SEPTEMBER, 1906.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 269 
Imported Odontoglossums do better, I believe, to have the pots standing 
close together, thus holding the moisture better than when standing wide 
apart, but as they become leaved they like plenty of room. Overcrowding 
Cattleyas is most unnatural treatment, for these plants like the air to have 
unrestricted play all round them. ‘To have the plants huddled together is 
a most undesirable state of affairs from every point of view, and it is most 
difficult for the Orchid grower to give each plant that individual care which 
is necessary to do it full justice when it is smothered in the foliage of the 
other plants. This difficulty is most acute when the active season is over,. 
and when careful watering is more than ever needed. And the houses do: 
not have a trim, well-cared-for appearance with plants standing pot-thick.. 
There are two obvious remedies. 
GROWING ORCHIDS UNDER OR ADJACENT TO TREES.—There is to my 
mind no greater abomination than having trees overhanging or near the 
Orchid houses. No one who has not had the experience can appreciate the 
disabilities under which the Orchid grower labours when so situated. The 
evils are many, pernicious, and durable, and sometimes unexpected. One 
summer a brood of small caterpillars found their way into a tiny batch of 
Odontoglossum seedlings and fell to with that appetite which only cater- 
pillars have. These were the first few Odontoglossums we had ever raised, 
and it was to be expected that they should be sought out in preference to: 
anything else. Insects have an unerring instinct for finding out what is. 
most prized. A tall tree standing a short distance away from a house will 
keep the sun off it for hours, and two or three conveniently placed will 
suffice to shade it all day. There is a constant fall of debris from trees,. 
and we all know the filthy, blighty condition of most trees after a few weeks. 
of dry weather in the summer. If hanging over the houses the first shower” 
-of rain washes this into the rain water tanks, and the resultant decom- 
position turns the water malodorous, and makes it seethe with insect life.. 
Tanks that are cleaned out and scrubbed every autumn smell bad again 
before the year is round. I am not prepared to say that this water is injurious. 
to the plants, for, after having been obliged to use it for some time, no evil 
effects appear to have taken place, but it is risky, and, to say the least, 
unpleasant. The present is a good time to have tanks emptied and 
Scrubbed, for we can rely on having them refilled soon, and what may be 
required in the meantime can be carried from another house. Gratings. 
placed over the pipes which convey the water into the tanks will keep out 
the leaves, but not the small particles. 
In conclusion, my advice to anyone contemplating building an Orchid 
house is to avoid trees like poison, and also all shade from high buildings, 
&c. There is nothing like houses standing clear and free to give satisfac-- 
tion, and save rueful heart-burnings to come. 
