76 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



seedling cases, if not very carefully and sensibly worked 

 is less likely to be satisfactory than sowing the seeds 

 on plants growing in the houses. Too much heat is 

 very harmful. Odontoglossums proved difficult to raise at 

 first, and this was mainly because the seedlings were kept 

 too warm and close. If the cultures are carried on in 

 the Odontoglossum house, success is generally attained, 

 although the products are seldom so numerous as in Cattleya, 

 Laelia, and Cypripedium hybrids. 



Another plan adopted by some growers, and with 

 tolerable success, is to place squares of Osmunda fibre 

 in pans, and after soaking them, sow the seed on them. 

 Others have discs of soft wood, such as Willow, cut across 

 the grain and placed in flower-pots or pans with the fibre 

 of the wood-grain uppermost ; after soaking the discs, the 

 seeds are sown on them. When not raised in glass cases, 

 round or square pieces of glass are placed on the pots. 

 Indeed, there is ample evidence that, provided good seeds 

 are sown and placed in a suitable temperature, Orchid seeds 

 germinate readily. The first sign of vitality is given by 

 the good seeds assuming a green appearance ; in time they 

 become little spherical green bodies, which later produce 

 a growing point ; in due course the true root appears, and 

 the little plants are ready for pricking off or transplant- 

 ing into previously prepared store pots prepared with a 

 good drainage of small crocks or broken charcoal in the 

 bottom, some Osmunda fibre or other Orchid potting 

 material, and an inch or so of very fine compost formed 

 of decayed leaves, Osmunda fibre, or good Orchid peat 

 and Sphagnum-moss in equal parts, the whole rubbed to- 

 gether through a fine sieve. Some add a proportion of 



