Potting Orchids 



Peat and moss were bhosen because they resist 

 decay so long. But if the roots be sealed up, so 

 that air cannot reach them, evidently the germs of 

 putrefaction must be excluded. As an enthusiastic 

 supporter of the new heresy put it to me, the 

 " chopped moss serves the same purpose as the 

 paper stretched over a jam-pot." 



Under these circumstances your plant must not 

 be raised above the pot, on a little hill, as it used 

 to be. The chopped moss may be level with the 

 brim or below. It will soon take root. But those 

 who like to see their plants green and neat from 

 the beginning, as they were under the old system, 

 may crown the moss, as formerly, with living heads. 



The leaf-mould treatment is applied to all orchids 

 without distinction, and with all it appears to be 

 equally effective. But the system of watering 

 differs. We have nothing to do here with stove 

 or intermediate species, but I may mention that 

 the water given to Cattleyas, Dendrobes, etc., 

 should be only enough to soak through the moss 

 and just damp the mould beneath. This is 

 managed by using a very fine rose. Cool species, 

 however, want almost as much water as if grown 

 in peat. 



It will be found that roots do not climb out of the 

 pots so commonly as they did under the old method. 



49 E 



