68 



REPORT ON THE 



Mr. James : I contend that the flowers draw up their nutri- 

 ment from the dew of the house in a very much larger measure 

 than from anything in the peat ; and I say again, that if the 

 manure is not too strong it is beneficial to the plant. I do not 

 think for a moment that any young grower would be so stupid 

 as to water any plant with liquid manure. There is just now 

 springing up an idea that young men are the right men to 

 conduct the affairs of the world, both in gardening and in every- 

 thing else. Perhaps old men are not always wise, yet I do 

 think that if young men do begin to water Orchids with liquid 

 manure they will do a very stupid thing. At any rate, I think 

 it would be a wise method to practice first of all on those plants 

 you care the least about in regard to value. 



Mr. Druitt : I simply wish to say that I consider the use of 

 manures to be distinctly beneficial to terrestrial Orchids. 



Mr. Heath (Cheltenham) : The question of watering Orchids 

 with manure is a most difficult one, and one that will have to 

 be argued out by practical people. There is no doubt that 

 Orchids are watered by a great many growers with manure, but 

 they generally like to keep their secret to themselves. As regards 

 Orchid manuring we have not used it over the tops of the pots, 

 but we have used on several occasions cow manure, sheep 

 manure, and horse manure, and we also tried the three together 

 with a small addition of soot. We found the plants were very 

 vigorous for a year or two, but after that we were bound to 

 wash the entire plants out, for we found they got rather a yellow 

 hue. Since that time we potted them, and instead of watering 

 them overhead we have thrown down in the house manures, in the 

 way of nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, and after a week 

 or so we found the plants became of a most brilliant dark green 

 colour. The only thing we find is, that all the different classes 

 of dendrobia and cypripedia will take a large quantity of liquid 

 manure of any sort ; but tender roots do not take so large an 

 amount of manure of the same strong kind. We have tried 

 this plan now for six years. 



The Chairman : Most of the remarks which gentlemen have 

 made on this subject do not appear to have been upon the 

 identical question which I introduced, that is, the direct appli- 

 cation of this powder of fishbone, which is not treated with 

 acid, as is usual with most manures. But this manure, I am 

 informed, is absolutely free from all aciduous matter, and 



