THE ORCHID REVIEW. 87 
deeply absorbed in their culture and general welfare, that in time the 
great fascination is to note how this or that plant behaves in a new 
position, or, in other words, to find out the exact conditions necessary 
for the culture of some Orchid which has hitherto baffled all attempts 
to keep it alive for long together, not to mention cultivating it successfully. 
The most experienced and skilful grower has plenty of scope in this 
direction, as there are many old and well-known Orchids which have yet 
to be actually conquered, in addition to strangers which are continually 
arriving. 
Sometimes the best way to treat an Orchid is found out by mere 
accident, but often years pass by, and many experiments are made before 
complete success is attained, when it frequently becomes apparent how 
painstaking we have been to despatch our plants by kindness, or, in other 
? 
words, by “coddling,” or by depriving them in our ignorance of something 
which is essential to their welfare. This, at least, should point the moral 
that a plant should not be allowed to remain in one position if it does not 
grow well. A slight alteration sometimes make a great improvement. 
Let us take the beautiful genus Dendrobium, as few are more useful 
or easy to cultivate. There are some that succeed best in the Cattleya 
house, both during the growing and resting season. These are principally 
those from the east coast of Australia, and amongst them may be mentioned 
D. speciosum, D. Kingianum, D. tetragonum, and D. linguiforme. Then 
there are some which delight in the temperature of the cool house, such 
as D. Jamesianum, D. infundibulum, D. longicornu, D. amcenum, and 
D. Falconeri. When D. Jamesianum is newly imported it is observed 
that the plants grow on branches of trees in their native habitat. And 
this accounts for the general practice of trying to grow them on blocks 
of wood. This system of Orchid culture on blocks of wood usually 
ends in failure, and it is not surprising when we take into considera- 
tion the important differences between the living branches of trees 
and our blocks of wood, which must necessarily be dead; also in the 
natural climatic conditions of their native habitat from those of our glass 
structures. It is possible to grow an Orchid in this manner for a year, 
or perhaps two; then the block decays, and with it the plant. Supposing 
that it were possible to transfer the plants without injury to the roots 
every year to new green blocks of pear, or apple wood, then, no doubt, 
many species would grow better. But this trouble is unnecessary, as 
freshly-gathered sphagnum moss and newly-dug fibrous peat—the nearest 
approach we can get to the natural green wood—answers the purpose 
admirably, for these materials are ‘‘ alive,” and remain so for a considerable 
period, and when spent should be renewed. The plants should be grown in 
small pans or baskets. 
The most healthy plant of Dendrobium Falconeri that I have seen, and 
