6 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



receive a large amount of sunshine and hot 

 drying winds. Such different kinds of 

 atmosphere clearly suggest that we cannot 

 expect all Orchids to do well when grown in 

 one house having little or no difference in its 

 growing conditions. 



The attainment of good results will, there- 

 fore, depend on either selecting plants to suit 

 an existing house or else make certain of the 

 kinds desired to be grown, and erect a suit- 

 able .structure for them. But there are many 

 amateurs who are unable, for various reasons, 

 to erect or mamtain a large range of green- 

 houses, and, therefore, the best that can be 

 done under the circumstances must be their 

 motto. But how seldom is this attempted, 

 far less so is it ever carried out. The usual 

 conception of the best arrangement under 

 the circumstances being the placing of the 

 largest plants on the lowest portion of the 

 staging, and the smallest ones on the shelves 

 or suspended in pans from the roof. 



This method certainly allows the greatest 

 number of plants to be stored in a house, but 

 it cannot by any means be considered the 

 best available manner of attempting tlieir cul- 

 tivation. The smallness of a plant should 

 be no reason for placing it, either suspended 

 in a pan or placed on a shelf, near the roof 

 where the ten or more extra degrees of heat, 

 which usually pervade this part of the house, 

 would entirely prevent the plant obtaining 

 the good health it might enjoy when grown 

 in the cooler and moister position below. 

 And, also, because a heat-loving plant hap- 

 pens to be represented by a large specimen 

 it is frequently placed in the lower and cooler 

 part of the house instead of having a position 

 more suitable to its requirements. 



Many an amateur is satisfied when, by the 

 neatness of arrangement, he considers his 

 house to be in order ; but to one educated in 

 the correct requirements of the occupants of 

 the house, satisfaction is only obtained when 

 the plants are placed in such manner as to 

 obtain every possible advantage of the growing 

 conditions which existing circumstances admit. 



Instances might be given where an 

 Orchid has almost refused to grow on one 

 side of a house, but when removed to the 



other a perceptible difference has been 

 noticed in a few days, and after a week or 

 so, the plant has grown with vigour. Sur- 

 prise has often been expressed at such 

 occurrences, but they are entirely due to the 

 removal of the plant to a position where the 

 environment is either more suitable or pos- 

 sesses several similitudes to that of its native 

 country. 



The nature of the floor of the house has 

 much to do with the creation of a suitable 

 atmosphere. Concrete and glazed tiles were 

 formerly frequently used, but, with the excep- 

 tion of a thin layer of water on the surface, 

 which quickly evaporates, these materials 

 are non-porous and' cannot be recommended. 

 Ordinary bricks, or clinkers covered with 

 cinder ash form an admirable material, for 

 by capillary action fresh supplies of water 

 are continuously brought to the surface and 

 evaporated. A layer of broken coke con- 

 tains a far greater evaporating surface than 

 a sheet of water, and if some tw^o or three 

 inches of it are placed under the staging and 

 soaked once or twice a day with water, an 

 atmosphere congenial to the occupants of the 

 house will be maintained. 



Other growers have obtained excellent 

 results by placing a lattice-wood floor over 

 the natural earth. To prevent sourness 

 occurring attention must be given by occa- 

 sionally turning over the soil or replacing it 

 with fresh material from an outside source. 

 This method appeals to one as being very 

 natural, and it is more than probable that 

 certain gases beneficial to the plant are liber- 

 ated from the soil. Good results have also 

 followed the placing of leaves from trees, 

 such as the oak and beech, on the floor of 

 the house, a similarity to the natural forest 

 home of the Orchid being thus produced. 



Moisture, one of the most essential things 

 in the cultivation of Orchids, may also be 

 produced by suspending pieces of damp 

 sacking from the edge of the staging. These 

 should be moistened during the hot and dry 

 weather, considerable benefit to the plants 

 resulting from the rapid evaporating of the 

 water. It is hardly necessary to state that 

 a large amount of atmospheric moisture is 



