210 
THE CULTIVATION OF ORCHIDS. 
Sept., 1892. 
been eaten by a slug, and the results of one year’s care and 
growth lost. I generally put some cotton wool round the 
flower spike, as they cannot pass that. Another very good 
plan is to invert a pot in a saucer, and on the top of this pot 
place your orchid, filling the saucer with water ; this plan 
also prevents woodlice from attacking the plants. 
Temperature. 
Summer. 
Winter. 
Stove . 
75 65 70 
65 60 
Int. or Cattleya H.... 
70 60 
60 55 
Cool House . 
60 55 
55 50 
It is not always possible, nor yet desirable, to follow these 
figures exactly, as for instance in very hot weather the stove 
will sometimes run up to 80 deg. or 85, and the cool house 
cannot be kept below 70, but with care these temperatures do 
no harm. 
The average amount of piping usually recommended for 
span-roof houses of good size is—warm house, four rows 
of pipes each side, intermediate house three rows, and cool 
house two rows. It is always advisable to have rather too 
much than too little, as is proved in houses of all kinds. 
The greater the radiating surface the more regular the 
temperature, and the less injurious it is to the plants in severe 
weather, when it may be necessary to keep the fires going 
briskly. I will now say a few words with regard to the 
structure necessary to grow orchids in. The fanciful idea that 
peculiarly constructed and expensive houses of various kinds 
are essential for orchids is a mistake; it was soon found out 
that much less depended upon the form of the structure than 
had long been imagined, and that if the requisite heat could 
be provided the plants would succeed in houses of all kinds, 
and in all positions. I have frequently noticed attached to 
villa residences a glass structure called a conservatory, in 
which plants nearly always either do not thrive at all, or 
succeed very badly ; these structures have been put up by the 
architect, who in most instances finds this the easiest and best 
way to fill up an ugly corner. In nine cases out of ten they 
prove only a source of annoyance and disappointment, because 
ordinary flowering plants will not grow in them. Should any 
of you possess such a structure, I say at once grow orchids 
and ferns ; such a house may be turned into a source of real 
pleasure with a little contrivance, and if it has a north aspect 
so much the better. It should be provided with the necessary 
pipes to keep up the temperature, and the stages should 
be covered with slates, and these again covered with fine pebbly 
gravel, and this should be kept continually moist by syringing 
or otherwise ; and the plants are either stood upon the 
material dried or elevated on inverted nots. 
(To be continued.) 
