Very slowly do we lengthen the
catalogue of them in our houses. There are gardeners, such as Mr. Cook
at Loughborough, who grow _Disa grandiflora_ like a weed. Mr. Watson of
Kew demonstrated that _Disa racemosa_ will flourish under conditions
easily secured. I had the good fortune to do as much for _Disa
Cooperi_, though not by my own skill. One supreme little triumph is
mine, however. In very early days, when animated with the courage of
utter ignorance, I bought eight bulbs of _Disa discolor_, and flowered
them, every one! No mortal in Europe had done it before, nor has any
tried since, I charitably hope, for a more rubbishing bloom does not
exist. But there it was--_Ego feci_! And the specimen in the Herbarium
at Kew bears my name.
But legends should not be disregarded when it is certain that they reach
us from a native source. Some of the most striking finds had been
announced long since by observant savages. I have told the story of
_Phaloenopsis Sanderiana_. It was a Zulu who put the discoverer of the
new yellow Calla on the track. The blue Utricularia had been heard of
and discredited long before it was found--Utricularias are not orchids
indeed, but only botanists regard the distinction. The natives of Assam
persistently assert that a bright yellow Cymbidium grows there, of
supremest beauty, and we expect it to turn up one day; the Malagasy
describe a scarlet one.
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