/ 2 ORCHID-GROWER S MANUAL. 



rally bear flowers small and unattractive compared with the 

 beauty of their foliage. To this rule, however, the charming 

 Phalccnopsis Schilleriana is an exception ; some of the CypH- 

 pediums, too, have both finely-variegated foliage and showy 

 flowers. The genus ArKECtocliilus is one of the most re- 

 markable of this handsome class of Orchids, and to its 

 cultivation, which is not generally well understood, I will 

 now address myself. All the varieties are remarkable for 

 compact dwarf habit, perfect form, and great beauty : they 

 vary in height from two to six inches, and their leaves, 

 which are well defined, vary from two to five inches in 

 length, including the stalks, which, like the stems of the 

 plant, are short and fleshy. The foliage of all the species is 

 singularly beautiful ; in some of the varieties it resembles 

 the richest olive, or rather purple velvet, regularly inter- 

 spersed with a network of gold. In others the leaf is of the 

 most lively green, covered with silver tracery. As regards 

 cultivation, the plants require sand and peat mixed with 

 moss ; the white sandy ground from which they spring should 

 be enlivened occasionally by small growths of moss, which sets 

 ofi" the plants to much advantage, especially when looked at 

 through bell-glasses, under which the delicacy, richness, and 

 softness of their appearance are increased. Few visitors walk 

 through a house containing any of these plants without 

 bestowing on them more than ordinary attention, and 

 expressing admiration of their elegance, richness, and beauty. 

 All the species require treatment very difierent from that of 

 any other Orchid, and difi'erent growers operate in difierent 

 ways, but I have not found any mode of management to 

 succeed better than the one first laid down by me many years 

 ago, and which is being followed by many who have Anmc- 

 tochili growing in great perfection. They are difiicult to cul- 

 tivate, and many fail with them — a circumstance I attribute 



