THE ORCHID REVIEW. 197 
waste their time, as they say, over plants that need something different to 
the common run. 
A golden rule for amateurs, or, indeed, all Orchid growers, is not to be 
afraid when a plant looks unhappy to reverse the treatment altogether. If 
it has been grown cool, grow it in heat; if it has been shaded, give it sun 
and air; in fact, do just the opposite of what you have done, even though 
you may find in gardening books that the treatment you have followed is 
generally recommended. Apropos of this, it is to be observed that hand- 
books of Orchid culture are generally written by nurserymen, who have 
great experience of newly-imported plants, but whose aim and endeavour, 
generally carried out, is to dispose of their plants to someone else; so that 
they have little real knowledge of the conditions that established Orchids 
require. 
One of the most important things to remember about Orchids is the 
fact that they are nearly all “Air Plants,” and so they require an extra 
supply of that precious yet invisible thing. Yet how many shut them up in 
close, dank, dark, or stuffy houses, and then wonder they do not thrive! If 
only Orchids have sufficient zrial moisture, they cannot have too much 
ventilation; and the more ventilation there is, the less shading they 
will require, and so the growth will be more solid and more likely to 
flower. 
There are of course various degrees of temperature to consider, and I 
do not suggest that anyone should starve their Orchids when bitter winds 
blow, but I do prefer to give much more atmospheric moisture by flooding 
the stages when the sun shines, and giving abundant ventilation, to falling 
back on the gardeners’ convenient plan of shading heavily and giving but 
little air—a common error! I need say nothing about the mass of well- 
known Orchids that enjoy shade and moisture with stillness and warmth. 
What I want to talk about to-day is that class of Orchid that needs some- 
thing else. That ‘something else” is, I think, easily found in a warm 
vinery; and I have not found either vines or grapes suffer from the presence 
of Orchids, if the grapes are not required to hang long. There are of 
course but few Orchids that prefer the atmosphere of a vinery at all seasons, 
but yet there really are a few that I should prefer to keep there all the year 
round. These are Lelia majalis, Lelia albida, Cattleya Walkeriana, 
Dendrobium Wardianum, Cymbidium eburneum, and Oncidium flexuosum, 
all of which need nothing more, save that Dendrobium Wardianum should 
be put in a warmer house when its flower buds are half-grown, as they are 
apt to come deformed if they open in too cold a temperature. Still the 
plant should be returned to the vinery as soon as the house is shut up and 
the vines syringed. 
When once we touch upon those Orchids that prefer the atmosphere ot 
a vinery for the greater part of the year, it is surprising how many 
