ORCHIDS : HOW TO G&OW THEM SUCCESSFULLY. 49 



be kept hardy, in exactly the same temperature as the parent plants, 

 and not allowed to suffer from drought. Seedling Cypripediums may 

 be pricked off at any time when ready, as they make rapid progress 

 compared with other Seedling Orchids, but I do not advise the 

 disturbance of small Seedling Dendrobiums, Calanthes, and Thunias 

 after the middle of August, or Cattleyas later than the middle of 

 September ; if not done by then let them remain on the surface of the 

 pot in which they were sown until the following spring, and then, when 

 growth has commenced, prick off into very small thimble pots. 



FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS FOR SEED. 



When it has been decided which flowers are to be crossed the 

 blending and harmony of colours being the leading points in view 

 the selected seed-bearing parent should not on any consideration be a 

 weakly plant. The pollen may then be taken from the flower, suppos- 

 ing, for instance, it to be Cattleya Dowiana aurea, and placed upon the 

 stigma of, say, Cattleya Warscewiczii (such a cross in their native 

 habitats being supposed to have produced the rare natural hybrids C. 

 Hardyana and its variety C. Massiana). In this case of C. Warscewiczii 

 and C. Dowiana aurea, the former becomes the female or seed-bearing 

 parent, and the latter the male or pollen-giving parent, but the 

 pollen-bearing anthers of the female parent must first be removed. 

 When fertilisation has taken place the flowers will soon begin drooping 

 and a seed pod form, which will require from nine to twelve months 

 to mature and ripen, then the pod will split and begin to open, and 

 the seeds should be sown at once, for if allowed to remain longer the 

 pod opens wider and the seeds are wasted. To prevent the possibility 

 of the first seeds and these are considered by some Orchidists to be 

 the only fertile ones falling, the plant on which it is intended to 

 sow the seed may be placed directly under the ripe pod, so that the 

 seed, in case of shedding, may fall upon the surface of the conipost. 

 The Orchid, in the pot of which the seed is to be sown, should have 

 been potted some months previously with the compost in a sweet and 

 sound condition, not containing too much growing or living sphagnum, 

 or the little seedlings may be destroyed. On this surface, after well 

 watering it, the seed should be shaken, afterwards gently spraying 

 with a fine syringe or watering can, so as to settle the seeds amongst 

 the compost, the plant afterwards being watered when requiring it, 

 but very gently at first, so that the seeds may not be washed too 

 deeply into the pot, or away altogether. 



I have had the best results from seeds sown in shallow pans or 

 baskets in which Orchids were growing and suspended from the roof. 

 If the seed is fertile and in a state for germinating quickly, it will show 

 signs of doing so in from three to six months, when they assume the 

 appearance of small green globules about the size of a pin's head, from 



