"Orchids are easy to grow" 
If more people accepted these few words as 
fact rather than mere Orchid propaganda, this 
most interesting and fascinating family of plants 
would play a much larger part in our daily 
pleasures. 
It is a pleasure to grow plants and watch 
them develop. Witness the hundreds of thous¬ 
ands of house plants in the homes of our friends. 
A sunny room, a bay window, or a small 
greenhouse are all suitable and usually filled 
with house and foliage plants of different types. 
Green plants are very acceptable because of 
their easy culture, but they can never bring 
the ultimate pleasure that comes with watch¬ 
ing a flowering plant come into bloom. Many 
of our city friends have a plant or two in their 
homes that would do justice to an accomplished 
gardener. It's so natural for us all to have the 
desire for something growing, that few of us 
stop to wonder why we want plants and flow¬ 
ers around us. 
It is possible to have ever green plants that 
are easy to grow, inexpensive, requiring very 
little attention, space or accessories, and that 
will give one the added satisfaction and en¬ 
joyment of fascinating, beautiful, long-lasting 
flowers. That plant is the Orchid. 
"Orchids are not expensive" 
The average Orchid plant costs no more than 
the usual holiday gift plant one purchases at 
a Florist. True, there are fine selected types 
that cost a great deal, but their value is more 
a thing of rarity or unique quality than beauty 
over the less expensive types. For the begin¬ 
ner and amateur, we have listed on page 57 
a series of collections, which offer a wide range 
of selection designed to meet the different re¬ 
quirements consistent with locality, tempera¬ 
ture, types, flowering seasons and prices. We 
offer only one collection of each class at a 
price below our catalog values, and do this to 
stimulate interest and help you get started. 
Another recommendation for Orchids, is the 
fact they require no special accessories. 
"Orchids do not demand a great 
deal of attention" 
Taken as a whole. Orchids are a much 
hardier family of plants than is usually be¬ 
lieved. In their native habitats they are subject 
to constant fluctuations in temperature. It some¬ 
times drops many degrees below what we 
consider a safe minimum temperature, and 
again rises with sun heat to an exceedingly 
high degree. To varying amounts of rain, from 
the constant daily, downpourings of a tropical 
rainy season to extreme drought periods. They 
are also subject to many more plant diseases 
and insect pests, than we in cultivating them 
have contact with. Yet with all of these hard¬ 
ships, they are found, in most cases, in fine 
physical condition. They demand no more at¬ 
tention under cultivation than the common 
house plant. 
We welcome questions or letters of inquiry on 
anything pertaining to Orchid growing, and in 
cases where one is undecided as to what varie¬ 
ties would best suit their conditions, we ask 
they send us the enclosed questionnaire filled 
out so that we can recommend such varieties 
consistant with their requirements. It will be 
appreciated if those having Orchids will also 
fill out the Questionnaire and mail it back to 
us, so that we will have a record of the types, 
varieties and flowering seasons in which they 
are interested. 
To aid those to whom the Orchid is an un¬ 
known field, and in answer to the many in¬ 
quiries that we receive daily, we have listed 
below a few of the answers to the more fre¬ 
quent questions. 
The life of an Orchid plant is not judged by 
years but by the treatment given it. As it ages 
and continues to grow, it throws out new shoots 
which develop into bulbs or growths, thereby 
increasing in size yearly. It is through this in¬ 
crease in size that we propagate additional 
stock by division. We have many plants 
grown from propagations which were taken 
from some of our old original stock dating back 
more than forty years. 
Page Three 
