12 oechid-gkowek's manual. 



THE SEASON FOR COLLECTING ORCHIDS. 



E are extremely sorry to see the large importations 

 which are sent home in the autumn and winter 

 months, and sold by auction during the cold 

 season, without any regard to the requirements of the plants, 

 or to the interests of the buyers, who are told that the plants 

 have had no cold to hurt them. Such plants, nevertheless, as 

 soon as they reach home, and are housed, lose their leaves, 

 and eventually die. The loss of the money and also of the 

 new and valuable plant, for which a high price has been paid — 

 with a view to secure the best form of some new and rare kind 

 — must be very annoying to the purchaser. If collectors will 

 insist upon sending and importers on receiving these plants 

 in winter, they should keep them in their own Orchid houses 

 until they get established, or show some signs of being of use 

 to those who feel disposed to pay handsomely for them. The 

 smaller bu3'ers also have their losses, being assured by those 

 who import the plants that they have had them in their 

 possession, and exposed in their Orchid houses, for so long a 

 time, while the fact is that many are kept from the light. 

 Moreover, when they are sold, it is not merely the cold weather 

 that meets them as they come from their native country that 

 destroys them, but exposing them at sales and keeping 

 them in cold places, after they have arrived safely. We have 

 seen nearly every plant of an importation lost through this 

 treatment. Take, for instance, the East Indian Orchids ; 

 these are sold in winter, and to all appearance are in good 

 health, having their green foliage upon them, but when they 

 are put into light and warm houses the leaves turn black or 

 brown, and fall oif ; then the heart of the plant goes, and it 



