Another book on gardening, intended for the "upper ten" among
gardeners, is The Culture of Greenhouse Orchids, by Frederic Boyle, supervised by Joseph Godseff (Chapman and Hall, 83. net). No man has a better right to speak of orchids than Mr. Boyle, for he has as wide an acquaintance with them as any man. The speciality of this volume is to give an account of a certain system, not a little different from that commonly employed, which is followed by Belgian cultivators. If any " out- sider " should take up this volume let him begin with the chapter on " Orchid Prices." Here is one specimen,—it has been published before in the Pall Mall Gazette, but will bear repeating. An eminent dealer in orchids observed among a multitude of aypri- pechum insigne a cheap variety, one that had a pale-green stem (the usual colour is brown). It had in due time a golden bloom. The plant was cut in two. One half was sold by auction at seventy-five guineas; the other half was sold for one hundred guineas to a great collector. The collector cut this in half, and sold one half to another collector for one hundred guineas, His own half (now a quarter) he cut into three, selling one (twelfth) for one hundred guineas, another for two hundred and fifty guineas, and keeping the third.
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