232 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [Aucust, 1909. 
spikes. Before staging them in their flowering quarters the glass should be 
washed down inside, as when a lot of water has been used during the 
summer the glass always gets dirty. Pots should also be washed, and 
everything be kept as clean as possible. | Dirty pots look bad, and are not 
a help to the plants, although some growers contend that they help to hold 
moisture for the plants. Certainly a dirty pot will not dry out as quickly 
as a clean one, but the plants have not the same chance to keep healthy 
in the former. Clean pots also help to keep down slugs, and although slugs 
do not as a rule bother Cypripediums, yet they get carrried from one house 
to another when moving plants about. 
TEMPERATURES.— By the end of this month the houses will have to be 
more carefully watched at night, as we often get chilly nights, and the 
temperatures should not be allowed to drop suddenly, as often a lot of 
harm will be done before the plants get properly hardened to stand the 
winter well. Damping should be done a little earlier in houses that do not 
dry quickly, to give them a chance to dry before nightfall. Plants do not 
object to moisture condensing on the leaves so long as the temperature does 
not drop below normal. The temperatures should be kept about as follows 
at night, allowing a rise of 5° during the day time with fire heat, or 10° 
with sun heat :— 
Cool house, 55°. 
Intermediate house, 60°. 
Cattleya house, 65°. 
East Indian house, or stove, 70°. 
Of course if we should get warm nights one need not stick to these 
temperatures, but at present there is not much prospect of getting warmer 
weather. These figures are given asa guide for fire heat, if it is needed, and on 
cold nights they should not be allowed to drop below the temperatures given. 
THE OsMuNDA FiprE Funcus.—In some collections a white fungus has 
appeared on the surface of the soil where the above-named fibre has been 
incorporated with the potting mixture. So faras I can gather no harm has 
been done to the plants, and in time it disappears; but still it is rather 
unsightly, and for this reason it should be carefully picked out with a 
pointed stick and burnt. I mention these facts so that any grower using 
Osmunda which has produced this fungus should not condemn it on that 
account, for it is indeed a first-class ingredient for repotting most Orchids, 
and one wonders why it has not been more largely employed as a rooting 
medium hitherto. I have seen a similar fungus (if not exactly the same) on 
peat, which has been traced to bad storage, such as being tightly packed in 
boxes or sacks while in a damp. condition.—T. ANsTiss in Journal of 
Horticulture. 
