PHICES OF ORCHIDS. 71 



but if a rigorous change had not been adopted in time, the disease would 

 have gone too far, and probably killed the plants. 



. Much injury is done to epiphytal Orchids by keeping the plants too 

 wet at the roots in dull weather ; in fact, too much moisture in that way 

 IS injurious at any time, especially to those species that grow on branches 

 of trees, when they come to be confined in pots, and baskets. Our 

 practice is to give but little water at the roots during winter, and not so 

 much as many people in summer, because we have seen the ill effects of 

 it. The treatment we recommended some years ago we still follow, and 

 with uniform success. 



Some Orchid growers give more heat and moisture than is here 

 recommended, and their plants have done well for a time ; but under 

 such exciting management they are apt to become Spotted, and get 

 permanently into a bad state of health — in short, the least chill, after 

 growing in so high a temperature, is liable to induce disease. The great 

 secret in the cultivation of these as well.as of all other plants is to provide 

 a proper house, without drip ; to supply sufficient ventilation, heat, and 

 moisture ; and to ensure the total banishment of insects detrimental to 

 vegetable life. The temperature throughout the year should be kept in 

 accordance with the directions laid down in these pages, which are the 

 result of long experience and close observation. 



PRICES OF ORCHIDS. 



THE value of these plants has fluctuated considerably from time to 

 time, according to the supply and to other circumstances. Some- 

 times the rise and fall of the markets cause their prices to vary; at 

 others the removal to a distant part of the country, to a residence 

 unprovided with the necessary house room for the reception of the plants, 

 and their owner, thinking the risk .and trouble of their transit for a 

 long distance is more than he can undertake, brings them before the 

 public in the sale rooms of the metropolis or other large towns, or they 

 are publicly sold on the premises where they had been grown. Again, 

 the decease of the owner of a large collection of Orchids frequently 

 causes them to be brought to the hammer, the executors finding this the 

 most ready way of securing a. settlement of the estate, and this ;throws a 



