THE ORCHID REVIEW. 21 
CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS FOR JANUARY. 
By H. A. BURBERRY, Orchid Specialist, King’s Heath, Birmingham. 
The most suitable temperatures for the present month are as follows :— 
East INDIAN HoUSE.—Day, 60° to 65°; night and morning, 50° to 
60°. These figures are for fire heat alone, with sun heat another 5 or 10 
degrees may and should be allowed. 
INTERMEDIATE HOUSE.—Day, 55° to 60°; night and morning, 55° to 
55°. During severe weather it may fall another 5 degrees, and during 
bright sunny days it may rise 5 to 10 degrees. oe 
CooL HouSE.—There should now be very little difference between this 
and the last named house. It may, however, go as low as 40° in cool 
weather, for short periods only, and as high as 60° when it is possible to 
ventilate, but only then, for 60° without free ventilation would have a 
tendency to ‘‘ draw,” or to produce immature or weakly growth. — 
ArmosPHERIC ConpiITIONS.—As growth is now practically at a 
standstill, a very small supply of water distributed on the floor, stages, ie, 
will suffice to produce a health-giving atmosphere. The outside conditions 
of the weather and thermometer must necessarily be the only proper and 
correct guides. It should be borne in mind that the greater the heat from the 
hot water pipes, the greater the evaporation, and more moisture should be 
put down accordingly. Avoid using more artificial heat than is really 
necessary to maintain the foregoing temperatures. Avoid a continually 
saturated atmosphere, or anything that may be calculated to excite growth 
prematurely, which is a certain cause of weakness, and produces spot and 
other diseases. But, on the other hand avoid anything tending to excessive 
drought and arid conditions of the atmosphere, for that is equally fatal, 
as it tends to exhaust the natural supplies of vigour, and is favourable to 
insect pests, all more or less objectionable. 
WATERING.—Similar caution should be exercised here. I can only say, 
pursue an intermediate course, do not (except in a few isolated instances) 
bake up the compost, and keep it for lengthened periods—to use a common 
phrase—as dry as a bone; on the other hand, do not keep it continually 
wet. No matter whether the plant may appear to be in growth or at rest; 
this advice, during the present and the following month, will be perfectly 
sound. The exceptional cases mentioned above are such Orchids as 
Barkerias, Cyrtopodiums, Mormodes, Catasetums, Cycnoches, the deciduous 
Calanthes, Thunias, and such like deciduous kinds. If the above remarks 
on watering should appear to amateurs who may be in search of information 
to be somewhat vague, let me say that it is difficult in the extreme to make 
oneself clearly understood as to when a plant should be watered, because so 
much depends upon local circumstances, which are so varied. One person 
