374 



CASSBLL'S POPULAR GAKDENING. 



to select as cuttings are the young shoots produced 

 on old ripened plants, when placed in a moist, warm 

 house. If taken ofE with a heel and placed in pots 

 of sand in a propagating-frame, these cuttings root 

 much more finely than cuttings of stronger and riper 

 growth. A prepared cutting is shown along with 

 one of Pelargoniums at Figs. 11, 12. Finally, it may 

 he said that the cuttings of soft-wooded plants stnke 

 root in a moist cutting-frame or heneath a hell- 

 glass, the temperature in which is hetween 60° and 

 70°, and the atmosphere and medium in which the 

 cuttings are planted sufficiently moist to prevent 

 flagging, and to aflord a proper supply of nourish- 

 ment to the cutting so soon as roots are formed. 



irepentlies. 



— Cuttings of 

 these plants are 

 in most cases not 

 difficult to strike, 

 while a few of 

 them require 

 great care. Early 

 in spring, plants 

 which have he- 

 come leggy must 

 he cut down, and 

 the tops cut into 

 lengths of one or 

 two eyes each, a 

 leaf and an eye 

 heing sufficient 

 to form a plant, 

 should the cut- 

 tings he scarce, 

 although a shoot 

 a foot in length 

 produces roots 

 freely. Examples 



of hoth are shown at Fig. 13. A frame of cocoa- 

 nut fibre, heated to a temperature of 80°, and 

 kept very moist, may be used, the cuttings being 

 planted in the fibre. In this they will produce roots 

 in about six weeks' time. Should a frame be un- 

 obtainable, a fiat pan filled with water and some 2J- 

 inch pots may be used, the pots heing inverted in 

 the water, and the cutting placed with its base 

 through the hole of the pot, but not allowed to 

 touch the water. Over the whole place a large bell- 

 glass, and thus circumstanced, if set in a high stove 

 temperature, the cuttings wUl soon callus and form 

 roots, when they may be potted into peat and sphag- 

 num moss. For such species as N. albo-marginata, N. 

 rajah, and N. sangumea, it will be found safest to half 

 sever the portion intended for a cutting from the 

 parent stem, and tie a bunch of sphagnum mixed with 



sand about the incision ; and if kept continually satu- 

 rated, roots shpuld form in the sphagnum. If severed 

 from the plant at once, cuttings of the above-men- 

 tioned species rarely produce roots. Both cuttings and 

 plants of Nepenthes require an abundance of moisture 

 always. 



OECHIDS. 



BX 'WiLlIAM Hdoh Gowbb. 



Pig. IS.— Nepenthea, shomng both top and inter-node cuttings. 



Oncidium. — This genus is one of the very 

 largest in the whole order ; the name comes from 

 oykos, "a tumour," and refers to the peculiar callosities 



which are found 

 at the base of the 

 labellum. Omci- 

 dium as a genus 

 is very nearly 

 allied to Odonto- 

 glossum; the 

 chief difference 

 is to be found in 

 the column, 

 which is much 

 shorter, and 

 broad at the base, 

 and not narrow 

 as in Odontoglos- 

 sum. As a rule 

 these plants grow 

 at lower eleva- 

 tions than their 

 near allies the 

 Odontoglots, al- 

 though some few 

 species are found 

 at great heights. 

 The larger kinds 

 thrive best under pot-culture, but the smaller ones 

 succeed admirably on blocks of wood ; equal parts of 

 rough peat and sphagnum moss, with a little sharp 

 sand, and some nodules of charcoal form a nice 

 compost for them. Those species which are found 

 at low elevations require the temperature of the 

 Brazilian House, but those from cooler regions 

 should be kept in the Peruvian House. 



0. ampliatum maj'us. — A fine old species, with large 

 roundish compressed pseudo-bulbs, which are apple- 

 green freckled with streaks of red ; leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, fiat, and shining bright green; scape 

 erect, about three feet high, much branched and 

 many-flowered; the lip is large, bi-lobed in front, 

 bright yellow, paler beneath. Spring and early 

 summer. Panama and Guatemala. 



0. aurarittm. — This is a robust-growing plant, with 



