56 ORCHID-GROWER S MANUAL. 



require a good deal of attention. Some must be started into growth, 

 others require rest and to remain dormant for a time before being again 

 stimulated into growth. Those that make the start should have all the 

 encouragement possible, ' in order to produce good, sound, healthy, 

 vigorous growths for the following year. Success very much depends 

 upon atterttion to this treatment, which is often overlooked by 

 cultivators, and the next year's flowering is consequently often a failure. 

 A few weeks lost in the growth of a plant cannot be made up. Our 

 seasons are so short that there should be no time lost, especially as we 

 get such a long autumn and winter, during which we have very little 

 light and not much sun. The summer months ought to be made full 

 use of in ripening the pseudobulbs, which will cause the growth to. be, 

 vigorous and the flowering more successful ; there will also be more 

 leading bulbs and strong roots, which are the results of good 

 cultivation. 



Under this regime exhibition specimens — real specimens — will be 

 produced, and the necessity for putting small ones together to form a 

 mass will be avoided. To remove even these smaller plants disturbs 

 their roots at a time when they require to be making progress in order 

 to perfect their next season's growth, and is not therefore desirable. 

 Plants when in vigorous health are less likely to be attacked by insects, 

 which is an important item in their cultivation. We, give full details 

 on the mode of battling with insects in a chapter devoted to these pests. 



TREATMENT PREPAEATORY TO EXHIBITION. 



rpHERE are many cultivators of Orchids who object to send theirr 

 J- plants to a public exhibition solely because they are afraid that 

 they will receive, injury ; but these fears are quite groundless if a 

 moderate degree of care is exercised. We have been, exhibitors of these 

 plants for nearly forty years, and during that period have had very few 

 plants injured by exposure at flower shows. That some valuable Orchids 

 have been damaged at these places we know full well, but the fault haa 

 usually been in the want of due care in their preparation. 



It is our practice to move the plants to a cool, dry house or room for 



