attend to it. Moreover, it is not in the interests of the plants that they should 
be subjected to the shock of frequent uprootings. It is better, therefore, to 
replace the food loss by supplementing the supplies still obtainable from the com- 
post with extra food in an easily assimilable form. 
I do not propose to weary you with details of all the experiments I have made 
with liquid manures, but will set out, briefly, what I have found to be the best 
treatment for the principal genera of Orchids we grow. 
Aerides.—This genus requires very little artificial feeding. If it is potted 
only in charcoal, with a topping of sphagnum moss, the application, once a fort- 
night, from about the beginning of August to the end of March, of a liquid man- 
ure, will improve the growth and quantity and quality of the flowers. This man- 
ure is made by steeping 2 pounds of dry cow-dung and about 4 ounces of fowl 
droppings in four gallons of water and letting it stand for 3 weeks. Before using, 
the fluid should be well stirred and then diluted with an equal quantity of tank 
water. About 4 ounces of this dilute fertilizer should be applied to the thor- 
oughly wetted compost. 
If the compost used contains dried dung and fibre, no liquid manuring is 
necessary for at least six months after repotting. Then applications of the above 
manure once every two or three weeks is sufficient. 
Calanthes.—These are terrestrial Orchids and are heavy feeders. They should 
be potted in a rich compost of about equal parts of loam, leaf-mould and well 
matured dung. I usually abstain from additional manuring the first year after 
potting; but in the second year I give weekly applications of the liquid manure 
already referred to, from the time the seasonal growths have reached a height of 
four inches. 
Cattleyas (including the usually associated bi- and tri-generic hybrids) .— 
(1) Compost of osmunda fibre only. 
No liquid manure for from 4 to 5 months, but at the end of three months 
I usually give the repotted plant about 8 ounces of lime water, made by air-slak- 
ing a piece of rock lime the size of my fist, and steeping the resultant powder in 
2 gallons of water. This helps to neutralise undue acidity from oxalic acid in 
the compost, and also assists in replacing and liberating potash. If you will con- 
sult the table of analyses provided earlier, you will see that osmunda fibre con- 
tains comparatively little lime. When the new growths are well devel- 
oped and approaching the time when the sheath should appear, I give applica- 
tions of two different manures at intervals of a fortnight between each. The 
first of these is a preparation sold under the name of Floraphos, said to contain 
as active agents 15.6 per cent. nitrogen and 31.2 per cent. phosphoric acid. A 
dessertspoonful of this is dissolved in 4 gallons of water and about a breakfast cup 
of the solution is applied about the roots of the plant. A fortnight later I give 
about the same quantity of the liquid cow-manure as prescribed for Aerides. 
(2) Compost of todea-barbara and osmunda in equal parts. Lime water as 
previously recommended. Instead of the cow-dung—fowl-manure liquid, I give a 
manure of steeped cow-dung only, once in six weeks, and the Floraphos solution 
three weeks later. 
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