4 THE ORCHID-GROWER'S MANUAL. 



time ; and I also find it a good method, during the growing 

 season, to take the blocks down, and dip them in water till 

 the wood and moss are thoroughly soaked. Plants in 

 baskets should likewise be taken down and examined, and 

 if they are dry, they should be soaked in the water. This is 

 also a good mode of getting rid of many insects that harbour 

 in the moss, such as the woodlouse and cockroach ; when 

 the moss is soaked, they will come to the top, and then they 

 may be easily killed. Rain or pond water is the best. 



On the Cultivation of Tropical Orchids. 



Among Orchids some are termed terrestrial, that is, they 

 grow in earth ; the genera Phajus, Calanthe, JBletia, Cyrto- 

 podium, Cypripedium, &c., all draw support from the 

 ground. Epiphytes, the other class, inhabit trees and rocks, 

 from which, however, they derive little or no nourishment. 

 These are by far the most numerous and interesting. They 

 are found adhering to the arms of living trees, and some 

 of them delight in elevated situations in lofty forests. 

 Others, again, grow upon low trees, some on rocks and 

 mountains, some on trees overhanging rivers, and some 

 near dripping rocks. The latter, of course, require a par- 

 ticularly damp atmosphere to grow in ; others are found 

 in dense woods, where scarcely any sun can penetrate ; 

 these like a shady moist atmosphere, whilst those in more 

 elevated situations do not need so much shade as the last. 

 A knowledge of the different habitats of the various species 

 is essential to the careful grower, in order that he may, as 

 far as his means permit, place them in circumstances similar 

 to those in which they make their natural growth ; and it 

 is, perhaps, to inattention on this point that the want of 

 success in the culture of some Orchidaceous plants, by 

 even the most successful of our cultivators, is to be attri- 

 buted. 



