WATERING ORCHIDS 37 



the pot or basket in water until it is perfectly soaked. In 

 the case of a plant which is too wet with stagnant moisture, 

 it should either be repotted after the wet potting material 

 has been removed, or placed on a shelf to remain without 

 water until it is again in a proper condition to receive it. 



In all cases a spouted watering-pot should be used. 

 The rose watering-pot and syringe are necessary things in 

 the Orchid house, but the use of them should be rigidly 

 restricted to some definite work, such as watering Orchids 

 for the first time after repotting, sprinkling the floors, 

 staging, and brick walls, and other work which cannot 

 cause mischief. It used to be a common practice to water 

 Orchids overhead with a rose watering-pot, but the plants 

 so watered made but few roots, and the foliage was gene- 

 rally unsightly, owing to deposits from the water. It is 

 therefore best to make a rule against watering overhead in 

 a general way. 



The syringe may be used among Dendrobiums and 

 some other warm-house Orchids during the height of the 

 growing season ; but it would be safer to arrange for 

 such work to be done by means of a sprayer and at shorter 

 intervals. The sprayer is a very useful and beneficial 

 contrivance, and, in the hands of a careful operator using 

 clean rain-water, it affords a valuable aid in maintaining 

 a healthily humid condition in the atmosphere of all the 

 Orchid houses, especially during the heat of the summer. 



Equal in importance to the giving of sufficient water 

 during the growing season is the observance of the dry, 

 resting season, which, in a varying degree, is required by 

 all Orchids, whether they come from hot or cold habitats, 

 and whether they are epiphytal or terrestrial species. 



