POTTING TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS. 41 



POTTING TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS. 



HESE require a stroiiger compost than the epiphytal 

 kinds, but do not need so much drainage. 

 They should be potted just when they begin to 

 grow, after the resting season. The compost we prefer to 

 use for them is turfy loam chopped into pieces about the size 

 of a walnut, leaf mould or peat, and a little rotten cow or 

 horse-dung, all being mixed thoroughly together. The plants 

 require good-sized pots ; in the bottom of them put about two 

 inches of drainage, on that a layer of moss, next some rough 

 peat, and then the compost just mentioned, on which place 

 the plant so as to be about an inch below the rim of the pot ; 

 then fill in with the compost, making it tolerably firm about 

 the roots. Water sparingly at first, but by the time the 

 young growths are some six inches high the plants will enjoy 

 a good supply. 



MODE OF PRODUCING BACK GROWTHS. 



HERE are many of our Orchids that grow on 3 ear 

 I after year, and yet produce only one flowering 

 i- pseudobulb annually ; but some of the kinds, if the 

 plants are cut, will produce back shoots or breaks, thus 

 increasing the number of blooming growths, and the sooner 

 making fine specimens. This is the way to produce such 

 plants as are seen every year at the London and provincial 

 exhibitions. Some plants, such as Cattleijas, may be more 

 readily treated in this way than others. 



The operation is thus performed : — Take a plant that has 



