20 



ccive the buds springing at the bottom of the pseudo-bulbs, I 

 take the plants and carefully shake off all the old soil, and 

 cut off all the decayed roots ; I then pot them in large pots 

 well drained, in a compost of turfy loam chopped into pieces 

 about the size of pigeon eggs, and peaty turf broken in the 

 same manner, and leaf-mould about half rotten, in equal parts; 

 to which I add about an eighth of bones, also broken into 

 small pieces ; I mix these all well together, and place the 

 plants as near as possible level with the rims of the pots, and 

 finish by giving a good watering to settle the compost. The 

 plants are put in the warmest part of the house, and watered 

 very moderately at first, increasing the quantity as the plants 

 advance in growth until the leaves are fully developed, when 

 I give them manure water once a week to encourage the pro- 

 duction of strong pseudo-bulbs, without which it is in vain 

 to look for flowers. In this I succeeded to my satisfaction ; 

 and last year had the pleasure to perceive the flower-stems 

 appearing at the same time as the bulb shoots. I had flower- 

 stems five feet high, with numerous side branches, making a 

 bundle of flower-stems on one shoot more than eighteen 

 inches diameter. They are coming up this year equally 

 strong. As soon as the pseudo-bulbs are perfected I gradu- 

 ally reduce the water, and when they are at rest I give them 

 no more. To induce more perfect quiescence I have them 

 removed to a cool dry house, the average temperature of which 

 is about 55°. The essentials of this method are, to use a 

 rather rich but open compost, to give plenty of water during- 

 growth, and a season of complete rest. Those who attend to 

 all this need not fear flowering Cyrtopodiums. We have now 

 in flower here Dendrobium nobile, a fine specimen with spikes 

 of ten and twelve blossoms each, D. ccerulescens, Cyrtochilum 

 maculatum, C. Bictoniense, Epidendrum aurantiacum, and a 

 fine var. Epidendrum ciliare, var. latifolium, E. capitatum, E. 

 nutans, E. nocturnum, Leptotes bicolor, minor and major, 

 Cymbidium sinense, Brassavola nodosa, B. angustata, B. tu- 

 berculata, Oncidium Cebolleta, and a var. O. ampliatum, 

 Brassia caudata, Gongoras several species, Lissochilus par- 

 viflorus, Bletias, Cypripediums, &c. &c. altogether making 

 our Orchidaceous houses very gay, forming a strange yet 

 pleasant contrast to the savage winter now howling around 

 us." 



