The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-28

dred dollars apiece; but SO long as the
orchid was new and not numbered among
the Siegfried pets the sahib from America
paid the price ungrudgingly.
And so the Siegfried conservatory has
come to be acknowledged as the repository
of the finest orchids on the coast, with a
greater variety than Golden Gate Park can
boast
There are Cypripediums and Stuartianas
without number in the Conservatives.
There are strange, wild blooms, spotted
like the skins of the tigers in their own
country. There are blossoms with dark
red stains, like spots of blood, and the
Holy Ghost orchid, with milk-white dove
in its heart. In general the ugliness of an
orchid is in direct proportion to its rarity.
But, like most generalities, this rule has
important exceptions, and one of them is
in glorious pink and white bloom in the
Siegfried glasshouses these April days.
There are just HOO blossoms of the rare
Phalanopsis in one fragrant corner of the
dollhouse this week. That is the family
name, clumsy Phalanopsis, though the
Christian name, Schilleriana, is not quite
such a mouthful. But the ugly orchid
name gives no suggestion of the ex-
quisitely fragile and dainty orchid bios
SONS, quivering at the end of long, pale
green stems. So delicately poised are
they that the heavy, scented air in the
close conservatory keeps them all a
tremble, so that the camera has to blink at
them suddenly and swiftly, or else carry
away no impression bat velvety, white
blur.
The thousand blossoms of Phalanopsis
Schilleriana are worth, at wholesale, to
put commercial estimate on them, about
Is cents apiece, If there were market
for them here, and if any amount of money
could prevail on the Siegfrieds to cut
them.
They are the brilliant harvest of plants
that came from Manila. Their hideous
Latin cognomen is the family name they
were born 10, but the Schilleriana was
foisted upon them by the German traveller
who first discovered them.
The Phalanopsis flowers are IN two col
ors. One is an exquisite shade OF plnklsh
lilac and the other delicate ivory white.
They are as large as carnations and bloom
with seven flowers on one stem. They
show the familiar bird form and have a
faint and delicate perfume, like that IN the
heart of hyacinth.
These particular plants from Manila
have been drinking water and hot air In
the Siegfried Conservatives for SIX years.
They are such thirsty plants that water has
to stand inches deep on the floors and
beds in order to satisfy them. The air has
to be hot and heavy like the atmosphere
OF CnelT own uOluo III mama, CioC oAOy
are not satisfied. You can positively see
the moisture rise in clouds from the wet
floors and cling in beads to the wide green
leaves of the orchids. There is a fog in the
air that dims your eyes and settles like a
mantle in your lungs, until the Anglo.
Saxon, no matter how great lover OF
beauty and the quaint and queer in flow
ers, longs for the door and breathing room.
If this is Manila atmosphere, decidedly it
must be an unpleasant place 10 live.
These Manila orchids have house all
their own They require more moisture
and more heat than any of their cousins,
and for six years the temperature has not
been allowed to vary six degrees. BY day
there is the sun to do it, for he loves to
linger on the roof of the glass house, and
when there is a pillar Of cloud by day
there are the steam-pipes that warm the
orchids at night to see that the tempera-