The grower of orchids is favored above other men. He belongs to a starry-eyed fraternity, to whom each small chore, accomplished in its turn for the better culture of his orchids, is a source of never-ending and absorbing delight. The beauty of the orchid's line and color is known to all who bask in the offerings of the florist's win­dow, but the breathless suspense and expectation that attend the unfolding of the mysterious growth of the orchid plant are known to the grower alone.

The appearance of each new growth and root is cause for re­joicing; the slimy mark of a snail or the cottony warning of the presence of scale is cause for distress. The habits and idiosyncra­sies of every species and plant are subject to absorbed study. Different methods of growing and the relative merits of hybrids and species are endlessly discussed among fellow growers. The orchid grower checks his mundane worries at the door of the greenhouse and enters a world that offers surcease even to the heart heavily burdened with sorrow and loss.

However, when the beginner, eager but ignorant, seeks pub­lished information on the growing of orchids, he may be dis­couraged by the dearth of information. Where growers of garden-variety flowers find an almost bewildering wealth of literature, the would-be orchid grower bumps up against what seems to be a wall of secrecy. This wall once was impregnable—each orchid hunter, grower, and hybridizer jealously guarded finds from curi­ous and covetous eyes—but today there is an organized effort to popularize the growing of orchids by dispersing information through amateur groups and bulletins. If the amateur will play fair with the commercial grower, he can obtain much valuable information even from him. The amateur need only remember the important fact that to the professional the sale of orchids is a means of making a living, while to the amateur it is a means of securing pleasure and perhaps pin-money.

There is now no deliberate conspiracy to conceal information about orchid growing, but there is still too little material available for the amateur. Many fine orchid books, first printed in expensive limited editions, have been long out of print, and others, pub­lished abroad, have not been translated. In the following pages we shall contribute our small share to building the foundation of a more general interest in and understanding of orchid culture. Beginning with a glimpse into the life secrets of the orchid and continuing through to the rather specialized knowledge required for growing orchids from seed, the aim of the book is to make a fascinating and worth-while hobby available to thousands. Once the way has been opened, the amateur will find many adventur­ous and rewarding by-paths to explore on his own.

Credit must be given to Sanders' Orchid Guide, B. S. Williams' Orchid Grower's Manual, L. H. Bailey's Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, and Schlechter's Die Orchideen, all of which were invaluable to me in preparing this book. Also of great help were Edward Albert White's American Orchid Culture, Rutherford Platt's This Green World, Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, Orchid Culture in Ceylon (edited by E. Soysa), the Orchid Digest, American Orchid Society Bulletin, Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin, Journal of the New York Botanical Garden, Australian Orchid Review, British Orchid Review, and the Brazilian Or-quidea.

I wish to extend my sincere thanks to friends and relatives for their faith in me during the writing of this book; to Mr. Fred Barns of the Pacific Coast Greenhouse Company, for his help on the chapter on 'Suitable Housing for Orchids'; to Mr. Harlan Crippen for the initial editorial assistance; to Dr. L. F. Hawkinson for the use of many of his orchid photographs; and to H. Pat­terson & Sons, 'Orchidhaven,' Bergenfield, New Jersey, whose Laeliocattleya Bergenfield, originated and raised by them, has been used for the frontispiece. The Orchid Digest has been more than generous in allowing me to reproduce many illustrations that first appeared in its publications.

Finally, this book is dedicated to A. B. Willoughby, who first guided my footsteps down the path of orchid lore and, by his exhaustive study, observation, and sometimes painful experience, kindled in me the desire to add my bit to the gradually growing fund of orchid information.

A. C. W. September 1949

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