and Management of Orchidaceous Plants. 555 



weeks, and must be succeeded by a fresh supply of tan, a fresh 

 shifting and tumbling of pots and plants, or what is too often 

 the case, the tan is not renewed for months, or till it is swarming 

 with worms. It is then in a damp, cold, disagreeable state, fit 

 for nothing but to destroy such of the roots as find their way 

 outside the pots. I have witnessed this system, such as I have 

 described it, in a large establishment near London, once cele- 

 brated for growing Orchidaceae, where nothing but the active 

 perseverance of the superintendant kept the whole thing from 

 falling into a perfect wreck ; and, after all his ingenuity, many of 

 the species disappeared, or were removed, in consequence of 

 their being unfit to be seen by visitors. I must qualify these 

 observations, however, by stating my firm belief, that if a proper 

 system of bottom heat by hot water were adopted, where a uni- 

 form temperature could be kept up without disturbing the plants 

 during their growing season, it would be of the greatest advan- 

 tage, and far preferable to our present system, at least for young 

 plants ; but in that case, also, I would use no pots. I would 

 have all my plants in flat-bottomed copper-wire baskets, placed 

 on the tops of pots plunged in some imperishable medium over 

 the hot-water pipes, the pots acting as so many chimneys dis- 

 charging the hot vapour arising from the pipes, and through 

 which water might be poured down occasionally, to raise the 

 vapour. 



In the paper alluded to above, I noticed how I grew some of 

 the species on forked sticks. Mr. Fortune adopts the same 

 system at the Horticultural Society's garden, with stanhopeas, 

 and such like plants, and with perfect success. Copper-wire 

 baskets, or baskets made of iron wire, and painted with anti- 

 corrosive paint, when properly constructed, are quite as handy 

 for stages and shelves as garden pots, and may be hung up at 

 pleasure. These are the sorts of things to grow these plants in 

 to the greatest perfection, and with the least possible attention. 

 Most kinds of baskets now in use are liable to the same objec- 

 tion as pots ; that is, they are too narrow and too deep, which 

 causes the turf with which they are filled to turn sodden in the 

 heart, and this rots the roots as fast as they get hold of it. 

 Baskets ought to be very shallow, and wide in proportion to the 

 size of the plant : 6 in. deep is sufficient for any orchidaceous 

 plant which I know. The general size should be from 3 in. to 

 4 in. deep, and from 6 in. upwards in diameter, the bottoms 

 nearly as wide as the tops. To fill a basket, cut your turf 2 in. 

 or 3 in. wide, and as deep as your basket; place these pieces on 

 their ends round the inside of the basket, just as a cooper would 

 put up an orange tub, the pieces of turf representing the staves 

 of the tub. These are not to be put quite close together. The 

 bottom is then to be laid over with pieces of the same turf, and 



P P 2 



