62 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



that high degree of heat and moisture which they get in their 

 native localities. .Some varieties do well in pots, if placed 

 merely in cut fibrous peat, mixed with bits of broken flower pots, 

 and well drained at the bottom to remove all stagnant water ; 

 but again there are others whose stems grow downward from the 

 roots, as previously stated, and which can only be placed in an 

 open wire-basket. 



We are not aware that any chemical analysis has been made 

 of the plants to ascertain the proportion of mineral matter they 

 contain. It would seem most likely that this should be very 

 small, for otherwise we should have to believe, which is now 

 deemed an absurdity, that they could get inorganic matter in 

 sublimated form from the atmosphere. Certain it is that the 

 bare roots hung in the air, v.lthuut apparently a particle of soil, 

 will produce flowei*? and new plant germs, and unless we are to 

 believe thai each contains in itself all the inorganic constituents 

 of '"Cjw plants, or is able, by some sort of vital force, to decom- 

 pose enough from smooth blocks of pine or slabs of cork, the 

 question of their growth is an inexplicable mystery. Will not 

 Bome of our best chemists solve the perplexing riddle ? 



