RESTING ORCHIDS. 21 



spikes and well-formed flowers the year following than they 

 otherwise would be. The mere production of flowers alone, 

 however, requires barely half the constitutional energy which 

 is requisite to produce both flowers and perfect fruit, and 

 therefore, but few Orchids in cultivation, comparatively speak- 

 ing, are capable of producing perfect seed, even when assisted 

 by artificial means. How different is the case in their native 

 habitats ! In fertile tropical regions they luxuriate with a 

 vigour unknown to us here, and in maii3 r cases produce 

 abundance of seeds, which, ripened in the genial light, 

 heat, and air of a tropical climate, eventually become scat- 

 tered on the trunks, stems, and branches of trees, where 

 they germinate in countless hundreds, and thus fill up the 

 deficiencies created by naturalists and collectors. 



When at rest, Orchids should not be kept in a hot and dry 

 temperature, or it will be found that they will suffer materi- 

 ally from evaporation. How often do we see many rare and 

 valuable species " resting," as it is termed, in the full blazing 

 sun, under a glaring crystal roof, and surrounded by a parched 

 atmosphere ? Day by day their pseudo-bulbs become more 

 wrinkled, their leaves more like brown paper, and yet this per- 

 nicious system of treatment is called " rest." True rest would 

 never rob the pseudo-bulbs of a large proportion of the sap, or 

 elaborated juice, which had been secreted during the preceding 

 season's growth. It is not rest which leaves them in a sickly, 

 debilitated condition, too much exhausted to produce either 

 growth or bloom. 



Another erroneous impression is, that all Orchids require 

 to be rested during our winter season, or, if not actually 

 rested, kept much drier than during the summer months. 

 This rule, though applicable to some Orchids, must not by any 

 means be applied indiscriminately to all, since we have many 

 'Odontoglots, Oncids, Dendrobes, Disas, and Masdevallias, to 



