Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1890-03-28
Z q, THEkORCHlD. s
,PECULIARITIES OF THE PLANT
NOW INWPUBLIC FAVOR.
tweird and AWonderful Blossoms
, Queer Combinations OF the Gro .
!. tesque and Beautiful-Curious
! ' Specimens High Prices.


Il is aboutidve years since the orchid
made its appes rance in this country as
candidate for popular favor, and its sue
cess was mot at that time immediate. It
required somei little time for the public
to accustomsitself to finding beauty in
the weird ishapes and conformations
which theaepiphytal revel in. There are
blossoms (which. marvelously initiate
queer, fleshyllooking insects and reptiles,
or which seems monstrous creatures be-
longing tot another world, appertaining
to none of lthe animal or vegetable spe-
cies knownsm this sphere. Their very
customs areidifferent from those of any
other knowns plant, for although few
species content themselves with growing
in ordinary soil, like other members of
the vegetablejkingdom, number of the
species grow'suspended, like Mahomet's
coffin, in nid-air; deriving their susie
nance from the limbs Of ,trecs to which
they are affixed; while Others cling to
barren rock, spreading their gorgeous
blossoms like,tiny oases over precipi-
tous cliff.
But not allf orchidaceous plants are
in aspect. Some are of
exquisite beauty, and nearly all are rich
in fragrance. Blossoms are found which
are as white and lucid as drift of snow,
such as the Cattleya Alba; while others,
like the Mossi,e, revel in every descrip-
ton of color, ,yfrom richest violet in grad
ual shading Through mauve, rose and
magenta, to lightest pinks, and In vary
ing gradationsfro gold to bright ver-
million.
Fact aud fiction concerning these plants
have become so confused in the popular
mind that to most persons the very word
.'orchid" has become synonym for ex-
,.ravagancc. It is true that rare speci-
mems, like everything else which is diff
cult to obtain, bring high prices, but the
average price of orchid plants ranges
from 81 to $5, and some specimens costs
as low as twenty cents. Nor does il
follow that the cheaper plants are less
beautiful than the high priced ones.
The more expensive orchids are sold at
prices ranging at froml$50O to $1,000 and
even $500.
The climate of this country renders it
well-nigh impossible to raise orchids
satisfactorily from bulbs and seeds, so
that each plant must be shipped while
yet in growth from the countries which
yield them. Central and South America
and Africa are the chief sources of sup
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
beautiful sight they present at their
landing at 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, freckled and striped freaks of ma
ture; and unless it be midwinter, when
there is a demand for the flowers, all
this world of loveliness is left 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, as fact, they will
outlast almost any other flower when
severed from the stalk. Nor does their
cultivation necessitate more watchfulness
than that of other exotic plants. The
terrestrial species are planted in shallow
pans filed with compost of peat and
moss, while the celestial ones are for the
most part allowed to hang to the bits of
bark to which they originally clung, or
placed in 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 (known as the
Christ orchid, the blood-red mark in
the centre of the five-petaled flower g1v-
ing it the appearance of wounded
handy, to the hot, moist temperature
necessary to the growth of the Nepenthes,
or "carnivorous plants" This last
grewsome epithet, by the way, is due to
the popularity possessed by the genus