264 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April S, 1884. 
It is in the “ popular and convenient form of a dictionary, and 
will give particulars of, and cultural directions for, all garden 
plants.” 
- International Health Exhibition.— The great interest 
manifested in the Exhibition is shown by the fact that application has 
been made by British exhibitors alone for space five times as great as 
that actually at the disposal of the Executive Council. On the 15th of 
this month the first goods will be admitted. Information has recently 
been received that the French Government has appointed a Commission ; 
and Italy—owing in a great measure to the individual exertions of a 
member of the Executive Council—will, it is hoped, take an active part. 
A portion of the Educational Section of the Exhibition will be located in 
the Central Institute of the City of London Technical Guilds, the hand¬ 
some building in course of erection in the Exhibition Road, which has 
been kindly placed at the disposal of the Executive Council. The Royal 
Albert Hall with its musical attractions will now form an integral part 
of the Exhibition ; and the Aquarium, a popular feature of the late 
Fisheries Exhibition, will continue as an important part of the Health 
Exhibition. In the Dress Section the most popular exhibit will probably 
prove to be a series which is being prepared, illustrative of English dress 
of all ranks of life, from the time of the Conquest to George IV. While 
the main objects of the Exhibition—which are to impart instruction on 
the principal sections of the undertaking—have received the fullest 
attention from the Executive Council, the amusement of the visitors has 
not been overlooked. The band of the Grenadier Guards, under the able 
conductorship of Mr. Dan Godfrey, will, as last year, perform each day ; 
and, actuated by the success which attended the visit of the Thuringian 
Regimental Band to the Fisheries Exhibition, the Executive Council have 
taken such steps as may, it is hoped, lead to the visit of representative 
foreign military bands this summer. It is also intended that concerts 
shall from time to time be given in the Albert Hall. An International 
Congress on Education will be held, and conferences and lectures will 
conduce to the elucidation of the subjects of the Exhibition. It is also 
proposed to have a library and reading room in connection with the 
Exhibition, which will be open to all visitors, under proper regulations, 
while the Exhibition is open. The library will consist of books on 
various subjects comprised in the classification of the Exhibition, both 
English and foreign. Application has been addressed to foreign and 
colonial Governments, asking them for copies of reports and statistics on 
sanitary and educational matters, and a circular is being sent out to 
authors and publishers requesting them to contribute works of a similar 
character. 
POTTING ORCHIDS. 
Many Orchids decline in health through negligence in potting 
not perhaps with those who make a special study of them, but in 
some gardens a very loose system of management is practised. 
Another system that is more general than supposed, is the 
removal of a portion of the surface compost and supplying 
fresh. This is very good when repotting is not needed, but is 
wrong when the plants are subjected to it annually, as if the 
cultivator were afraid to disturb his plants. Plants so treated 
cannot long be expected to remain healthy. 
The “ letting alone ” principle is wrong, and gardeners had 
better not commence the culture of these plants if the time and 
attention required in potting cannot be devoted to them. Badly 
grown sickly specimens do more to discourage the extension of 
Orchid culture than any other cause. It must be understood 
that Orchids dislike decomposed material about their roots. If 
they are to do well they must have sweet compost about their 
roots, and in order to accomplish this the old material must 
be removed annually. Any system of potting on the same 
principle as that followed for Azaleas or Pelargoniums when 
they require a larger pot is unsuited for these plants, and 
cannot be too strongly condemned. 
Many Orchids while growing require large supplies of water; 
m fact, Aerides, Phalamopses, Yandas, iSaccolabiums, Cypri- 
pediums, Odontoglossums, Coelogynes, Masdevallias, and others, 
need it in abundance all the year. Sphagnum moss will not 
remain in the pots and baskets of these plants in a fresh con¬ 
dition longer than one year, and after that space of time it 
should be removed. Peat will last longer, but this depends upon 
its quality. If only the fibre is used it will last for two years, 
but. is then often much decomposed, and, where practicable, I 
advise annual removal. 
In my notes on Phalacnopsis I detailed how they should be 
attended to, but we will consider Aerides, Yandas, and Sacco- 
labiums, all of which will do well either in pots or in baskets. 
It is not necessary that the plants should be supplied with larger 
pots or baskets every year the potting has to be performed; they 
need not be taken out until they require a larger size, which 
may not at the least be earlier than two years. In the first 
instance the pots should be thoroughly clean, and then partly 
filled with drainage, to allow the plant being placed in position, 
but this matter depends upon the length of the stem and roots. 
If long, lumps of charcoal and crocks can be carefully laid 
amongst the roots to within 2 inches of the rim of the pots. 
In many instances the pots may be filled to this before the 
plants have to be placed in them. For these Orchids I prefer a 
mixture of charcoal and crocks. The material used for drainage 
should be so placed that when the compost is removed annually 
the small decomposed particles can be washed out through the 
bottom. After this the remaining portion of the pots should be 
filled with living sphagnum moss well elevated above the rim. 
Amongst this may be added a few lumps of charcoal and crocks. 
Sphagnum moss is better for these plants than a mixture of it 
and peat. This moss at the end of one year will be sufficiently 
decomposed for removal, and is readily picked out from amongst 
the roots without disturbing the plants. The crocks and charcoal 
intermixed with the moss can also be removed if no roots are- 
clinging to them. After all has been removed, wash out the 
remaining small particles by pouring tepid water into the pot. 
This leaves the roots and drainage perfectly clean. The same- 
process may be followed with plants in baskets, only they will 
not need more than one good layer of crocks or charcoal at the 
bottom. 
Cypripediums appear to flourish even when the material in 
which they are growing is thoroughly decomposed. But it is- 
not wise to allow them to get into this condition before the 
compost is renewed. All small or moderate-sized specimens are- 
examined annually, and those in large pans turned out every 
second or third year. These plants are as difficult to repot 
without injury to their roots as the majority of Orchids, for 
they cling tenaciously to the sides of the pots or pans. There 
is no means of taking them out without breaking the pots and 
pans, and this we do without regret when they are not of a large 
size. To obviate this I have of late filled these pans with crocks 
and charcoal within an inch of the surface, and the plants are in 
consequence elevated higher than would be the case if a less 
quantity of drainage was employed. 1 hope by this system to 
remove the potting material annually instead of turning them 
out so frequently. For large plants I use one-third of peat fibre 
to two-tliirds of living sphagnum moss. I prefer charcoal and 
crocks mixed with this, only the roots cling so freely and fast 
to them that they are dispensed with because they render the- 
removal of the compost more difficult. Some varieties do well in 
loam, but from the quantity of water required I do not care to 
use it. If it is used it is laid near the surface so that it can be 
readily removed when the fibre is decomposed. I have applied 
cow manure in a dry state under the surfacing of moss, but 
prefer giving stimulants in the form of liquid manure while the 
plants are growing if required. Small bones are good for these 
plants, and I am informed that limestone chippings mixed with 
the compost is valuable for some species, including that distinct 
and beautiful variety C. Spicerianum. 
From Dendrobiums the entire compost is not removed annu¬ 
ally, only the surface being freshened; but every second year, 
where practicable, the whole is removed. This is rather a difficult 
operation when the plants are growing in baskets, for the roots 
of many species appear to fully occupy every particle of material 
when they are strong. With care a good portion can, however, 
be removed, and I have found free-growing Dendrobes not so 
much injured by a few roots being broken as is the case with 
many Orchids, but the fewer roots broken the better. These 
plants do well in either pots or baskets. When growing in pots 
two-thirds of peat fibre to one of moss, with lumps of charcoal 
freely intermixed, and a little coarse sand is used for the com¬ 
post ; but when growing in baskets the moss is allowed to- 
predominate, and small crocks mixed with it in preference to» 
the charcoal. When these plants require new or larger baskets, 
which they will do in two or three years, and this opportunity 
must be seized for washing and picking away the whole of the 
old material from the roots. 
Cattleyas and Lselias are the most difficult Orchids to deal 
with in respect to potting, and they appear to suffer more than 
any other Orchids by the slightest injury to their roots. The 
peat and moss employed for these plants will last much longer 
in good condition, because they do not require so much water 
during the winter and spring months—in fact, in no period of 
their growth, as is the case with many Orchids. Imported 
