118 OECHiDs: now to grow them successfully. 



the surface of the soil may ajjpear to be dry the plants may still 

 not require water, owing to the retention of moisture in the chalk 

 and soil. This species flowers during the spring and summer 

 months and is always admired. 



Good established plants should be purchased at from 5/- to 7/6 

 for strong flowering sized plants, and as this species is more readily 

 estabhshed than many others of the same genus, newly imported 

 plants may be purchased with good results. 



Dendeobium ]srOBiLE. From Assam. 



The Dendrobiums are a beautiful and useful family of plants, 

 easy of cultivation, but some require more warmth throughout the 

 year than others, and for the majority of them it is indispensable 

 they should have a high temperature and moist atmosphere during 

 the summer months, while throughout the winter a cool and rather 

 dry atmosphere is needed to give the plants the necessary rest in 

 order to produce good flowers and growth next season. D. nobile 

 belongs to the latter group. When repotting becomes necessary, 

 use good fibrous peat with an equal proportion of sphagnum and 

 a liberal addition of charcoal mixed together, and the pots or baskets 

 half filled with crocks and charcoal, always repotting just after the 

 flowering season is over. All the old compost should be cleaned 

 away from the roots, which should be carefully handled, before 

 replacing the plant in the new pot or basket, securing the 

 growths by a fev>^ neat sticks thrust into the compost, which should 

 be made moderately firm. A good position in the Warm house on 

 the south side, where there is plenty of hght, is most suitable at 

 first, watering cai'ofully, and keeping the compost only moderately 

 moist until the roots show signs of activity, then water more 

 freely, for careless watering at this stage often causes a loss of new 

 growth by damping. 



As the summer advances the plants gain strength, if not 

 checked by excessive drought or too low a temperature, or failure 

 to keep them clear from red spider or thrip ; and the new growth 

 develops into a pseudo bulb, and when it is seen to taper off" and the 

 last leaf appears at the apex the new bulb will have ceased growing. 

 This species, however, is so very free growing that as soon as the 

 new pseudo bulb is formed other growths are pushed from the base, 

 sometimes even before the new bulb has finished its growth, but this 

 is of little consequence. Supposing the principal or first growths 



