KAISING ORCHIDS FROM SEEDS. 61 



good work, and produce something new in other genera. 

 Many kinds seed freely if the flowers are fertilised, and they 

 produce many seeds in a pod. 



The seed, having been gathered as soon as ripe, should be 

 sown at once, but it requires great care, as it is not so easy to 

 raise as that of many other plants. Some of the kinds are a 

 long time germinating ; we have known Orchid seeds to lie 

 twelve months before the plants made their appearance. It is 

 highly interesting to watch their gradual development, from 

 the tiny germ to the first small pseudobulb, and so on up to 

 the flowering stage. The best place in which to sow the 

 seeds is on the top of an Orchid pot, where they will not get 

 disturbed, and where the peat or moss is in a rough state ; do 

 not cover the seed, but give a little water with a fine-rose pot, 

 just to settle it. The rough blocks of wood on which another 

 plant is growing also afford a capital situation to sow upon, 

 but the surface should always be kept a little moist. After 

 germination, those which were sown on pots should be placed 

 in small pots quite close to the inside edge, and when the 

 plants get strong enough, they may be potted singly in the 

 material already recommended, or be placed on blocks. In 

 potting and taking them up, great care must be used not to 

 injure the roots. 



One of the surest roads to success in hybridising is to select 

 the finer species or varieties only for experiment, though it 

 is possible that there may exist in a flower of inferior merit 

 some quality which would induce the operator to undertake its 

 improvement, or endeavour to transfer the desired feature to 

 some more favoured kind. It is highly desirable that many 

 more growers should turn their attention to the raising of 

 hybrids, not only with the view of obtaining finer flowers than 

 we already possess — though that would be a real advantage ; 

 but for the additional purpose of raising sorts that might 



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