1885.] INSECTIVOROUS PLANTS. 289 



or other animalcule is once in, it must remain there. It is supposed 

 that the remains of these creatures are absorbed by the plant, but 

 not digested. 



CULTIVATION. 



The cultivation of these plants is by no means difficult. They 

 require pretty much the same description of soil, moisture, and 

 general treatment. ISTepenthes alone requires much heat; an average 

 temperature of 70° suits them very -well. The soil should consist of 

 fibrous peat, with the earthy matter shaken out. To this should be 

 added from a third to a half of chopped sphagnum, and a sprinkling 

 of charcoal, potsherds, and silver sand thoroughly well mixed. This 

 will form a free open compost. Owing to the large amount of water 

 required, good drainage must also be given. In re-potting Nepenthes, 

 very small pots or baskets should be used, in comparison with the 

 size of the plants, and great care taken not to injure the delicate 

 roots. It is better not to shake the old soil out, unless it has 

 become soured and unwholesome. In that case the soil should be 

 washed away, thus preserving the roots. The best time for this 

 operation is about the middle of February. They should be placed 

 near the glass, and not shaded too heavily, imless in very bright 

 sunshine. To have abundance of pitchers produced, they should be 

 kept constantly cut l^aek, as when growing too freely they usually fail 

 to produce pitchers ; and this is what might be expected, bearing iu 

 mind what has been stated regarding their habits. So long as the 

 plant is drawing plenty of nourishment from its roots, it has less 

 need to develop pitchers, but when cramped and pot-bound, they 

 develop freely. Some years ago, on going through our stoves with Mr. 

 Stuart Low, who had just come home from Borneo, where he had 

 discovered some interesting species of pitcher-plants, and showing 

 him a very fine plant of Nepenthes Eafllesiana, and asking him what 

 they were like at home, he said, " You never see them bearing 

 pitchers like those, but simplj^ one here and there, and mostly near 

 the ground. But after a fire has taken place, and the forest burnt 

 ilown, the Nepenthes springs up just covered with pitchers." So 

 that in our case the pruning-knife gives equal results with the 

 forest fire in the home of the Nepenthes. I prefer, on the whole, 

 seeing pitcher-plants grown in baskets, as the pitchers show in them 

 to better advantage. A good many hybrids have been raised in this 

 country and in America — the best by far, indeed, I may almost say 

 the best pitcher-plant in cultivation, is Nepenthes Mastersianus, 

 i-aised at Chelsea in the Messrs. Veitch's Nursery. It is a hybrid 

 between N. sanguinea and N. distillatoria. I have succeeded iu 

 raising a large batch of hybrid Nepenthes, the result of a cross 



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