COOL ORCHIDS. 63 
absolutely unimportant to health, will retard 
florescence. It might very well happen that the 
owner of a dozen pots had one blooming every 
month successively. And that would mean two 
spikes open, for, with care, most Odontoglossums 
last above four weeks. 
Another virtue, shared by others of the cool 
class in some degree, is their habit of growing in 
winter. They take no “rest ;” all the year round 
their young bulbs are swelling, graceful foliage 
lengthening, roots pushing, until the spike demands 
a concentration of all their energy. But winter is 
the most importanttime. I think any man will see 
the peculiar blessing of this arrangement. It gives 
interest to the long dull days, when other plant 
life is at a standstill. It furnishes material for 
cheering meditations on a Sunday morning—is 
that a trifle? And at this season the pursuit is 
joy unmixed. We feel no anxious questionings, 
as we go about our daily business, whether the 
placens uxor forgot to remind Mary, when she 
went out, to pull the blinds down ; whether Mary 
followed the instructions if given ; whether those 
confounded patent ventilators have snapped to 
again. Green fly does not harass us. One syringing 
a day, and one watering per week suffice. Truly 
these are not grave things, but the issue at 
