thao DORE VIEW: 
Vox. XIV.] MAY, 1906. {No. 161. 
THE IDEAL ODONTOGLOSSUM HOUSE, 
I HAVE been asked to give some “ideas for an nideal Odontoglossum house, 
including the question of position, &c.,”” and 
while gladly consenting to do my best, it is in the full kapypledas that there 
are many others whose success in the culture of this genus has been much 
more marked than mine, and whose ideas, on that account, would be of 
much more interest. I trust, however, that some of them may be 
persuaded to follow up these notes with observations, so that in the end the 
really best possible Odontoglossum house may be evolved. 
Some years ago I wrote in the Orchid Review (vol. viii., pp. 167-169) 
some incomplete notes on the construction of Orchid houses, and now, 
after five years’ further experience, there does not seem much that I should 
care to alter, although there are some points that might be further 
emphasized, 
PosiT1on.—The house should run due north and south, so that eack 
side may have an equal amount of light. Probably from the time the blinds 
are no longer required in the autumn until they are wanted again in the 
spring the Odontoglossum benefits more from the light than it does during 
the summer. These plants love a cool light; hence the direct, cool rays of 
the low sun add so much to their stamina. The torrid summer sun is 
not what Odontoglossums like, and the flowers are thinner in July and 
August than in May, and the same might be said of the foliage. It will be 
fruitless and invidious to draw comparisons between one locality and 
another, as each grower must make the most of the locality in which he 
finds himself, but if for any reason the Odontoglossums do not get the 
benefit of the light of winter, the foliage and bulbs will not have that 
russety violet look of good health, nor will the flower spikes be so strong 
‘and woody, nor will the flowers be of such good substance, shape and 
colour, in the spring. Apart from the question of light, many things may 
militate against the production of good flowers, but, other things being 
equal, the house which catches the winter light to the fullest extent will 
give best results, and up to this point I think we are all agreed. 
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