40 ORCHIDS FOR EVERYONE 



there is room for two seasons' growth to develop. When potting 

 is done as soon as the new roots are half an inch or so in length, the 

 plants soon take possession of the new material and re-establish- 

 ment takes place with the least possible risk of check or injury to 

 the plant treated. 



Cattleyas need more light than most Orchids, therefore the 

 shading material need not be so dense as that used for Od^nto- 

 glossums, for instance. Nor is it necessary to maintain such an 

 excessively moist atmosphere for Cattleyas as for East Indian 

 Orchids. If grown in pots Cattleyas and Laelias should be arranged 

 on open staging over a lower stagmg, on which is an abundance of 

 cinders or other moisture holding material. It will also be 

 desirable in many instances to raise many of the plants still higher, 

 on inverted pots, so as to bring them well up to the light. 



Slipshod watering is the bane of Cattleyas. When rooting 

 freely a goodly supply of water is needed, but as active growth 

 ceases for the year, the supply must be correspondingly reduced and 

 very little will be needed from the time the new pseudo-bulb and 

 leaves have fully developed until the flower spikes have made some 

 advance. Most Cattleyas commence new growth, at or soon after 

 the time they flower. ' 



Best Species 



The following are the best for general cultivation, and they 

 are the most useful. Among those not included here, there are 

 some of exquisite beauty, but they do not flower so regularly or so 

 freely or they are not so easily managed. 



C. BowRiNGiANA is a foot or more high and has a pair of leathery 

 leaves at the apex of each stem. Its flowers are among the smallest 

 found in the genus, but they are of a rich rosy purple colour, with 

 a maroon-purple blotch near the apex of the white-throated lip. 



