26o 
THI-: ORCHID WORLD. 
[August, 1913. 
are cut. The common practice of b\gone 
days was never to repot a plant until after 
flowering. Good cultivators now often break 
this old rule and treat the plants accorchng to 
their condition. If the specimen has been 
well cultivated in the past it will generally be 
found that the old ball of compost is in a 
sound and sweet condition, and all that is 
then required is a small quantity of fresh 
compost for the new roots to enter as soon as 
the}- emerge from the newly made bulb. 
In many cases this new bulb will be formed 
near the edge of the pot, and in these cases 
it will be necessar\- to carefully place the old 
ball of roots and compost into a clean pot 
just large enough to allow about an inch of 
fresh compost being worked in on the side 
nearest the new bulb. The roots will 
then freely enter this and greatly help in 
strengthening the flower spike. Plants 
treated in this way will suffer no harm 
whatever, while the flowers are often much 
improved in size and texture. 
Now there is the other side of the question 
to be considered. The old compost often 
gets into a sour and rotten condition, such 
that onl}- complete renewal will carry the 
plant safel)- through another season of 
growth. This means that ever)- root must be 
disturbed in order to remove the old compost, 
thus resulting in a severe check to the plant 
should it be in a growing condition. Xow it 
is easy to understand how detrimental to the 
flower buds such drastic treatment must be. 
The safest method is to defer the repotting 
of those plants until after the flowers have 
faded. 
Of course, the majority of amateurs wish to 
see their plants flower annually, and rightly 
so from their point of view, but there are not 
a few- Orchidists who consider that good 
specimen plants do them more credit than 
poorly produced blooms. There is no doubt 
that plants which have their compost m such 
a rotten condition as to require complete 
renewal cannot really be in their full state of 
vigour, and, consequently, the flowers will not 
be seen in their finest state of perfection. 
Interior view in the Establishment of Messrs. Wm. ]. Biggs & Co., Enfield. Middlesex. 
