254 
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF FLOWERING ORCHIDACE.E 
TO DRAWING-ROOMS. 
There are comparatively few of those to whom the charge of exotic plants of any 
description is entrusted, who allow themselves to be actuated in their cultivation 
by all the motives to whose influence they should be alike and alone impressionable. 
Sometimes the health of a tribe, or even of an entire collection, is sacrificed to 
miscalculating economy ; still oftener, to the architectural appearance of the houses 
in which they are grown ; and, not unfrequently, from a mere want of precon- 
sideration regarding the adaptation of an erection to its office, or a capricious, 
unsettled, constantly changing mode of treatment. 
Rare, indeed, are the instances in which attention to the comfort and pleasure of 
the proprietor presents an obstacle to the attainment of the highest excellence, or 
where these objects are by any means sufficiently consulted. And since Orchidacese 
have become so fashionable, this point has been, at least with respect to that group, 
especially neglected. Not one in ten of the houses expressly devoted to their culture, 
can be entered by the most robust among the higher classes, much less by delicate 
persons or by ladies, without experiencing highly uncomfortable and overpowering 
sensations, and entailing unpleasant or even dangerous consequences. Every one 
will acknowledge that this is a state of things which urgently demands some 
remedial measures, if such can be applied consistently with the safety and prosperity 
of the plants. 
We hold, as an indisputable dogma, that the method of management which 
furnishes facilities for affording the highest gratification to the proprietor, if, at the 
same time, perfectly compatible with the health of its objects, is such as every con- 
siderate and intelligent gardener must unhesitatingly adopt. That the powerfully 
and perpetually stimulative system of growing Orchidacese practised by many eminent 
individuals, is unnecessary to the most refined success, we have decided, after some 
years' patient scrutiny, perfectly to our own satisfaction. But we offer this passing 
hint merely as it has a strict bearing on the question now before ns, and not with 
any intention to discuss the whole of the important inquiry it involves ; for, how- 
ever much this may be contested, it will be unanimously agreed that neither a 
rigid adherence to the colder nor the hotter ratio will suit all Orchidaceous plants ; 
but that, where only one house is possessed, and a uniform general system of treat- 
ment is, in consequence, followed, the temperate or medium course is the most 
politic. 
But, by a mode of transference from the Orchidaceous house to the drawing- 
room during the flowering season, which we have chosen the present occasion for 
advocating, it will be of little consequence, except to the plants themselves, whether 
a high or low rate of temperature, and corresponding moisture, is maintained in 
