CULTURE OF EPIPHYTAL ORCHIDS. 85 



The form of the baskets must vary according to taste. 

 The following figures represent a few. 



The distance between the pieces of wood or the wires, 

 must be sufficient to allow the flower spike to pass down ; 

 earthern pots should also have spaces cut out for this 

 same reason. 



Baskets of wood or metal are much to be preferred to 

 those of pottery, as they are 

 much neater and ornamental, 

 and plants can be removed 

 from them with greater facil- 

 ity and without sacrificing the 

 pot, and they are not so 



heavy. Baskets of metal should be of galvanized iron, 

 or of copper wire, the former are better, as being less 

 likely to get out of shape. 

 In form, the top should be , 

 larger than the bottom, U 

 not only for artistic effect, 

 but because they hold the 

 earth better. In placing 



the plants in these baskets 



it may be well to put a layer of moss in the bottom, to 



keep the finer earth from falling out ; the baskets should 



not be filled as full as recommended for pots, but some 



six months after having set the plant 



in the basket, a light top dressing of 



rich earth may be heaped up around 



the plants. 



The plants should be so disposed 

 that the foliage shall not touch the metal chains, or 

 wires, by which the basket is suspended. If a plant 



