Disa 



I had not noticed the exceptional conditions which 

 must in some way have caused this success. 



Other species of which record is preserved in our 

 gardens may have flowered in the same irrespon- 

 sible manner, perhaps. I shall not tempt my 

 readers to waste their money by giving even the 

 names ; those of an adventurous turn can easily get 

 the information. 



Disas are terrestrial orchids, tuberous and deci- 

 duous, growing at home upon veldt or marshy 

 uplands or in the beds of streams. The four 

 species which I name belong to the second class. 

 Dank clouds keep them tolerably moist even 

 while resting. They should be grown in shallow 

 perforated pans, for offsets spring very freely, 

 and often they like to push through the holes 

 instead of forcing their way to the surface ; 

 but the crown of the tubers should be raised 

 well above it. The material is peat and moss 

 in equal parts, with a little sand. .Rotten manure 

 may be added, or it may be given with the water 

 when they are growing strong. They throw up a 

 leafy spike from the crown of the bulb. 



Cooperi. Small, but pleasing. Rosy white, 

 with a long and conspicuous "spur." Summer. 

 Natal. 



Grandiflora. It is a mercy that this, most 

 99 



