SEPTEMBER, 1922:] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 277. 
AN AMATEUR’S EXPERIENCE. 
By JOSEPHINE R. WALKER. 
AM pleased to say we have been successful in overcoming the attack of 
thrip. It has been a struggle. We found that the only way to 
eradicate it was by going over each individual plant as often as possible and 
painting with insecticide. It was chiefly down in the sheaths of the Lelias 
and Leliocattleyas that these insects seemed to lurk. No fumigation 
appeared to affect them at all. There are still a few lurking about, but 
they have a hard time and will have to go under. 
Our Dendrobiums have grown splendidly this year ; some of them have 
made bulbs better than those produced in their native habitat. We have 
brought them out into the sun and air; they are rooting vigorously, so we 
are hoping to get a good show of flowers in the spring. We shall be able to 
take them into the ‘“‘ Monkey House” and give them more heat than we 
have been able to in other years. We have had a bit of a struggle with 
D. fimbriatum and D. Brymerianum, but I think we have mastered them. 
They are up in the roof in the “cradle” with Vandas, and getting away 
nicely. 
In spite of the lack of sun this year our Mexican Lelias have done 
splendidly, and many of them are showing their flower spikes. We have 
about fifty of them altogether, and when they are in bloom there is nothing 
more graceful. Their only enemy in this locality appears to be fog, and 
this they will by no means endure. Our Lealiocattleyas have also done 
very well, and we are going to have some fine sheaths in them, many of 
which are well up. 
We have just acquired about sixty choice Odontoglossums and 
Odontiodas, and are going to have a real good try to make them grow. We 
have put them at the very end of the house, where they will enjoy the shade 
of the tree, and as further assistance we have made curtains to draw across 
inside, cutting this portion off from the rest of the house, so preventing the 
sun from reaching them during the day time, and keeping off the the heat 
from the pipes at night. There are no hot-water pipes in the part selected 
for these plants. In spite of these precautions and the fact that we have 
had very little sunshine, it is difficult to get down to 55 degrees at night, 
and to keep under 70 degrees in the daytime. We have the plants standing 
on a liberal depth of ashes, which are on slates, and the walls are of bricks. 
We keep as much moisture as possible around them, and the ee © 
used overhead many times a day and always the last thing at night. So 
far the plants are looking well, and many are throwing up good spikes. 
When they came to us we decided, rightly or wrongly, that they had too 
many back bulbs and were in pots that were much too large, so we. broke 
