CHAPTER XIII. 



PROPAGATION AND IMPREGNATION. 



ORCHIDS in cultivation do not reproduce them- 

 selves like other plants. It is very rarely that we 

 see them produce seed, and the seed obtained by fertiliza- 

 tion is usually incapable of germinating, or is of species 

 which increase far more rapidly by division. 



The seed capsules of Orchids are filled with an impal- 

 pable powder; and the young plants the first year are 

 exceedingly minute. In masses of imported bulbs we can 

 see the regular gradations in size from very small to the 

 large flowering bulb. We may often see a mass of forty 

 or fifty bulbs one succeeding the other, of which only the 

 last four or five have produced flowers, and if only one 

 bulb is formed each year we can calculate the great age 

 of the plant. This is particularly the case in plants of 

 the genus Epidendrece. 



The usual mode of propagation consists in separating 

 the bulbs ; there are different modes of performing this 

 operation suited to different species. 



Some are easily increased by dividing them into pieces 

 or by cutting the old pseudo-bulbs from the plant after 

 the latter have done blooming ; such plants as Dendro- 

 biums are increased in this way. 



The best time for dividing the plants is just as they 

 begin to grow or when they are at rest. They should be 

 cut through with a sharp knife between the pseudo-bulbs 



