The Woodlands orchids, described and illustrated

This work is not of the class which needs a Preface. But to the Editors of the Pall Mall Gazette , Sunday Times , Black and White , Chambers’s Journal , Wide Wide World , and Badminton Magazine I am indebted for license to republish my stories of Orchid-seeking, and it is pleasant to acknowledge their courtesy. If those tales amuse the general reader, I trust that other portions of the work will be found not uninteresting, nor even unprofitable, by orchid-growers. Plain descriptions of scarce species and varieties are not readily accessible. A mere list of the hybrids in the Woodlands collection would be found useful, pending the issue of that international catalogue which must be undertaken shortly; but beyond this I have noted the peculiarities of colour and form in such of the progeny as seemed most curious. No doubt many experts will wish that I had described some which are passed over and omitted some described—without agreeing among themselves in either case perhaps. But I have done my best.

This question may be answered shortly; it was formed—at least the beginning of it—under compulsion. After fifteen years of very hard work, Mr. Measures broke down. The doctor prescribed a long rest, and insisted on it; but the patient was equally determined not to risk the career just opening, with an assurance of success, by taking a twelve-months’ holiday. Reluctantly the doctor sought an alternative. Yachting he proposed—hunting—shooting; at length, in despair, horse-racing! Zealously and conscientiously undertaken, that pursuit yields a good deal of employment for the mind. And one who follows it up and down the country must needs spend several hours a day in the open air. Such was the argument; we may suspect that the good man had a sporting turn and hoped to get valuable tips from a grateful client.
But nothing would suit. After days of cogitation, at his wits’ end, the doctor conceived an idea which might have occurred to some at the outset. ‘Take a house in the suburbs,’ he advised, ‘with a large garden. Cultivate some special variety of plant and make a study of it.’ This commended itself. As a boy Mr. Measures loved gardening. In the Lincolnshire hamlet where he was born, the vicar took pride in his roses and things, as is the wont of vicars who belong to the honest old school. It was an hereditary taste with the Measures’ kin. Forthwith a house, with seven acres of land about it, was purchased at Streatham—‘The Woodlands,’ destined to win renown in the annals of Orchidology.