Orchid Culture 
GEORGE E. 
HE cultivation of Orchids is a 
very fascinating avocation for the 
amateur who delights in growing 
plants under glass. 
For several years it has been my 
good: fortune to visit many of the 
larger Orchid exhibitions in this 
country and frequently I have heard 
the remark made, How beautiful they 
are! I would love to grow them. 
I am however informed that the 
plants are so fickle in their require- 
ments and they need very special 
attention regarding their culture, and 
if this is not given they will pine 
away and die. I am also informed 
that special houses must be erected 
for their culture, and these houses 
maintained at a high temperature at 
all times. How grossly misleading 
these statements are. 
I would like to assure any ama- 
teur who is interested in these beau- 
tiful plants, that it is mot necessary 
to erect special houses in which to 
grow them. Regarding temperature 
they do not require great heat. 
As a practical grower with many 
years’ experience, I am fully convinced 
that too much fire heat is one of 
the chief causes of failure with the 
plants. Orchids can be grown in any 
greenhouse if a little study is given 
to the cultural details. 
It was that estimable gentleman 
and great rosarian Dean Hole who in 
A Book About Roses states “He who 
would have beautiful roses in his gar- 
‘den must have beautiful roses in his 
heart.” Let me paraphrase his philos- 
ophy thus: He who would have beau- 
tiful: Orchids in his greenhouse must 
have: beautiful Orchids in his heart. 
He: must love them well and always, 
in flower and out of flower. This 
BALDWIN 
I think is the keynote of success with 
Orchids. 
Public sentiment has given its 
stamp of approval to the Orchid and 
it is heralded as one of the most 
beautiful creations in the kingdom 
of Flora. Aside from its appeal as 
a thing of beauty it has much to 
commend it as a most useful flower. 
For table and all other decorations 
where choice flowers are desired, for 
bouquets and as a subject for “My 
Lady’s corsage” it is without a peer. 
Then again its good keeping quality 
appeals to all flower lovers. On these 
attributes as well as on its intrinsic 
beauty the stamp of public approval 
is set. 
In surveying the horticultural field 
during the last few decades I can find 
no record of a family of plants which 
has made such rapid strides regarding 
cultivation, or one that has attained 
more rapid popularity than the Or- 
chid. So numerous are the species 
and varieties of Orchids in cultivation 
today, it can be said of them they 
are legion. New discoveries are con- 
stantly being made and the list of 
new plants the result of hybridists’ 
skill has assumed mammoth propor- 
tions. 
The methods adopted by the pio- 
neers to cultivate Orchids were not 
satisfactory due in a large measure 
to the lack of knowledge regarding 
their ecology. Indeed tens of thou- 
sands of plants were imported only 
to eke out an existence for a few 
years and then to succumb. This was 
not to be wondered at, owing at that 
time to the lack of knowledge re- 
garding their simple requirements. In 
many cases the natural conditions of 
the plants and their acclimatization 
