i62 Orchid Culture. 



It will be my object, at this time, to show that no one need be 

 alarmed at the expense of a suitable house. If the collection is at first 

 small, any kind of a house will do, that is sufficiently heated, and, with 

 care, will grow them until a larger one is needed. 



About five years ago we received our first lot of Orchids, and soon 

 after that a second lot. We had no suitable house ; but we had a small 

 house, which was erected for bedding plants in spring, and lettuce in 

 winter, and this was all we had to give to them. This house is about 

 forty-five feet long by nine wide, with a partition in it, sixteen feet from 

 the door, so that one end might be kept cooler than the other ; it is 

 heated by a common brick flue, running under the front bench the full 

 length of the house ; the furnace is also in the house, with the exception 

 of the front part of it, which, in order to prevent gas and smoke coming 

 in contact with the plants, should never be inside of a house. On the 

 top of the furnace is built a cement tank, which is kept constantly filled 

 with water, so as to insure a good degi'ee of moisture in the house. 

 X,et me say here, however, that I do not recommefid this mode of heat- 

 ing for an orchid house. This house is a lean-to and faces the south ; 

 it is sunk some three feet below the level of the ground, and is entered 

 at the east end by descending three steps. On your left is a bench, two 

 feet wide, extending the whole length of the house, and covered with 

 one inch of sand, which is kept constantly moist ; a space of an inch 

 and a half should be left between the front wall and the bench, to let 

 the hot air up against the glass, which is always the coldest at the 

 lower part. Under this bench is the flue already spoken of; on your 

 right, in the first or cool end, is a raised bed, three feet high from the 

 walk, filled with sand, and on this sand the plants are placed. In the 

 second part, or warm house, is another raised bed, one foot high from 

 the walk, filled with suitable soil, and planted with ferns, which thrive 

 splendidly in the heat of the orchid house ; and over this bed, susjiended 

 from the roof, are hung the plants that grow in baskets and on blocks 

 of wood, and it is shaded from the sun by curtains, made of unbleached 

 cotton cloth, and drawn over the outside of the glass, and held on by 

 rings sewed on the cloth, and fastened on to hooks. Ventilation is 

 obtained by every other sash sliding from the top. 



This house has proved very satisfactory, and our expectations have 

 been more than realized. In it have been grown the plants exhibited 

 by me at the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 • during the past three years, which have spoken for themselves ; and as 

 to what degree I have succeeded, I leave those who have seen them 

 to be the judges. 



