570 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 8, 1897. 
species. They lack that graceful outline to be found 
in some other plants. Some on the other hand are 
amongst the most lovely foliage plants we possess in 
our hot houses. Look at a well-grown collection of 
Anoectochilus ; what more beautiful foliage plants 
could we desire ? Some of the species and hybrids 
of Cypripediums are also very beautiful in their 
diversified markings. Yet the Orchid grower who 
takes an interest in bis work sees as much beauty in 
a healthy Orchid, however stiff the habit may be, 
as he would see in the most graceful foliage plant, 
perhaps more, because he can picture to himself 
what the plant will be when in full beauty later on. 
Let us, however, return to our Orchid houses, and 
see what kind of house is to be the most suitable for 
our purpose. 
The large grower who has a number of houses for 
growing purposes may have an exhibition house for 
the display of his plants when in flower, and such a 
house forms a most suitable place in which a 
pleasing arrangement can be carried out, as it will 
have the advantage over the growing house, in that 
it may be kept at a pleasant temperature with a 
drier atmosphere, without injury to the plants while 
there; and it would allow plants from the different 
houses to be brought together for comparison. 
Although such a house is not within the range of 
many growers, a look into such a house, if only in 
imagination, may not be uninteresting, and it may 
stimulate our minds and encourage us in our 
pursuit after knowledge in dwelling for a moment over 
such a scene. Such a house should be arranged in 
as natural a style as it is possible to carry out. 
However hard and fast the lines on which such a 
house is built, the interior should be broken up in 
such a way as to minimise the evil of straight lines 
in the internal arrangement. Ws cannot get very 
well away from using side stages round the sides of 
the house, nor do I think it advisable if we could ; 
but the front of the staging can be made ornamental 
with rockwork and planted with ferns and other 
foliage plants suitable for this purpose, in which a 
few flowering Orchids will find a suitable resting- 
place. Or the front of the stage can be planted with 
drooping plants, which make a good covering to hide 
the hot water pipes underneath. The centre of the 
house may be arranged with a bold piece of rock- 
work, with here and there a large palm or tree fern ; 
or it may be an old tree stump, with numerous 
branches on which some squirrels or other animals 
are sporting about, or members of our beautiful 
feathered birds are displaying their lovely plumage; 
or it may be some of those beautiful exotic moths 
and butterflies are in company with their native 
neighbours, and adding variety and finish to a har¬ 
monious picture. In such a house as this, with the 
aid of foliage plants with which to lighten the effect 
produced by the Orchids in flower, a fairyland may 
be formed. It may not be the lot of all to have the 
arrangement of such a house as this, or to live in 
such surroundings ; but where the inclination of our 
tastes runs in such directions, we may gain many 
happy moments to ourselves by “ building such 
castles in the air." Rest assured the time given up 
to such imaginations will not be lost, because ideas 
so gained and well thought out may be of the utmost 
value to us in the carrying out of practical work in 
our after life. 
Let us now turn to the more important part of my 
subject; more important because more often met 
with, and consider the conditions under which the 
more general collections of Orchids are grown. 
There are few places of note at the present time but 
have a collection of Orchids, of more or less dimen¬ 
sions to be cared for, and where I think much more 
could be done to make the houses in which they are 
growing attractive. Where we are already provided 
with houses for the purpose in hand, it is of course 
our duty to make the most of them, and it is here 
the knowledge of the practical grower comes to his 
aid ; and however unsuitable the houses, the good 
workman can often show good results when another 
placed under the same conditions might be a failure. 
To-night, however, I am not so much interested in 
the unsuitable houses, as I am in the house most 
suitable for our purpose, because we have the option, 
to night at any rate, of building our own houses ; 
and should we then be unsuccessful in the culture of 
our plants afterwards, a great responsibility lies on 
our shoulders. 
It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that our 
ideas should be well thought out and the results of 
our past experience brought to bear on the subject 
on hand. At the cutset we experience some diffi¬ 
culty in deciding which section we are to give pre¬ 
ference, and that selection must, however, lie 
between the Catileya house and the cool Orchid 
house. To most people beginninng the culture of 
Orchids the large handsome flowers of the Cattleyas 
possess great attraction, and so does the majority of 
plants suitable for growing in this house; and we 
find that where only a small collection of Orchids 
is grown, this is the class most often chosen. Let 
me, then, take this house first, and well consider 
what shape and dimensions it is to take. The 
dimensions, of course, will depend somewhat on the 
number of plants grown, but the style of house will 
be much the same. Having decided in our own 
mind that a span-roofed house is the most suitable 
for our purpose, let us then turn our attention to its 
size. As Orchids even as specimen plants, do not 
attain the size of what may be termed specimens in 
foliage plants, it is not necessary that we should 
have large and lofty houses for our purpose. Houses 
for Cattleyas 18 ft. wide will be found to be the most 
suitable. This will allow plenty of room for 
specimens, and yet be well adapted for growing on 
smaller plants. The eaves of the house may be from 
5 ft. to 5 ft. 6 in. high, and the height of house 12 ft. 
to 73 ft. The house should be light yet strong ; and 
it will be a wise precaution to have sash-bars and 
rafters grooved for drip. This expense in building 
a new house is trifling, and the advantage is great. 
The ventilation should be ample. The roof should 
be fitted with ventilators on both sides for the con¬ 
venience of ventilating on the sheltered side in strong 
or cold cutting winds. The bottom ventilators 
should open below the stage, and be fitted to both 
sides of house This system is much to be preferred 
to the older system of having the side lights to open 
direct on the plants. 
The heating of the house should receive careful 
consideration, and enough piping added to keep up 
the desired temperature without having to keep the 
pipes very hot. For such a house as I have described 
there should be six rows of 4-iu. piping round the 
house. Over the hot water pipes we place our side 
stages which may be 3 ft. wide and 2 ft. 6in. high. 
There is still a diversity of opinion as to the most 
suitable stages to use to obtain the best results. I 
am strongly in favour cf a close stage on which can 
be placed a layer of broken coke or washed ashes, 
over which may be placed an open wooden stage. 
Where the expense is no consideration there is no¬ 
thing in my mind to equal slate stagings, but a neat 
and durable stage can be made by using corrugated 
iron instead of slates, which when covered with the 
ashes or coke is not noticed. I prefer the double 
staging, as the plants look more comfortable when 
arranged on it, then when arranged without it. 
We now arrive at what I may term the most im¬ 
portant part of our arrangement viz: — the centre 
staging, or arrangement for the centre of the house. 
If our side staging is to occupy 3 ft. on each side, we 
will require a path on each side 3 ft. wide, which 
leaves us 6 ft. for our centre arrangement. This I 
propose to fill in with rock-work, carrying the centre 
well up, and leaving plenty of pockets for the plant¬ 
ing of Ferns, Begonias, Selaginellas, Ficus repens 
minima and numerous other foliage plants, which 
will readily occur to most of you. Numerous re¬ 
ceptacles should be left in which Orchids in flower 
can be placed. By an arrangement like this we can 
have all the plants in flower arranged in the centre 
of the house, and we thus get an effect that cannot 
be produced if the plants are allowed to remain 
scattered over the house as they come in flower. We 
can further add to the interest and beauty of the 
house by the introduction of the finer Palms, Crotons 
and Caladiums, &c., amongst which the Orchids in 
flower can be arranged. And there are also a great 
number of Orchids which can be best grown in 
baskets, which will come in useful here for suspend¬ 
ing from the roof of the house, and add much to the 
general effect. My reason for this arrangement is 
two-fold—first to get light, graceful plants to neu¬ 
tralise the stiffness of the Orchid plants, and in the 
second place to secure a better ground work in which 
to show off the beauty of the Orchids in flower. 
The matter of groundwork in which flowers give the 
best effect, is, I am afraid very often lost sight of in 
the garden; but it is a point well worth the careful 
Consideration of the gardener, and nothing will sur» 
prise many than to find out the effect produced by 
the same plant against different backgrounds. 
The colour most frequently met with in gardens is 
white lime-wash, one cf the most unsuitable colours 
we can possibly get for a background. We get one 
almost equally bad if we allow the plants in flower 
to remain on the side stages with the light for a back¬ 
ground. That then is one of the reasons why we 
find the centre of the house the most convenient 
place for the arrangement of the plants in flower, and 
if we keep a green ground work of plants in which to 
arrange our special favourites our enjoyment of them 
will be all the better, and the interest we take in 
them will be greatly enhanced. The general appear¬ 
ance of our Orchid house would be more congenial and 
inviting and the stiff appearance generally met with 
in Orchid houses would be considerably minimised, 
to the satisfaction of all concerned. 
Such then, briefly, is the arrangement I would re¬ 
commend to be carried out in the Cattleya house, 
where we wish to add as much interest to the plants 
contained therein, as we do to the most choice 
specimen amongst the houseful. This arrangement 
leaves us the roof of the house free for growing pur¬ 
poses, and we find that many of our Cattleyas do 
best in such a position. When in flower they have 
only to be lowered so that the full beauty of the 
flower can be seen. The time at my disposal leaves 
no opportunity for entering into details as to culture, 
but you will notice that such an arrangement as this 
leaves the side stages free to adopt whatever condi¬ 
tions of treatment are suitable for the plants. The 
syringe can be freely used there if necessary without 
injury to the flowering plants arranged in the central 
part. This may appear to some of you an un¬ 
necessary amount of trouble to take in connection 
with the arrangement, but a house so managed will 
always be attractive even when there are few Orchids 
in flower. If such a result as this can be so easily 
obtained it is well worth the trouble, if, by so doing, 
we can add to the pleasure of our employers in their 
enjoyment of the cultivation of this most beautiful 
and interesting class of plants. 
(To be Continued ) 
-**-- 
ROYAL GARDENERS’ ORPHAN FUND. 
Annual Dinner. 
The great annual festival of this institution was held 
at the Hotel Cecil, on Friday, the 30th ult., under 
the presidency of Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, Bart., when 
about one hundred or thereby sat down to table. 
The guests included Messrs. N. N. Sherwood, Harry 
J. Veitch, Rev. W. Wilks, Sheriff Rogers, Messrs. 
Geo. Bunyard, Leonard Sutton, J. Gould Veitch, J 
H. Veitch, Arnold Moss, G. A. Dickson, P. Crowley, 
W. Sherwood, McKenzie, R. Gofton Salmond, A 
Tite, W. H. White, W. L. Corry, John Laing. 
J. Douglas, W. Marshall, A. Marshall, A. W. G. 
Weeks, J. Assbee, J. Walker, J. Wright, H. Macan, 
H. J. Wimsett, C. E. Osman, G. J. Ingram, S. M. 
Segar, W. Y. Baker, A. Turner, H. Turner, D. P 
Smith, H. Balderson, J. Smith, G. Cuthbert, 
P. R. Barr, J. W. Barr, G. H. Barr, W. J. 
Nutting, Wbitpaine Nutting, C. P. Kinnell, G. 
Featherly, A. J. Monro, W. Poupart, J. Taylor, 
Lynch White, W.J. Brewer, R. B. Gilson, Vaughan, 
A. P. Barett, Todman, H. Herbst, G. Nicholson, K. 
Drost, Councillor Turpin, Geo. May, H. B. May, 
E. Rochford, W. Iceton, D. B. Crane, H. J. Jones, 
H. J. Cutbush, Wheatley, A. Outram, B. Wynne, T. 
W. Saunders, H. F. Wooderson, P. Steinmann, C. 
Moore, Harry Williams, J. McKerchar, T. C. Ward, 
J. A. Laing, J. H. Laing, W. Denning, G. Wythes, 
F. Blackwood, G. Reynolds, J. F. McLeod, R. 
Greenfield, R. Dean, G. Dean, W. H. Holmes, A. F. 
Penny, W. Cutbush, A. F. Barron, and others. 
After an excellent menu was served, the chairman 
proposed the usual loyal toasts including " The 
Queen," ‘‘The Prince and Princess of Wales, and 
the rest of the Royal Family,” dwelling particularly 
on the fact that the Princess of Wales was the 
patroness of the Fund, and would be received with 
delight by gardeners and all present. They were 
also patrons of gardening, and that was the most 
tasteful and civilising of all occupations. 
Later on the chairman proposed the " Royal 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund." No other operations 
were more beneficial to society than horticulture in 
its various branches ; and while gardeners cultivated 
the gardens of the earth, he also recommended them 
to cultivate the gardens of the mind. The object of 
