38 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



standing, the Cattleyas are responsible for more disappointments 

 in Orchid culture than any other genus. Attracted by their 

 wondrous beauty many amateurs, and also not a few professional 

 gardeners, have purchased imported plants and entered upon their 

 cultivation with light hearts. Though widely different methods 

 of culture may have been followed the plants have usually flowered 

 more or less successfully the first season, but after flowering they 

 have gradually declined in vigour, and probably long before the 

 second flowering season has come round they have died and been 

 consigned to the furnace fire. At the same time. Orchid culture in 

 general has been condemned as waste of time and money. This 

 is unfortunate. Cattleyas are certainly not the Orchids that an 

 amateur should begin with when setting up a modest collection. 

 The vigour and vitality many Orchids have acquired in their 

 native haunts carry them through the trials of importation and 

 their first year under artificial treatment, then the ebb is fast unless 

 the cultural conditions have been such as to relieve the great strain 

 and restore vigour. 



A large number of Lxlias thrive under conditions found favour- 

 able to the majority of Cattleyas, and so do the Brassavolas and 

 the Laelio-cattleyas, therefore the advice given below applies as a 

 general rule to all these Orchids. As a rule the same round of 

 treatment applies to all, but not always at the same period of the 

 year, for the Cattleyas and Laslias flower at different periods of 

 the year and some are growing freely while others are resting or ■ 

 flowering. 



Some Orchids, notably the Phaius, Cymbidiums, and many 

 Cypripediums, are often grown with great success in a mixed 

 collection of plants, but very rarely indeed are Cattleyas a success 

 under such conditions. A house should be set apart for Cattleyas 

 and Lselias, or at least a part of a house, if the greatest possible 



