THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



57 



can easily be oijviated by filling a saucer half-full of 

 small pebbles ; in fact, the very best arrangement for 

 -a group of window plants is to provide a shelf the full 

 length of the window and about twelve inches wide. 

 Cover this entirely with a flat tray of galvanized iron 

 two inches deep, filling it with a layer of white peb- 

 bles !}/> inches deep. Plants standing on this may he 

 watered without any fear of overdoing it. The super- 

 fluous water runs in among the pebbles and quickly 

 evaporates, so that there is no need of providing any 

 special means of drawing it off. This constant evajjo- 

 ration is of great benefit tn the ])lants and the whole 

 affair is neat and practical. 



In the matter of heating and ventilating the room, 

 plants have to put up with what they can get. Exces- 

 sive heat is perhaps second in the list of unfavorable 

 conditions to which house plants are subjected. This 

 is aggravated by violent extremes caused by throwing 

 open windows when airing the room and by a draft 

 blowing in around a poorly fitting sash. This latter 

 continuing through every cold night is sufficient to 

 destroy a whole window full of plants during the win- 

 ter. Every window devoted to plants should be double 

 glazed and great care used in airing the room on very 

 cold days. Valuable palms are often destroyed by al- 

 lowing an icy draft from an open window to strike 

 them. Only a few minutes are necessary to accom- 

 plish this destruction, when the temperature outside is 

 much below freezing. It is well to remember that all 

 plants are benefited by comparatively low temperature 

 at night, so that if circumstances compel us to subject 

 them to a temperature of 80 degrees in the day, we 

 should give them a rest at night by lowering the room 

 to 60 degrees. 



ORCHIDS. 



Washington, D. C. — Probal^ly there is no flower in 

 the whole plant world which is admired more and 

 understood less today than the orchid, the develop- 

 ment and cultivation of which are discussed by J. 

 'Costantin in a paper of the Smithsonian annual report. 

 Even the simpler orchids are very curious plants, of 

 the so-called endogenous type, belonging to the same 

 group as the lilies, palms, and grasses, but differing 

 from them greatly in having showy and often highly 

 colored flowers of remarkably diverse forms. Upon 

 entering a house filled with orchids one is literally 

 amazed by the bizarre display ; the brilliance of color, 

 and the peculiar forms of leaves, petals and roots. 

 The number of known species is greater than that of 

 any of the related families, even not exce^jting the 

 grasses, totalling 6,000 species, included in 400 genera. 

 This great number is, no doubt, due very largely to 

 the diligent search which has been made for these 

 plants in all countries, for ])urposes of cultivation, on 

 account of their beauty and very great popularity. 

 They have otherwise very little economic value, ex- 

 cepting a few members, such as the vanilla plant, 

 from which the well-known extract is ])repare<l. 



Some of the orchids are terrestrial ; that is, lliex 

 grow with their roots in the ground. The great ma- 

 jority, however, including most tropical species, arc 

 epiphytes — "air plants" — which grow on trees ami 

 shrubs, but receive no nourishment from them. Thi^ 

 l)eculiarity was chiefly responsi))le fur the difticulty 

 which was experienced in successfully growing many 

 species u]ion their introduction into Europe from Asia 

 and Malaysia in the eighteenth century. The proper 

 mode of cultivation was perfected little by little, how- 

 ever, as soon as the necessity was realized of repro- 



ducing artificially the conditions under which the plant 

 grew in nature. For most epiphytes the scheme was 

 devised of fastening the roots to a piece of wood, to- 

 gether with a little moss or absorbent peaty substance, 

 b}- means of copper wire. Plants thus prepared were 

 hung in very warm greenhouses and kept constantly 

 moist by frecjuent drenching. It was supposed that 

 tropical plants re(|uired an invariably hot humid at- 

 mosphere : and it was nut fi ireseen that nmuntain spe- 

 cies of tropical regions could not be treated essentially 

 like tropical plants that are accustomed to elevated 

 temperatures. 



There are, in fact, many orchids, and some of these 

 verv beautiful, which grow in the neighborhood of 

 snow. The error of associating plants from widely 

 different surroundings was finally recognized and 

 eventually more rational methods of cultivation de- 

 veloped, leading to the usual separation of orchids in 

 three kinds of greenhouses, according to temj^era- 

 tures maintained in them — hot houses, temperate 

 houses, and cold houses. Man_\- of the finest orchids 

 are found in the last. 



The writer also discusses at some length the won- 

 derful creations in the shape of artificially produced 

 hybrids, in which the new plant not infrequently dif- 

 fers greatly from both parents. Some of these are 

 extremely beautiful, as well as peculiar, and the diffi- 

 culty of their iiroduction is such that they command 

 extraordinary prices, as high as $1,500 having been 

 ijaid in a single instance. 



CATTLEYA GIGAS SANDERIANA. 



The plant from which the photograph here repro- 

 duced was taken is that of the free flowering type of 

 Cattleya Gigas Sanderiana. It was recently exhibited 

 liy Roljert 1!. Allen, superintendent of Lakeside Gar- 

 dens, Alberon, N. J., at the meet of the Elberon Hor- 

 ticultural Society, where it was awarded a cultural 

 certificate. .\t liie tmie the plant was exhibited it 

 carried twenty-eight well developed flowers, which is 

 reniarkal)le for a plant of its size, being grown in a 

 7-inch ])ot. 'l^he plant came from some stock imported 

 liy Joseph Manda, of West Orange, N. J. 



SPIvCniEX C.\TTLEV.\ GIG.^S S.XNDKRI AX \. 



