THE ORCHID REVIEW. ast 
not fumigate these plants for some time after being disturbed, or it may 
cause them to lose their oldest leaves. 
The question of manure for Orchids has never been satisfactorily settled 
yet, and the little experience I have had with it does not warrant me in 
offering an opinion on the subject, excepting that I would prefer some one 
else trying the experiment. It is a fairly general custom to sprinkle the 
floors and spaces under the stages with liquid farmyard manure, and, given 
the requisite degree of faith, no doubt a certain amount of benefit accrues 
from such a practice. For various and obvious reasons this powerful, if not 
aromatic, liquid should be thrown down at nightfall, when there is least air 
on the houses, so that if there are any volatile manurial properties evolved, 
they may not be carried away from the reach of the plants too soon. A 
mixture in which I have a certain amount of faith is composed of one half 
slaked lime and one half of fresh new soot, which, when well mixed together, 
gives off a small quantity of ammonia which contains the much needed 
nitrogen. This mixture may be scattered about on the ashes under the 
stages about once a week, or it may be kept in large pots. Good native 
guano also gives off ammoniacal gases calculated by some to be beneficial 
to Orchids, and it certainly is one of the safest to use, so long as it is kept 
out of the water tanks. To apply artificial manures directly to the plants 
is, to say the least, a very unwise proceeding, and if any must be given, it 
should always be used in infinitesimal quantities to begin with, dissolved in 
rain-water. For terrestrial Orchids, the best and safest manure to use is 
that obtained from the cowsheds and stables mixed, taking the same 
precaution with this as with the other, and always using it in very limited 
quantities. 
THE VALUE OF A WHITE ORCHID.—ALLEGED BREACH 
OF WARRANTY. 
OrcHID growers will be interested in an action brought before His 
Honour, Judge Parry, at the Manchester County Court this morning. 
Mr. Elijah Ashworth, Harefield Hall, Wilmslow, brought an action against 
Mr. Matthew Wells, of Sale, for £50 damages with respect of a breach of 
warranty as to the nature of an Orchid. In June, 1895, the plaintiff 
purchased from the well-known Bloomfield collection an Orchid, catalogued 
as ‘Cattleya Aclandiz alba, seven bulbs, three leaves, the only known 
plant.” The evidence for the plaintiff, given by experienced cultivators of 
this rare plant, including Dr. Hodgkinson, Mr. G. S. Ball, solicitor, 
Mr. James Anderson, Rusholme, Mr. A. J. Keeling, Bradford, Mr. R. 
Johnson, Stand Hall, Whitefield, was that if the Orchid had been an 
