as reservoir water tends to spoil the sphagnum moss. Watering must be 
copious all through the summer months, but in the winter the supply should be 
restricted to keeping the compost reasonably damp. 
Those of the second group do well in a compost of two parts chopped fibre, one 
part sphagnum moss, one part of fibrous loam with a little good leaf-mould, and 
a small quantity of well dried cow dung. The bellatulum and niveum group 
requires a little limestone or slaked lime mixed in the compost. This group likes 
rather more light than the plants of the first group. Watering as for the first 
group. 
The compost for the third group is similar to that of the second group with the 
addition of a little clean sand, charcoal, or powdered crocks. 
These three suggested composts must not be looked upon as essential factors for 
the growing of Cypripediums. Local conditions, climatic and structural, will 
affect the value of any compost used. Thus, in parts where the atmosphere is 
usually charged with great moisture, or where long rainy seasons are normal, the 
inclusion of sand, leaf-mould, or loam is apt to lead to a soggy, water laden com- 
post—so that under such circumstances none of these ingredients should be in- 
cluded. The best medium in wet conditions is a good fibrous peat, or a mixture of 
this and osmunda in about equal proportions. In several instances I have found 
Cypripediums, which had failed to respond to any of the standard composts, have 
thrived when potted in straight out fibrous staghorn peat. Where heat is used, 
extra care must be taken to see that the drainage is efficient, and watering must 
be most carefully controlled as peat has a tendency to hold water longer than 
almost any other medium. 
When a Cypripedium has been potted in an unsatisfactory compost and has gone 
back, and upon examination it is found that its roots have perished or become 
diseased, the plant can often be saved and restored to vigorous growth by plant- 
ing it in sphagnum moss, keeping it reasonably damp. As soon as growth is 
established again, the plant should be repotted in a suitable permanent compost. 
Cypripediums generally prefer shaded conditions, and with a few exceptions 
should not be exposed to direct sun-rays for any length of time—in fact, the 
shadiest part of the bush or glasshouse is the best place for them. 
In the tables of species hereunder I do not propose to differentiate between Cypri- 
pediums and Selenipediums, or the Uropediums, as the difference between the var- 
ious groups is one of botanical interest only. It is a remarkable thing that con- 
sidering the ease with which so many varying species and genera of orchids have 
been crossed, and the multitude of bi- tri- and multi-generic hybrids that have 
been produced, that no successful cross has yet been made between the Cypri- 
pediums and the Selenipediums, although they are so closely akin. On several 
occasions seed pods have been set and the seeds planted, but in every case where the 
seeds have germinated and the seedlings have been raised, either the resultant 
plants have never flowered, or, if they have, have proved to be only a straight 
Cypripedium or Selenipedium similar to the pod-bearing parent. Possibly the rea- 
son for this lies in the difference in the pollen of the two plants, that of the Cypri- 
pedium being moist and waxy, while that of the Selenipedium is dry and powdery. 
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