TREATMENT OF PLANTS IN BLOOM. 15 



about them. They should hang for about a fortnight, and 

 may afterwards be put on blocks or baskets with moss ; but 

 they must have but little water until they begin to grow, 

 and make new roots, after which they may be treated in the 

 same manner as estabhshed plants. This is much the safest 

 m'^de of treating these valuable Orchids on their first arrival 

 in this country. 



TREATMENT OF PLANTS IN BLOOM. 



HEEE are many Orchids that may be removed when 

 in flower to a much cooler house than that in which 

 they are grown, or even to a warm sitting-room. 

 The advantage of keeping the plants during their period of 

 flowering in a cool and dry atmosphere, rather than, as is 

 frequently the case, in a hot and moist house, is, that in 

 the former case the flowers last much longer than they do 

 when retained in the warmer and moister atmosphere. 

 Perhaps there are not many cultivators who have studied this 

 point more than myself, and I have never found the plants to 

 be injured by this treatment. Some imagine that if they are 

 put in a cool place they will suffer damage ; but this has not 

 occurred in my experience. During the time they are in a 

 room, the temperature should not be below 50° at night ; 

 the room should be kept quite dry ; and before they are 

 removed from the stove they should be put at the coolest end 

 of it ; or if there are two houses, those that are in the hottest 

 should be moved to the coolest for a few days before being 

 taken into the room, and they should be allowed to get nearly 

 dry, and should receive but very little water — only enough to 

 keep the roots moist. 



