YRCHIDEOUS EPIPHYTES. 
305 
ORCHIS. 
rough-barked trees, that of the Ro- | 
binia pseudo Acacia, (Cobbett’s Lo- 
cust,) for example, half covering 
the log with moss, to retain the 
moisture, and to imitate the soft 
woolly bark of some of the trees 
of the tropics. These logs are hung 
from nails in the rafters, or from 
rods suspended across the roof; and 
the pseudo bulbs or rhizomas of the 
plants are bound on them with fine 
wire, and covered with sphagnum, 
or some other kind of moss. Messrs. 
Loddiges use living plants of Lyco- 
podium stoloniferum, which have 
the advantage of looking better, as 
well as of retaining more moisture 
than any kind of dead moss. Mr. 
Beaton makes a ball of moss, which | 
he suspends in the hellow formed 
by the branches of a three-forked 
stick, which he hangs up from the | 
rafters till the plants are established ; 
and then he places the stick ina 
pot, taking care that the length of 
the stick below the fork is sufficient 
to hold up the ball of moss with the 
plant attached, just above the rim 
of the pot—after which he fills up 
the pot with pieces of turfy peat. 
When the Orchideous plants are 
grown in baskets, the baskets should 
be made of copper wire, or if of 
iron, they should be painted with | 
anti-corrosive paint. They should 
be formed like the basket shown in 
fig. 20, in p. 209, with the bars 
sufficiently apart to allow the flower- 
stems of the Stanhopeas, and other 
plants sending out their flower-stems 
from their roots, to push their way 
through, and to hang down between 
the bars. For this reason, baskets 
similar to that deseribed in pp. 208- 
9, are not suitable for any Orchi- 
deous plants but those that send up 
their flower-stems from their pseudo 
buibs. The baskets for Stanhopeas 
and other root-flowermg plants 
should be from three to six inches 
deep, and from six to ten inches 
wide ; and they should be filled with 
26* 
moss, or with strips of turf two ot 
three inches wide, and placed on 
end round the inside of the basket, 
so as to stand nearly upright, with 
| a large flat piece in the centre. The 
plant should be placed in the middle, 
and the basket filled up with broken 
pieces of turf, mixed with crocks or 
cinders, if the plant be very deli- 
| cate, and easily affected by too 
| much moisture. These baskets are 
very convenient for Orchideous 
plants, as they may either be sus- 
pended from the roof, or placed on 
an inverted pot; or if the plant re- 
quires bottom-heat, the basket may 
be placed on the surface of a pot 
plunged in the hotbed. The basket 
also locks better and more elegant 
when the plant is in flower, and is 
wanted to be shown in a drawing- 
room. When Orchideous plants ar- 
rive from abroad, Mr. Benton first 
throws them into water; and after 
| they have been thoroughly washed, 
he puts them into a heap, covered 
with a damp mat, where they re- 
main for several days; after which 
he plants them in baskets, or ties 
them on moss supported by a forked 
stick, as above described. 
Orcripeous House.—A hothouse 
with contrivances for keeping the 
interior moist. The roof is gener- 
ally glazed with ground or green 
glass, to transfer the light, as the 
| Orchideous Epiphytes, in their na- 
tive forests, always grow in the 
shade. 
the species of the genus Orchis are 
natives of Europe, and a great num- 
ber of them are found wild in Brit- 
ain. With respect to culture, they 
may be divided into two classes ; 
those which grow naturally in peat 
or heath-mould, such as O. macu- 
| lata, O. mério, O. mascula, &e.; 
and those which grow in dry chalky 
soils, such as O. lephrosdnthos, 
/ and O. ustuldta. In general little 
/can be done in the way of propa- 
Or’ iin eeediecen. anal 
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