228 THE ‘ORCHID REVIEW. [AUGUST, I910. 
stand in saucers, and, after watering, I let them soak like C. bellatulum for 
about 20 minutes. 
More than 2 years ago I had a 4in. pot containing four growths of C. 
Curtisii which had then been at a standstill for a year. I repotted, using a 
6in. pot with about 2in. of mortar drainage, in a compost of loam and . 
polypodium fibre, 3 parts each, leaves, lumps of crock and sand 1 part each. 
A good many lumps of mortar were worked in with the compost, and one 
large lump placed centrally and near the surface, separated the growths. 
The plant is now in splendid condition, and has fourteen blooms. For 
about eighteen months past this pot has stood in a saucer, and I usually 
water the surface of the compost until the saucer is nearly full, and the 
plant stands in the saucer until it has used up the water (about 50z.), 
usually in three or four days time, when it is again watered or a little water 
is poured into. the saucer instead. 
Whenever it is possible I pot Cypripedes in a close imitation of the 
material in which the plant is found growing naturally. Unfortunately 
there is a lack of information as to the materials in which many grow. The 
Cypripedes for which I do not know the natural treatment I divide provision- 
ally, and for horticultural purposes only, into Rock growers and Epiphytes, 
with possibly another class. A liking for limestone seems to run through 
the whole group; the bellatulum section, Charlesworthii, Spicerianum 
(probably), Sanderianum (possibly), Phragmopedilum caudatum, and 
Cypripedium Calceolus, the only British representative of the group, are all 
found on limestone. There is limestone in Burma, and I am told that 
there is limestone over a considerable portion of the Himalayas up to 4,000 
feet. I believe that limestone occurs in many parts of the Malay Peninsula 
and on Mount Kina Balu in Borneo. I learn, too, from one who has been 
in Bhutan, the home of C. Fairrieanum, that there are many limestone 
mountains and hills in that country. My informant observed no gneiss (cf. 
O.R., xiii. 301). In all these places Cypripedes are found, and I believe, 
therefore, that limestone or mortar may be used with some hope of success 
for many Cypripedes of which the natural rooting medium is unknown. 
Probably many of the Rock-growing Cypripedes root in clefts or cracks 
of the rock, with but little natural compost round the roots. We shall best 
imitate these conditions by a free use of lumps of mortar or limestone in 
the compost, and liberal drainage of the same material to a depth of } to 4 
that of the pot. The softer part of the compost may consist of chalk marl, 
loam, or some fibrous material, such as peat, polypodium or Osmunda fibre 
with some loam or leaf mould or both. Mortar is a good material for 
drainage, &c., as it takes up a large amount of water in a short time, and 
seems to part with this absorbed water rather slowly, thus keeping the air 
in the drainage and compost moist to some extent. 
