THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



DIES ORCHIDIANI. 



I commenced my notes for the present year by discussing the Report of the 

 Commission appointed to examine the system of growing Orchids in leaf- 

 mould, and I suggested that the Commission should visit the establishment 

 of M. Delanghe, where the system had long been practised. Curiously 

 enough, a most interesting report on this system appeared in the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle for January nth (page 26), signed, " L. P. De Langhe-Vervaene, 

 St. Gilles, Brussels," which I may be permitted to summarize. 



The author commences by stating that this method of culture was intro- 

 duced by him twelve years ago, and at first met with but scanty support, 

 and it was only after some time, when proofs of the value of the system 

 were forthcoming, that a few growers, after visiting his houses, followed his 

 example. "So simple a plan of cultivating these plants," he remarks, 

 "did not seem feasible. Instead of weighing so important a question, it 

 was negatived a priori, pending fresh developments." Year after year the 

 results were more convincing ; but, oddly enough, the system was still 

 disparaged by those whose business it was to instruct Orchid growers. He 

 goes on to say:—" We did not cease to contend that our system of feeding 

 was more natural, and therefore more acceptable, than those formerly 

 pursued, but our explanations of the value of the leaves, and the abundance 

 of nutritive properties that they contained, were unheeded." 



In 1890 a Congress was held at Paris with the object of determining the 

 cause of the degeneration of Orchids grown under glass, and it was clearly 

 demonstrated that insufficient nutriment was the cause, and the use of 

 artificial manures was suggested as a remedy. Soon afterwards M. L. 

 Chaure, editor of the Moniteur d'Horticole, Paris, hearing of the new 

 method, visited the establishment, and called attention to its utility. After 

 this, many experiments were made, which converted many who were 

 previously averse to the use of leaf-mould, and the system is now largely 

 used in France, and is likely to be adopted in England. 



