TROPICAL ORCHIDACEiE. 295 



mild, the plants should be allowed the full benefit of the 

 open air. 



Tropical Orchidacece. — Till within the last few years 

 the cultivation of epidendrous plauts was deemed too diffi- 

 cult to be attempted in private establishments, and was 

 resigned to Royal Gardens. A great revolution in this 

 respect has since taken place ; epiphytes being now exten- 

 sively cultivated. The collection of such plants in the 

 principal nursery gardens near London is vast, particularly 

 at those of Loddiges, Hackney — Rollisons, Tooting— 

 Knight, Chelsea — and Low, Clapton. Some amateur cul- 

 tivators eminently excel in them ; such as the Duke of 

 Devonshire at Chatsworth, where Mr. Paxton presides; 

 Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth, where Mr. Cooper is gar- 

 dener ; Mr. Bateman at Knypersley, and Mr. Rucker at 

 Wandsworth. More than 1000 species of epiphytes are 

 now in cultivation They are all tropical productions, and, 

 of course, need stove-heat in this country; but those from 

 the East Indies require a higher temperature and more hu- 

 mid atmosphere than those from South America. In Scot- 

 land, the cultivation of tropical epiphytes is carried to 

 great perfection at the Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh and 

 Glasgow, and also at the Experimental Garden of the Cal- 

 edonian Horticultural Society, Edinburgh ; and the prac- 

 tices followed in these establishments are here recommend- 

 ed. In some private gardens, likewise, such epiphytes are 

 grown with great success ; particularly at Dalkeith Park ; 

 under Mr. Mackintosh, and Bothwell Castle, under Mr. 

 Turnbull. It has now been fully ascertained by exten- 

 sive experience, that their cultivation is not nearly so diffi- 

 cult as was formerly supposed. When pots or shallow pans 

 are used, they should be well furnished at bottom with 

 shivers, or broken bricks or tiles, to drain off superfluous 



