368 THE ORCHID REVIEW. 
Pleiones should be repotted as soon as the flowers are past, as root action 
commences at once. Well-drained pans or baskets should be used, and 
chopped peat and sphagnum moss, with a liberal addition of coarse sand, is 
a capital compost. The pseudobulbs, after having been freed from useless 
matter, should be dibbled in at a distance of about an inch apart. The 
compost should be made moderately firm, and after being surfaced over with 
sphagnum moss between the bulbs the pans should be suspended in an airy 
cold house, such as where Dendrobiums are resting. Should any of the 
bulbs become loose they must be promptly secured, so that the new roots 
on pushing out may take hold firmly. Keep the compost slightly moist 
only. 
When newly imported Orchids are purchased it generally happens that 
there are many ill-shaped specimens amongst them, and if potted up just as 
they are would make anything but handsome plants. An enormous quantity 
of that beautiful Dendrobium Phalznopsis has recently gone under the 
hammer, or been otherwise distributed. The pseudobulbs are remarkable 
for stoutness and great length, otherwise the plant is a compact grower and 
rarely require remodelling. It simply requires to be made secure in small 
pans or baskets, and placed in the warmest house. It is an Orchid that 
delights in plenty of warmth at all times. Such plants, on the other hand, 
as Oncidium crispum, Cattleya Harrisoniana, and others having a more 
creeping rhizome, are sometimes imported in huge clumps, shaped like the 
tree or rock from which they were collected. The average inexperienced 
grower is apt to be fearful to separate the mass, and selects a piece of wood 
on which he fastens the plant, afterwards either suspending the block or 
fixing it upright in a pot. This is very bad practice; for although growth 
may be free for a time it is not for long, and when afterwards the plant is 
repotted it rarely ever grows well again, not nearly so well as those which 
are re-modelled in the first instance, so that the compost is well up to the 
leading growths, for the new roots to enter direct. In remodelling a plant 
the various portions should be placed together so as to form a well-shaped 
and pleasing specimen. 
Habenaria militaris and H. carnea should now occupy a position on a 
shelf, or be suspended in a warm house, where they will rest and the stem 
gradually die down. They must be kept moderately dry or the tubers will 
rot. On the other hand, if allowed to remain dust dry too long the tubers 
will shrivel up, and therefore enough water should be supplied to keep them 
plump. For the successful culture of these charming little Orchids we are 
greatly indebted to Mr. W. H. White, grower to Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., 
who placed before the readers of the OrcHID REVIEW, for the month of 
March of last year, a detailed article upon their culture (Vol. I. p. 83). In 
early spring activity again sets in, when the tubers should be repotted. It 
_ Seems probable that with Habenarias a fertile field is open to the hybridist. 
