ORCHIDS : HOW TO GROW THEM SUCCESSFULLY. 127 



into the basket in much the same way as recommended for Aerides 

 odoratum, simply fixing in the sphagnum over a good drainage of 

 crocks and charcoal, and the foliage will then droop over the sides of 

 the basket. Give a liberal supply of water during the summer, but less, 

 with great discretion, during the winter, never allowing the sphagnum 

 to get quite dry, or the plant, having no pseudobulbs, will lose its 

 foliage, which is prejudicial to future growth. It should be grown at 

 the warmest part of the house and its leaves occasionally sponged to 

 keep down insects, using tobacco powder if thrip appears. 



Phalsenopsis are at times injuriously affected by a watery spot 

 forming on the leaves, and this should at once be cut away with a sharp 

 knife or it will soon spread and eat away the leaf, and generally 

 speaking, when this disease occurs, the idea of successfully growing the 

 plant may be abandoned. The spot is often produced from some fault 

 in management, such as from a very cold temperature, keeping the 

 plants saturated in winter, or some other cause. The common ant will 

 sometimes kill the Phalsenopsis if allowed unimpeded sway. 



Good plants, suitable for growing on and established, should be 

 purchased at from 10s. 6d. each. 



ONCIDIUM PAPILIO. From Caracas. 



This Orchid is known principally on account of its remarkable 

 resemblance to the butterfly, hence its name Butterfly Orchid, and can 

 be grown either on a block or in a small pan or basket, in which it 

 should be securely fixed. It is a compact growing plant and the flower 

 spikes, which are long and slender, are produced from the base of the 

 last pseudobulb and the flower at its apex, one following the other in 

 succession for several years, so that the old spikes should never be cut 

 away unless the plant gets into a weak condition. 



Plants may be purchased for about 4s. to os. per leading bulb, and 

 newly imported plants may be purchased with highly satisfactory 

 results. 



PHAIUS GRANDIFOLIUS/ From the East Indies. 



This is an excellent old Warm-house terrestrial Orchid and is to be 

 found in most gardens of note. The compost most suitable being 

 fibrous loam and lumpy peat in equal parts, adding a little coarse sand 

 and broken charcoal, and when repotting is necessary it should be done 

 immediately after flowering in February or March, following the 

 directions given for Cymbidium eburneum (see page 103), and watering 

 only when dry. It should be grown in pots placed on the stage on the 

 shady side of the house, and as this species is subject to attacks from 

 yellow thrip, tobacco powder should be dusted well into the axils of the 

 new growth in order to dislodge or destroy the insects. 



Good plants should be bought at from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per strong 

 leading growth. 



