14 ORCHIDS. 
ing parts should then be washed with soapy water. Plants 
with pseudo-bulbs should be placed in pots which have 
been two-thirds filled with clean, broken crocks. Stakes 
may be used to keep the plants upright. In watering, the 
crocks only should be moistened until new roots are 
pushed, when the plants should be potted in the mixture 
recommended for each kind, and treated the same as esta- 
blished plants, except that until the new growth is well 
above the surface the roots should not be kept too moist. 
Plants which have no pseudo-bulbs require very careful 
treatment. They should be cleaned as already recom- 
mended, and then hung, head downwards, in a moist, 
shaded house, until the leaves are plump, and new roots 
are seen pushing. This precaution is necessary for the 
safety of the central eye, or “crown,” which generally 
rots if moisture is allowed to lodge in the bases of the 
leaves. During the time they are suspended, the plants 
may be lightly syringed; but in a well-moistened house 
this is scarcely necessary. When plump, and showing 
signs of fresh growth, the plants may be taken down, 
and planted in the compost recommended for them. The 
temperature best suited to newly-imported plants is that 
in which they are grown when established; but they should 
be shaded from bright light, especially if they are at all 
yellow, and much shrivelled. When large quantities of a 
kind are to be started, a stage, or a bed of clean cinders, 
may be substituted for the pots with crocks, as it saves 
labour, and answers almost, if not quite, as well. Newly- 
imported plants must not be hurried, either by over-water- 
ing, by a high temperature, or by early potting, for these 
mean ultimate failure, although perhaps at first the plants 
look tidier. There is always a certain amount of excite- 
ment in the cultivation and flowering of an Orchid which 
has never been flowered in England before. Sometimes, 
