ON THE CULTIVATION OF VANDA. 
W 
A 
VANDA ST7AVIS : AS EXHIBITED BY MESSRS. VEITCII. 
How is this heat and light to be obtained ? This question naturally brings us to consider the 
land of house best adapted for their culture, and the best mode of heating it. In these enlightened 
days, science, ingenuity, and skill have brought the art of erecting hothouses and heating to, we might 
almost say, the utmost perfection ; and, like most other essays of art, the most simple and least 
complicated means are found the best to produce a certain result. The form of house for orchids 
cannot be too simple. Its aspect should be east and west — that is, the ends of it should point 
north and south. The form a parallelogram of any dimension ; the roof only need be glass; the sides 
brick or stone. The angle of the roof should be not more than 36, or, at the most, 40 degrees. If 
it is more, there is danger to be apprehended to the plants fi-om drip ; but if the angle is rather 
sharp, the condensed water, instead of dropping upon the plants, will run down the glass on each 
side to the front where it may be collected and carried off. The best mode of heating yet discovered 
is, undoubtedly, by means of circulating hot water in pipes of sufficient size or number to give out 
more heat than is wanted, it being always more safe and easy to reduce the temperature by using 
less fire, or by the admission of fresh cooler air, than it is to force up a high heat with an insuffi- 
ciency of pipe. To obtain moisture in the ah', it is desirable to run part of the pipes through tanks, 
so shallow as only, when filled with water, just to cover the pipes. This is a superior method to that 
of having the tanks supplied direct from the boiler, because when a drier atmosphere is desirable, 
the tanks may, by means of taps, be 
easily emptied, and the effect attained. 
Moisture in the air should always 
be in abundance during the growing 
season. If the weather should be so 
hot out of doors that artificial heat may 
be, in a great measure, dispensed with, 
it will be necessary to moisten the air 
by other means than the tanks alone. 
It may be sufficiently given by means 
of copious floodings on the floors, 
thoroughly wetting the walls, syringing 
the plants morning and evening, and 
shutting up the house early in the 
afternoon. Water at the root, an ele- 
ment necessary for the growth of all 
plants at certain seasons, must also be 
liberally supplied to Vandas, when 
growing freely. It must be of the 
same temperature as the air of the 
house. Kain water is the best. 
As to the best material in which to 
grow them, I believe that baskets made 
of oak branches or hazel rods, and filled 
with sphagnum (white bog-moss), mixed 
with broken potsherds and pieces of charcoal, will be found the most suitable. The baskets may either 
be hung up to the roof, or if the house is low, placed upon pots to bring them near to the glaas. 
The season for growth has been mentioned; and as the days shorten, and the heat of the summer 
declines, the season of rest ought to commence by lowering the temperature to 70° by day and 60° 
by night. This season of comparative rest should commence at the end of September, and continue till 
In the di ikest days of winter the temperature should be reduced still further to 65° by day 
During this cessation of growth, the plants will not require any water at the 
. i ! y ringing may be given (in the morning only) when there are several sunny days 
ion; but moisture must be even then very sparingly applied, and only to prevent the leaves 
■ r in ing too much. This cessation of growth for a season will, as it were, ripen the wood and 
cause tiie buds of the flowers to fill and appear in due course ; whereas, if the heat and moisture are 
continued all the year, the plants will keep growing, and rarely, if ever, flower. The season of 
flowering will follow the season of rest. As the flower-spikes advance, the heat must be increased ; 
but a very moderate supply of moisture, either in the air or at the root, must be given. In their te 
5) native country they flower during the dry season that immediately succeeds the cool one. So they (? 
s m will in our stoves, if the system of treatment I have described above be followed. The flowering Mf , 
ffi>^ 
