4 



OKCHIDS. 



syringing, be very careful not to wet the young shoots too 

 much. The syringe should be furnished with a fine rose, 

 so as to cause the water to fall on the plants in imitation 

 of a gentle shower of small rain ; but this syringing should 

 only be done after a hot summer's day. Those plants 

 which are growing on blocks of wood should be sj-ringed 

 twice a-day in the summer time ; and I also find it a good 

 method, during the growing season, to take the blocks 

 down, and dip them in water till the wood and moss are 

 thoroughly soaked. Plants in baskets should likewise be 

 taken down and examined, and if they are dry, they should 

 be soaked in the water. This is also a good mode of get- 

 ting rid of many insects that harbour in the moss, such as 

 the woodlouse and cockroach ; when the moss is soaked, 

 they will come to the top, and then they may be easily 

 killed. Rain or pond water is the best. 



On the Cultivation of Tropical Orchids. 



Among Orchids some are termed terrestrial, growing in 

 earth ; such as the genera Phajiis, Calanthe, Bletia, Cyrto- 

 podium, Cypripedium, &c. : all draw support from the 

 ground. Epiphytes, the other class, inhabit trees and rocks ; 

 from which, however, they derive little or no nourishment. 

 These are by far the most numerous and interesting. 

 They are found adhering to the arms of living trees, whilst 

 some of them delight in very elevated situations upon high 

 trees. Others, again, grow upon low trees, some on rocks 

 and mountains, some on trees overhanging a river, and 

 some near dripping rocks. The latter, of course, require 

 a particularly damp atmosphere to grow in ; others are 

 found in woods, where scarcely any sun can penetrate; 

 these like a shady moist atmosphere, whilst those in more 

 elevated situations do not need so much shade as the last. 

 A knowledge of the different habitats of the various species 



