The Culture of Greenhouse Orchids 



to plant them at once and keep them slightly 

 damp that is, not dry. Very few will rot if 

 healthy, whilst many shrivelled and perished under 

 the other system. 



The number of species which will not thrive as 

 well in a pot or pan as in a basket is small, and of 

 those none are " cool ; " upon the other hand, many 

 object to a block or a raft evidently because the 

 roots cannot be kept moist enough when bare. 

 Some Odontoglots and Oncidiums, however, will 

 not flourish unless near the glass, with the air 

 circulating freely round them. It is necessary to 

 hang up these, and desirable, for the effect, to hang 

 up a good many others, They may be in baskets 

 or pans. Suspended pots look clumsy. 



We must use the smallest quantity of potting 

 material which will suffice to keep the roots damp. 

 When the skilled gardener obtains a plant of great 

 value, such as demands the greatest care, he will 

 set it among bare crocks to recover strength, and 

 so let it remain till it has rooted. Baron Schroder 

 secured, at a long price, a tiniest morsel of Cypri- 

 pedium insigne Sanderce when there was but one 

 other plant in the world. Mr. Ballantine, his 

 gardener, pronounced at once that it would surely 

 die in any sort of potting material. He fixed it 

 among chips of earthenware in a thumb pot, which 



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