78 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



ready to remove to fresh store-pots ; when they may be given 

 more room ; or if large enough, they may be placed singly 

 in thimble pots, or three or four seedlings may be placed 

 round the rims of thumb pots. 



Seedling Odontoglossums, when large enough to occupy 

 thimble pots, are found to thrive well when the pots are 

 fixed in pans or shallow seed-boxes in Sphagnum-moss, and 

 placed on a shelf near the glass in the Odontoglossum 

 house, where, like other seedling Orchids, they should be 

 lightly sprayed several times each day in fine, warm weather, 

 and as often as may be deemed necessary in colder and 

 dull weather. 



From the time the little plants are established in small 

 pots until their flowering stage, . it is only a matter of 

 ordinary culture, although, as a rule, the small seedlings 

 are safer with four or five degrees more heat than is afforded 

 the established plants. In the matter of growth from 

 the seedling stage to the flowering plant, there is but little 

 need of a resting season, even with species such as are 

 deciduous when mature, although a diminished supply of. 

 water may be given for a short time to any which, having 

 completed a growth, show no sign of developing a fresh 

 one. In most cases, a thorough drying, even if it does 

 not destroy a seedling, causes the flowering season to be 

 delayed by a year, or even longer. 



The careful shading of the seedling house is a very 

 important matter. Very young plants do best in a subdued 

 light, and until they are quite strong plants they should 

 not be exposed to direct sunlight. A hot summer often 

 kills even the plants which have been brought satisfactorily 

 through a long winter. It is ; therefore, advisable to have 



