«02 ORCHIDS: 
snails, pieces of cabbage or lettuce leaf should be laid 
down, and examined every morning, when the snails _ will 
be caught. In the case of valuable or important plants 
showing flower-spikes, it is best to take the precaution 
of keeping the snails away. This may be done by 
placing the plant on an inverted pot, which should stand 
in a saucer of water, the saucer being wide enough to leave 
a margin of water all round the inverted pot, over which 
the snails cannot crawl. Stands made expressly for this 
purpose may be purchased for a few pence. This pre- 
caution also serves to protect the plants from cockroaches, 
which do much damage if not kept in check. Another 
good protection is afforded by surrounding the spikes at 
the base with a piece of cotton wool, which should be tied 
loosely. This cannot easily be crossed, either by snails, 
cockroaches, or woodlice. Beetle-traps or poison should 
also be laid down for the destruction of cockroaches. A 
very small snail, with a strong odour of onions, is often 
found in the sphagnum moss; and although so small, 
this pest is most destructive to flower-spikes, eating a small 
hole through the strongest in a single night. In preparing 
the moss for use, a sharp look-out should be kept for this 
little snail, which usually has a shell. Cleanliness is of 
the greatest importance to the health of Orchids, and, 
indeed, all plants; so that periodical cleanings should be 
insisted on if the numerous enemies of Orchids are not 
to destroy all chance of success. 
Treatment of Newly-imported Orchids. 
The peculiar conditions under which Orchids are found 
wild, the manner in which they are collected, and conveyed 
long distances in boxes, &c., by mule, boat, and steamer, 
together with the radical change they necessarily are com- 
