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so that 3 or inches of coke may be placed in the bottom,. and the slats on 
which the pots are set are placed above the coke or charcoals: When the plants 
are watered, the coke or charcoal will absorb water; when it later evaporates 
will help keep up the humidity,. 
3, Light 
Light is of utmost importance in plant vigor and flower development and 
should be provided by utilizing filtered sunlights Direct sunlight, except in 
deep winter, will seriously burn the foliage of plants, Cattleya plants and 
allied genera should be of a yellowish green color in order to produce the 
maximum number of flowers, and have flowers of good texture,e Plants that are 
given too much shade will be dark green in color and those that do not receive 
enough shade will be yellows: Plants that are dark green look the nicest; how- 
ever often the bulbs on the plants are weak, the leaves narrow and the plants 
do not produce the number of flowers that they should and the texture is often 
poor, Plants in the greenhouse are often shaded by spraying the outside of the 
glass with a mixture of white lead and gasoline... By fall the rain has washed 
off most of this mixture, Plants may also be shaded with cheese cloth or simie- 
lar material, Oil paint should not be used for shading, as the rain doesntt 
wash it off and it is difficult to remove in the fall, . 
hi. Ventilation 
Orchids at all times need an abundance of fresh air, In the summer the 
ventilators will be open to keep the temperature from rising too high, This 
will give the plants sufficent ventilation, . However, in the winter the venti- 
lators should only be opened in the day and they should not be opened very far, - 
otherwise there will be a great amount of heat loss, Also another item to 
remember is that if the wind is blowing, the ventilators should be opened from 
the opposite direction, otherwise the plants will be in a draft,. 
ern Watering 
The quickest way to kill an orchid is either to overewater or to under-= 
water, One of the commonest mistakes made by the amateur, is to over-water 
his plants, In their natural habitat, orchids are subject to torrential rains, | 
followed by almost immediate drying, due to their growth on trees and the like, 
It is difficult to provide such conditions under cultivation, and with potted 
plants compost should not be watered until it has dried almost completely, 
from previous wateringe Osmunda should be kept near an optimum condition of 
being both warm and resiliently moist, not cold and drenched, or dry and 
brittle, A period of one to two weeks is usually the length of time between 
waterings, One way to tell when a plant needs water is by lifting the pot, 
for when the compost is dry the pot will be considerably lighter than when it 
is damp, With a little experience one soon learns when the plants do or do 
not need to be wateréd,. Plants in the dormant stage require little water until 
active growth begins, however they should receive enough to prevent the bulbs 
from shrivelinge 
6, Fertilizers 
In previous years it was thought that orchids growing in osmunda did 
better if they weren't given any additional feedings of organic or inorganic 
fertilizers, In reoent years tests have been made with inorganic fertilizers 
