208 



CASSELL'S POPTJLAK GAEDENING. 



families require careful management when in a 

 seedling state. The seed of an Orchid is a singular 

 organism, totally distinct from the seed of any 

 other flowering plant in that it contains no embryo, 

 hut is merely a mass of cells, with a dark, thickened 

 coUebtion of cells, caUed a nucleus, in the place 

 where the emhryo might he supposed to exist (see 

 Fig. 5, No. 2. This singular structure can only be 

 seen with the aid of a microscope. Recently the 

 propagation of Orchids by means of seeds has re- 

 ceived much more attention than formerly, owing no 



of washing the seeds away with water, the pot and 

 sphagnum upon which they are sown should be 

 dipped a Uttle way in water so as to allow it 

 to soak upwards, and not watered overhead. The 

 time seeds of Orchids take to germinate varies, 

 according to the species, from three -to twelve 

 months. Seeds of Disa grandiflara are perhaps the 

 easiest-managed among Orchids ; they may be sown 

 upon a mixture of chopped sphagnum and peat. 

 Numerous varieties of this beautiful Orchid have 

 been obtained from seeds raised in this country. 



Fig. 5.— Fruit (natural size). Seed (magDified), and Seedlings (masnifled) of Cattleya. 



doubt to the valuable results obtained from crosses 

 made with cultivated kinds, the progeny of which 

 have been raised in this country. Messrs. Veitch 

 have devoted much skill and careful management 

 ' to Orchid hybridisation and seed-raising, to which 

 we shall refer again at some length in the chapter 

 devoted to " Cross-breeding." 



The seeds of Orchids are sown on pots filled with 

 crocks and growing sphagnum, or, better still, upon 

 the sphagnum growing about other Orchids. It is 

 necessary that the seeds should be sown immediately 

 on their becoming ripe, as, owing to their smallness 

 and extreme delicacy, they do not retain vitality long. 

 They should be scattered upon the sphagnum and 

 then left to themselves, the treatment required by 

 the plant about which they are sown being such as 

 will afford them all they need. To prevent the risk 



Germination having taken place, and the seedlings 

 being large enough to iandle safely, they may be 

 removed from the seed-pot and planted in tiny pots 

 of chopped sphagnum and crock-dust. To guard 

 against drought and danger to the seedling, it will be 

 found a good plan to place a number of these tiny 

 pots together in a flat pan, filling up between the 

 pots with sphagnum; these pans may then be 

 suspended near the glass in a shaded house of the 

 temperature suited to the requirements of each kind 

 of Orchid. Patience of no ordinary kini must be 

 possessed by any one attempting the raising of 

 Orchids from seeds, as it takes a very long time for 

 most of the kinds to arrive at a flowering condition. 

 In the case of Cattleyas, for instance, it generally 

 takes from seven to ten years, and sometimes even 

 longer, to grow a plant from seed on to its first 



