Orchids

Orchids is by James O'Brien, V.M.H., described as Secretary of the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. The introduction says that no class of plants has so well and consistently sustained the interest of cultivators, partly because few, if any, plants have flowers that exhibit such diversity of form, size, and colouring. Another reason for their popularity, the text says, is that few plants are so easy to cultivate, if placed in the care of a careful and earnest cultivator.

The text says orchid flowers should not be cut until they are fully mature, and that a large proportion used for decorative purposes are in a great degree wasted by being cut in an immature state soon after the buds have expanded. The advice for one group of plants is that they should be potted in peat, Sphagnum-moss, and loam fibre in equal proportions, with a sprinkling of leaves, and fine broken crocks added. Occasional waterings with weak, liquid manure are given during the growing season, and after flowering a rest with restricted water supply.