28 
(aKa) 
‘The compost suitable for Vandas should be pure sphagnum. We generally 
cultivate them in baskets with plenty of drainage, consisting of broken glass 
and earthenware. When the roots have completely filled the baskets we cut 
the brass-wire which holds the bars together, and detach the lower ones, so 
that the basket is open at the bottom. We then remove the drainage, cut 
away all the dead parts of the roots and stem, replace with fresh sphagnum 
and drainage, and then refasten the bars. 
When these Vandas lose their leaves, it is customary to hide the naked 
parts, which present an ungraceful appearance. We therefore proceed in some- 
thing like the following manner. We detach the wire at the top, and add two 
or three fresh bars on either side, so as to increase the height, and then fill 
up this added portion with fresh sphagnum, which thus hides the naked part 
of the stem. 
On the other hand, if we wish to avoid giving the baskets an increased 
height, we remove some of the bars at the base at the same time as others 
are added at the top. 
The temperature suitable for Vandas during the winter ranges between 
65° and 75° Fahr. Vanda Amesiana, V. Kimballiana and V. coerulea, however, 
succeed best under an appreciably lower temperature. 
(Continued from p. 24.) 
Orchids are less green, have fewer roots, and have much more slender floral stems. The 
Belgian cultivators water much more, and give a less long repose, but especially they give 
more air, and it is chiefly—as M. VAN ImscHooT remarked before me to an English 
gardener—air which ripens our plants. M. Canuzac has also recently drawn a comparison 
between the English and the Belgian gardener. The Belgian gardener is a more zealous 
worker, a most attentive observer of the thousand little matters of detail which the inexpe- 
rienced would consider trifles, but which are really of great importance, he has more 
thought and interest, he varies his methods, has better taste, ‘and he more readily 
adopts novelties, but he has not the patience, the trustworthiness (solidité), or the punctua- 
lity of the English gardener; the latter also knows the names of his plants better, has a 
better manner, is more particular in his dress and appearence; and is, in short, better 
educated. ” 
(The Gardeners’ Chronicle, November 4, 1893.) 
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