ORCHIDS FOR A COOL HOUSE. 



131 



tank should run under the stage to catch all the rain-water 

 from the roof outside, as soft water is another requisite for 

 Orchid-growing. 



Lastly, the stages — and then our house will he ready for the 

 reception of its inhabitants. These should be 4 feet wide, running 

 along the front and back of the house. The front stage should be 

 on a level with the bottom of the front glass lights ; the back 

 somewhat higher. The stages are best made of slate, supported 

 on cast-iron pillars. Should, however, expense be an object, 

 galvanised iron sheets may be used instead of slate. A covering 

 of shell shingle, sold for the purpose, 2 inches deep, should be 

 spread on the slates. A few wires stretched along the roof, for 

 suspended plants, and our house is complete. 



The next question is : 



How shall we buy the Plants ? 

 The cheapest and most interesting way of starting a collection 

 is to buy unflowered plants from the importers, either direct or 

 at the sales by auction which are constantly taking place during 

 the season. 



Not only is this the cheapest plan, but it affords an innocent 

 way of indulging in that nineteenth-century vice — speculation. 

 My experience is that by obtaining newly imported plants from 

 a reliable source you get a large proportion of good serviceable 

 flowers, many which may be called excellent, while you stand 

 the chance of drawing a prize of the highest order. 



Again, many forms of flowers which would not do for the 

 exhibitor's table are really more useful, when the object is the 

 decoration of the room or the person, than the ideal blooms. 

 Take, for instance, the ever-popular Odontoglossum crispum. The 

 " starry " form, despised from the florist point of view, really 

 lends itself to decorative purposes more readily than its highly 

 prized relative with its round massive flowers ; more readily, I 

 say, because it is lighter in its effect — a great element of beauty — 

 in vases or bouquets. 



I now give a list of varieties which may really be called 



"Cool-house Orchids," i.e., those which maybe grown all the 



year round in such a house as I have described : — 



Odontoglossum crispum in its many Odontoglossum aspersum. 



forms. ,, bictoniense. 



„ Andersonianum. „ blandum. 



