Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-04-25
TILE ORCHID.
IRREGULARITIES OF THE PLANT
NOW IN PUBLIC FAVOR.
Weird and Wonderful blossoms
Queer Combinations OF the Gro
tesque and Bcaut
Specimens High Prices.

sgltIis.sabout.i ives years1sin the. orchid
made its appearance in this country as
candidate for popular favor, aud its sue
cess was not at that time Immediate 1t
required some little time for the public
to accustom itself to finding beauty in
the weird shapes and conformations
which the cpiphytal revel in There are
blossoms which marvelously initiate
queer, Iieshy looking insects and reptiles,
or which seem monstrous creatures be-
longing to another world, appertaining
to none OF the animal or vegetable spe-
cieS known i'll this sphere. Their very
customs are different from those of any
other known plant, for although few
species content themselves with growing
i'll ordinary soil, like other members of
the vegetable kingdom, Il number of the
species grow suspended, like Mahomct's
collin, in mid-air; deriving their susie
nance from the limbs of trees to which
they are affixed; while others cling to
barren rock, spreading their gorgeous
blossoms like tiny GASES over II prccip-
tous cliff.
But not all Orchidaceous plants are
strange merely in aspect. Some are of
exquisite beauty, and nearly all are rich
i'll fragrance. Blossoms arc found which
are rs white aud lucid us Il drift of snow,
such as the Cattleya Alba; while others,
like the Mosaic, revel in every descrip-
ton OF color, from richest violet in grad
ual shading through ma,iye, rose and
magenta, to lightest pinks, and in vary
ing gradations from gold To bright YER
million
Fact and fiction concerning these plants
have become SD confused in the popular
mind that to most persons the very word
"orchld has become a synonym for ex-
travagance. 1t is true that rare sreci-
mems, like everything else which is diff
cult to obtain, bring high prices, but the
average price of orchid plants ranges
from 81 to So, and some specimens costs
as low rs twenty cents. Nor does it
follow that the cheaper plants are less
beautiful than the high priced ones.
The more expensive orchids are sold at
prices ranging at from $500 to $1,000 and
even $500.
Tile climate of this country renders it
wel-nigh impossible to raise orchids
satisfactorily from bulbs and seeds, SO
that each plant must be shipped while
yet III growth from the countries which
yield them. Central and South America
and Africa are the chief sources of snp
ply, and the work of collecting the
plants is constantly going on.
The plants usually arrive here in full
bloom, for the collector will not risk
sending worthless specimens by not veri-
flying the blossoms they produce. And
Il beautiful sight they present at their
landing ut the wharf. There is we'll
nigh an acre of the gorgeous white,
orange, crimson, amethyst and blue,
convoluted and crimped, hairy and mot
tied, frecklcd and striped freaks of ma
ture; and unless it be midwinter, when
there is II demand for the flowers, all
this world Of loveliness is lett to withcr
on the stalk, with no one but the garden
ers to appreciate their fragrance and
beauty. =
Orchid blossoms seem so fragile that it
is no wonder that people look upon them
as ephemeral. Yet, us Il fact they will
outlast almost any other flower when
severed from the stalk. Nor does their
cultivation necessitate more watchfulness
terrestrial species are planted in shallow
pans filled with Il compost of peat and
moss, while the celestial ones are for the.
most part allowed to hang to the bit. of
bark to which they originally chung, or
placed i'll baskets made OF lattice work
of wood, in which broken brick and moss
supplies them with their sustenance The
temperature required for the orchid
varies with each species, ranging from an
atmosphere which is almost cold, in the
case of the Calanthe Qlnown rs the.
Christ orchid, the blood-red mark in
the centre of the iive-petalcd flower CIV
ing 1T the appearance OF IL wounded
hand), to the hot, moist temperature.
necessary to the growth of the Ncpcnthcs,
or ''carnivorOus plants This Inst
grewsomc cpithet. by the way, is due to
the popularity possessed by the genus
of apparently swallowing the hapless in
scots which light on them. The form of
the flower is that of pitcher, hanging
low from Il long and slender stalk The
sensitivcness of the plant causes it to
close its tiny lid whenever an insect
pcnetrates into the bowl-shapcd cavity,
and hence it has long been believed that
the plant derived its sustenancc from in
sect life.
Other curious specimens are the Sara
cencia Drummondi, whose tall flower is
like a tube in which moisture is sccreted,
and the Dion;ea muscipuia, "Vcnus's fly
trap" whose wing-like claws exhibiSS
more than ordinary plant life, and
promptly close when touched, though
ever so lightly.
The Use of orchids for decoration has
been more prevalent the last two seasons
than ever before. Nothing could be.
more adapted for n banquet table than
those harmonies of color whose strange
ness excite the imagination, and whose
delicate perfume cannot displease the
most sybaritic taste. Untold sums are
spent each year by.rich New Workers for
floral decorations for ball or dinner rooms,
and the greater part of all this money
finds its way into the orchid tsro,yo,e,