TROPICAL ORCHIDACE^E. 295 



mild, the plants should be allowed the full benefit of the 

 open air, 



Tropical Orchidacece. Till within the last few years, 

 the cultivation of epidendrous plants was deemed too difli- 

 eult to be attempted in private establishments, and was 

 resigned to Royal Gardens. A great revolution in this 

 respect has since taken place ; epiphytes being now exten- 

 sively cultivated. The collection of such plants in the 

 principal nursery gardens near London is vast, particularly 

 at those of Loddiges, Hackney Rollisons, Tooting 

 Knight, Chelsea and Low, Clapton. Some amateur cul- 

 tivators eminently excel in them ; such as the Duke of 

 Devonshire at Chatsworth, where Mr. Paxton presides ; 

 Earl Fitzwilliam at Wentworth, where Mr. Cooper is gar- 

 dener ; Mr. Bateman at Knypersley, and Mr. Kucker at 

 Wandsworth. More than 1000 species of epiphytes are 

 now in cultivation. They are all tropical productions, and, 

 of course, need stove-heat in this country ; but those from 

 the East Indies require a higher temperature and more hu- 

 mid atmosphere than those from South America. In Scot- 

 land, the cultivation of tropical epiphytes is carried to 

 great perfection at the Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh and 

 Glasgow, and also at the Experimental Garden of the Cal- 

 edonian Horticultural Society. Edinburgh ; and the prac- 

 tices followed in these establishments are here recommend- 

 ed. In some private gardens, likewise, such epiphytes are 

 grown with great success ; particularly at Dalkeith Park ; 

 under Mr. Mackintosh, and Bothwell Castle, under Mr. 

 Turnbull. It has now been fully ascertained by exten- 

 sive experience, that their cultivation is not nearly so diffi- 

 cult as was formerly supposed. When pots or shallow pans 

 are used, they should be well furnished at bottom with 

 shivers, or broken bricks or tiles, to drain off superfluous 



