ORCHID-HOUSE. 



687 



(Fig. 263), have been also employed, and with 

 much better effect, more especially when they 



Fig. 262. 



{((l(l''tM>|ii|i|l'li|ll,':i|'-i|: 1, !"'ij7 , 1 , wC«.wi)iwwww)Mffl\\\\' 



are to be suspended and exposed to view. These 

 and others, in great variety of pattern and ele- 

 gance of design, are manufactured by Messrs 

 Minton, at Stoke-upon-Trent ; and slate-pots 

 have also been more or less employed. 



Fig. 263. 



Baskets, chiefly of the rustic description (Fig. 

 264), are preferred by many, and are capable of 

 being either suspended or set upon the platform 

 of the house. They are exceedingly well adapted 

 to suit genera, as that of Stanhopea, which send 

 their flower-spikes out from toward the region of 

 their roots, and which, if kept in pots without 

 openings in them, would seldom if ever present 

 us with their splendid flowers ; whereas, when 

 placed in baskets, the flower-spikes find their 

 way through between the rods, and so do also 

 the Saccalobiums, Vandas, Gongoras, &c. The 

 best form of the baskets is a square, and one 

 2 feet on the side need not be more than from 

 9 to 12 inches in depth. Deep baskets are un- 

 necessary, as there is no space taken up in drain- 

 age, and the roots seem to prefer to run close to 

 the surface. The best material we have found 

 for making such baskets are the shoots of elder, 

 larger or smaller, according to the size of the 

 basket. They last much longer than any other 

 material we have used. The most elegant, how- 

 ever, are made from the rough-barked maple ; 

 in both cases the bark is left on. Baskets of 

 wire, painted with anticorrosive paint, and others 

 of copper and brass wire, we have tried also ; the 

 latter of these are expensive, and the former 

 exceedingly liable to decay from oxydation. The 



great advantage, however, of such baskets is, 

 that they secure the roots from excess of mois- 



Fig. 264. 



ture, and they seem excellently adapted for the 

 majority of the true epiphytal sorts ; but, like 

 those grown attached to blocks of wood, they 

 require great attention as regards a sufficient 

 amount of moisture. Should this be deficient, 

 they can be taken down and submerged in tepid 

 water. These baskets also admit of placing those 

 species near to the glass which prefer the fullest 

 amount of sun-light. Space is economised by 

 using them, but they should be suspended over 

 the passages so that the drip may not fall into 

 the hearts of others. 



Blocks should be larger or smaller according 

 to the plant set upon them; we seldom use 

 them, however, under 3 inches in diameter. The 

 woods we prefer are acacia, cork-oak, and the 

 rough-barked maple. These we find to be dura- 

 ble, and more curious in appearance than blocks 

 of other trees ; besides, their bark is not liable 

 to fall off, nor harbour wood-lice. When we 

 employ other than the above, we prefer wood 

 which has been felled the previous year, and has 

 become somewhat seasoned, and these we dis- 

 bark before using. Orchids appear to have no 

 liking to wood of the pine tribe, nor do blocks 

 of that timber last so long in the heat and mois- 

 ture of an orchid-house as some of the inferior 

 hardwood sorts. Pear and apple wood, when 

 old, and split up into blocks, lasts long, and the 

 roots attach themselves to it freely. Some at- 

 tach importance to the block being in a green or 

 recently-felled state, and object to those having 

 the old bark attached, as well as to those which 

 have been charred. To the two former points we 



