12 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JANUARY, I9T1. 
have covered the mossy wall with a network of roots. The plants on the 
shelf below comprise Lzliocattleyas and Brassavola crosses, all approaching 
flowering size, and which get little shade at any time. These I grow in 
osmunda fibre, with a handful of oak leaves added, and a little sphagnum 
moss on the surface of the compost. I find repotting every alternate 
year beneficial, as it keeps them always on the move, an important factor 
in the healthy growth of hybrids, which take little rest. During the 
growing season they receive abundance of water, and only in winter are 
they watered sparingly, on dull cold days. Hybrid Orchids will not stand 
drying off, as is practised with the species. If these Orchids have several 
bulbs of good size, and which are healthy, I cut through the rhizome, 
usually in March, leaving two bulbs to support the lead. In this way 
any that have dormant eyes start into growth, and in two seasons 
produce flowering-sized bulbs. 
On wires stretched along the end of the house over the glass, I have 
many Orchids suspended. These comprise Dendrobium Wardianum and 
several varieties of nobile, Lelia anceps and Cattleya citrina. I must pause 
here to explain in detail the culture given to this latter species. This 
handsome Orchid has a reputation for deteriorating, but two plants have 
blossomed regularly for the last seven years, and the flowers have not 
become smaller each year, but even larger, especially last season. I grow 
them on teakwood on a kind of cushion of osmunda fibre, with a little 
sphagnum moss, fastening the plant in an inverted position on the wood. A 
teaspoonful of dry guano is added each year to the compost, when the plants 
become active after their period of rest, and this is renewed annually. This 
plant is kept well watered whilst growing, syringed over the foliage, and 
_ never shaded. I think a great mistake made in growing this Orchid is, that 
it is given too low a temperature. My plants get Intermediate house culture, 
and revel in it. 
Below these, on the shelf, are more Leliocattleyas, all approaching 
flowering size, several hybrid Dendrobiums, and a few plants of Odonto- 
glossum grande. With these latter I have had great success, and their — 
culture I will now explain. They are grown in pots, in a mixture of oak 
leaves, polypodium fibre, and sphagnum moss, given abundance of water, 
and little shade throughout the summer, and early in September I give them 
weak doses of liquid cow manure twice a week. The flower spikes are much 
improved by this; as many as seven flowers have been carried on a spike, 
and invariably each lead produces two flower-scapes. Several years ago I 
experimented in feeding this Orchid, and those not fed, although grown side 
by side with those that were, produced ordinary spikes bearing three or four 
flowers ; but those that were fed prodnced six to seven, and the size of the 
flowers was much enlarged. Since this marked improvement has been 
