HYBRIDISATION, SEEDS, & SEEDLINGS 15 



water is given in any but the most careful manner. The water 

 used should be soft, and at a temperature one or two degrees higher 

 than that of the propagating case, and when the seed pots are 

 gently lowered into the water the latter must not be allowed to 

 soak upward too fast, or to rise high enough to float the seeds off 

 the block or canvas, or even to move them. 



The length of time occupied in germination varies greatly. 

 As already suggested, progress may be detected in three or four 

 days in some cases, while in others the seeds may lie apparently dor- 

 mant for the greater part of a year. This refers to different kinds of 

 Orchids, but even with seeds from the same pod there may be a 

 considerable difference in the time of germination, some remaining 

 dormant after others have germinated and grown into tiny seed- 

 lings just large enough to be transplanted. When germination is 

 an accomplished fact it does not follow that all seedlings progress 

 at the same rate. Some hybrid Cypripedium seedlings advance so 

 slowly that a couple of years may elapse before they can be safely 

 transferred from the seed bed. 



An Orchid seedling is a very minute body at first, and is in 

 the form of a tiny green bit of vegetable matter, very different 

 from the tiniest seedling among commoner flowering plants. The 

 little green drop increases in size, and after some little time has 

 elapsed a small leaf appears. Soon after this stage is reached the 

 first root should appear, and its appearance may be taken as a sign 

 that a suitable time for transplanting has arrived. Three, five, or 

 more seedlings may at this stage be placed in one small pot, 

 but amateur raisers should always remember that a seedling Orchid 

 progresses most favourably when given a wee pot to itself and 

 treated as a distinct individual. Questions of time and available 

 space have always to be considered, but, as a general rule, time 

 is eventually saved when each seedling is treated as an individual 



