ORCHLDACEiE. 



191 



at least to the inverted pot with potsherds, putting 

 the larger ones at the bottom and the smaller ones 

 at the top : this allows the warm moist vapours to 

 ascend amongst the roots, which are very beneficial 

 to the plants. Pot the plant above the rim of the 

 pot ; the larger the plant the greater elevation it 

 will require. The same treatment applies to plants 

 grown in baskets ; and it would be an advantage in 

 the appearance, if the baskets were made of different 

 ornamental figures, as they are suspended from the 

 roof of the house. 



When grown upon wood, select logs which are 

 soft wooded or half decayed, or of very rough 

 cracked bark ; the more excrescence the better. 

 Place the plants firmly in the wood by lashing it to 

 it with thin metallic wire, fastening it with a few 

 tin tacks. If the plant be large, put a little turfy 

 peat among the roots, and cover them with hypnum 

 moss, gathered from the trunks of trees in moist 

 thick woods. Examine it minutely, and remove 

 all small snails from it, as they are very destructive 

 to the roots of these plants. In order to cause the 

 moss to adhere to the roots of the plants, take a 

 little strong loam or clay, mix it with water to the 

 consistency of paint ; dip the rooty part of the 

 moss slightly in this, lay it on the roots of the plant, 

 and you will find it will adhere sufficiently both to 

 them and the wood without tying, and if neatly 

 done, the moss will appear as if it had grown there 



