2 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [FEBRARY, 1907. 
Cypripedium insigne and its many varieties, most of which will now be ' 
out of flower, and should they require re-potting, dividing, or resurfacing, — 
the present month is a most opportune time to carry it out. To get the — 
best results from these it is essential that the compost should be of a 
retentive nature, such as one made up of loam 3 parts, to one part each — 
of peat and leaf soil, mixed together with a fair amount of small crock 
and coarse sand. If the loam is of a very heavy nature some of the soily 
parts should be removed, and each of the soils should be in a nice humid 
state. It is impossible to pot well if the soil is overcharged with moisture. 
The receptacles should be one-third filled with crock and rhizomes, over 
which should be placed some lumps of good fibrous loam, to prevent the — 
fine particles in the compost working down among the drainage. Pot 
moderately firm, keeping the compost low enough to allow of a surfacing 
of chopped sphagnum, the top of the moss being rather below the rim ~ 
of the pot. 
The grower should remember that if a good stock of plants and 
Specimens is to be maintained in full vigour, some of the larger and 
crowded plants should each year be pulled to pieces, and given a fresh 
Start. When a few are thus treated annually there are always some that 
only require potting-on to take the place of the ones broken off; in fact 
they should go in stages till they get to the top. When they become very 
overcrowded in the centre, even if it is possible to pot them on, the centre 
portions get little benefit from the new material, and they soon show a 
deterioration in the quality of the flowers, so that when it is desirable that 
the same plant should remain as a specimen, it should be carefully pulled 
to pieces and remade, using the outer portions of the plant ; the centre 
may thus be broken up into smaller pieces and potted into small pots for 
stock. In re-making a specimen, so place the pieces that they each have 
room for development centrewards as well as outwards, and then it will go for 
two or three years without disturbance, beyond an annual resurfacing. All 
plants that do not require repotting will be benefited by having the surface 
material removed and replaced with new. We surface with chopped 
sphagnum, and when this is used, resurfacing is very little trouble. 
After potting, watering must be done very carefully indeed. With such 
plants as these, that are known to be very free and easy to cultivate, one is 
apt to think that such care is not necessary, but it is, especially for a month 
or two after they have been. disturbed. I do not mean to say an extra 
watering when they do not need it is going to kill, but it is the highest 
point of culture that we should aim at, and to reach that end every detail 
must be considered from first to last. F requent dampings between the 
pots will be helpful, and if the house is of a dry nature, a light spraying 
on ment days may be given, and as the days lengthen and become brighter 
