SEED-RAISING CASES 75 



staging where there is a slight warmth from the hot-water 

 pipes. The staging has a few inches of cocoa-nut fibre, 

 or chopped Osmunda fibre, fine ballast, or other moisture- 

 holding substance, and on this a number of inverted flower- 

 pots are closely arranged to form stands for the pots or 

 pans in which the material for sowing the seeds on is 

 placed : or a light, open wood-work staging is arranged. 

 The favourite surface for sowing the seeds on is prepared 

 by stretching a small square of coarse calico or fine light 

 muslin shading material over a ball of Sphagnum-moss, 

 and pressing it into a 60 or small 48 size flower-pot, so 

 that the unwrinkled convex surface of the ball has the 

 centre just below the level of the rim of the pots, the sides 

 being lower. These are thoroughly soaked and allowed to 

 drain before sowing the seeds on them, and they are then 

 placed on the inverted pots in the case. The covering of 

 the case is sometimes of the nature of hinged sashes to lift 

 from the front, but the most convenient and best covering 

 is that formed of sheets or panes of glass cut about one foot 

 wide and of a length sufficient to cover the frame, by resting 

 one end on a groove in the front side of the case, and the 

 other on the top bar. A sufficient number of these sheets 

 of glass should be provided to cover the frame ; they 

 are excellent, as they give a certain means of continual 

 ventilation in some degree through the laps of the glass, 

 even when closed, and they may be closely or openly 

 arranged to regulate the amount of air admitted. Such 

 pieces of glass can easily be removed to inspect the 

 seedlings. 



What is commonly called " coddling " causes great 

 mortality among Orchids, and in this particular the use of 



