CLASSIFICATION OF ORCHIDE^. 



335 



a full exposure to the rays of the sun. The plants of aU four enjoy light, 

 a free air, and are subjected annually for three months or more to a low 

 temperature and great drought, and it is worthy of remark that the time 

 of drought and the decrease of temperature occur together. This may 

 therefore, be considered their \Ninter, or time of rest." 



It must here, however, be remarked, that this season of rest does not 

 occur at the same period to every individual species ; for while some are 

 grooving vigorously, others are enjoying a repose, and that of course in 

 the same house ; and this is more obvious in newly introduced plants 

 than in such as have been long inhabitants of our stoves, who to a very 

 great extent accommodate themselves to the general management that 

 they are placed under ; and it is not perhaps improbable but that in com'se 

 of time the whole, or at least a great part, of every collection will thus 

 fai' accommodate themselves to their actual circumstances. The vine and 

 peach trees, long accustomed to be forced, become entirely changed in 

 this respect, and have been known to push out into bud at mid-winter, 

 when it has happened that artificial excitement has been withheld from 

 them. 



Most of the plants of this tribe dislike to be moved from one place to 

 another, particularly after they have become large : were it otherwise, 

 something might be done in the way of temperature by placing them, at 

 a proper season, at the coldest end of the house, where they should 

 remain during their season of rest, and be also more conveniently kept 

 dry. The time when their winter, as it may safely be called, commences, 

 is to be determined not by the exact season of the year, but by the ap- 

 pearance of the plants themselves ; and when they appear to have the 

 fewest external marks of excitability, as a shedding of the fohage, a change 

 of colour in the pseudo-bulbs, &c., may be taken for the commencement 

 of this season. 



In attempting to treat on the culture of this extraordinary tribe of 

 plants, it will be necessary, for brevity sake, to consider them under the 

 following heads ; their great dissimilarity of character and geographical 

 distribution rendering such an arrangement necessary. 



Orchideous plants may be considered as terrestrial, or epiphytal ; that 

 is, either growing upon the ground, or attaching themselves to other 

 vegetables, rocks, stones, &c. 



The latter division is by far the most numerous, and are also the most 

 extraordinary in their organization. They also occupy such an extent of 

 latitude that some distinction must be made in their culture as regards 

 temperature. 



