86 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



" growing season," as it is technically termed, is during May, June, 

 July and August, and during these months the night temperature 

 ought not to fall below 6^ degrees, while, given bright weather 

 and a little ventilation, there is practically no upward limit to the 

 day temperature. Closing the house early in the afternoon, raising 

 the blinds at the same time, and syringing the plants freely so as to 

 secure strong and moist heat, are points of great importance. 

 When the growth is finished (and " finished " is really a very good 

 technical term, signifying the time when new leaves are no longer 

 produced at the apex of the new pseudo-bulbs), heat and moisture 

 must both be gradually reduced, until, by the end of September, 

 the temperature for March and April is reached ; this may be 

 continued through October, but when the leaves have all fallen, the 

 Winter temperature will suffice. 



Although as a class Dendrobiums are of more or less pendulous 

 habit, and therefore well adapted to cultivation in suspended baskets, 

 it is usual to grow them in pots and stake the growths uprightly, 

 as by this means less room is occupied by each specimen. Whether 

 pots or baskets are used, it is necessary to provide plenty of clean 

 drainage material, and place over this a layer of sphagnum before 

 proceeding further with the potting. The general potting time is 

 the Spring, when the new growths are advancing and the flowers 

 have faded. Peat and sphagnum make a suitable compost, and a 

 few broken leaves may be added as the grower comes to understand 

 his plants and the local climatic conditions. Potting is an easy 

 matter, and consists in placing the compost firmly about the roots 

 after any old and sour material has been removed from the latter. 

 It is quite unnecessary to allow a large number of old pseudo-bulbs 

 to remain ; one, or at most two, of those previously produced will 

 sufiice. Some growers have been eminently successful with 

 Dendrobium nobile even when all the old pseudo-bulbs have 



