too PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 
soddened. Water should therefore be given systematically— 
a thorough watering, and no more until the effect of it is 
passing and the still moist material is sufficiently near the 
dry point. After flowering, a lessened supply should also 
be given for a time, but the plants must not be dried off. 
At this stage it is a good time to repot any requiring to be 
repotted. In the cool houses, and indeed all the Orchid 
houses, observation should be made as to the rapidity of 
evaporation of water from the floors and staging. If the 
moisture evaporates too quickly and the floors and stages 
become dry rapidly, it must be remembered that the con- 
ditions are not favourable to sustaining the vitality of the 
plants in the house, for, where rapid evaporation takes 
place, a similar process affects the tissues of the plants. 
Means should be taken, either by lowering the tem- 
perature or checking the ventilation, to sustain a lasting 
humidity in the houses. 
Oncidium.—This is a large genus, most of the mem- 
bers being suitable for cultivation in the intermediate house. 
O. macranthum is a cool-house plant, and O, crispum, O, 
Forbesii, O. concolor, O. Marshallianum (illustrated in Plate 
VII.), O. varicosum, and others also do well in the cool house 
in baskets or suspended pans. O. Papilio, O. Kramerianum, 
O. Lanceanum, and O. ampliatum should have a position 
in the warmest end of the intermediate house. Pot the 
plants as epiphytal Orchids, Withhold water for a time 
after growth is completed. 
Paphinia.—Small-growing epiphytes. Grow in baskets 
or pans in a warm, moist house. 
Phaius.—Strong-growing, terrestrial Orchids for the 
intermediate house. Pot them according to the directions 
