120 THE UNHEATED GREENHOUSE 



sides of the water courses which abound in that locality, 

 where they are never dry, while the atmosphere, even in the 

 hot months, is tempered by the cool mists which hang over 

 the plateau. Here there is often snow and hail and even 

 ice during June, July, and August, the South African winter 

 months. On the authority of Mr. James O'Brien, a well- 

 known expert, D. grandiflora, in an unheated house, has passed 

 through weeks of hard weather, stiff-frozen, in a temperature 

 varying from 5 to 14 of frost, not only safely, but with 

 better results as to flowering than others of the same species 

 wintered in warmer quarters. This is distinct encouragement 

 to try what can be done not only with Disas, but with other 

 Orchids found at high altitudes. Happily, experience has 

 already proved that one of the most charming and decorative 

 of all, Odontoglossum crispum, wants very little coaxing to 

 do extremely well, for it has been successfully grown in a 

 sheltered lean-to house with a north aspect which was prac- 

 tically unheated. In fact, this and some other kinds, now 

 always treated as cool-house Orchids, suffered much in the 

 early days of their introduction from over-much coddling. 

 Many times have I seen in the garden of a well-known 

 amateur a low damp house of this description devoted to 

 C. crispum and a few similar species, and admired the 

 robust health and clean growth of the plants, to say nothing 

 of the perfection of flower, which left nothing to be desired. 



