68 Gardening in Egypt. 



In the management of a collection of choice 

 tropical plants, something should be known of the 

 habitat and natural conditions, under which the 

 plants usually grow. The few following remarks, 

 gained from practical experience in the cultivation 

 of choice stove plants and orchids in Egypt, may I 

 hope be of some assistance, to the amateur who is 

 desirous of adding to his collection. 



Always use clean pots ; new ones should be first 

 soaked in water before using. It will also be found 

 best after potting to have the old pots washed, and 

 stacked away according to their sizes, so as to be 

 ready for further use. Broken ones should also be 

 washed, as they can be used for drainage, or, as it is 

 technically called, "crocking the pots." New pots 

 usually arrive from the pottery with the hole at the 

 bottom much too small for draining purposes. These 

 should be made larger, and a curved piece of pottery 

 placed over the hole, before the smaller pieces 

 are put in. The native method, however, is to 

 put one stone at the bottom, and this invariably 

 causes the soil to become sour and water-logged, by 

 stopping up the drainage, so that the plant sickens 

 and dies. 



Anthuriums, Philodendrons, and all Aroids should 

 have their pots half-filled with drainage, and a little 

 moss or dried grass, placed over the top of the 

 crocks to prevent the soil from washing down 

 amongst them. Rich, sandy-leaf soil, mixed with 

 chopped sphagnum moss, and a little charcoal, or 

 pottery dust, is an excellent compost for them. The 

 Sphagnum moss can be obtained dry in sacks, from 

 any European nurseryman, and should be steeped in 

 water, and then squeezed out, and cut finely with 

 a pair of scissors. No amateur who cultivates stove 

 plants in Egypt, should be without this moss. 



When potting Aroids, which are one of the best 

 class of plants for an Egyptian glasshouse, see that 

 the crowns are above the rim of the pot, and 

 finish ofT with Sphagnum moss, so that the plants 



