THE ORCHID REVIEW. 281 
the plants will be in a resting condition, although actively engaged in 
making a network of new roots which will conduce to their future prosperity. 
Cattleyas, if in good condition, continue the formation of new roots more or 
less throughout the year. 
C. Dowiana aurea will also be represented by a few plants which 
complete their new pseudobulbs early. This most superb species is a great 
favourite with all Orchidists. It is a species of easy culture, if treated 
with a reasonable amount of care, otherwise, it may collapse at very short 
notice, it not having such a strong constitution to resist wrong treatment 
as some others of the genus. It likes a good amount of heat during the 
growing season, which means that it is best accommodated in baskets or 
pans, so as to admit of its being suspended from the roof of the house, 
a position well known to afford more heat in summer than the ordinary 
plant stages. Italso likes a plentiful supply of water when growing, but, 
when resting during the winter, very little indeed is required, and here 
again we have the advantage of suspending the plant, as it is then less 
likely to receive water when not required ; and this does sometimes happen 
to plants on the stages, either wilfully or accidentally. When perfectly dry 
and at rest, the temperature may fall as low as 50°, but it is unwise to let it 
go lower, unless for extremely short periods, or the germs of a disease may 
be sown which generally appears soon after the plant commences to grow 
during the following spring, in the form of a black rot or decay. When a 
plant is stricken with this disease, goodbye can pretty safely be said to it. 
Cattleya superba, C. Lueddemanniana (speciosissima), and C. Eldorado 
are all subject to the same black rot, the cause of which I attribute to faulty 
winter treatment—the plants having been kept either too wet or too cold, 
and in all probability both. The two last-named are flowering at their best 
just now, and are both handsome kinds and well worth growing, forming as 
they do a substantial backbone to what would otherwise be a sparse show 
of bloom. They require exactly similar treatment to C. Dowiana. Of 
other Cattleyas in bloom this month I may mention C. Harrisoniana and 
the closely allied C. Loddigesii, C. Leopoldi, C. bicolor, and C. granulosa ; 
all very pretty and useful species, growing well in the general conditions 
afforded by a well regulated Cattleya house. Nor must we forget the time- 
honoured old Orchids, Lelia crispa and L. Boothiana, never so free to 
bloom as L. purpurata, yet exceedingly chaste and pretty. It may be 
remarked that these two species generally appear to flower best when 
seeming to be badly cared for. I mean to say when looking in a yellow, 
somewhat shrivelled, and rambling growing condition, all more or less 
offending to the eye of the Orchidist. Nevertheless, it is a fact worthy of a 
little consideration, and may serve as a useful lesson in the subject of 
uncalled-for root disturbance, or of over-indulgence in shade or moisture 
