November 8, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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Brixton Show (two days). 
25th Sunday after Trinity. 
Stoke Newington (two days) and Lambeth (three days) Shows. 
Royal Horticultural Society, Fiuit aud Floral Committees at 11 A.M. 
Bath, Royal Aquarium, Bromley, Croydon, Eartford, Tooting, and Walton 
_[Shows 
ORCHIDS IN THE OPEN AIR. 
JLD-ESTABLISHED notions die hard however 
erroneous they may be; and even now it is 
considered by many persons impracticable to 
cultivate Orchids successfully except in highly 
heated and specially erected structures that are 
more or less costly. This opinion is by no 
means so deep-rooted as it was—is, indeed, rapidly 
vanishing, and just in proportion is Orchid culture 
increasing. Year by year it is proved to demonstra¬ 
tion by the best cultivators that there are numbers of 
Orchids that need no more than what may be termed 
a comfortable greenhouse temperature—that is to say, no 
artificial heat whatever from the end of May till October, and 
during the remainder of the year only sufficient to maintain, 
say, such plants as Cyclamens in a healthy state, and to keep 
Zonal Pelargoniums flowering through the winter. Yet 
Orchids will not grow everywhere. They do not succeed 
crowded among other plants on dry open stages and exposed 
to sharp currents of air such as Heaths will endure. Air 
they must have continually, but it must not be parchingly 
dry. It must be fresh, yet contain moisture ; buoyant, yet 
not drifting through injudiciously opened ventilators. Mr. 
■Williams spoke forcibly on this subject at Manchester a few 
years ago, and his words ought not to be forgotten—“ The 
cool system, as it is called, has been a source of great annoy¬ 
ance to many, but if carried out in a proper manner it greatly 
enhances the value of this beautiful tribe. Many, however, 
have launched into extremes, and cruelly deceived young 
beginners especially, by assuring them that such and such 
species will grow in an ordinary greenhouse. These assertions 
being acted upon, the plants naturally enough drag out a 
miserable existence, and ultimately die. Now, an ordinary 
greenhouse is a house in which Pelargoniums, Ericas, and 
Fuchsias grow and flower, and I deny the possibility of any 
epiphytal Orchid continuing long in health under the same 
treatment and in the same atmosphere as these plants enjoy. 
That many kinds will succeed in as low a temperature I 
readily admit, but they require less of the blazing sun. They 
must also have a much moister air, and the sashes of the 
house must not stand open, as they do under ordinary cir¬ 
cumstances, otherwise the leaves will soon shrivel and coil 
up, when, as a matter of course, death soon follows : there¬ 
fore I contend it is wrong-to - assert that epiphytal Orchids 
will succeed in an ordinary greenhouse.” 
What are known as cool Orchids are systematically grown 
in what are practically cold frames in the summer, such as 
pits having a northerly rather than a southern aspect, and 
in which no fire heat is employed. This is the practice in 
many gardens, but it is a question if more healthy plants 
have ever been seen than a collection kept in an ordinary 
Cucumber frame which- I have examined in a garden near- 
London. In this case each plant was stood on a pot inverted 
in a saucer of water, and the frame lights were propped up 
more or less night and day for at the least three months, but 
always on the leeward side. 
Mr. Smee of The Grange, Carshalton, near Croydon) lrs 
gone a step in advance in Orchid culture, and it may prove 
an important one. This gentleman is an experimentalist, 
and his garden is an interesting experimental ground. It 
is the enclosure so vividly pourtrayed by his father in the 
handsome volume “My Garden.” Of late Mr. Smee has 
given much attention to Orchids, having collected consider¬ 
ably more than 500 species and varieties, and a far greater 
number of plants. A great number cf these are small, many 
recent arrivals not yet established; but there are several fine 
specimens which merit notice. Mr. B. S. Williams of Hollo¬ 
way is not a tyro in Orchid culture, and his opinion may be 
cited of a specimen he received from Mr. Smee, with his 
description of the house in which it was grown. In the 
beautiful “ Orchid Album,” March 20th, 18^3, appears the 
following—“ Lcclia superbiens .—We received from A. IT. Smee, 
Esq., The Grange, Carshalton, a fine spike of flowers of this 
noble Orchid, forming in itself a most beautiful bouquet. 
The sepals and petals were of a rosy pink; the lip dark rose 
colour, with the throat of a primrose-yellow veined with rosy 
purple, the upper part dark rose. It is altogether a charm¬ 
ing winter-blooming species, but it is seldom seen. Mr. 
Smee is a great lover of Orchids, and is beginning to make 
a collection in which already some rare species appear. He 
is trying experiments in their cultivation, and we are inclined 
to think that many plants will succeed under his treatment. 
The house is a very peculiar one; we have“not seen one like 
it before. It is a long house, and in it there are different 
temperatures kept up, so that the different Orchids can be 
grown in the same house. Many plants were in bloom when 
we saw the collection in January last. The place is a very 
interesting one, and in the summer must be very charming 
on account of the great variety of Ferns and other plants that 
are grown there, almost all kinds of plants being cultivated. 
The garden must be a source of great enjoyment to the 
owners, as both Mr. and Mrs. Smee take much interest in 
their Orchids and other plants.” 
The house referred to is a “home-made” span-roofed 
structure, the sides being of wood, also the roof on the sunny 
side is boarded, only the more shaded side being glazed. Under 
the boarded roof Ferns are at home, and on the opposite side 
Orchids flourish ; and in this long house, with its temperature 
varying in winter from about 40° at one end to 60° at the 
other, experiments are constantly being made with different 
plants. But we will pass outside. 
In the spring of the present year Mr. Smee, having several 
inferior varieties of Orchids that he did not wish to dispose 
of in a manner that has become customary—namely, sending 
them to the auction-rooms to be sold cheap (?) to some inex¬ 
perienced purchaser, resolved to try them in the open air. 
If they had died the loss would have been small compared 
with the pleasure he would have if any of them really im¬ 
proved, and thus learning of what kinds he could safely 
entrust better varieties with advantage to similar treatment 
another season. Altogether 150 plants have been experi¬ 
mented on, and the result is very satisfactory, not one plant 
having died. In “ my garden ” are several small streams 
of water running from the Wandle. These are overshadowed 
by trees and shrubs, and dells and nooks are formed in which 
Ferns luxuriate. Here the Orchids were arranged, those in 
pots being placed on scaffold boards raised about 3 inches 
above the water ; while plants in baskets, pans, or on blocks 
were suspended from the boughs of trees or on wires stretched 
from tree to tree, and during the summer the sight, as may 
be imagined, was quite a tropical one. The Odontoglossums 
have done well. O. Alexandras, O. gloriosum, and O. Rossi, 
with its variety majus, have made much finer pseudo-bulbs, 
some producing two flower spikes from each. They are still 
out, and in a fortnight will be in full flower, weather permitting. 
Dendrobium Wardianum and D. lieterocarpum philippinenso 
were hung up in the trees on June 15th before one-third the 
growth was made. They w-ere badly attacked with yellow 
tkrips, which soon disappeared under the outdoor treatment. 
The plants gained strength, but made rather small growths 
