MY GARDENING. 21 
the general conditions, and tosecure them. Books 
give little help in this stage of education ; they all 
lack detail in the preliminaries. I had not the 
good fortune to come across a friend or a gardener 
who grasped what was wrong until I found out for 
myself. For instance, no one told me that the 
concrete flooring of my house was a fatal error, 
When, a little disheartened, I made a new one, by 
glazing that rwelle mentioned in the preliminary 
survey of my garden, they allowed me to repeat it. 
Ingenious were my contrivances to keep the air 
moist, but none answered. It is not easy to finda 
material trim and clean which can be laid over 
concrete, but unless one can discover such, it is 
useless to grow orchids. I have no doubt that 
ninety-nine cases of failure in a hundred among 
amateurs are due to an_ unsuitable flooring. 
Glazed tiles, so common, are infinitely worst ofall. 
May my experience profit others in like case! 
Looking over the trade list of a man who manu- 
factures orchid-pots one day, I observed, “ Sea- 
sand for Garden Walks,” and the preoccupation of 
years was dissipated. Sea-sand will hold water, 
yet will keep a firm, clean surface; it needs no 
rolling, does not show footprints nor muddy a 
visitor’s boots. By next evening the floors were 
covered therewith six inches deep, and forthwith 
