168 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [JUNE, 1907. 
C@LIA MACROSTACHYA.—As soon as the growths have made a good 
start is the season when potting or surface renewal should be done, using a 
compost of two parts good loam to one part each of peat and leaf soil. 
_ Give a fair drainage, and pot firmly. A position in the Cool intermediate 
house is very suitable. During active growth copious supplies of water 
should be given, and at no season should this species be allowed to remain 
in a dry condition. Perhaps this could scarcely be called a showy Orchid, 
yet when a good specimen is seen carrying many spikes, two feet or more in 
height, of its pretty rosy-red flowers, it has a beauty of its own, and is well 
worth its room. 
CyYPRIPEDIUM niveum, bellatulum, concolor, and Godefroye will now be 
passing out of flower, and should be overhauled, potting those that have 
become loose and those that have got in a sour state. Any that do not 
require potting will be benefited by having some of the surface material 
removed, and new added. Speaking generally these are difficult Orchids to 
keep in vigorous health. I believe most failures can be attributed to keep- ‘ 
ing them much too dry, and potting them in shallow pans in light material. 4 
Yet from tine to time one meets with successes brought about by quite 
different means, so that what may be the correct way in a place that has 
a high elevation may be quite wrong in a low and damp situation. The 
compost used by us consists of two parts good loam, retaining all the fine 
particles, to one part peat, mixed with some sand and small crocks. 
Ordinary pots, provided with holes for suspending, are preferable to 
pans, as they give greater depth; an important point, as the roots like to 
strike down. Before starting to pot have at hand a good supply of pieces 
of soft red brick, broken to about the size of walnuts and less. Place one 
or two pieces over the bottom, then let the roots go down as straight as 
possible, and build up around them with the pieces of brick and compost, — 
the surface being finished off with the compost only. My experience has a 
been that surfacing with sphagnum is very detrimental. . 
When potted thus water will have a very free passage; in fact we find — 
it nearly impossible to get them too wet, but the important point is to see 
they never become dry. 
We suspend ours in the Cattleya house, over the path, where they can 
be easily watered and syringed. I know it will seem strange to many tO 
treat them in this way, and my advice to anyone who is now growing them 
successfully on some other principle is to stick to it, but to those who have 
found difficulty in maintaining them in health try a few at any rate on this 
system. When dealing with varieties that have always died after they have 
been in this country a few years, I am a strong believer in trying to find a 
new way of killing them, on the chance that we may learn how to grow 
them. It gets rather monotonous seeing them die the same way every times 
