2 S 8 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



decaying vegetable matter in some form or other, is indispensable to the 

 cultivator, but other ingredients are also requisite, and the compost should 

 be varied to suit the requirements of the different subjects. 



A note just published in the Journal of Horticulture (page 169), on the 

 use of liquid manure for Orchids, under the signature " A.," recalls the 

 discussion which we had some time ago on the subject, and also the recent 

 remarks on the use of manurial fertilisers in America (ante, pp. 165-168), 

 which a correspondent alludes to as sufficient to make one's flesh creep. 

 But after all it is only a question of nourishment, and Mr. Lager very well 

 points out that some of the natural supplies of food are cut off when a plant 

 is brought into an Orchid house, potted in peat and moss— which contain 

 but little food — and watered with clean water only. " Orchids," he remarks, 

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

 grow." And his remarks on Orchids in their native habitats— and he has 

 had good opportunities for observing— afford food for reflection. It may 

 be interesting to give the remarks of "A" above alluded to. 



"Liquid manure," he observes, "is not generally given to Orchids, but 

 it is a question if great numbers would not be benefited if it were. Peat 

 is too much used, under the mistaken impression that it yields something 

 beneficial to the plants. We do not say that peat should never be used in 

 Orchid culture, for we know that great numbers require such material, but we 

 feel assured from experience that great numbers would be much better without. 

 All Orchid growers admit that decaying peat is an evil, but few seem to 

 understand that only decaying material can yield plant food. A friend, 

 who has on more than one occasion brought plants from the East Indies 

 and elsewhere, tells us that all the good roots he had seen on Orchid plants 

 in the wild state were either attached to fresh hard bark, or growing among 

 living vegetation, or dangling in the air. He also assures us that many, or 

 most of the kinds which grow on trees, are fed with liquid manure naturally. 

 He has almost invariably found the branches of the trees bespattered, often 

 plentifully, with the excreta of birds and mammals. This is washed by 

 rain within reach of the roots of the Orchids, and we cannot doubt that 

 they are thereby benefited. Is not this a hint worth thinking about? 

 Orchids, however, are not to be tampered with, but we are sure that weak 

 liquid manure applied to those plants which have filled their pots or baskets 

 completely with healthy roots helps them greatly, as in the case of Cypri- 

 pedium insigne and many others." 



I have no doubt that " A," is right, and the two most important things to 

 find out are what to apply and when to apply it ; points which some of 



