﻿April, I9 o 4 .] 



THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



method of preparation is to store them together in a heap, placing them on- 

 some substance which will prevent worms reaching them : a cement floor 

 is the best, but boards will do. This heap is left in the open for about 

 three to four months, being occasionally turned over in order to prevent 

 fermentation, and then it is removed into a potting shed. When dry it is 

 cut up by machine — we have adapted an old lawn mower for this purpose — 

 the result being a material consisting of small dry pieces of leaves, of about 

 the size of a threepenny piece. With the addition of some fine sand, it is 

 then ready for use. 



I cannot insist too strongly that the method of preparing the material 

 should ensure absence of worms ; their presence in the soil is fatal to good 

 culture. 



Consisting as it does of half decayed leaves, the material is of a very 

 springy nature: therefore in potting the plants it must be pressed firmly 

 into the pots : otherwise, as it decays, it subsides too much, to the 

 detriment of the plants' welfare. A thick covering of moss is most 

 essential ; for pots I use it about two inches in depth, and care should be 

 taken that the moss is put in fairly tight ; for pans it need not be so deep. 



As a rule, plants should be repotted every two years : still, I have had 

 some plants doing well which have been left longer. One which I have at 

 present must have been five years in the same soil. It is a fine specimen 

 of Lselio-cattleya X elegans. When I purchased it, it had evidently been 

 potted about two years, but it was not ready for the operation, and after- 

 wards the bulb made such a good giowth that I left it alone, and it has 

 gone on ever since exceedingly well ; of course the watering had to be very 

 carefully attended to. The bulb made in 1902 measured 11 inches, or 

 including the leaf ift. nin. The 1903 bulb measures 18 inches, or 

 including the leaf, 2ft. 6|in. But the plant is now over the pot, and must 

 be repotted this year. This, however, is a very exceptional case. 



Now as to the treatment of the plant after potting : let me say, with the 

 greatest emphasis possible, that the cardinal point in leaf-mould culture is 

 the watering. In my opinion, for those who can grow Orchids at all, there 

 is practically no other question to be considered. I am not speaking of 

 those amateurs or those gardeners who kill their Orchids, no matter what 

 potting material is used, but of those who can grow these plants: the 

 whole question of leaf-mould versus peat is— care in watering. 



The plants in the Intermediate house are gone over once a week. 

 Those that look as if they wanted water, get it from a can with a thin 

 spout, and half of this spout is blocked up with wood. Consequently, only 

 a small trickle leaves the can, and when the thick pad of moss is moistened, 

 we go on to the next. The moss is the indicator, and make sure no plant 

 is watered until the moss wants it ; far preferable is it to starve the plant. 



