HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 69 



original or primitive position. But what we deem in cultivation as essen- 

 tial to the well-being of this class is, that after the plants are placed in 

 proper receivers, they be suspended from the roof of the house, or placed in 

 a position where they will be surrounded by a moderately humid pure at- 

 mosphere, and very slightly shaded. 



As somewhat pertinent to what has just been stated above, we would men- 

 tion that by far the greatest number of Epiphytal Orchid plants — and at the 

 same time the most beautiful that we ever met with in any one spot — exist- 

 ed in a swamp about two acres in extent, and thinly wooded with low trees 

 of a species of Anona; on these grew innumerable patches of a lovely spe- 

 cies of Laglia, bearing large violet-colored flowers ; also, an Oncidium, with 

 deep yellow flowers. Through the quagmire, somewhat over the knees in 

 mud and water we waded, in order to enjoy and examine these beauties ; 

 and we found that from the effects of a powerful sun acting on the shallow 

 water, a rapid evaporation was going on, which had had the effect of attract- 

 ing the roots of the Orchids to leave the bark of the trees and spread out in 

 all directions. 



In the second place, those Orchids having membranaceous and ribbed leaves 

 as a general rule inhabit thickets of bushes and forests, where they are 

 shaded, and either grow on the ground or in clefts of trees w T here vegetable 

 matter accumulates ; these require more moisture than the first class, and 

 are better constituted to succeed under the treatment that is usually meted 

 out to the entire tribe by cultivators. We are inclined to believe that the 

 number of species belonging to this section are greater than the first, though 

 in general not so beautiful or interesting. 



Inhabiting trees and rocks, requiring similar treatment w T ith that of Epi- 

 phytal Orchids, is the genus Tillandsia, of which a great number of species 

 is to be found in Brazil, nearly all of them producing greenish-yellow flow- 

 ers ; but the great beauty of individual species is to be found in their colored 

 bracts, many being crimson, others yellow, and some blue ; and w r e are ra- 

 ther astonished that some of the finer kinds have not already been intro- 

 duced into our collections, as they are readily procured, stand transporta- 

 tion well, and are easily cultivated. 



To gain the summit of one of the higher peaks of the Organ mountains, 

 the traveller must subject himself to a considerable amount of physical ex- 

 ertion. Where the forest tree3 are the largest and standing close together, 

 the travel is comparatively easy to what it is on nearing the top, where open- 

 ings in the forest occur ; such places are often strew r ed with prostrate de- 

 caying trunks and branches of trees, overgrown with masses of a small spe- 

 cies of bamboo, ferns, and prickly vines, through which you have to grope 

 and cut your way. In these openings, and in rents of rocks which tower 



