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THE CULTIVATION OF PITCHER PLANTS. 
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The water makes soluble the vegetable matter, and converts the surrounding oxygen into 
acid, which is absorbed by the roots as it is formed. It is also because the carbonic acid 
atmosphere dissolves the insoluble ingredients of the soil that ploughings and hoeings, by 
fresh surface to its influence, are so useful in fields and gardens. 
carbonic 
from the 
exposing 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF PITCHER PLANTS. 
By Me. THOMAS BROWN, of the Tooting Nursery. 
7JIHE true Pitcher plants constitute the genus Nepenthes of Linnaeus, and several species are now 
IX known and in cultivation in this country. They are a most beautiful, and singular and interest- 
ing tribe of plants. The Pitchers form very attractive traps for insects, such as flies, wasps, 
cockroaches, &c, which, having once got in, very rarely make their escape; and as orchidaceous plants 
are subject to the attacks of various insects, no orchid-house should be without some Pitcher plants to 
serve as traps. 
Where these plants are required to be grown to make fine specimens, they must have plenty of 
pot room ; and the more vigorous the species, the larger the pots that will be required. The soil for 
potting should consist of equal parts of fibrous peat and sphagnum cut short, with a little sand, the 
whole intimately mixed together. Some persons are afraid to re-pot their Nepentheses after they are 
once established ; but I never experienced any injury from doing so. The best time for potting is 
about the month of March. In doing it, the pots in which they are should be broken, and the ball of 
roots carefully put into the larger pot, the soil being carefully filled in all round nearly level with 
the top of the pot ; then over the soil put a little living sphagnum, cut short and made level, so as to 
have a neat appearance. After this is done, give them a good watering with a fine rose watering-pot 
to settle the soil. The pots, in all cases, must be well drained with broken potsherds. 
They should be placed at the hottest end of the stove, or of an orchid-house, where a bank of moss 
can be made of the size required in which to plunge the pots up to their rims, and deep enough to 
allow two or three inches of moss under the pots, to prevent them from drying. A few holes made 
through the slab to allow the hot air to pass upwards through the moss, thereby to cause continual 
evaporation about the plants, will prove beneficial. Particular attention must be paid to the watering. 
After they arc re-potted in March, they will require watering with a fine rose watering-pot, and the 
moss in which they are plunged must be well saturated about twice a-weck ; and the plauts should be 
syringed over head three or four times a-day. As the summer advances, and the sun acquires greater 
power, they will require to be syringed oftener. When the temperature has risen by the influence of 
the sun, in May, June, and July, perhaps from 80° to 8o°, they will require syringing a dozen times 
a-day. The rule is, the stronger the heat the oftener they will require syringing over head. As the 
heat declines, decrease the moisture by degrees. In winter, if the weather is dull, syringe about once 
a-day ; but if there is a little sun, syringe them twice or three times a-day ; and the moss in which they 
arc plunged should be well saturated about once a-week. 
They must be shaded from the burning rays of the sun. I would recommend to have the glass 
over them painted with a little thin paint to prevent them from burning, as they are very liable to 
get burnt by the sun before the other plants require shading. This precaution would prevent an 
accident, which otherwise frequently occurs. 
Pitcher plants, if grown to perfection, like a hot humid atmosphere. In summer, the temperature 
should vary from 75' to 80 1 by day, and at night from 60' to 70°. In winter, it should vary from TO' 
to 7o° by day, and at night from 60° to 65°. The sphagnum on tire top of the pots around 
the plants must be kept growing, and frequently clipped with a pair of scissors ; and the moss 
must be replaced when required, in order to keep them always plunged up to the rim. Tluy 
havc been considered rathei difficult to manage; but, by following this treatment, they will be found 
to thrive, and will grow without difficulty. They are propagated by cuttings and by seeds. 
The principal species of Nepenthes now growing in the English gardens are the following: — 
N. dietillatoria, .... Native of China. 
N. riiyllaiiipliora, ... " " E. Imlics. 
N. ompullacea, .... " " E. Indies. 
N. ampullacea picta, . . " *' E. Indies. 
N. lama, " " E. Indies. 
N. albo-marginata, ... " " E. Indies. 
N. sanguines, . . 
N. Eafflesiana, 
N. Eookeriana, . 
N. javanica, . . 
N. javanica picta, 
Native 
of 
Mount Ophir. 
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Sineaporc. 
Borneo. 
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Java. 
Java. 
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