146 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
quantity of its sound roots will allow, for over-potting is most injurious to 
these plants, as it is to most, if not all, Orchids. Broken limestone is used 
instead of the ordinary earthenware crocks, and the plant really grows on 
this rocky base, for its rhizomes are placed in contact with the stone, and 
its roots built into the rockwork, until the pot is completely filled with 
stone from the bottom to the rim of the pot. Only a very small quantity 
of the most fibrous loam is used to surface the pot and to wedge the plant 
and loose stones firmly in their positions. This loam can have no 
appreciable influence on the growth of the plant, owing to its being so small 
in quantity. The plant lives and grows mostly on atmospheric moisture, 
and also on the moisture absorbed by the pot, and the limestone, whenever 
the pot is dipped. This dipping is most carefully done, and only when the 
condition of the pot shows that the plant requires it, the greatest possible 
care being taken not to immerse the axils of the leaves or to allow the 
slightest moisture to lodge in any of the growths, young or old, or they will 
certainly rot off. 
“I possess about one hundred plants of this section, large and small. 
They are not newly-purchased, but have all been in my collection for several 
years, and have never got into a bad state of health, as is often the case. 
“My plants are grown in two houses, with the other heat-loving 
Cypripedes—the one a lean-to facing east, and the other a span-roof with 
an east and west exposure, and they seem to grow equally well in either 
house. The temperatures of both houses are practically identical. The 
winter temperature, by pipe heat alone, is kept as nearly 65° Fahr., as a 
maximum, by day, and 60° to 62°, as a minimum, at night. In summer 
the maximum temperature, from pipe heat, is raised to 70° by day and 65° 
at night, bnt during the warm and sunny weather the maximum day 
temperature is often 80°, in spite of double blinds and the freest possible 
ventilation. 
“In conclusion, I may remark that growers of these lovely Cypripedes, 
as a rule, destroy their plants by over-watering, careless watering, and by 
want of attention to the atmosphere in which their plants live. Moisture 
is certainly necessary for the growth of all Orchids, but more Orchids are 
destroyed from an over-supply than from the want of it.” 
The photograph certainly shows the plant to be in robust health, and 
when thus grown it is one of the most beautiful species in the genus. A 
few of the lower leaves have been omitted from the reproduction, and it 
may also be added that the photograph has been rather over-exposed, in 
order to bring out better the details of the flower. 
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