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The Origin of Orchid Baskets. -Sir 
Joseph Banks, one of the first organisers of 
tlie Royal HorticuUural Society, may be said 
to have originated the idea of growing 
Orchids in baskets. He practised the follow- 
ing method with considerable success in his 
hot-house at Isleworth. The plants were 
placed separately in light cylindrical wicker 
baskets or cages of suitable width, of which 
the framework was of long slender twigs 
wattled together at the bottom, the upper por- 
tion being left open m order that the plant 
might extend its growth in any direction and 
yet be kept steady in its place, the ends of 
the twigs having been tied together by the 
twine that suspends the whole to the wood- 
work of the stove. A thm layer of vegetable 
mould was strewed on the floor of the basket 
on which the rootstock was placed, ajid then 
covered slightly over with a sufficiency of 
moss to shade it and preserve a due degree of 
moisture. 
U U 
LjeliA CRISPA. — The exhibiting by Messrs. 
Stuart Low and Co. at a recent meetin<^'- of the 
Royal Horticultural Society of a large speci- 
men Laelia crispa with no less than 45 buds 
and flowers is in these days worthy of note. 
Lindley gave it the name crispa in reference 
to its curled or crisped petals. Sir Joseph 
Paxton, in his Magazine of Botany, Vol. V., 
p. 5, gives a good figure of a seven-flowered 
spike growing at Chatsworth m the summer 
of 1837. He regarded it as a striking illus- 
tration of the high degree of perfection to 
which Orchidaceous plants would eventually be 
brought when their habits, and the treatment 
they require in cultivation, were understood 
among the admirers of this the most beautiful, 
and by far the most interesting, family of 
plants in the vegetable world. Paxton also 
mentions the fan-like arrangement of the 
flowers upon the stalk, the depth of richness 
in the velvety purple of the lip, and the snow)- 
whiteness of the undulated sepals and petals 
contrasted with the deep green of the leaves. 
The species is a native of Rio faneiro, whence 
it was sent, in 1826, to the London Horticul- 
tural Society by Sir Henry Chamberlayne, 
Bart. \n early days, when it was the custom 
to grow almost all Orchids m great heal, 
this species, then known as a Cattlcya, was 
regarded as a notable exception to the rule, 
and it is interesting to read Paxton's remark 
that " Cattleyas thrive best m a degree of heat 
below that required for the major part of 
Orchidaceous plants ; they are best set at the 
coolest end ai the house, for they are too few 
in number to have a house appropriated to 
themselves." What would Paxton have said 
to present day Cattleya houses? Our diffi- 
culty is not how to find sufficient plants, but 
how to determine which species and hybrids 
to discard. 
»^ IS 
Orchid Houses. — Admitting that baskets 
and blocks are injurious to plants growing in 
pots beneath, the question arises, what is to 
be done with the basket and block tribes? In 
my opinion it would be good policy, m the 
case of two houses beino- considered neees- 
sary, to have one all stages or shelves for the 
pots and boxes, etc., and the other devoid of 
shelves, and fitted up to suspend the blocks 
and baskets from. I am perfect!}' aware it 
v/ill be said that this arrangement would not 
be consistent with the habits of the plants, or 
to the climate they come from — those from 
the Eastern hemisphere, as is well known, 
requiring generally both more heat and more 
moisture. Now, this will, and may be said 
with truth ; and, at first sight, ttie objection 
appears insuperable. But for my own part, I 
should not fear of being able so to construct 
a house, as that both heat and moisture 
should be much greater at one end than the 
other ; and that all intermediate climes should 
be fairly represented between, as far as the 
wants of the Orchids required it. Now, in 
the block or basket house, provision might be 
made for a much greater amount of atmo- 
spheric moisture than in the pot-house ; and, 
indeed, there would be no absolute necessit)' 
for having the house exclusively arranged for 
blocks and baskets ; several modifications of 
the ordinary lean-lo or span might be taken 
into consideration, which would in a proper 
degree combine, in part, shelf culture for 
special matters. -R. ErringtON, 1850. 
