STRUCTURE OF ORCHID HOUSE 9 



CHAPTER IV 

 STRUCTURE OF THE ORCHID HOUSE 



So far as the improvements in, present-day Orchid houses 

 are concerned, these are not due to the imagination of the 

 horticultural builder, but to the experience of the Orchid 

 grower. It is owing to him that the old-time glass sides, 

 with their hinged ventilators on a level with the plants, and 

 many other harmful arrangements, have been abandoned. 

 Moderately low, span-roofed houses, extending north and 

 south for preference although the aspect does not seem 

 to be of vital importance are the best, the sides being 

 wholly of brick, and also the ends of all but the large 

 houses, in which the upper part may be formed of wood 

 and glass. 



The top ventilation should be admitted through venti- 

 lators placed at the highest point of the ridge, and they 

 are usually worked by a continuous system manipulated at 

 one end. The lower ventilators should be small ones fixed 

 in the brick-work at the sides of the house, and they may 

 be arranged to be regulated from the outside, or by means 

 of rods attached to the flaps on the inside and reaching to 

 the path, being carried beneath the staging. The natural 

 earth is the best base for an Orchid house, and open wood- 

 work trellises placed on the natural earth are far preferable 

 to tiled paths, therefore their use is strongly recommended. 

 Beneath the central stage, from end to end, deep tanks with 

 cemented interior should be provided, because rain-water 



