58 



REPORT ON THE 



found to be a correct method of treatment answers best, and it 

 is better to leave doubtful experiments to their originators until 

 they are proven. The worst of it is that wonder-workers are 

 never tired of getting others to injure their plants by trying their 

 schemes, and hence much mischief occurs. For my part I have 

 generally found that the extreme practices, which we hear of 

 from time to time, in the end only go to prove the extraordinary 

 tenacity of life in Orchids, and their adaptability to the different 

 kinds of treatment they must necessarily receive at different 

 hands. 



Shading and Heating. 



Next comes the shading and heating of the Orchid house. 

 With respect to the shadiug, I am convinced that all Orchids 

 should be shaded against the direct rays of the sun, and that the 

 shading should, where possible, be varied in thickness according 

 to the plants contained in the house. Some of those very thin 

 materials we see exhibited, when strengthened with webbing, do 

 admirably for laelias and other Mexican and Brazilian plants ; 

 the medium textures for cattleyas, and the thickest for cypri- 

 pediums, masdevallias, and all cold-house plants, all East Indian 

 Orchids, and all terrestial Orchids, such as Calanthe veratrifolia, 

 Phajm Wallichii, &c. These grow in dense jungles, and bright 

 sunlight dwarfs them and altogether spoils them. 



I saw a remarkable instance of this recently in a garden 

 where a Calanthe veratrifolia had been kept in a sunny house for 

 years, and had always been a miserable and stunted object. At 

 length it was placed out of the way on the centre bed, and 

 underneath the tall plants, which effectually hid it from view. 

 In a very short time it became a robust, free-flowering plant. 

 I have seen many similar cases where excessive sunlight under 

 glass has had much the same effect as excessive cold would have 

 done. I therefore assert that although most Orchids require a 

 clear light, yet when grown under glass all of them should be 

 sheltered from the unbroken rays of the sun from the time it 

 gets the power to injure until its power wanes. For Orchids in 

 flower a thick shading is absolutely necessary, as the flowers last 

 twice as long shaded, and draw on the strength of the plants 

 much less than they do when exposed to the sun. As regards 

 the heating of Orchid houses, I early found that it was necessary 

 to have some plan, and to adhere to it, checking it by the 



