g bankrupt stock, and perhaps they often do so. Presently I
returned.

"Charles!" I said, "you sold me a _Cattleya Mossiae_ the other day."

Charles, in shirt-sleeves of course, was analyzing and summing up half a
hundred loose sheets of figures, as calm and sure as a calculating
machine. "I know I did, sir," he replied, cheerfully.

"It was rather dear, wasn't it?" I said.

"That's your business, sir," he laughed.

"Could I often get an established plant of _Cattleya Mossiae_ in flower
for 4s.?" I asked.

"Give me the order, and I'll supply as many as you are likely to want
within a month."

That was a revelation; and I tell the little story because I know it
will be a revelation to many others. People hear of great sums paid for
orchids, and they fancy that such represent only the extreme limits of
an average. In fact, they have no relation whatsoever to the ordinary
price. One of our largest general growers, who has but lately begun
cultivating those plants, tells me that half-a-crown is the utmost he
has paid for Cattleyas and Dendrobes, one shilling for Odontoglots and
Oncidiums. At these rates he has now a fine collection, many turning up
among the lot for which he asks, and gets, as many pounds as the pence
he gave. For such are imported, of course, and sold at auction as they
arrive. This is not an article on orchids, but on "My Gardening," or I
could tell some extraordinary tales. Briefly, I myself once bought a
case two feet long, a foot wide, half-full of Odontoglossums for 8s. 6d.
They were small bits, but perfect in condition. Of the fifty-three
pots they made, not one, I think, has been lost. I sold the less
valuable some years ago, when established and tested, at a fabulous
profit. Another time I bought three "strings" of _O. Alexandrae_, the
Pacho variety, which is finest, for 15s. They filled thirty-six pots,
some three to a pot, for I could not make room for them all singly.
Again--but this is enough. I only wish to demonstrate, for the service
of very small amateurs like myself, that costliness at least is no
obstacle if they have a fancy for this culture: unless, of course, they
demand wonders and "specimens."

That _Cattleya Mossiae_, was my first orchid, bought in 1884. It dwindled
away, and many another followed it to limbo; but I knew enough, as has
been said, to feel neither surprised nor angry. First of all, it is
necessary to understand the general conditions, and to secure them.
Boo