TREATMENT PREPARATORY TO EXHIBITION. 57 



a few days previous to the show. If the plants are growing in the 

 hottest house, we move them to the cooler one. During this time they 

 should be allowed only just enough water to keep them slightly moist. 

 When it is probable that the plants will come into blossom earlier than 

 is wished, the time of flowering may be successfully retarded by taking 

 them to a cooler part of the house, or even putting them in a warm 

 greenhouse, keeping them slightly shaded during the brightest part of 

 the day. 



Dendrobiums, if thej^ are wanted to bloom later in the season, are very 

 easily thus retarded. Dend/rohium ndbile, D. superbum, D. densiflorum, 

 B. Farmerii, D. Pierardii latifolium, D. Wardianum, D. crassinode, D. 

 Schroderii, and S. Devonianum, generally bloom during winter, but we 

 have kept them back until June ; and, by having a succession of plants, 

 the Orchid house may be gay with Dendrohiums from January to June. 

 Nearly all the Dendrobiums will bear cool treatment while at rest, and 

 all can be kept for late flowering. To ensure this, place them in a warm 

 greenhouse and give but little water — in fact, only just enough to keep 

 them from shrivelling ; under this treatment the temperature should not 

 fall lower than 40°, and the stems must be kept dry, or the flower buds 

 are apt to rot. They should be shaded from the sun so that the flower 

 buds may not be excited. When the plants are wanted to flower they 

 should bo removed to the Orchid house, and still kept shaded from 

 the sun. Ccelogynes, Odontoglossums, Masdevallias, Oncidiwns, Phajus 

 Wcdliohii, P. grCmdifolius, Lycaste Shinneri, and many others may be 

 kept back in the same way as the Dendrobiums. We have had ample 

 proof of this by taking these plants to shows. Thus we exhibited sixty- 

 five, specimens in Brussels, and not a plant was injured ; again, at 

 Philadelphia, Amsterdam, Cologne, Oporto, and Dresden,we exhibited with 

 the same good results. Our plants were taken more safely than those of 

 exhibitors that lived but a few miles off, the reason being that proper 

 care was taken to pack them well and to give no water— in fact, we 

 followed the rules here laid down. 



