76 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
seedling cases, if not very carefully and sensibly worked 
is less likely to be satisfactory than sowing the seeds 
on plants growing in the houses. Too much heat is 
very harmful. Odontoglossums proved difficult to raise at 
first, and this was mainly because the seedlings were kept 
too warm and close. If the cultures are carried on in 
the Odontoglossum house, success is generally attained, 
although the products are seldom so numerous as in Cattleya, 
Lelia, and Cypripedium hybrids. 
Another plan adopted by some growers, and with 
tolerable success, is to place squares of Osmunda fibre 
in pans, and after soaking them, sow the seed on them. 
Others have discs of soft wood, such as Willow, cut across 
the grain and placed in flower-pots or pans with the fibre 
of the wood-grain uppermost ; after soaking the discs, the 
seeds are sown on them. When not raised in glass cases, 
round or square pieces of glass are placed on the pots. 
Indeed, there is ample evidence that, provided good seeds 
are sown and placed in a suitable temperature, Orchid seeds 
germinate readily. The first sign of vitality is given by 
the good seeds assuming a green appearance ; in time they 
become little spherical green bodies, which later produce 
a growing point ; in due course the true root appears, and 
the little plants are ready for pricking off or transplant- 
ing into previously prepared store pots prepared with a 
good drainage of small crocks or broken charcoal in the 
bottom, some Osmunda fibre or other Orchid potting 
material, and an inch or so of very fine compost formed 
of decayed leaves, Osmunda fibre, or good Orchid peat 
and Sphagnum-moss in equal parts, the whole rubbed to- 
gether through a fine sieve. Some add a proportion of 
