The following is an excerpt from an essay that first appeared in the American Orchid Society BULLETIN (what later became the current Orchids Magazine) in March 1981; the second in a many-part series on orchid growing for the beginner. At that time, the Society was headquartered at Harvard University, hence the references to the Cambridge offices. While much has changed in the intervening 28 years, including the society's headquarters, the general message remains the same.