90 orchids: how to grow them successfully. 



annually, and it is evidently very plentiful in its native habitat, 

 and is of easy culture in pots or on suspended fresh blocks of 

 wood, but I recommend pot culture. Potting and treatment of 

 this plant shoidd be the same as that recommended for Odonto- 

 glossums, only that the coolest part of the house suits it best, for, 

 like Odontoglossum Eossii majus, it will stand severe cold better 

 than many Cool Oi'chids, and its usual time of flowering is from 

 May to August. The best time for repotting it is March, not 

 allowing it to become dry afterwards, or the flower spikes, which 

 commence pushing at this time, may be weakened. Good strong 

 plants are obtained at about 1 '6 per leading growth, and the 

 majority of the clumps as imported have an average of four to five 

 leads, so that they are serviceable plants to start with, newly 

 imported or established. 



DiSA gra:n-diflora {the Flower of the Gods). 

 From the Cape of Good Hope. 

 This is a tuberous-rooted herbaceous Orchid of great beauty, 

 when properly cultivated, and is a native of the Table Mountain, 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, and, although requiring a somewhat 

 different treatment to most of the Cool house Orchids, it is one 

 that I feel constrained to recommend to amateurs, as the treatment 

 7'equired is so simple. It should be potted in chopped fibrous peat, 

 with a liberal supply of coarse silver sand, filling the pots one 

 quarter of their depth with crocks, and placing over them a thin 

 layer of sphagnum, making the tubers moderately firm in the 

 pots, and leaving their crowns slightly below the surface of the 

 soil. The best time for repotting them is in the autumn, imme- 

 diately after the plants have flowered, when a new growth starts 

 from the side of the old flower spike. During the winter months 

 Disas should occupy an airy position in a Cool house, or a place 

 may be found for them with the Odontoglossums on a shelf near 

 the glass, at the coldest end if possible, and near to a ventilator. 

 In April they should be removed to a cool frame, having a north 

 aspect, which is, or can be, shaded from the sun's rays, and the 

 plants should be well syringed night and morning and never 

 allowed to become dry. They should also be examined occasionally 

 for red spider and aphis, which sometimes attack the plants. 

 Under such treatment as I have recommended Disa grandiflora 

 will grow freely and multiply, and the great beauty of its flowers 



