620 THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



bearing seeds of the same dimensions. Far more seeds are 

 destroyed by thoughtless watering than by any other cause. 

 They are so minute and dustlike that the least carelessness in 

 watering washes them over the sides of the pots or seed-pans. 



Fig. 401. — L/elio-Cattleya Dominiana. 



After the seedlings have been removed from their seed- 

 pans, constant care is required to keep them clean and give 

 every inducement by light and atmospheric conditions likely to 

 be suitable to their various requirements. If this is done very 

 little more difficulty will be found in the successful culture 

 of Orchid seedlings than is experienced in the raising of other 

 plants. In proof of this assertion I have only to point out the 

 numbers of persons who, without any instructions, have sur- 

 mounted, as the late Mr. Dominy did, all difficulties, and are 

 at the present day among our most successful hybridists. 



Foes. — Considering the number of Orchids which are annually 

 imported into this country, and the ready means they afford of 

 materially increasing the insect population, it is matter for 

 congratulation that one so seldom hears of the introduction of 

 any species which are very harmful to the plants under notice. 

 The wonder, too, is greater if one comes to think how very 

 favourable the temperature of Orchid-houses is for the develop- 

 ment of certain insects needing warmth. Orchids, of course, have 

 their pests like every other plant, but that they have hitherto 

 enjoyed, at any rate when artificially grown, an immunity from 



