THE ORCHID REVIEW. 165 



CULTURE OF ORCHIDS IN LEAF-MOULD. 



Mr. John E. Lager, of the firm of Lager & Hurrell, has made an interest- 

 ing contribution to the above subject, in a recent issue of the Florist's 

 Exchange. A previous writer had strongly advocated the necessity of 

 feeding Orchids, and Mr. Lager remarks that they have practised it for 

 several years with great success, and he is glad to see that others are 

 beginning to realise how necessary feeding is if one wishes to prolong the 

 life of these plants, and make them not merely exist, but grow with 

 luxuriance. The use of leaf-mould exclusively he thinks answers the 

 purpose in Europe, but he doubts if it will ever fill the bill in America. 

 The light is much more intense than in Europe, and the sun, even in 

 winter, is very strong. The result is, more activity on the part of the 

 plants all the year round, and, in order to hold their own, and grow, feeding 

 is absolutely necessary. The strong light and sun mean a greater quantity 

 of water at the roots and overhead, and to supply this the hose is generally 

 used, labour being too expensive to allow of the use of water pots, and the 

 watering of plants here and there that happen to be dry. And with the 

 other method the water supplied would not be half enough under the 

 climatic conditions. They have to use plenty of water, with the result 

 that the leaf-mould in a very short time becomes sour, and the plants lose 

 ground, while the roots rot. 



"We have tried several kinds of epiphytal Orchids," he remarks, 

 " notably Cattleyas and Laelias, in leaf-mould, and invariably we have had 

 to shake the plants out of the compost, and repot in fibrous peat or 

 sphagnum, after which we supply the food in liquid form principally. We 

 go one better in giving nourishment to our Orchids, inasmuch as we give 

 them a variety of different manures (principally in liquid form), and they 

 enjoy it, to say the least ; in fact, I have failed to find anything they do 

 not like, providing, of course, that common sense is used, and the fertilisers 

 prepared or cured in such a way as to remove rankness or possible acids. 

 Orchids are like human beings, the more variety of food they get the 

 better they grow. 



"In connection with this, it might be of interest to take a look at 

 these plants, where and how they grow in the tropics. Treating exclusively 

 of epiphytes, we find them growing on live trees, notably on Quercus, 

 Cinchonas, and Melastomaceous trees (at least in the Western Hemisphere), 

 most frequently on the naked bark of the trees ; at other times in the 

 crutches of the trees or on the branches, where not only leaves, but a 

 great number of bugs, worms, insects, and animals of all kinds accumulate, 

 the latter thus forming, probably, just as much a part of the nourishment 

 as the leaves. I never saw a plant taken off a tree but what there were 



