1880.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



71 



Greenhouse and House Gardening. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



COOL ORCHIDS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



BY MR. J. (BRIEVES, PATTERSON, N. J. 



Orchid blooms are justly celebrated and well 

 known as the most beautiful of all flowers. Their 

 marvellous and fantastic shapes have earned 

 them such names as the butterfly, swan, lizard, 

 dove flower, etc. When these strange plants 

 unfolded their delicate petals for the first time 

 in Europe, they gradually attracted the atten- 

 tion of almost every one interested in plants and 

 ultimately the general public also. But unfor- 

 tunately an idea was introduced with them, that 

 they all required excessive heat to grow them, 

 and this has been generally accepted as truth 

 ever since. No matter where a plant might 

 have come from, or under what conditions it 

 grew naturally ; whether in the humid valleys of 

 India, the arid regions of South Africa, the 

 mountain chains of Mexico or Peru, or even the 

 snow line of the towering Andes, their treat- 

 ment was all the same, they were placed in the 

 hottest temperature at command, which then, 

 and even to-day often means the driest. Un- 

 der these circumstance thousands of fine Orchids 

 were killed, but occasionally producing a few 

 flowers as the last effort of expiring nature ; thus 

 the diflSculty of their growth and management 

 became established and promulgated. With our 

 present knowledge and experience the only 

 wonder is that so many survived. Still the old 

 idea of excessive heat is rigidly adhered to by 

 many, although we rarely find Orchids enjoying 

 vigorous health in such places, while in the com- 

 paratively few places where cool Orchids are 

 cultivated in real earnest, they may be found 

 enjoying the most luxuriant health. It has 

 been my good fortune to see some of the finest 

 collections in Europe of Odontoglots, Disas, On- 

 cids and Masdevallias, etc., that have been sub- 

 jected to a cool system of treatment ever since 

 they were imported, and I have yet to see the 

 first lot, or know of them in fact, having been 

 killed or even permanently injured under the 

 most trying circnmstances by this system of cool 

 treatment. It is surprising that a correct idea 

 did not sooner prevail, considering that such 

 cold-bearing plants as Calceolarias, Verbenas, 



Lobelias, Fuchsias, Bambusas, Rhododendrons 

 and many cool growing plants, were found in 

 the same regions as the Orchids. While travel- 

 ers in Mexico have noted that at a certain sea- 

 son, early in the morning ice was invariably 

 found in the hollows of the leaves of the Agaves 

 growing in close proximity to the Orchids, yet 

 our information principally has come from the 

 failure of the heating apparatus seconded with 

 the investigating experiments of amateurs and 

 others. In 1852 M. Francois Josst, at Tetchen 

 in Bohemia grew several Orchids out of doors, 

 where the temperature several times fell as low 

 as 41° F. ; but instead of the plants suffering, 

 they grew more vigorous and several of them 

 actually flowered, and he gives a list of over 

 seventy varieties so treated. M. F. Yan Driessche, 

 of Ghent, in 1862 followed with a similar expe- 

 rience ; and later, Williams, Warner, Ander- 

 son, Dr. Patterson and others have proved that 

 very many Orchids grow well in a low mean 

 temperature, while to the healthy growth of nu- 

 merous varieties it is absolutely indispensable. 

 The health and success of the plants does not 

 altogether depend on the temperature ; there 

 are three other important conditions not how- 

 ever requiring much skill : 1st. Plenty of 

 air, moist, not dry; 2d. If potted, give porous, 

 well-drained fresh compost and moderate shade, 

 avoiding long exposure to strong sunlight ; 3d. 

 An abundant supply of moisture, in absolute 

 plenty, both at the roots and in the atmosphere, 

 as it is impossible to kill Orchids by having too 

 much moisture in the atmosphere, while hun- 

 dreds are annually killed by being grown in 

 one too dry. Many orchids not considered 

 cool, with these essential conditions granted, 

 will not only bear a mean winter temperature 

 of 45° to 50°, but X will make active vigorous 

 and luxuriant growth in it ; proving that with 

 any reasonably rational treatment they are any- 

 thing but difficult to manage. But stagnant 

 damp in winter is more fatal than cold, and 

 some air must be provided for even in winter. 

 The variation of night and day heat of cool Or- 

 chids should not exceed 10° except by sun heat, 

 which may range from 15° to 20°. Water with 

 cool rain water, and only on the roots, and not 

 on the foliage ; let that draw sufficient moisture 



