MayJ3, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
558 
were everything the plant desired, but rather the 
conditions were the best to be had under the circum¬ 
stances. 
When the cultivator has no reliable information of a 
plant’s natural habitat to guide him in its culture on 
its first introduction, often many plants are lost until 
a mode of treatment is found under which they will 
grow and thrive. But we are living in an age of rapid 
progress, and let me say, to the credit of gardeners 
generally, that when once they discover the cultural 
requirements of any plant that has been found difficult 
to establish and grow, there are few amongst them but 
would let it be known for the benefit of their fellow 
workers. Possibly in no other class of men will you 
find this kind and friendly spirit so freely carried out 
as you will amongst gardeners. With this friendly 
spirit so prevalent, and with the aid of the horticultural 
press, any difficulty in plant-growing once understood 
and explained, soon the information spreads through¬ 
Narcissus bicolor Madame de Graaff. 
out the length and breadth of the land, and all are 
benefited by the publicity. 
The cultivation of Orchids in private gardens is often 
carried on under great difficulties, either as regards the 
houses they have to be grown in not being of suitable 
construction, or having to grow them along with other 
plants. Yet we often meet with examples of successful 
culture, where Orchids have to be grown with a 
miscellaneous collection of stove plants, and many of 
the grand collections of Orchids to be met with 
throughout the country were first started in this 
way. Where Orchids have to be grown with other 
stove or intermediate house plants, as we often find 
them in places where there are no houses devoted 
entirely to their culture, it will be found advisable to 
keep the plants as well up to the light as possible, and 
away from the dry air coming direct from the hot- 
water pipes. It will be found that growing the plants 
in baskets suspended from the roof of the house, where 
the house is large and the plants would be a consider¬ 
able distance away from the glass if left on the stage, 
is one of the best ways to obtain satisfactory results. 
Most of the epiphytal Orchids will be found amenable 
to this treatment, and where the house is lofty, it is 
surprising what can be done to add to its attraction 
in this way. Where the plants are kept near the 
glass, as here recommended, it will be found that 
they will grow better and bloom more freely than 
plants grown further from the light, and with more 
substance in the flowers, consequently lasting a longer 
time in perfection. 
If it is desirable to grow the Orchids in pots on the 
stage amongst other plants, and the stage of the house 
is made with the usual wooden battens, and the hot- 
water pipes underneath, it will be found a great 
advantage to fill in the open spaces, and cover the 
stage over with shell shingle, broken coke, or ashes, to 
retain the moisture among the.plants when necessary, 
as will be the case during their growing season and the 
hot summer months. 
Where Orchids are grown in quantity, it will be 
necessary and of the utmost importance to have suit¬ 
able houses, and the small span-roofed structure 
running east and west has been found the best adapted 
for their requirements. For the culture of what are 
termed cool-house Orchids, 
a house not exceeding 12 ft. 
wide will be found the most 
convenient, just allowing 
room for a path down the 
centre, and side stages from 
3 ft. to 4 ft. wide on either 
side. Some horticultural 
builders have adopted the 
system of double stages, but 
where water tanks are formed 
the length of the house on 
both sides, the double stages 
are not at all necessary. 
For cool-house Orchids I 
would strongly recom mend 
the formation of these tanks. 
It is not necessary they 
should be more than a few 
inches deep, with perhaps a 
deeper part about the middle 
of the house, to allow the 
dipping of a can for watering 
purposes. I am strongly 
in favour of the shallow 
tanks in preference to deeper 
ones, as they are more 
readily cleaned out. The 
stages should be kept well 
up to the light, yet leaving 
room for the plants to be 
stood on inverted pots, as 
this allows more room for 
using the syringe freely 
amongst the plants in damp¬ 
ing down. 
In the heating arrange¬ 
ments of the house there 
should be sufficient hot 
water to keep up the neces¬ 
sary temperature without 
having the pipes too hot. 
The ventilation of the house 
should be ample ; there 
should be means of admitting 
plenty of air opposite the hot- 
water pipes, as well as at 
the ridge of the house. The 
question of air is a most important one in Orchid grow¬ 
ing. To be a successful cultivator, it will be found 
beneficial to have a plentiful circulation of fresh air 
amongst the plants, even when it is necessary to apply 
more fire-heat to keep up the required temperature. 
I do not go so far as to advocate, as some 
growers do, the admission of cold air even when it is 
freezing sharp. I do not believe that air admitted 
under such circumstances is beneficial to the plants, 
but rather otherwise. If air is admitted at all other 
times the plants will suffer no ill effects by the house 
being closed at night during frosty weather. Again, 
in the neighbourhood of London, where fogs are so 
prevalent, a sharp look-out will have to be kept to 
guard against them finding an easy entrance into the 
houses. 
The houses should be closed on the first appearance 
of fog, otherwise the effect of a dense fog will be 
most disastrous to the flowers and flower buds, causing 
them to wither up and drop wholesale. Some species 
are found more liable to the injurious effects of the fogs 
than others. Phaltenopsids, Ualanthes, Dendrobiums, 
Lcelias, and Oneidiums flowering during the autumn 
and winter months suffer to a larger extent than 
perhaps any other geneia. 
(To be continuel.) 
CULTIVATION AND SELECTION 
OF POPULAR ORCHIDS. * 
By Alexander Wright. 
Orchids have of late years become such favourites with 
most plant lovers that it is important the gardener 
should have a good knowledge, not only of their culture, 
but the selection of the most popular and useful kinds 
suitable for home decoration. That selection is no easy 
matter becomes apparent when we call to mind the 
great number of Orchids now known, numbering, 
according to different authorities, from three thousand 
to six thousand species. 
By “popular Orchids” I mean those that are most 
appreciated by the general public, admired for the 
beauty or fragrance of their flowers alone, and not for 
their money value. The high prices realized by some 
of the varieties that have appeared amongst imported 
plants have helped, to a large extent, to draw the 
attention of plant lovers to this quaint and varied 
family. And it is curious 
to notice, that once the 
attention is drawn to 
Orchids, and their beautiful 
and curious flowers are ex¬ 
amined, the more one sees 
of them the greater is the 
desire to know more about 
them. Whether this may 
be owing to the diverse 
shape and size of some of 
the flowers, to the rich and 
various colours to be found 
amongst them, or the 
delicious perfumes given off 
by some of the flowers, or 
all combined, I am not 
prepared to say ; but 
certain it is there is a 
great fascination in Orchid 
flowers and in Orchid 
growing, and the passion 
expands as though destined 
to become universal. In 
no class of plants do we 
find mimicry carried to a 
greater extent than in 
Orchids. Here we may see 
rude representations of the 
bee, the butterfly, the dove, 
the swan, beetles and flies, 
and even man himself is 
not omitted from the range 
of resemblances. 
In colour the most fas¬ 
tidious in taste can be 
pleased, as nearly all colours 
and shades are to be met with 
in Orchid flowers. The per¬ 
fume of the flowers is varied ; 
in some species it is most 
pleasing, and in others so 
strong—or, as some people 
I know put it, so offensive— 
that it is best inhaled at a 
distance. When we consider 
we have all those advantages 
combined in one class of 
plant, it is not surprising to find that their culture is 
incieasing year by year by “leaps and bounds,” as 
their treatment and requirements become better under¬ 
stood, 
Ws often hear it said we “jkill our favourites with 
kindness.” In no class of plants does this apply with 
more force than with Orchids. There have been more 
Or.hids killed by attempting to grow them in a too 
hot and dry atmosphere than all other causes combined. 
This, to a large extent, may be the fault of the plant 
collector in the first place, who may find some plants 
in a tropical country, and in sending them home forget 
to say they were found growing so many thousand feet 
up on a mountain side, in a cool and moist temperature, 
or whether they were found growing in the valley 
below, where the atmosphere was both hotter and 
drier. This, unfortunately, may be considered one of 
“the secrets of the trade,” to prevent other collectors 
discovering the locality where certain species or varieties 
are to be found. Whatever may be said to the con¬ 
trary, I consider that to know the native habitat of a 
plant and its surroundings must be a guide, to a certain 
extent, to its successful cultivation, although it would 
not always be correct to conclude that the conditions 
-Prize Essay, Chiswick Gardeners' Mutual Improvement 
Association. 
