The Culture of Greenhouse Orchids 



wool tied round the flower-spike and frayed out 

 protects it. 



It is hardly necessary to say, in this year of 

 grace, that orchids must have rain-water. Hard 

 water coats the leaves of any plant with a grey 

 sediment, which is chalk or lime. This stops the 

 respiration, more or less. But in the case of orchids, 

 it is not the respiration of leaves only which is 

 checked. Other plants take their sustenance from 

 the earth, and they suffer comparatively little. But 

 an orchid feeds upon the atmosphere, through its 

 roots especially, and when these are coated with 

 chalk it starves, for they cannot do their duty. 



A good supply of rain-water, therefore, is in the 

 last degree desirable, and the quantity in daily use 

 must be stored within the house to keep it at an 

 equal temperature. Intercept all the rain you can ; 

 whatever the amount, your tanks will probably run 

 dry at midsummer. But if water can be pumped 

 from a standing pool, it is at least as good ; of course 

 it must not be used at once, with the chill in it. 



I do not mean that orchids perish, or even de- 

 teriorate quickly, if the hard water be kept in the 

 house for some days. They will bear even that 

 unnatural affliction patiently, but it is not to be 

 hoped that they will thrive as under more kindly 

 circumstances. Rain-water is actively beneficial to 



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