of lite Orchis Roof. log 



transplanted a number of the orchises into a meadow, where 

 he had prepared a bed well manured for their reception. 

 The next sprinsf few of them appeared, and not one came 

 to maturity, th~cir roots being black and half rotten. The 

 same gentleman informed me that he had never been able to 

 raise anv plants from the seed of the wild orchis ; but he' 

 ascribes his v.ant of success to the wetness of the situation 

 in which he resides. I have now before me a seed pod of 

 the orchis, the contents of which, to the naked eye, seem 

 to be seed corrupted and turned to du?t; but, when viewed 

 throudi a microscope, appear evidently to be organized, ami 

 would, I doubt not, with proper culture, germinate, and 

 produce a thriving crop of plants. The properest time for 

 iratherlno- the roots is when the seed is formed, and tlie 

 stalk is readv to fail, because the new bulb, of which tiie 

 salep is made, is then arrived to its full tTiaturity, and may 

 be distincruished from the old one by a white bud rising from 

 the top of it, which is the germ of the orchis of the suc- 

 ceedinjr year. 



Several methods of preparing salep have been proposed 

 and practised. Geofl'roy has delivered a veiy judicious pro- 

 cess, for this purpose, in the Histoire de I' Acudiim'ie Roy ale 

 des Sciences, 1 740 ; and Retzius, in the Swedish Transac- 

 tions, 1764, has improved Geoffroy's method. But Mr. 

 Moult, of Rochdale, has lately favoured the public with a 

 new manner of curiuiT the orchis root : and as I have seen 

 many specimens of his salep, at least equal, it not supe- 

 rior, to an\- brouolit from tlie Levant, I can recommend the 

 follovi'inff, which is his jjrocess, from my own knowledge 

 of its success : The new root is to be v/ashed in water, ami 

 the fine broun skin which covers it is to be separated by 

 means of a small brush, or by dipj}ing the root in hot 

 water, and rubbing it with a coarse linen cloth. When a 

 sufficient number of roots have been thus cleaned, they are 

 to be spread on a tin plate, and placed in an oven heated to 

 the uBual descree, where they are to remain six or ten mi- 

 nutes, in which time they will have lost their milky whiteness, 

 and acquired a transparency like horn, without any dimi- 

 nution of bulk. Being arrived at this state, they arc to be 

 removed, in order to dry and harden in the air, which will 

 require several days to eftect ; or, by using a very gentle 

 heat, they may be finished in a few hours*. 



Salep, thus' prepared,, may be afforded, in this part of 



• Vide a Letter from Mr. John Moult to the author, contain'ng a new 

 mctlii-d of preparing ialcp, in I'hil. Tiansact. vol, lix. 



England, 



