February 6, 1873. 1 



JOUBNAL OF SOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENES: 



117 



very rarely indeed that air was excluded thronghout the whole 

 season, but it was warrogd by its passage over the pipes before 

 entering the house. On this subject I wish to say a few words 

 to amateurs who generally err on the side of exclusion of au'. 

 Now, as I before remarked, if a little common sense is exer- 

 cised in the cultivation of these plants, the amateur wiU recol- 

 lect that the majority of them grow naturally high up on the 

 branches of forest trees exposed to all the winds that blow ; 

 how, then, is it necessary that under cultivation no air, or at 

 most very Uttle in a usual way, is allowed them ? 



Another idea I wish to dispel from the minds of beginners 

 in Orchid culture, is the impression that a separate house is 

 absolutely necessary : such is not the case. In a state of nature 

 Orchids are associated with an immense variety of plants, and 

 consequently it cannot be essential to their well-being to isolate 

 them from their brethren belonging to other orders ; indeed, I 

 am fully persuaded that when shut-up by themselves, the cori- 

 aceous texture of their leaves does not allow of their absorp- 

 tion or preservation of a proper or sufficiently good atmosphere, 

 and therefore that by mixing other plants with them the aii- 

 is much improved, and consequently the Orchids reap the 

 advantage. I am not speaking or writing theoretically but : 

 practically, and I know from experience that they thrive ad- 

 mirably with other plants. Take, for instance, Odontoglossums, 

 MasdevalUas, Lycastes, and many others — how admirably they 

 succeed, and how beautifully they grow and flower in the com- 

 pany of a collection of New Zealand and Australian Ferns ! 

 It has been frequently said and written that the genera above 

 named, and many others from the New Grenada mountains 

 and forests, will succeed weU in an ordinary greenhouse. Now 

 I object to such a term being used, because it is apt to mislead 

 the amateur and lead to faQure ; a first faUuro often leads to 

 disgust, and the plants are discarded and voted a bore. This 

 is because most amateurs understand by the phrase of an 

 ordinary greenhouse the structure in winch they grow their 

 Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Verbenas, and such like plants, and, 

 indeed, such an interpretation of the term is perfectly justifi- 

 able ; but I maintain that no Orchids can be made to thrive 

 under the same conditions as those plants require, and that 

 the dry atmosphere and open front sashes would soon parch 

 the life out of any epiphytal Orchid subjected to such treat- 

 ment — even those who have tried the experiment of growing 

 them in the open air in Europe, have provided them with a far 

 moister atmosphere than that of an ordinary greenhouse. 

 But interesting and beautiful as the tenestrial Orchidaceous 

 plants from temperate climes are In our open-air ferneries, I 

 am not a believer in the idea of tropical epiphytal species ever 

 becoming sufficiently showy to warrant the risk and trouble of 

 cultivation in the open air in this country, although it has 

 been proved by the Messrs. Backhouse, & Son, of York, that 

 some species will withstand several degrees of frost with im- 

 punity, and in all probability there are many other kinds 

 equally hai'dy. This, however, I consider only as an interest- 

 ing fact, and really of no practical importance, for it is one 

 thing to see plants making the best of a bad situation, and 

 another to see them growing vigorously and luxuriantly in a 

 congenial one. A more striking and famihar example can 

 hardly be adduced than that of the common Hart's-tongue 

 Fern. This plant is frequently found gi'owing upon walls and 

 old ruins, but in such situations it seldom exceeds a few inches 

 in height, and generally presents a brown and parched appear- 

 ance durmg summer ; but who would be bold enough to assert 

 that it bears any comparison to the luxuriant and finely deve- 

 loped fronds which are formed when the plant grows in some 

 moist and shady dell? Such also, I maintain, is the case 

 with the culture of epiphytal Orchids in the open air. They 

 may live and grow, but they will always be miserable objects 

 compared to those grown within-doors, even without the aid 

 of artificial heat. 



Those Orchidaceous plants which have come to be denomi- 

 nated cool Orchids are mostly natives of the high mountain 

 ranges and table lands of Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and New 

 Grenada, where there is a cool, moist and genial cUmate, per- 

 haps seldom rising so high in temperature as we experience 

 in England, and certainly never subject to the great extremes 

 and sudden changes of a climate lilie ours, for this in many 

 instances, and not the great cold, is really the cause of many 

 plants from elevated regions of tropical countries failing with 

 us in the open air. The forests of these mountains, we are 

 told by those who have visited them, abound in Orchidaceous 

 plants, comprising not only those species and varieties which 

 have akeady been established in our collections, but numerous 



fine kinds which are as yet new to science. This assertion is 

 well borne out, and its truth verified, by the introductions which 

 are continually reaching us from those districts. In conse- 

 quence of the difficulty which in former years attended their 

 transit through the hot regions having been overcome in a 

 gi-eat measure, large consignments have come to hand in good 

 order, which has caused prices to be so greatly reduced that 

 Orchids can now be purchased at as low a rate as any other 

 stove plant, and as they require so little fire heat they have 

 become accessible even to those with very limited incomes. 

 The fashion having run so much upon New Grenadau and 

 Peruvian Orchids has, however, had the effect in a great mea- 

 sm-e of diminishing the cultivation of their East Indian re- 

 latives, which I cannot help regretting, because reaDy such 

 plants as Acrides, Vandas, Cymbidinms, Saccolabiunis, and 

 many others are extremely ornamental when weU grown, even 

 without flowers ; and I cannot but think that many growers 

 have discarded these plants without giving it a thought that 

 Asia as well as America abounds in lofty mountain ranges, and 

 that quantities of these plants arc to be found in the humid 

 forests and ravines of those regions also, which would thrive 

 under much cooler treatment than is usually considered neces- 

 sary for their well-being in this country, '^'hat, however, 

 must be the condition of plants that grow in the damp forests 

 upon the spurs of the Himalayas ? Some of my friends residing 

 there say we are in the district of Yanda ca'rulea, Y. Oath- 

 carti, Pleiones, Saccolabiums, Aerides, and many other fine 

 things, and yet during six months of the year it is cold enough 

 to render a fire in the house quite comfortable ; and I have 

 myself proved by experience that the great majority of East 

 Indian Orchids in cultivation will thrive and flower much 

 better with a night temperature in winter of .58' and 60° than 

 when subjected to a higher regime. I, of course, make an ex- 

 ception to such plants as most of the Phala?uopsids and some 

 others from the low grounds in the islands of the Indian 

 Archipelago and Burmah ; but the number of fine species, 

 especially Dendrobiums, Aerides, Saccolabiums, Ccelogynes, 

 Vandas, &c., which come from the hill districts of those 

 islands, from Assam, the Neilgherries, and the Him.ilayar>. 

 forests, may, without doubt, be grown far better than wc usually 

 see them, and at a much lower temperature than is considered 

 necessary by most cultivators. 



It is my purpose in these brief remarks to enumerate cool 

 Orchids only, but not to confine the list to western species, for 

 I wish particularly to impress the fact upon the mind of ama- 

 teur Orchid-growers, that because they are told certain species 

 are natives of the eastern hemisphere it does not necessarily 

 follow that they must grow in the steaming jungle or upon the 

 parching plains. I shall, however, describe only good showy or 

 ornamental kinds, not taking into consideration the newest or 

 most expensive sorts. With respect to the remaining East 

 Indian kinds not included in this article, which do reqiiire 

 more heat than is recommended here, I am quite sure from 

 experience that they may be grown well far below the tempe- 

 rature deemed requisite by many growers ; mdeed I know of 

 nothing which tends to disgust an employer so much, or which 

 is so ruinous to the constitution of these plants, as the gigantic 

 Turkish baths or stew-pans which many gardeners make of 

 their Orchid houses, and which, I am fully persuaded, has led 

 to the discontinuance of their cultui-e, especially where the 

 fair sex have been concerned. 



Cool Orchid houses should be kept much lower in tempera- 

 ture at night than during the day, and the atmosphere must 

 be well charged with moisture ; and when the edges of the 

 leaves are found in the morning loaded with crystal-lil;e drops 

 of water, the amateur may be sm-e the condition of tho house 

 is exactly suited to the requii-ements of the plants. I con- 

 sider it one of the most charming sights to a plant-grower, 

 independent of the satisfactory feeling it produces upon the 

 mind, to see plants thus loaded with dewdrops. The first 

 section of these plants which I shall bring before my readers 

 are essentially cool Orchids, and I recommend then' cultivation 

 in company with New Zealand and Australian Ferns, or, in- 

 deed, any Ferns from cool latitudes ; for instance, the Madeira 

 and Canary Island species would thrive well with them, saving 

 a few exceptions, so also would the mountain species from 

 South America and Northera India. The temperature and 

 atmosphere suited to the Orchids would bo just that in which 

 the Ferns would also thrive, and at the same time would not 

 be injurious cr fatiguing to the most delicate constitution. 

 Tastes, however, differ considerably ; and whilst some of my 

 readers, like myself, may be enthusiastic admirers of Ferns, 



