106 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



wilds, and perhaps entirely destroying them where they once 

 grew so abundantly, only to kill them in a foreign land ; 

 whereas, with proper knowledge and cultivation, it will be 

 possible to say they are only transplanted, and not in any sense 

 destroyed, so as not to rob the world of any of its bright jewels. 



The next condition, then, of popularising Orchids is to show 

 they can be grown both easily and successfully. We all know 

 that nothing succeeds like success, and if anyone can show how 

 amateurs with small means, and possibly cramped positions, may 

 yet enjoy a goodly harvest of beauty all the year round from their 

 Orchids, I think it will not be long before fresh admirers will be 

 tempted to try their hands at Orchid-growing. The cultivation 

 of cool Orchids is so well understood by all the large growers 

 nowadays that it is a common sight to many of us to see these 

 plants luxuriating by the thousand in long houses where nothing 

 else is grown. This, unfortunately, inclines us to think they 

 can only be grown well in this way ; and what I want to-day to 

 impress upon you is, that an amateur who has perhaps only one 

 greenhouse and a frame may succeed in growing these cool — or, 

 as I would rather prefer to call them to-day, "equatorial" — 

 Orchids as well as those who have fine ranges of houses and 

 all appliances at hand. I have too often heard it stated by suc- 

 cessful Orchid- growers that it is impossible to grow Orchids in an 

 ordinary greenhouse ; that it will be too hot and dry in summer 

 or too cold in winter, and so on. Now I do not wish to contra- 

 dict this statement exactly, because it is very nearly true ; but 

 yet I think I can suggest a plan — a very simple plan— by which 

 cool Orchids may be grown by those who may have only one 

 ordinary greenhouse where everyday flowers thrive. It will, of 

 course, entail some care and some little arrangement, but I think 

 it can be done very successfully, and great enjoyment reaped 

 after a certain time. 



About eight years ago, seized with the desire of growing cool 

 Orchids, I bought a few dozen imported pieces, and duly potted 

 them with peat and sphagnum, and placed them in a rather 

 close and stuffy fernery facing north. After a year's trial I was 

 so much disappointed at their want of progress, and the absence 

 of vigorous growth, or any sign of flower, that I felt something 

 must be done or my plants would dwindle to nothing ; so after 

 much cogitation, and reading of any book I could get hold of 



