220 THE amateue's geeenhouse 



CHAPTEE XYIII. 



OBCHIDS AND PITCHER PLANTS. 



The Orchids and Pitcher plants adapted for greenhouse cul- 

 ture are not sufficiently appreciated, owing, no doubt, to the 

 prevalent belief that all such plants require steaming stoves, 

 and are utterly beyond the reach of amateurs, whose short 

 purses compel them to the observance of limited liability. It 

 so happens, however, that a very choice selection may be made 

 of plants equally to be desired for their curious structure, 

 interesting history, and high floral beauty, and that such a 

 selection may be grown to perfection in any greenhouse with 

 the aid of a little more care than such things as bedding 

 plants require. The best place for a few of these plants is in 

 a compartment shut in by means of a glass screen at the 

 warmest end of a house that is heated during winter sufficient 

 for the safe keeping of a good collection of miscellaneous 

 greenhouse plants. But if a house be constructed expressly 

 for cool Orchids, we should advise that it be a smallish span- 

 roofed structure, much below the ground line, and with the 

 roof no higher than needful to allow of head room, even allow- 

 ing that the path through the house is reached by descending 

 three or four steps. The place should be damp and warm and 

 snug. One great aid to success will be to have the brickwork 

 of its natural colour, and clothed with such creepers as Ficus 

 repens, and to have as little woodwork in the place as possible, 

 and to have no whitewashed, glaring surfaces anywhere to 

 reflect a dry heat on the under sides of the leaves of the plants. 

 A width of twelve feet will allow of a flat table on each side, 

 which may be made with boards and covered with a layer of 

 sand ; but we should prefer to have a bank of the natural soil 

 supported by brick walls next the path. A layer of sandy 

 peat might be spread on the surface and planted with the 

 common green lycopodium, Belaginella denticidata, and on this 



