i 12 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



the cultivation of Orchidaceous plants." We also find an 

 by C. W. on Cypripedium insigne :— " Allow me to call the a 

 your readers to a plant calculated to ornament the drawing-room during 

 the cheerless winter's gloom, and one so easily managed as to be within 

 the reach of most persons possessing only a limited garden. I allude to 

 the Cypripedium insigne. On the ist of December [1841] I placed eight 

 plants in the drawing room : there they revelled in the greatest luxuriance 

 for three successive months, and when taken out in March were as fresh 

 and vigorous as the day they were put in." 

 (To be continued.) 



CULTURE OF ORCHIDS IN SPHAGNUM. 



th the remark at page 76, that M. J. Linden used to 

 cultivate his Orchids in living sphagnum, it may be interesting to know 

 when and by whom sphagnum moss was first used as a potting material for 

 Orchids. In the very first number of the Gardeners' Chronicle (issued 

 January 2nd, 1841), we find at page 8 a Calendar of the week's operations, 

 signed by Joseph Paxton, Chatsworth, in which the following occurs :— 



" Stoves.— Re-pot Orchidaceous plants as they become dry enough 

 for removal. Bog-moss (sphagnum) will be found the best material to pot 

 them in, except the kinds which require raising above the pots, as 

 Stanhopeas, for which peat must be used ; give air and water according to 

 the state of the weather." 



On March 6th following, we find further details on the subject (page 

 153), as follows: — 



" S. inquires what kind of Orchidaceous plants Mr. Paxton pots in 

 sphagnum, as alluded to at page 8. Mr. Paxton's answer is the 

 following : — ' It is now about twelve months since I commenced using 

 sphagnum for Orchidaceae ; since then, in consequence of the plants thriving 

 excessively in it, I have been gradually adopting it for various kinds, and in 

 every case with benefit. Even Stanhopeas, Gongoras, and others having 

 pendulous flowers, and which it is the practice to build above the pots, I 

 would recommend to be planted in wire baskets, and suspended in 

 preference. In potting with this moss, the plants may be elevated con- 

 siderably above the surface of the pots, by which means the principal mass 

 of roots is prevented from adhering to its porous sides, and saved from 

 injury in shifting. In a word, I recommend sphagnum, mixed with 

 potsherds, in preference to anything I have hitherto seen used for the 

 growth of Orchidaceae.' " 



It would thus appear that the practice originated with Mr. Paxton, in 

 the collection of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chatsworth, in 1840. 



