Orchids may be sown in a similar manner in the pots of
either the seed-bearing subject or similar kinds and placed in a moist,
sheltered corner of a house, in which a genial warmth is maintained, the
plants being elevated on inverted flower-pots. Once the seeds are sown,
the plants fostering them should never be allowed to get dry.

Odontoglossum seeds come up best when sown on the surface of established
plants in the manner described. To ensure the best results two or three
sowings of each should be made, and the plants bearing the freshly sown
seeds placed in different parts of the house, some being suspended and
others placed on the stage.

The maintenance of a continual and even amount of moisture after sowing,
and until the seedling plants send forth roots, is of the highest
importance. To water either with a spouted or a rose pot overhead would
wash the seeds away. To avoid this, some resort to the practice of
dipping the plants on which the seeds are sown, allowing the water to
reach only to within an inch of the surface of the compost. This is
better than watering overhead. Spraying with rain-water is an excellent
means of securing uniform moisture, although it requires more care and
attention than dipping. The sprayer is a great help in all stages of
seedling Orchid growth, not only as a means of conveying moisture
direct, but by spraying around the plants and on the staging it is a
great aid to maintaining a moist atmosphere. Let the moisture be
conveyed in whatever manner it may, it must not be forgotten that the
seeds will perish soon after germination if allowed to get quite dry,
either from failure of moisture in the material on which they are sown,
or from an excessively dry air surrounding them. Against the
above-mentioned practice of sowing the seeds on established plants, it
is urged that in that way there is no certain means of keeping the
different crosses from being mixed, by reason of the seeds of one kind
getting into the water-tank and being thus conveyed and mixed with
others; and by seeds falling from plants suspended overhead and coming
up on plants beneath, and in other unexpected places. Such acquisitions,
though often very acceptable, are puzzling, as there is no record of
their origin, or if they come up amongst seeds which have a record, the
chance introductions sometimes have a wrong parentage assigned to them.

[Illustration: PLATE VI

CYMBIDIUM LOWIO-EBURNEUM

(This plant has bee