﻿98 



THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



attempt to solve an extremely difficult question by giving the work their 

 active support. The work should be of the greatest utility to every raiser 

 of hybrid Orchids, and what Orchid grower is not also a raiser now-a-days ? 



I have watched the controversy respecting the use of leaf-mould with a 

 great deal of interest, and am astonished at the utterly contradictory views 

 expressed by these who have tried it. The notes given at pages 89 and go 

 of your last issue are very good examples of this, but the net result can 

 scarcely be called satisfactory. I have just come across some further notes 

 of the discussion before the New York Horticultural Society (A mer. Gard., 

 1904, p. 132), which it may be interesting to reproduce, as it is difficult to 

 condense them further. They are entitled " Food for Orchids," and are as 

 follows :— 



" It will be well to burst the leaf-mould bubble, and relegate it to the 

 place where ' Jadoo ' gracefully reposes. We have tried the leaf-mould 

 carefully, and were at the time anxious to get all there was in it— for the 

 plants. They were tried in it for nearly a year, but before the end of that 

 period it was seen to be very injurious ; the plants had all ' wet feet,' the 

 compost having decomposed so rapidly as to wash down among them, and 

 clog the drainage. This very nearly finished the plants ; many have not 

 yet recovered, but all suffered, as did the Cattleyas tried in similar 



" It must not be imagined that these trials were made in a haphazard 

 manner. All potting and subsequent watering was done with my own 

 hands — and with judgment — with the result that nothing is now used but 

 Osmunda root fibre, and there is no better material to be had. 



" There is altogether too much stress placed upon the ' component 

 parts ' of a compost for Orchids. Cultivators have yet to be weaned from 

 the idea that seems all-pervading, that the roots take up from the potting 

 medium food for their sustenance as do other classes of terrestrial plants. 

 The only instance that memory brings is of the grower who planted 

 Orchids in some mechanical substance, such as asbestos, and by judicious 

 watering with plant foods in the liquid states, attained surprising results. 

 The great value of our Osmunda root lies in its indestructibility, remaining a 

 sweet and healthy rooting medium for years. It is said to be rich in 

 potash, but this is very slowly available, not nearly sufficiently rapid to 

 sustain the plants during growth, to say nothing of the drain upon their 

 vitality during the flowering season. 



" Hence, we were forced to the conclusion that something was lacking ; 

 that the tens of thousands of Orchids imported were being literally starved 

 to death, for it may be pretty surely understood that though air plants, air 

 alone will not feed them, and being air plants, soil will not feed them. 



