﻿THE ORCHID REVIEW. 



shading. Under such conditions the plants thrive exceedingly, but it was 

 pointed out as a curiosity that the best growing position is about three feet 

 from the door at the upper end of the house (this being built on a gentle 

 slope). 



Culture in Glass Pots. 



One point struck us as distinctly novel, and that is that some of the 

 plants are cultivated in glass pots, simply differing from ordinary pots in the 

 materials of which they are constructed. Thus the conditions only differ 

 in the admission of light to the roots, and one could see exactly what was 

 going on inside, as in the case of bees in a glass hive. One could see the 

 interstices between the bracken rhizomes, and under the influence of air 

 and light the moss was actually -lowin- below the compost, and the roots 

 looked thoroughly healthy and had a greenish tinge. The glass is non- 

 absorbent, and it is found that the plants need water much less frequently. 

 A fine plant of O. crispum, which had been in glass for eleven months, was 

 carrying a spike of fourteen fine flowers. O. X Coradinei Crawshayanum 

 had carried three spikes, with an aggregate of fifty-one flowers. One plant, 

 the second placed in glass, produced a spike of seventeen flowers, of which 

 three were on a side branch. It consisted at first of two imported bulbs, 

 and the new growths successively improved, while the last produced a 

 double break besides the fine spike mentioned. It is always growing, and 

 is a very pretty plant. This is not a mere fad ; so satisfied is Mr. Craw- 

 shay with the result that he is having a lot of glass pots made, though at 

 present they are dearer than ordinary pots, having to be made specially. 

 Their use as bell glasses has been already mentioned. 



Individual Peculiarities. 



It is curious to note that certain plants have their individual peculiar- 

 ities. One plant of O. X mulus is a most robust grower, and has perfect 

 leaves on four successive years' bulbs (Mr. Crawshay once had five years' 

 leaves on another plant). Another has been in the collection since 1884, 

 but has never flowered, and it had eleven bulbs when bought, none of 

 which had flowered. It never rests ; no sooner has one bulb finished than 

 another growth begins. Mr. Crawshay has tried all ways to make it 

 flower, but without success. Once he broke out three successive growths 

 from the same bulb, and as it could not make another it simply broke from 

 a back bulb, but no spike came. A piece has been sent away, but with no 

 better result. It is believed to be a hybrid. Another curiosity pointed out 

 was a plant of O. crispum producing spikes on two successive bulbs, the 

 one from last year's bulb remaining dormant until now, a thing Mr. 

 Crawshay had never seen before. A few plants were noticed having very 

 purple leaves, particularly O. c. Venus, and this is partly attributed to 

 plenty of light, but one plant is said to have the leaves always purple, 



