MANAGEMENT OF THE GENUS JESCHYNANTHUS. 131 



adapted for cultivation as " epiphytes," for they can be easily 

 attached to grotesque logs of wood or branches thickly inlaid 

 with sphagnum or moss, in which they should be fixed with 

 copper wire, and suspended in the stove or orchid-house. Still 

 more picturesque, however, are they when planted within vase- 

 like wire baskets, inlaid with the same material (sphagnum). 

 Within these baskets should be placed a hollow dish equal to 

 their inner diameters to retain moisture, the remaining area 

 being filled up firmly with equal portions of turfy heath-mould, 

 and coarse half-dried leaf-soil. Managed thus, they produce a 

 fine effect, their rich crimson and orange-scarlet flowers forming 

 a striking contrast with the glossy dark green foliage. One of 

 the most important features of the genus consists in its requiring 

 less moisture whilst in bloom than at any other period, and in 

 the blossoms retaining their freshness and beauty nearly two 

 months, rendering them invaluable for decorating town con- 

 servatories or saloons, and also for ornamenting classic vases 

 and artistic pedestals. 



As epiphytal plants, the following practical directions are 

 essential to their highest culture. In attaching them to port- 

 able logs or branches, the latter should be so formed as to admit 

 of the plants being inlaid with the greatest possible amount of 

 sphagnum. This might be effected by fixing strips of board 

 edgeways to a common centre piece, widening towards the base 

 in a pyramidal form, or any other outline according to taste. 

 Each longitudinal piece or board should have parallel heads or 

 bits attached to its side, to admit small portable cross supports, 

 whereon each plant might rest ; or spokes projecting at right 

 angles from the centre-piece, and at alternate distances, might 

 answer the same end. By adopting a contrivance similar to the 

 one just described, the roots of the plants would be less exposed 

 to the drying effects of the atmosphere, and a far more uniform 

 state of moisture would be kept up than could be maintained in 

 the ordinary way of fixing such plants to blocks. The sphagnum 

 should be used in its fresh growing state ; and the roots of each 

 plant (with its ball of soil where practicable) covered with a 

 layer of the same, and secured with tying material previously to 

 being attached. Perhaps the most efficient contrivance for ad- 

 mitting the greatest amount of damp material, as moss, &c. for 

 epiphytal plants, requiring excessive moisture during their 

 growth, would be to adopt fanciful designs of well-seasoned 

 basket or wicker-work (which would last during two seasons), 

 by which the difficulty of securing sphagnum or moss to ordinary 

 round blocks would in a great measure be obviated. When 

 thus prepared, the plants should be hung up in the hottest part 

 of the stove or orchid-house, and exposed to the strongest light, 



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