110 orchids: how to grow them successfully. 



proper time for repotting the plant is the beginning of March, but 

 very little water will be needed until the spring growths are about 

 six inches high. Afterwards watering only moderately, in order to 

 keep the pseudo bulbs dwarf and to ensure free blooming. They 

 are best grown in small pots. I always place four bulbs in a 32 

 sized pot, making each one firm with a stick, and the roots wliich 

 have decayed trimmed off close, so that there is nothing to hold 

 the bulbs firm without a little assistance, and, after potting, the 

 plants should be kept well iip to the hght and in the full blaze of 

 the sun, as recommended for Laelia autumnahs. By the beginning 

 of July the plant wiU most probably have finished flowering, and 

 from then until March it possesses no great beauty, but water 

 should not be discontinued until November, after which time it may 

 be given once or twice in three or four weeks, until March. Some- 

 times the growths, when they do not produce flowers, continue 

 growing to four or five feet in length, and when well grown the 

 plant increases in size very rapidly. Eed spider is most trouble- 

 some to this plant, and directly it can be detected the growths 

 should be sponged with soapy water. A fair average price for 

 strong flowering- sized bulbs is about 3/- each. 



Zygopetalum Mackayi. From Brazil. 



This is a winter-blooming species, generally making a good 

 display about Christmas. It is a strong growing plant when in 

 good health, producing spikes about two feet in length bearing six 

 to eight flowers, the sepals and petals of which are of a greenish 

 colour, spotted with brown, the Hp being white, exquisitely 

 pencilled with blue lines. The plant should be repotted during 

 March, and the tliick fleshy roots delight in a compost of lumpy 

 yet fibrous loam, with peat and coarse river sand and broken 

 charcoal. The pot should be half filled with good drainage with 

 a layer of moss on the top of it, and the plant should receive 

 water in moderation, never allowing it to be continually saturated 

 or to become too dry. The time when it should be kept moderately 

 dry is the short period after flowering until active growth sets in. 

 In potting keep the soil below the level of the rim and press down 

 moderately firm, afterwards standing the plants on the stage of 

 the house. 



Good established plants should be purchased for about- 10/- 

 per strong leading bulb, and newly imported from 5/- to 7/6. 



