THE ORCHID REVIEW. 173. 
matter of leaf soil versus peat and moss I again urge carefulness. If one 
cannot grow Orchids successfully in the latter it is scarcely possible for him 
to do so in the former, or at least he must not expect it to work wonders. 
or to be the only means necessary for success. The compost employed is 
not the only agent, but atmospheric conditions are possibly the most power- 
ful factor in Orchid growing. Still the compost has a great influence for 
better or worse, and we may yet find the balance in favour of the leaf soil 
or it may prove the reverse. Certainly I have seen grand plants so culti- 
vated—some of them were in the fine collection at Coundon Court. Time 
alone can prove. 
I well remember cocoa-nut fibre refuse being strongly advocated as a 
substitute for peat in Orchid growing, and some growers went so far as to. 
pot up their entire collections in it, before its efficacy was fully proved—an 
act which they afterwards regretted. Then, later, came jadoo fibre, which 
was thought by some to be the correct thing, but its utter failure to oust 
peat was even more signal. Yet I see no reason why ggod Orchids could 
not be grown with either of the above, under the charge of competent 
growers. I have even had Orchids come to me potted in nothing but pure. 
yellow loam, and have kept then so inorder to test them. Knowing the 
requirements of the plants they have of course been watered so as to suit 
this strange compost, with the result that they have done fairly well; one, 
Lycaste aromatica, I may even say has done very well, and is now pro- 
ducing great numbers of flower buds. And yet I do not recommend loam 
for this species. After all, the atmospheric conditions must be the first 
consideration, and the materials for the roots, with due regard paid to 
watering, taking a secondary but still'a most importance place. _I used to 
think there was nothing to equal yellow fibrous loam for Cymbidiums, 
Phaiuses, Sobralias, and such like species, until I grew them equally well in 
all peat (not what we call fibrous Orchid peat) and after all, what is the 
difference ? One is yellow and the other black. [Only ? Ep.] 
No matter how well a collection of Orchids may be grown generally, it 
always happens that there are a number—more or less—that have, through 
some cause or another, become small and weakly, and these, if staged with 
others, often give the whole a rather bad appearance, or tend to do so, 
while at the same time their chance of rapid recovery of strength is not 
great, because so far away from the light. It is a good plan to collect such 
by themselves, giving them a position where their well-being can be 
especially looked after. I find a shelf, if one exist, a capital place for such 
weakly specimens, so that they may be freely syringed, which together with 
access to light and air, brings them back to vigour the more quickly. 
Swinging shelves over paths, and wherever they can be placed without 
unduly robbing other plants of light, are exceptionally handy, not only for 
