258 : THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
grew freely. But I never heard any more about it. I remember, however, 
that in this case the question of accessibility came in, for the willow 
roots had to be cut regularly to prevent them from choking a small stream. 
Not long ago also I remember someone pointing out that certain Orchids 
for which yellow fibrous loam was supposed to be the correct thing would 
grow equally well in black peat, andI think he asked, ‘‘ What, after all, is 
the difference? One is yellow and the other black.” Indeed one is 
almost inclined to ask, ‘‘ What’s in a compost ?”” and to wonder whether an 
Orchid would not grow in any compost, provided that the treatment was 
correct in every other respect. 
But I believe that there is something in the question of compost, just as 
there is something in the requirements of a plant, or in its likes and 
dislikes, or the way in which it has adapted itself to the conditions under 
which Nature has placed it until those conditions become essential almost 
to its very existence—whichever way you may prefer to have so perfectly 
obvious a fact stated. True, it is sometimes difficult to find out what are 
the requirements of certain plants, because they seem to thrive under 
apparently quite diverse conditions—and if so, so much the better for the 
grower, unless he takes too great liberties with them, when he will soon find 
out that they have requirements, which cannot be neglected with impunity. 
But some Orchids are much more exacting, and the grower has sometimes 
a great difficulty in finding out what their requirements are, and how to 
supply them. And in the case of these exacting Orchids the difficulties, 
sometimes, at all events, come under the heading of compost. 
A compost usually serves two or three different purposes. First it forms 
a kind of foot-hold for the plant—a medium to which it can anchor itself by 
means of its roots—and it provides the great food supply of the plant. It 
also serves by its texture and composition to regulate the amount of mois- 
ture supplied to the roots. In the case of humus-loving plants—under 
which heading the great majority of Orchids must be included—the 
food supply is obtained from the gradual decay of the vegetable materials 
in the compost. Should the decay be too slow, the food supply may be 
deficient, but if too rapid it may be exhausted too soon, or part of it may 
get down and choke the drainage, rendering the remainder water-logged and 
sour, so that the roots of the Orchid may decay, and the plant suffer in 
consequence. This latter seems to be the chief danger to be apprehended 
from the use of leaf-mould, but if this material furnishes a ready source of 
the necessary food supply, our growers will certainly be able to overcome 
the mechanical difficulties involved, either by mixing it with some slowly 
