22 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



But to return. The plants must have a treatment similar to that they 

 experience in their native countries. Now, all the orchidacese are from 

 hot tropical countries, that is, the varieties with magnificent flowers, which 

 we would wish to grow. 



The greater part grow on trees, some on the trunks, some on the 

 branches, some in the forks of the trunk and branches, some near the top 

 of the tree, in full light, others in most shady spots. Again, the mode of 

 growth is diiferent, some are on the branches, and send out drooping spikes 

 of flowers ; others produce erect flowering shoots ; and a small class only 

 grow under the branches, being never found on the upper or sunny surface. 

 Others, again, are confined to particular varieties of trees, or grow only in 

 certain localities. 



Among terrestrial orchids the differences of growth are no less marked. 

 Now all the habits of a plant must be studied would we cultivate it with 

 success. But one will in despair exclaim at the impossibility of adapting 

 his culture to every case, and truly it is almost impossible. 



But we can approximate, and by giving the plants every possible requisi- 

 tion, even if we cannot bloom them in the magnificence of their native 

 haunts, we can obtain flowers which for beauty and splendor far surpass 

 any productions of our temperate clime. A point to remember, also, is, that 

 in tropical countries, the days and nights being equal, the distribution of 

 light and darkness is more even ; also, that the light is more intense. 

 There is also a dry and a wet season ; during the former the plants are 

 parched, during the latter saturated with moisture. 



It must also be borne in mind that the plants grow at very different alti- 

 tudes, and therefore at different temperatures. Some, are natives of hot 

 reeking swamps, others of shady moist woods ; some of rocky hills, some 

 of elevated localities, so high that frosts occur. Travellers assure us that 

 hoar-frost is often found on the leaves of some of the South American va- 

 rieties growing in mountainous regions, such as Lycastes and Cattleyas. 



Your house must, in the first place, to aflford as much light as possible, be 

 of glass, and span-roofed. Let it be low in the angles, so all the plants 

 may be near the glass. liOt the house run north and south, the aspect will 

 then be east and west. This is to be preferred for several reasons : first, 

 the heat and light of the sun are more equalized ; in the cold mornings of 

 early spring the sun sooner gives light and heat on the east side, and will 

 be at noon in such a position that the beams will be slanting to the angle 

 of the roof, while in the afternoon his power to give light and heat will be 

 considerably prolonged. Thus each plant will have its due share of light 

 and heat. The plants should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun ; 

 if we have a lean-to house, for a greater part of the day, shades must be 

 used which keep the plants in comparative darkness ; in a span-roofed house, 

 while one side is shaded, the other is in full light. 



Where one has only a lean-to house much benefit will be derived from 

 a coat of paint over the glass (indeed it is a necessary precaution, as the 

 leaves and flowers must be protected from the burning rays of the sun,) 

 and thus the direct beams of light are tempered and softened. We have 



