April 14, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
275 
enjoyed a thorough rest. The best time to break them up is just 
before they start into growth. With increased heat and moisture 
in the houses two or three weeks only will elapse before the plants 
push growths and form roots. The freedom with which healthy 
imported pieces are established and the good growths they make 
should encourage rather than deter the breaking up of plants that 
have become sickly. Too many growers are afraid to touch them 
when once they are established. This should not be the case. 
The wisest course is to break them up and supply them with sweet 
material when they become sickly. It proves a new start, and for 
a long time healthy vigorous specimens are the result.—O. M. A. 
Composts and Manures. 
In your last issue (page 257) I find some interesting remarks 
on the suitability or otherwise of artificial or liquid manure for 
Orchids. A good deal has been written on this subject; but the 
experiments reported have I think been chiefiy concerned with the 
terrestrial species, and I doubt not that these are greatly benefited 
if it is judiciously applied. In making up compost for Phajus, 
Calanthes, and Pleiones, it is advisable to mix very little manure 
with it. My practice is to sprinkle a little near the bottom of the 
pots, and as sphagnum is placed over the crocks to secure perfect 
drainage a little is dusted over it, and I find it retains it welt. By 
the time the roots reach the manure the fiery nature of it is 
destroyed, and the plant gets nourishment at the very time it 
requires it. 
As regards Dendrobiums and Odontoglossums, I consider the 
compost recommended at page 257 to be all that they require if 
the atmospheric conditions are properly maintained. I am repeatedly 
asked, “What do you feed with ? ” and many an incredulous smile 
do I see when I reply. Nothing but good compost and Loch Katrine 
water. Last week a worthy Orchid grower, to whom I had sent 
some small plants of Orchids, told me he had turned them out of 
the pots and searched diligently for the secret he supposed to be 
hidden there, and I believe he still thinks they are gi’own with 
liquid manure of some kind. Larger growths can be got by the 
application of manure, but I am convinced that plants of this 
species will have better constitutions, and so live very much longer, 
if not subjected to high feeding. Odontoglossum crispum is very 
largely grown now, and has of ten been tried with something stronger 
than peat and sphagnum, but while a temporary improvement was 
apparent it has too frequently ended in disaster. Amateurs in 
Orchid culture should be very careful in applying manure, as it 
often happens that the mistake is made of being too lavish with it 
when a very little might have done good. The experience of those 
who have successfully used manure will be valuable if the treatment 
has been continuous, say for ten years at least.—G. E. 
Sale of Orchids. 
Mr. Wrigley’s collection of Orchids at Howick House, 
Preston, Lancashire, was sold by auction last week. There were 
1500 lots, and the following are some of the prices realised :— 
Laelia purpurata, 15 guineas ; Cattleya Reineckiana, forty pseudo¬ 
bulbs, £47 5s. ; Cypripedium niveum, £27 6s. ; Cattleya Hardyana, 
ten pseudo-bulbs, £31 10s. ; Lselia grandis tenebrosa, fifty pseudo¬ 
bulbs, brilliant variety, very large size, 16 guineas; Cattleya 
Massaiana, seventeen pseudo-bulbs, 95 guineas ; and another of 
eight pseudo-bulbs, 45 guineas ; Cattleya Mossise alba, twenty-one 
pseudo-bulbs, 40 guineas ; Lselia bella, eight pseudo-bulbs, 85 
guineas ; Cattleya Schroderee alba, twenty-six pseudo-bulbs, 
38 guineas ; Odontoglossum crispum var. Wrigleyanum, three 
pseudo-bulbs, 36 guineas ; Phalsenopsis Schilleriana vestalis, very 
rare, 30 guineas ; Laelia callistoglossa, thirty pseudo-bulbs, £105; 
Laelia anceps Amesiana, eight pseudo-bulbs, £22 Is.; Cattleya 
Wagneri, forty pseudo-bulbs, £36 15s. 
Restrepia'^. 
The Pleurothallises and the Restrepias form two closely allied 
groups of Orchids of considerable interest, but though they differ 
greatly in numerical strength, the former including over 350 
species, while the latter scarcely exceeds twenty, yet the Restrepias 
comprise some of the most beautiful of the small flowered Orchids. 
At first sight the flower of a Restrepia appears to depart widely 
from the ordinary floral form of Orchids, but a closer examination 
shows that the difference is more apparent than real. The upper 
or dorsal sepa,l is long and very narrow, or even thread-like, the 
petals being similar, often suggestive of the antennae of insects ; 
the two lateral or lower sepals are much broader, and are united at 
their inner edge into a conspicuous tongue-like organ, which seems 
to perform the attractive office that is usually served by the lip in 
( ther Orchids, the lip in the case of the Restrepias being small and 
much less noticeable than the sepals. 
Two of the best known species are R. antennifera and 
R. elegans. In the first named the lower sepals are of a peculiar 
yellowish ground colour densely dotted with purplish brown, 
giving a strangely beautiful chequered and rich effect, the upper 
sepal and petals being pale yellowish. It has been found in New 
Grenada and Venezuela at from 7000 to 12,000 feet elevation, 
conimonly growing in mossy damp places on tree trunks. Several 
varieties have been found and introduced, some of which have very 
distinct colouring, and they also differ in habit. 
R. elegans is a charming little plant, resembling that just 
described ; but it comes from Caracas, where it is round near 
i 
Fig. 45.—Restrepia striata. 
Tovar at elevations of about 5000 feet. R. striata may be named 
as a third species of scarcely less interest, and the illustration 
(fig. 45) will give an idea of the general floral structure in the 
Restrepias. 
All these require to be treated in a similar way to Masdevallias, 
a moderately cool fresh atmosphere and constant humidity, avoid¬ 
ing excess in any direction, being the principal points needing 
attention. 
TOP-HEATING HOUSES. 
I HAVE long contended that a great mistake is made in refraining to 
adopt the principle of top-heating in plant or fruit houses. Wherever 
tried, if but on a small scale, the plan has answered admirably. We 
make the mistake, in vineries for instance, of putting the pipes farthest 
from the Vines, except the one or two front rows, and every Grape 
grower knows that he never gets a better set or earlier bunches than is 
found nearest to the front pipes. Now it is very easy indeed to run a 
series of pipes along at intervals, say of 3 feet, just beneath the Vines, 
suspending them from the roof. Two-inch pipes are quite large enough 
for the purpose, and may, as gas pipes can be, easily unscrewed and 
removed when not required. The only difficulty to surmount is an 
expansion box or pipe, and that surely can hardly be a difficulty when 
