230 VILLA GARDENING PART ii 



the Orchids, as most certainly it adds to their appearance. All 

 the drainage material must be washed, and none but the best- 

 selected peat obtained. As most people will have to buy peats, I 

 may as well say that the South of England (Kent and Surrey) 

 kinds are considered the best, and are not very expensive. Sand is 

 not much used by Orchid-growers, its tendency being to close up 

 the pores of the soil and prevent the air from entering freely. 

 This chapter on Orchids is, I know, of the most rudimentary 

 character ; but as the culture of this class of plants is spreading 

 among the class of people for whom I am writing, they could not 

 be passed over altogether. Tliere is a great futiu^e before cool 

 Orchids, when their proper treatment becomes better known. Their 

 wants are exceedingly simple ; most of the faihu'cs have arisen 

 from too much fondling and unnecessary trouble. A phmt that 

 will grow in great clusters on a tree on the top of a high mountain 

 wiU not bear stewing in a hothouse, nor the wasting and drying 

 of a hot sun, or fierce currents of dry air, which drink all the life- 

 blood out of it. 



Insects. — In cool houses there is less trouble with insect 

 pests, although it is necessary to be constantly on the watch. If 

 any of the thrip species make their appearance, fumigate at once 

 and frequently till the last insect has disappeared. Beetles and 

 cockroaches will give trouble if they are present, so will slugs 

 and snails ; and they must be perseveringly sought out and de- 

 stroyed. Perliaps the beetle family may be induced to take 

 poison, but other modes of destruction shoiUd be persevered with 

 at the same time. A disease technically known as "spot" some- 

 times attacks Orchids. It is generally the outcome of improper 

 treatment of some kind ; either the plants have been overheated, 

 or the roots have been rotted off in sour soil, through being kept 

 too long in the same pot without repotting. Wherever it appears 

 in a collection, its eradication can only be effected by discovering 

 and removing the cause, and treating the plant more rationally in 

 future. Though Orchids will stand a good deal of ill-usage before 

 succumbing, yet when once in bad health'a long time is required 

 to bring them round again. Hence the necessity for care and 

 watchfidness. 



Tempeeature. — The temperature for the cool house should be, 

 in winter — night, 38° to 45° ; day, 45° to 50° : summer — night, 

 55° to 60° ; day, 60° to 75°. These are only given as aj^proxi- 

 mations to what is required, for no hard and fast line should be 

 laid down. Assuming that the year is divided into two periods of 

 winter and summer, the winter season will begin about the middle 

 of October and end about the middle of April. But in the Orchid 



