USELESS PSEUDO-BULBS 33 



useless in the economy of the plant. This fact goes to show 

 that the old pseudo-bulbs are being supported by the newer 

 growths, and, that they are seriously impeding the full 

 development of the flower-producing part of the specimen. 

 In such cases it is a common thing to see large specimens 

 collapse and die off, the decay being traceable to the old 

 bulbs in the centre of the plant. It is, therefore, better to 

 remove old pseudo-bulbs behind the last three or four 

 leading ones, and, if it is desired to retain all leading por- 

 tions of a large mass in one pot or pan to form a specimen, 

 they should be potted together, when it will be found 

 that, given reasonable treatment, they will make better 

 specimens than if left in a mass. In the case of varieties 

 that need to be propagated, the pieces removed should 

 be placed in comparatively small Orchid pans or baskets, 

 properly labelled, and in due time useful and often 

 valuable specimens may be secured from material which 

 would only have been detrimental to the parent plant. 

 The same kind of treatment will be found equally bene- 

 ficial in the case of garden hybrids which have been cul- 

 tivated long enough to have a number of back bulbs. In 

 such cases the plants frequently degenerate after the first 

 two or three years, until they produce inferior flowers, but 

 the removal of the back pseudo-bulbs results in giving the 

 flowering growths the full benefit of the root action, and 

 consequently the plants again produce flowers of good 

 quality. 



Potting time is a very convenient season to give special 

 attention to the removal of useless leaves and pseudo-bulbs, 

 as the plants can be readily handled when they are out of 

 the pots, 



C 



