44 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



the idea that they are suited for taking up stimulating 

 liquid in the manner common to fibrous-rooted plants. 



On the general question of the use of stimulants in 

 Orchid culture many clever men have carried out experi- 

 ments. The late Dr. A. H. Smee went into the question, 

 basing his experiments on the chemical constituents of the 

 plants themselves, which is not an infallible guide. 



The late Norman C. Cookson carefully studied the 

 subject, and he recommended for experiment the following 

 formula : 



Potassium nitrate (saltpetre), 3 oz. 



Ammonium phosphate, 2 oz. 



Dissolve in a three-gallon jar of soft water, and when 

 watering growing Orchids, or those perfecting their flowers, 

 add one ounce of the solution to each gallon of water. 



Again it must be urged that those experimenting with 

 manures must do so only on growing plants, and when 

 growth is completed it must be stopped. No Orchid 

 grower should undertake such experiments without first 

 obtaining his employer's concurrence. 



CHAPTER X 

 RESTING ORCHIDS 



WHILST we may definitely say that all Orchids require 

 a resting season in some degree, the cultivator must be 

 careful to arrange the resting season, in the matter of its 

 duration and other particulars, in accordance with the 

 nature of the plant, for in some classes of Orchids it is very 



