December.'] IIOT-HOUSE — AIR PLANTS. 183 
always remember that decayed leaves or litter of any descrip- 
tion, do not beautify healthy plants, neither do they form a 
part of a well-kept hot-house. 
ORCHIDEOUS EPIPHYTES OR AIR PLANTS. 
Before we close the hot-house subject, it may be interest- 
ing to some of our readers to know the nature and character 
of a few of the most desirable of those tropical parasites that 
have within these few years caused so much excitement in 
Europe. In several instances, houses upward of two hundred 
feet long have been erected for their exclusive culture, and 
unless they do thus have an apartment adapted to their 
nature, no success will attend their cultivation. They grow 
only in a very humid atmosphere, kept at a temperature of 
from 70° to 100°, and also in a partially shaded situation : 
it is only under such treatment that we have had any pros- 
perity in blooming these peculiarly beautiful and interesting 
plants. Annexed are the names of a few that are of the 
easiest culture and most profuse of flower : — 
Brdssia maculata, greenish yellow, spotted with purple. 
Catasetum (rifidtim, greenish yellow, spotted with dark 
brown. 
Cdttlcyo criqvt, white and purple, and is considered a superb 
plant. 
Cdtdeya labia fa, rose and rich purple, striped and spotted 
with carmine. 
Cdttleya Forbesii, yellow, white, green, and rose-coloured, 
fine. 
Dendrbbium cucid/atum, rose and pale yellow. 
Dendrbbium speciosiim, pale yellow flowers, in great profu- 
sion. 
Epidendrum cucidlatum , dark brown, with yellow, is a very 
constant bloomer. 
Gongora atropurpurea, dark purple ; the plant must be sus- 
pended in a pot or small box. 
Gongora speciom, yellow, with black spots. 
Maxilldria Loddgesii, orange flowers in long racemes. 
MaxiUdria picta, yellow, beautifully spotted with red and 
