The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-04-18
ORCHIDS THE WORLDS
 CHOICEST FLOWERS HL1

CHOlCESI.ssftt fti 4-1 " faHto
 AsirS4a1e average man If he ever tast- ed the fruit of an orchid and the chances are perhaps a thousand to one that he will reply mo But he aaas-at least if he is a normal man and eats ice cream and cake From which statement it may be 1nferred that 4t1e fruit alluded to is not eaten nike au apple, peach, or pear, but IS consumed i'm the form of a. davor1ng extract Exactly; and it is an exUrael. that is one of the most widely known and generally used dn the EVoE'ici+-van- ma Which goes to show that most of aaa are not of a, very inqlliring turn fof mind after all-especially when 1t comes to things of almost daily use. and even in regard to things we eat
 Naturally. orchids arc not usually fEhougEnt of in connection with things Aedfb1e They are not expected to serve i'm a utilitarian capacity. They f appeal not the gaStronom3c but to the aestheTics side Of the human ipdividlla1, andsa prfzed chiefly for their beauty and in some instances particularly because of bheir rarity. Anything that Is Beautiful and at the same lime rare and hard to get is certain to be EVaiTlt& d-w1aether it is useful or not a char a,cteristic which is touched upon in an article i'm the March number of the Bulletin of the Pan-American Union fsVashlngton, D. @ by Edward Al Ebes in which in introduces his sub 5ect 1eOrch1ds in the Americas" as follows.
 thing of beauty that is rare and d1ffieult to obtain seerns ever to have proved Ian irresistible lure to adven- furous han. To possess it he will suf- fer the hardships Of the highest noun tadn@cliuab or risk the almost certain dangers of disease in tropic zones; he
 
 enemies and pursue his quest far into the regions of unknown wiIds. Now into depths of shark-infested seas he dives with thet hope of securing a. l1strous pearl; then to the top-1r1ost Alpine peak he climbs for a rare specimen of the edeIweiss A glitter ing jewel in an idols head hay tempt him to invade the priTneval precincts lof an Indian temple, or Q beautiful ldloFer lure him far into the prinnevaI forests of Brazil. Colombia or Peru TO this spirit of daring and adventure the civilized world owes only it's great est geographic discoveries and inpor-i 4ant asddittons to Sctenfdfic knowledge but to t is also largely due the dis lcOFery Of natures choicest thing of beauty, things whose practical value may be slight but whose appeal is to Hhe artistic and aesthetic sense. Aunoqg all the things of freg1le beauty ehat mature has produced perhaps lAltLA5 -E19 Br49zsLE3I& Ac1EE14L4 anu 16 EQOT9 h4gh7y pr1zed chan that radiant, gor- Egeous flower of rainbow colDrs and leo1tened shades and fi11ts and infinite ly varied forrns-the orchid. For it's rarer species men have travelled far, ggfesred much, and often ddedy and lyet in its connnoner frorns lew flow 1kers are more widely scattered throughout the world"
 Fshbreupon he enters into an ac- ascunt of where they grow how they n,-@-~ Loy certaan t3nsests the peculiar struc- tSEre, of Fteidowers, and numerous oth- Ter phases of orchfdology of Q more or IReas interesting character. One of the most ztrallxing facts, however, in com lneCt7on with this tremendously large Eor<1er of plants ds that although there ERre no Jess than 15s00O difFerent spe- lples. Belonging to something over 400 genera. there is but one genus that has amy known practical value and Doucern1ng this genus Vanilla the ar ttcfa states;
 ssO0 this genus there are but a few gpecfesy sanJd Of these the most irnpor- Itan& Is Vanilla planffoka, from which HEhe vanilla beans of couaznerce are de- rived The genus Is native in the z IkwaTmer- parts Of Me1tco and portions EOf Central America, but has been in l4Boduceds and is extensively cultivated in some of, the West Indies and in the \ Islands of the East Indian Archfpel- | ttaEe all climbing plants, their slender tRteEns emitting aerial roots by means iof which they climb upon the trunks lHnd limbs of trees The flowers have thick, desF1y, du1I-colored leaves and tare fnodoroUs The fruit consists of Eaong, slender pods. shaped like a thick Isoulewhaf hattened lead pencil, firm but slightly wrinlled These pods are Igathered and dried before they are fully ripe, the drying process being the most important feature of their preparation. which develops their pe- icuI1ar odor and gives thena their value las a. sdaviring extract"
 Of the rarer and Gnore beautiful or enid no less than 1.059 species have been gathered in the forests of Brazil. while Colombia has furnished some &hinE over 500 species of 4klis queen of an Flowers Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela Bolivia, Mexico. and all the Central IAmeracan countries are also producers Iof magnddcent varieties, and the world thu sowes to the Americas the most varfegated as we'll as the most gor Beous specimens of this creation wI1icl, ds vertically "a thing of beaa1ty and a Boy 6omever's
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