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THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[March, 1914. 



ORCHID CULTIVATION. 



IT has taken me thirty years' experience 

 as an amateur grower to cultivate these 

 plants successfully. Experience and 

 experiments alone will make a successful 

 Orchid grower. All the reading in the world 

 goes for nothing, unless one experimentises 

 one's self. I have tried every material the 

 world has produced for potting and growing 

 them in. Some did well for a short time, and 

 others failed. 



The material I find most satisfactory for 

 potting every epiphytal Orchid is composed 

 of three parts osmunda fibre, three parts best 

 oak leaf-mould, at least two years old, one 

 part sphagnum moss, and one part peat. The 

 peat I get from my own bog, and it is 

 different to any used by other Orchid 

 growers. I have grown Orchids in this peat 

 without anything else, and I have found it 

 most successful, but that was some years since, 

 and I now prefer the blend. I also use a 

 little finely broken charcoal in my mixture. 

 Silver sand I never use, as Orchids growing 

 on trees in their natural state have none, so 

 why use it ? 



The natural nourishment of Orchids is 

 derived from the moss that grows on the 

 branches of trees and contains moisture, and 

 from the decayed leaves which fall from the 

 tree it grows on. These leaves fall into the 

 sockets in the branches where they join 

 the mam trunk, and I have always noticed 

 that the plants whose roots have reached into 

 these crevices of decomposed matter are 

 always the most healthy. The Editor of the 

 Orchid World has always kindly said that 

 the flowers I have sent from time to time were 

 very fine and showed good cultivation. I am 

 sending a spike, if I may call it so, of 

 Dendrobium Wardianum with five flowers on 

 it, which is most rare, as the number on 

 ordinary spikes is never more than three. 



Drainage, I find, has a lot to do with the 

 growth of epiphytal Orchids. When pots are 

 used for their cultivation they should be filled 

 two-thirds with clean crocks and a little 

 sphagnum moss to prevent the potting 

 material from being washed down into the 



drainage, for if that occurs it is fatal to the 

 roots, which, after a time, find themselves 

 embedded in a stagnant mass of compost and 

 naturally decay. 



As a rule. Orchids are valued by the 

 number of leaves and 'bulbs that they have. 

 Now I consider this entirely wrong. A 

 smaller plant with a few healthy bulbs and 

 leaves is much more attractive to the eye than 

 a larger plant with a number of bulbs, half of 

 which have no leaves. These old bulbs take 

 away the nourishment of the plant. I cut all 

 mine off when I find their root power has 

 gone. This gives more vigour to the new 

 growths. No doubt many professional Orchid 

 growers will not agree with me, but I would 

 ask them before condemning my method to 

 try it on a few plants they do not value, and 

 see if the result is not satisfactory. 



Before ending, I must say a few words on 

 the subject of Orchids which are supposed to 

 do best on blocks, as, for instance, Cattleya 

 citrina and Oncidium Jonesianum, both of 

 which require to be grown hanging down. 

 With these the blocks I use are cut out of 

 peat, which grows here, and I find my plants 

 live and thrive better on it than on any other 

 sort I have tried. — Robert Twiss, Bird hill 

 House, Birdhill, Co. Tipperary. 



LYCASTES. 



THE following is a useful selection of 

 Lycastes, most of which can be culti- 

 vated without a great amount of 

 heat. These species are natives of Central 

 America, and grow at fairly 'high altitudes, 

 consequently the cool and intermediate 

 house will suit them admirably. 



Lycaste aromatica comes from Mexico, and 

 is a very free flowering species. The flowers 

 are golden-yellow, greenish exteriorly, the lip 

 spotted with orange. Very fragrant. 



L. cruenta is a native of Guatemala. The 

 flowers are from three to four inches across ; 

 the sepals bright yellow inside, green without; 

 the petals smaller and wholly yellow. The lip 



