About Orchids

by Frederick Boyle

Overview

The purport of this book is shown in the letter following which I addressed to the editor of the Daily News some months ago: "I thank you for reminding your readers, by reference to my humble work, that the delight of growing orchids can be enjoyed by persons of very modest fortune. To spread that knowledge is my contribution to philanthropy, and I make bold to say that it ranks as high as some which are commended from pulpits and platforms. For your leader-writer is inexact, though complimentary, in assuming that any 'special genius' enables me to cultivate orchids without more expense than other greenhouse plants entail, or even without a gardener. I am happy to know that scores of worthy gentlemen and ladies too, not more gifted than their neighbors in any sense, find no greater difficulty. If the pleasure of one of these be due to any writings of mine, I have wrought some good in my generation."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781975910624
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	09/02/2017
Pages:	146
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Frederick Boyle (1841-1914) was an English author, journalist, barrister, and orchid fancier.
Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Boyle was a nephew of Joseph Meyer. He matriculated in 1859 as an undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford,[1] and was called to the bar in 1866.[2] In 1863, he went to Sarawak with his brother: this visit provided material for a book,[3] and chapters in several other volumes of travel accounts from Asia, South Africa, and Central and South America He also published a number of novels and a variety of articles in journals.
He described himself as a barrister and journalist in census records from 1871 to 1901; in 1911 he just did 'literary work'. He was a newspaper correspondent in the Russo-Turkish war and was a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph, the Pall Mall Gazette and periodicals such as All the Year Round, Blackwood's, Cornhill, The Illustrated London News, Temple Bar, The New Review, and The Nineteenth Century. He collaborated with Ashmore Russan on three titles serialised in the Boy's Own Paper and later published as books
In later life he wrote a number of books about orchids, which he kept as a hobby. He committed suicide in Bayswater Road, London, April, 1914, when 'much depressed'

Read an Excerpt

ORCHIDS. THERE is no room to deal with this great subject historically, scientifically, or even practically, in the space of a chapter. I am an enthusiast, and I hold some strong views, but this is not the place to urge them. It is my purpose to ramble on, following thoughts as they arise, yet with a definite aim. The skilled reader will find nothing to criticize, I hope, and the indifferent, something to amuse. Those amiable theorists who believe that the resources of Nature, if they be rightly searched, are able to supply every wholesome want the fancy of man conceives, have a striking instance in the case of orchids. At the beginning of this century, the science of floriculture, so far as it went, was at least as advanced as now. Under many disadvantages which we escape—the hot-air flue especially, and imperfect means of ventilation—our forefathers grew the plants known to them quite as well as we do. Many tricks have been discovered since, but for lasting success assuredly our systems are no improvement. Men interested in suchmatters began to long for fresh fields, and they knew where to look. Linnaeus had told them something of exotic orchids in 1763, though his knowledge was gained through dried specimens and drawings. One bulb, indeed—we spare the name—showed life on arrival, had been planted, and had flowered thirty years before, as Mr. Castle shows. Thus horticulturists became aware, just when the information was most welcome, that a large family of plants unknown awaited their attention ; plants quite new, of strangest form, of mysterious habits, and beauty incomparable. Their notions were vague as yet, but the fascination of the subject grew from yearto year. Whilst several hundred species were described in books, the number in cultivation, including all those ga...

Table of Contents

MY GARDENING

AN ORCHID SALE

ORCHIDS

COOL ORCHIDS

WARM ORCHIDS

HOT ORCHIDS

THE LOST ORCHID

AN ORCHID FARM

ORCHIDS AND HYBRIDIZING