54< okchid-growee's manual. 



prevent it from miming' ofE the supports. These supporting rods should be 

 fixed to the bars or rafters of the house about six inches above the woodwork, 

 by being welded to vertical iron stays, which latter should be flattened out at 

 the base, and provided with holes so that they can be screwed to the rafters or 

 bars of the roof. 



"In this way a strong support for the blinds to roll upon will be formed ; 

 the blinds themselves can be attached to the elevated ridge in the ordinary 

 way, and the gearing usually employed for the purpose will be found to answer 

 well for pulling them up and down. Many Orchid growers have already 

 adopted the Eaised Blinds with very beneficial results." 



GEO WING SPECIMEN ORCHIDS FOR EXHIBITION. 



GREAT progress lias been made in Orchid culture within the last 

 forty years, owing perhaps to what has been written on the subject. 

 There were, however, in years gone by, many fine collections of Orchids 

 around London ; some in Prance, and a few in Belgium, Germany, &c. 

 The grand specimens that were exhibited at our London shows were very 

 fine, especially the East Indian kinds, which were far in advance of 

 those of the present time, and also more numerous, indeed, the fostering 

 care bestowed upon the distichous-leaved East Indian Orchids would 

 seem to have almost completely died out since the advent of so many 

 cool-house species from the Western Hemisphere, but still there is 

 nothing to equal the fine display of the genera Saccolabium, Aerides, 

 Vandas, and Angraecums of the earlier days. The single specimens were 

 very fine indeed, and great interest was excited, and no little pride 

 was felt among amateurs to produce those which were exhibited for many 

 years at the Chiswick and Regent's Park shows. Within the past few 

 years the taste seems to have in some measure revived, although many 

 of those now exhibited are inade up, instead of being genuine specimens. 

 Of course there are some Orchids which will not make an exhibition 

 specimen unless masses of them are put together, and this grouping or 

 massing of such plants being allowed at the shows, nearly every one 

 adopts the practice. While it is permitted, of course the making up 

 instead of growing specimens will be continued, and that without any 

 fault of the exhibitors. Some exhibitors, however, put their plants 

 together to form these quasi specimens in a very clumsy way, instead of 

 displaying taste and judgment in their selection and arrangement. 



