112 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



woods where they are found. Vanda cceritlea, on the contrary, 

 grows on exposed hill-tops, on Oak-trees, not close to the Equator, 

 but on the verge of the Northern Tropic, and, of course, at a 

 very considerable height, as it grows on so hardy a tree as an 

 Oak, that is closely allied to our northern trees. What does all 

 this mean ? Surely that, in the first place, it delights in the full 

 sweep of the wind (an exact contrast to the Odontoglossums) ; 

 and, secondly, that it must have a winter and a summer, and 

 therefore a wet and a dry season as well. We are told by meteoro- 

 logists that when the sun is vertical — that is, straight over our 

 heads at midday — then is always the'time for those heavy rains 

 we hear of in the Tropics ; so then it follows that the summer 

 is very wet and the winter cool and dry on the northern edge of 

 the Tropics. The Oaks on which Vanda ccerulea grows are deci- 

 duous, we are told — another indication for us, if we will take the 

 hint. Briefly, then, Vanda ccerulea requires plenty of moisture 

 and abundance of air in summer, with a good canopy of leaves 

 to shade it and keep it cool. In winter it needs all the sun- 

 shine it can get, with a dry, cool rest, close to the glass, always 

 with as much air as can be given. Following out this idea, I 

 have had great success the last five years with this Orchid, 

 and I have carried out its treatment in this way. In March, 

 when our Muscat vinery is first shut up and the vines syringed, 

 I put my baskets of Vanda ccerulea on a side shelf near the 

 water-tank, and close to the lower ventilators. Here they are 

 treated just like the vines, and are syringed well every day. As 

 the sun gets hotter the vine-leaves grow, and by degrees the 

 Vandas get heavily shaded ; while in summer, when the vines 

 have abundance of air both at top and bottom, they are 

 in a perfect gale of wind in our exposed garden when west 

 winds are blowing. Here they flower gloriously in August, 

 September, and October; and I much regret that my fine 

 old specimen, that had eight long spikes on it, with flowers 

 five inches across, and of the loveliest shade of tender blue, 

 is now past its best, for I had hoped to have shown it to you 

 as the result of five years' growth. In November, when the Chrys- 

 anthemums are in this house, I think it wise to put the Vandas 

 in more warmth till the sun is gaining new power in the first 

 days of February. I then hang them up near the ventilators 

 in a little span-roofed house where we grow Carnations, Gera- 



