"Orchids for everyman and the Mullingar connection"

In 1843, the first manual on the cultivation of tropical orchids was written, and then published, in the heart of Ireland! The author/printer/publisher was John Charles Lyons, JP, of Ladiston near Mullingar, Co.Westmeath . He built his own printing press( now in the county Library, Mullingar), and grew orchids in a glasshouse that he heated and watered by filling it with a stream, his own invention. Lyon's little manual is a fascinating period piece, so much so that it was republished in 1983 in a fascimile edition..............available in Mullingar library.