Gardening for Amateurs 



anum), 0. lambeauiana (C. noezliana x 0. 

 lambeauianum), and 0. Vuylstekeae (C. 

 noezliana X 0. Pescatorei). They need 

 the same treatment as Odontoglossum. 



Odontoglossum. These are the most 

 popular of cool house Orchids, the beautiful 

 O. crispum with its arched spikes, carrying 

 from eight to twenty flowers, being culti- 

 vated by the thousand. It is a very vari- 

 able Orchid ; some imported plants have 

 pure white blooms, while others are ex- 

 quisitely blotched and spotted with reddish - 

 brown ; but a typical form is white tinged 



with chestnut-brown sepals, whitish petals 

 marked with mauve-purple, and white lip 

 striped with mauve-purple and pale yellow. 

 These, with a number of hybrids, such as 

 0. amabile (crispum x crispo-harryanum), 

 O. ardentissimum (crispum x Pescatorei), 

 0. eximium (crispum x ardentissimum), 0. 

 Rolfeae (Pescatorei x harryanum), and O. 

 percultum (Rolfeae X ardentissimum) , should 

 be grown in the cool house, and if given 

 careful treatment they rarely fail to bloom 

 in due season. The best compost is Polypo- 

 dium fibre, fibrous peat and sphagnum moss 



A typical Epidendrum. 



with rose, with an occasional spot of red on 

 the petals and sepals. If large numbers are 

 grown a few Odontoglossums are in flower 

 for the greater part of the year, but most of 

 them bloom in late spring and early summer. 

 Suitable companions to the above are O. 

 triumphans, which has golden-yellow sepals 

 and petals marked with chestnut-brown, and 

 a wide lip which is cinnabar-brown in the 

 centre, bordered with white or pale yellow ; 

 O. Pescatorei, similar to 0. crispum in colour, 

 but of rounder outline ; 0. luteopurpureum, 

 chestnut-brown tinged more or less with 

 yellow ; and 0. harryanum, a first-rate Orchid 



in about equal parts, while some growers 

 add a few partly decayed oak-leaves with 

 excellent results. Ordinary flower- pots are 

 filled one-third of their depth with drainage, 

 and a receptacle selected just large enough to 

 take the roots comfortably and allow for 

 the development of two additional pseudo- 

 bulbs. Over-potting must always be guarded 

 against. After repotting extra care is needed 

 in watering until the roots take possession of 

 the new compost. The months for repotting 

 are February, August and September, but 

 a few plants are sure to need attention at 

 other seasons. The Odontoglossum house 



