216 
OPERATIONS FOR OCTOBER. 
forming shoots that can never be ripened, we deprive the more permanent members 
of those agencies by which alone they can be prepared for fulfilling the design of 
their existence — the elicitation of flowers. In a wet and dull season, these conse- 
quences accrue with additional force, and hence the propriety of a timely attempt 
to avert them. 
All tender exotics, whose preservation is desired, should therefore be taken from 
the ground as soon as possible, and introduced to a dry apartment, where a slight 
heat, for the purpose of hardening their shoots, will be advantageous ; but care must 
be taken so to apportion the supply of water thereto, that no further elongation 
shall be induced. In potting the plants, if the soil attached to them should happen 
to be rich, in any measure adhesive, or more than moderately wet, it must be 
wholly removed, and replaced by a lighter compost : the larger roots should also be 
much reduced. The greatest caution is, however, necessary to maintain the small 
fibrous roots uninjured. Each plant should be placed in as small a pot as will 
contain it, because it is of importance to provide beforehand against the accumu- 
lation of stagnant water in the winter, and this is very seldom found in those pots 
which are full of roots. 
It will be injudicious to prune, except absolute necessity exists, the branches of 
any of those plants which are now potted. A development of young shoots gene- 
rally follows this operation, and these are unavoidably weak, immature, and 
unprepared for the arrival of winter. 
While the weather is yet propitious, and before autumnal frosts are experienced, 
every potted plant should be examined, and, if needful, transferred to a smaller pot, 
or furnished with fresh soil. We now allude to such as have been suffered to 
retain too much water, and have become sickly in consequence. If these were left 
to stand through the winter in such a state, there would be little chance of their 
surviving, or, should their natural robustness of constitution bear them through it, 
they will scarcely ever afterwards regain their native health. The more tender, 
therefore, or valuable may be the specimen, the greater need is there for such a 
watchfulness at the present time, although every species must be more or less a 
sufferer by its neglect. 
Shading of every kind, and under all circumstances, save the propagation of 
plants by cuttings, should be wholly discontinued. The temperature of the stove 
and orchidaceous house may be allowed to decline gradually with that of the 
season, resorting to artificial heat only on particular occasions, such as sudden frosts 
or extremely cold winds. The object of the cultivator should now be to preserve, 
rather than to grow, even Orchidacese ; still there are some species which will not 
at once conform to his wishes, and for these he must either afford a separate house, 
or materially injure his other plants by maintaining an adequate temperature. It 
is advisable for the grower of this tribe to have a small house or pit always in 
reserve, where he can at any time bestow the requisite attention and treatment on 
such as will not succeed beneath the general system of management. 
