POTTING. 75 



disengaged without bruising, it may be well to carefully 

 break the pot, allowing the potsherd to which roots are 

 attached to remain. The plant should be carefully ex- 

 amined and all decayed or dead roots cut off with a sharp 

 knife ; then it should be placed in a pot about half larger 

 than that it formerly occupied. More care is requisite in 

 repotting very large plants, but the operation is performed 

 :'.n the same general manner. 



Where Orchids have to be transplanted from wooden 

 baskets or pots, it will usually be advisable to sacrifice the 

 old basket, as the roots will generally be too firmly at- 

 tached to the wood to be separated. The best way is to 

 cut the old basket to pieces and dispose the pieces with 

 the roots attached among the soil of the new basket. The 

 roots very seldom fasten on to baskets of wire or metal ; 

 should they do so, they can be detached without injury, 

 and therefore repotting from these baskets is very easy. 



Such plants as "Stanhopea, Acropera, Atineta, Cirrhcea, 

 and others which send out many roots, should be trans- 

 planted at least once in five years. The matted roots 

 form a thick mass, which should be separated with care, 

 the dead ones cut out, and only those preserved which 

 are alive and have spongioles. These dense masses of 

 roots often prevent the descent of the flower stalk through 

 the bottom of the pot or basket, and cause it to damp off. 



When Orchids grown on blocks cover the wood with 

 their roots, they may be repotted in two ways : the block 

 may be placed in the centre of a basket tilled with com- 

 post and supported there ; the roots will soon extend over 

 the basket, and the effect will be very pretty. Another 

 way is to fasten new blocks to the old, covering the junc- 

 tion with moss ; the roots will soon bind the old and new 

 blocks firmly together. 



