INTRODUCTION. 7 



cases be desirable, even were it possible, to follow out to the 

 letter the natural conditions and surroundings under which 

 the plants are found to exist or luxuriate, as the case may be, 

 in their native habitats. For example, some of the Moulmein 

 Dendrobes are scorched and shrivelled up during the dry 

 season of the year ; but it does not follow that they are bene- 

 fited thereby, any more than are our lawns and pastures by 

 the scorching heat of our own summer season, added to a 

 lack of moisture. In our artificial treatment of Orchids we 

 can supply them with moisture in unlimited quantities, and 

 we are able to keep a high temperature for those that require 

 it ; but the third great essential is not so much at our dis- 

 posal. I allude to light, which fortunately is not quite so 

 essential for cool Orchids as for the Indian Dendrobes, 

 Phaleenopsids, &c. Lieut.-Colonel Benson tells us that the 

 flowers produced on our Dendrobiums here at home are 

 deficient in colour and brightness ; this no doubt is the result 

 of our comparatively dull, cloudy atmosphere. 



Another great requisite in the culture of all Orchids, more 

 especially the cool section, is full and free ventilation, not only 

 during the daytime but also through the night, of course 

 taking precautions against cold draughts, by tacking coarse 

 tiffany or perforated zinc over the openings. If ventilation 

 is beneficial during the daytime, why not during the night ? 

 I never could see the reason why plant-houses should be 

 almost hermetically closed during night-time, and kept so 

 close and hot as they generally are. A cool and airy night 

 temperature is far more conducive to health and vigour than a 

 hot and close one, more especially for Odontoglots, Oncids, 

 and Orchids generally from the Mexican or Peruvian Andes. 

 J. Bateman, Esq., years ago promulgated the system of cool 

 treatment as being applicable to a great number of very 

 beautiful and interesting Orchids, and in his own practice, 



