30 INDIAN ORCHIDEJ5. 



the plant, the block should be covered with 

 sphagnum tied round with lead wire, so that it 

 will not fall off. I have also covered the bil- 

 lets with clay made like paint, and then laid 

 fresh moss upon them ; when dry it will need no 

 wire to keep it on : when either operation is done, 

 the plant should be placed upon it, and more 

 sphagnum applied to the base of the plant, and 

 tied with wire, this will preserve moisture to it : 

 when all is completed a piece of copper wire should 

 be nailed to each end of the billet, so that it may 

 be suspended with the head of the plant rather 

 in an inclined position, so that water may not 

 lodge in the heart of it ; the sphagnum will also 

 have a better appearance if trimmed with a pair 

 of scissors, besides the loose sphagnum will then 

 be separated from that which is fast: these plants 

 should be hung up in the dampest part of the 

 house; when they begin to make young roots, 

 syringing will be required a little every day, this 

 will cause them to make a rapid progress as if 

 in their native country, where they are invariably 

 found growing in the dampest places. 



They may also be grown in baskets made of 

 wood and filled with a mixture of chopped 

 sphagnum, rotten wood, and a little turfy peat ; 

 the plants should be placed in the centre of 

 the baskets, and their roots allowed to grow 

 through ; by this mode of growing them the mois- 



