112 ORCHIDS: HOW TO GROW THEM SUCCESSFULLY. 



the surface of the soil one inch below the level of the pot to 

 provide for a thorough watering, and, in potting, the compost should 

 be made moderately firm. This plant is always in a growing state, 

 therefore, has np resting season, and simply requires a good watering 

 when it becomes dry, as with an ordinary greenhouse plant. It should 

 be kept in the coolest part of the house, well up to the light when it 

 can receive a good supply of air. The Sobralia flowers during May and 

 June. Each stein, which is rather tall growing, bearing in succession 

 from five to eight beautiful large rosy purple-tinted flowers, and the 

 plant does not need repotting until the pot becomes overcrowded with 

 roots, then it should be turned out and all the old crocks removed, 

 together with as much of the soil as can conveniently be taken away 

 without disturbing the roots, and then repotted into a larger pot, and 

 when the plant is re-established a little weak manure water is beneficial. 

 Established plants of this species should be purchased at from 10s. 

 to 21s. for two or three flowering stems, although plants of this size 

 may not be plentiful. 



THUJSTIA MARSHALLIANA. From the East Indies. 



This is another handsome free growing Orchid, bearing a large 

 truss of beautiful white and yellow flowers at the top of the new 

 pseudobulbs in June and July. This species has a very short season of 

 growth, and should be cultivated in pots half filled with drainage and 

 potted in a mixture of peat, loam, and silver sand, and the compost left 

 quite half an inch below the rim of the pot. The proper time for 

 repotting the plant is the beginning of March, but very little water will 

 be needed until the new growths are about six inches high. Afterwards 

 watering only moderately, in order to keep the pseudobulbs dwarf and 

 to ensure free blooming. They are best grown in small pots. I always 

 place four bulbs in a 32-sized pot, making each one firm with a stick, 

 for the roots which have decayed are trimmed off close, so that there is 

 nothing to hold the bulbs firm without a little assistance, and, after 

 potting, the plants should be kept well up to the light and in the full 

 blaze of the sun, as recommended for Lselia autumiialis. By the 

 beginning of July the plant will most probably have finished flowering, 

 and from then until March it possesses no great beauty, but water 

 should not be discontinued until November, after which time it 

 may be given once or twice in three or four weeks until March. 

 Sometimes the growths, when they do not produce flowers, continue 

 growing to four or five feet in length, and when well grown the plant 

 increases in size very rapidly. Red spider is most troublesome to this 

 plant, and directly it can be detected the growths should be sponged 

 with soapy water. 



A fair average price for strong flowering-sized bulbs is about 

 3s. to 5s. each. 



