or chids To the cypripedium family belong @
 number of indigenous American orchids, the
 beautiful lady's slipper of New England and
 the Middle States, and the fairy like meadow
 pink
 This IS rather early in the season for or chids to flower, still enough are in blossom
 to give one an idea of their peculiar habit
 The greenhouse is kept intensely hot and
 moist, and the air is laden with a strange.
 wild, tropical odor, almost oppressive in it's sweetness.
 characteristic of these flowers is that they almost invariably initiate bird, an in sect, or some member of the animal creation. Even shell is perfectly simulated in the dainty apidendron conchiata. The central one of the three main petals is exactly the shape of palmers shell, with the fiutings at the edge regularly graded into nothing ness. The colors are nearly those of pan sies, shading from yellow into deep velvety purple. Still they have a certain character of their own in common with most of the tints observable in orchids
 In sequestered corner, clinging vigorous ly to rough block of wood is @ huge, mis- shapen monster of an orchid, which seems to be all bulbs, and to disdain the frivolities of leaves and flowers. On closer inspec- tlon the shape of each bulb resolves itself in to curious fac-simile of a cows horn, which seems to have grown by regular stages, marked by rings like a natural
 
 collection, lis called cows horn orchid, both here and by similar name in the dia- lect Of Central America, where these bulbs are used by boys to call their cows You see that at the base of each bulb there is a small natural hole. By blowing through this a loud sound is produced, like that of the old familiar tin horn. Sometimes, when grow ing in its natural state upon the root of a tree, ants enter the hole and build nest within without inconveniencing the plant, which seems to thrive with its tenants Here is a rare plant worth $1OO at least" and he handed the writer a barbarously hacked out billet of wood. A careful exam lnatlon of this revealed tiny orchid nest ling ln one of its recesses and resembling a remarkably diminutive spring onion. 'sIn twenty years, perhaps, if this. lives it will be as large as the average of those you see. The cultivation of orchids is very slow process ''
 The choicest orchids come from the East Indies, though some very fine specimens are brought from Central and South America, especially from along the Amazon river Those native to the latter countries, howev- CT, are entirely different in general character from the eastern ones. Some of these or chids attach themselves to the limbs of high trees above the ground, and pushing their roots through the bark, feed upon the sap of the tree. Orchids of this class are known as the Parasites. The Epiphites grow in the same manner, but derive their nourishment from the air alone. At the present time most of the orchids are beginning to make new leaves fer next years growth.
 'sWhat is the highest price ever knew to be paid for single orchid We'll, the high est figure ever saw paid for one was 19O guineas, though have often heard of much higher prices, which are quite common on the other side. For comparatively cheap or chids, the commoner varieties of the cypri- pedia are popular. As to the more expensive ones, it is hard to specify any particular names as the price is oftener governed more by the fancy of the purchaser than anything else"
 Passing into another house, the writer saw the unique dancing orchid,' as it is called. The plant throws out long runners upon which at regular intervals are little purple flowers resembling 8 string of monkeys hold ing rope. The least breath of air serves to agitate the whole and to set the monkeys dancing, hence it's familiar name. Many of these orchids put forth their blossoms in the form of pendulous spikes, crowded densely with flowers and sometimes two or three feet in length.
 The scientific nomenclature of all the or ehidacean family is of the most arbitrary and difficult character, and for this reason no at tempt is made to repeat it.