■Hjf v ■.^'■<,Pf)l^|»JP^W,,"*^l>.'J^ ',.\"x ^^ ■- v>»",rx""? .•^' ^ ^if^iw-^'JPV- ""■r^v^rrr'TBT". 



Mabch 7, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



U59 





^i*»'r-«S3' 



COMMERCIAL ORCHIDS. 



[A paper by J. A. Newsham, New Orleans, 

 read before the Society of Southern Florists, at 

 the New Orleans convention, February 14 to 16, 

 1907.1 



In presenting a paper on this subject 

 I do so with a full understanding that it 

 must be done in as few words as is pos- 

 sible. With a class of plants so large 

 and varied as the orchid family, compris- 

 ing, as it does, many thousand varieties, 

 some, both beautiful and curious, are not 

 available for florists' use. Many are not 

 available because of their scarcity and 

 high price ; others, from the fact of their 

 shyness to bloom under the treatment the 

 ordinary florist has time and facility to 

 give them; so that at the present time 

 the number of varieties grown for cut 

 flowers is limited to a few that are easily 

 managed and not too expensive to buy 

 in quantity. But I am sure the time will 

 come, and before long, when there will 

 be many more varieties added to the 

 orchid family, or the present list of 

 orchids for florists' use, especially when 

 their requirements become better under- 

 stood by the general run of florists, with- 

 out, necessarily, being expert orchid 

 growers. 



When we look back over a few years of 

 the cultivation of the rose and carnation, 

 we can count the few men who, then, 

 really made a success of their cultiva- 

 tion, while today they are being grown 

 in every part of the country by the thou- 

 sands, by men who have not spent a life- 

 time in learning how to grow them suc- 

 cessfully. So it will be with the orchid, 

 which is a plant that will stand rougher 

 treatment than either of them without 

 showing the immediate effect of it or 

 ruining the season's crop of flowers, as is 

 often done by a little mismanagement of 

 either the carnation or the rose. At the 

 same time, when once an orchid gets in 

 a bad condition, it is often better to 

 throw it away than try and bring it 

 around again; and this is one reason 

 why so many have failed to make orchid 

 growing pay, one-half of the space being 

 filled with plants which bring no returns, 

 and, in most cases, only make a breeding 

 place for all kinds of insects and fungus 

 diseases to ruin the balance. Of course 

 there may be exceptions, in which a 

 plant may be of some special value, and 

 may pay for time and attention neces- 

 sary to restore it to a healthy condition. 



A Word to the Beginner. 



The first question for the beginner to 

 ask is, "What kinds of plants should I 

 start with?" My advice to him is to 

 start with what is generally termed semi- 

 established plants; that'iS, plants which 

 have been recently imported and have 

 already commenced to grow; and get 

 them from a first-class house, that makes 

 a specialty of thte part of the business. 

 By doing so, one not only learns how 

 they are potted, but will also stand the 



chance of securing special varieties 

 among them, as they are not all collected 

 while in bloom, and many of the finest 

 and most valuable varieties have turned 

 up among imported plants. For this 

 reason, one may often buy old estab- 

 lished plants cheaper than newly im- 

 ported ones; but he may be sure, all the 

 good varieties have been picked out of 

 them. While I have made a list of va- 

 rieties to grow especially for cut flowers, 

 I am sure it will pay anyone who runs a 

 store to grow a nice collection of other 

 varieties as an advertisement, using them 

 when in bloom for the decoration of his 



I have seen them do well under many 

 conditions. I prefer pots or hanging 

 pans, mostly for their lasting quality, 

 for, although they will grow as well in 

 wooden baskets, there is always the draw- 

 back that they commence to rot and get 

 full of fungus, and it is not an easy 

 matter to take them out, as the roots 

 become grown around them, and to put 

 them in a larger basket without taking 

 the old ones away is sure, sooner or later, 

 to end badly on account of the fungus 

 from the rotten wood. With pots there 

 is not so much danger, as they last much 

 longer and are cheaper. For potting ma- 

 terial peat is good where it can be easily 

 procured; if not, fern roots and live 

 sphagnum moss is all right. The pots 

 ought to be more than half full of 

 broken pots and charcoal and the plants 

 must be firmly potted and staked until 

 they have become established. This is im- 

 portant, for if they are loose and shaky 

 they seldom do well; and, by all means, 

 use as small pots as possible, especially 

 with newly imported plants, or any that 

 have gotten in bad condition at the roots 

 from overwatering or any other cause. 



Watering. 



Watering is one of the most important 

 things in orchid culture. Too much 



Display Basket of Orchids and Adiantum. 



store, window or any other purpose, as 

 they always command attention and are 

 .talked about whereve^ rare flowers are 

 mentioned. 



Potting. 



Orchids are grown in many ways; in 

 ordinary pots and pans, baskets made 

 from wood, in earthenware, and the small 

 growing kinds do well on blocks of wood. 



water at certain seasons is the cause of 

 many failures, especially in winter, dur- 

 ing their resting period. In our climate, 

 where we do not have to fire very hard, 

 little water is necessary; perhaps a little 

 twice a week is suflScient; just enough 

 to keep them from shriveling. I make a 

 rule in the winter, when I have any 

 doubts as to a plant 's wanting water, 

 to pass it by until the next time; and in 



/ 



^^..^.t^.w.-.f,^. tix.^..".Ji;n.,,-|j^^-:,.,»A,.^,.J ._i,,..._..l.'>-L^" ^«.-. .. .■...■.y:— 1. .f.i. .. I.'; 



.jaf i.-.-ujLiJ ^■..-..T- ..>.. ■■ vji- .^>,. 



