272 THE GARDENER. [June 



After the plants are nicely potted tliey must be put into tlie stove, 

 although a vinery — especially where Muscats are grown — will suit 

 them. A warm moist atmosphere they must have while growing. 

 At first the material must be kept only moist and no more ; and a 

 thorough watering once a-week in a moist house will be sufficient to 

 secure this. To keep the surface-moss fresh, and to encourage it to 

 grow, a slight damping with the syringe once a-day will be necessary ; 

 and growing moss is of some importance, for if it dies and gets covered 

 with slimy matter, the roots as they descend from the base of the bulbs, 

 instead of penetrating it liealthily, will rot and die, and your bulbs will 

 be weak and annually weaker, instead of strong and annually stronger. 



All through the summer the plants should have stove-heat, and be 

 shaded during the hottest part of the day, until their bulbs are nearly 

 made up. They should then be removed to a warm place — such as a 

 Melon or Cucumber pit — and treated to a dry, airy, warm atmosphere, 

 and be exposed to the full blaze of the sun. At this stage, just as 

 much water as will prevent their shrivelling, and not a drop more, 

 should be given. They ought to go days and days without a drop. 

 Six or eight weeks of this treatment will turn the bulbs hard and 

 amber-coloured, and the plants will go to rest. They should have a 

 couple of months' rest, in a temperature not much under 50° nor over 

 55°. When wanted to flower they should be treated to stove-heat. 

 By forwarding the plants a little each year, a batch may be timed to 

 flower at Christmas ; and by retarding others they may be had all 

 through the early months of the year. We have seen them as late as 

 June, but in this case they are so late in making their annual growth 

 that it cannot be ripened properly for want of sun — at least north 

 here ; and consequently they do not flower well the following year. 

 When a young stock is being continually raised, only worn-out plants 

 should be kept for very late work, and then, when flowering is over, 

 thrown away. Thrip (yellow), red-spider, and mealy-bug all thrive 

 on Dendrobium nobile. The two former are easily kept down by the 

 syringe. The last needs picking out with a sharp-pointed stick. 



And now for the best way of getting into a stock. It requires a 

 few years of patient good treatment, but the results will justify the 

 waiting and the work. We have said what beginnings are best. 

 Given one, or one hundred, — it is all the same — year old stems, of the 

 length of one's finger and upwards, such as we described before, 

 they should be cut carefully from the parent stems so as to injure 

 neither. Take care of the whorl of roots at the base. When the buds 

 at the base begin to push and the roots to grow, pot them up singly 

 into 3-inch pots, among a compost of roughly bruised fresh charcoal 

 and the freshest sphagnum procurable. One crock over the hole in the 

 pot will be sufficient for drainage — the whole material will be open 

 enough for drainage, for it will speedily become one mass of roots. 

 "Half-and-half " is the proportion to employ of each. Into this the 



