ON THE CULTURE OF ORCHIDS. 
13 
These hints will, we trust, induce thought and contrivance, for whatever the 
present difficulties, their removal would be amply compensated by the economical 
retention of even two , not to say/owr fifths of the heating power of the combustibles. 
ON THE CULTURE OF ORCHIDS. 
In our principal Orchid-house at Chatsworth — a large erection, long and wide, 
with a curved, ridge-and-furrow glazed, lean-to roof — we have spaces which, excepting 
the room allowed for paths, constitute the whole back portion. This part of the 
house is now, with a trifling exception, devoted to Orchids planted out. Making 
plantations of the family, is attained by the plants being massed together, and 
associated in clumps of various sizes, with a variety of kinds in each clump. The 
masses are planted in soil, and almost exclusively in soil of a particular description. 
But first a few words on the supports provided for the roots. That material is 
wood — “blocks ” the separate portions are termed with us. The majority of pieces 
are roots, of various dimensions, when the shell, or casing of “ sap wood,” which 
was originally their outer portion, has gradually decayed and disappeared, leaving 
a chunk of “ heart,” seasoned and hardened wood, the most suitable that could be 
imagined for the purpose. Oak is the best block in point of durability, and as 
presenting grotesque forms appropriate to the character of the Orchid family, 
besides being a material to which the roots of Orchids are partial. Other “blocks” 
are scraggy pieces of the trunks of gnarled and distorted trees, and always of Oak, 
when that wood can be obtained. These “blocks ” are often of an oblong shape, 
and are then easily fixed for use ; one of their ends only requiring to be made 
smooth, to elevate and otherwise enable them to stand in an upright or slanting 
position, on a flat surface. Brickwork or wooden pillars are sometimes necessary, 
to enable them to be properly arranged and secured. But these are particulars 
about which little can be said, as circumstances of a strictly individual character 
regulate such minor details ; so also do circumstances, conjointly with the taste of 
individuals, the disposal of the blocks as a whole. The main part of ours are so 
arranged, that they represent a sloping, undulated bank; and a very interesting and 
original effect they have, in the situation they occupy. So far, what has been 
written relates entirely to “ blocks.” 
Of the soil employed, attaching it to the “ blocks,” planting, &c., we may 
next treat. The soil is a kind which abounds to a considerable extent in the 
neighbouring woods of Chatsworth, and is remarkable for the quantity of fibre which 
enters into its composition. The whole is vegetable matter, and chiefly consists of 
the fibrous roots of common Ferns, the annually decaying vegetation they put forth, 
and the decomposed leaves of various deciduous trees. A peaty matter, naturally 
formed by the ingredients here enumerated, is what we find the majority of Orchids 
