84 
TWO OR MORE HOUSES TO CULTIVATE ORCHIDACEOUS PLANTS. 
We have instanced the above three genera as being large and important ones, 
and as sufficient illustrations to enforce the system of management we are now 
advocating. We might here attempt to class the whole tribe of orchidaceous 
plants with one or the other of these genera into three divisions, but this would 
occupy too much space for the present article, and we shall content ourselves on 
this occasion with merely introducing the subject to the notice of our readers. If, 
however, three houses cannot be conveniently devoted to the cultivation of this 
tribe, such plants as the Cattleyas and Oncidiums will flourish tolerably well in 
the same house, but by no means should they be placed with plants of similar 
habits to the genus Defidrohiiim. But the evils attendant on the system of 
equalising the temperature of the orchidaceous house are not the only features in 
the general system of cultivation which prove injurious to these plants. The 
subjects of shading, and the various methods of administering w^ater, which have 
been so frequently discussed and treated of in horticultural and botanical publica- 
tions, and which are universally admitted to be essential to the superior cultivation 
of these plants, are too generally applied indiscriminately, and without any regard 
to the peculiar habits of the different species. In the first instance, it is commonly 
believed, that all orchidaceous plants are inhabitants of the dark and shady recesses 
of tropical forests ; and even those individuals who are well acquainted with the 
facts recorded by collectors and travellers — that many species of this tribe are 
found growing in exposed situations, where they receive the immediate and direct 
influence of the sun s rays — do not appear to practise any variation in their treat- 
ment of those species which are declared to be found in such localities, but subject 
the whole of their collection to certain general rules of management, and cover 
equally the whole of their house, and consequently all their plants, with some 
slight shading, thus disregarding the reported observations of travellers, and 
neglecting to follow the precepts of nature. Now, with very little attention, and 
without any extra trouble, this system might be altered, and each plant might 
receive the peculiar treatment in this respect which collectors and nature herself 
inform us is most congenial to its habits. If such plants as require little or no 
shading were assembled together at one end of the house, and those for which a 
more than ordinary degree of it seemed necessary were placed next to them, how 
easy would it be to turn the canvass or other material back from that portion of 
the roof under which those plants which delight in the sun's influences were 
placed, over that part which required a greater degree of shading ; or, to spread it 
singly over the former description of plants, and turn the other part back over 
those of the latter description ! Still, though this process is important, and though 
the habits of these plants in this respect ought by no means to be overlooked, a 
proper attention to the application of water in the various ways in which it is 
usually administered, is of much greater importance than the variation of shading. 
In a collection of orchidaceous plants which are all congregated together in one 
house, most cultivators keep the atmosphere of that house more or less charged 
