Octobev 14, 187B. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



343 



a very few days in perfection, aud to this cause more than to 

 any ditliculty attending tlieir culture mnst bo traced their 

 decadence in popular favour. Baeket culture suits then- 

 requirements better than ;any other system, aud the baskets 



need not be very deep. On the bottom place a layer of live 

 sphagnum, and plant the Orchid in a compost of turfy peat, 

 sphagnum, and potsherds. Ordinary stove culture answers 

 well for all the species. The minimum winter temperature 



Fig. 75.— SlANHOPEA MiKTIiM. 



bhould be 55', but less or more than this will do uo harm, 

 although it is better it should occasionally fall to 50° than 

 rise to 60" or G5\ A high winter temperature is very injntious 

 to most Orchids, starting them into growth prematurely, which, 

 if a high temperature is continued, impairs the constitution of 

 the plante. It ii seldom, however, that this happens with 

 Htanhopeas, for the genus is not liable to start prematurely 

 into growth. 



When the plants are in growth the house ought to be warm, 

 and a moist temperature thonld b3 maintained. Keep the 

 plants moist at the roots, and syringe overhead daily should 



red spider appear on the leaves. This and tbiips &re very 

 troublesome, and the plants will not thrive if they are not 

 kept clean. Scale is also sometimes found on the plants, but 

 this is easily removed. It is neceseary that the growth be 

 made in a shady position. The basket may at this time be 

 suspended under some of the cUmbing plants, and which 

 a-.e free from insect pests. For the purjose of shade no plant 

 can be compared to Clerodendron Thomsonrp, as the leaves of 

 this plant are obnoxious to all insect pests, and afford ample 

 shade. After growth is made the basket must be removed 

 from the shady position to a more open one, and after the 



