April 2, 1831. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
261 
wol>. It is necessary that they should make strong stems or pseudo- 
djulbs, and it is equally essential that these growths be well ripened. 
Some of the Dendrobiums are best grown in pots with rough 
fibrous peat and good drainage, half filling the pots with crocks, and 
placing the roughest part of the peat carefully over them, then filling 
the pot level with the top with peat and charcoal, placing the plant 
on the top. Place two or three sticks firmly into the compost to 
secure the stems by tying them top and bottom to keep the plant 
in position, then finish by covering the roots with peat and sphagnum 
alternately, pressing it firmly, and elevating it 2 to 3 inches above 
the pot, giving a gentle watering on the surface through a rose, 
then pressing it to make an even surface. This applies to the erect 
or strong growing species. Pots and crocks must be clean and dry, 
the base of the stems not being covered. The pots must be in pro¬ 
portion to the size of the plants. It is not good practice to give too 
much root room. Some plants require potting once a year, while 
•others might stand two or three years. Large specimens may 
be top-dressed. If a plant becomes sickly or soddened in the pot 
by overpotting, the best way is to turn it out and wash the roots 
■with tepid water, then repot into a smaller pot, giving very little 
water until new roots appear at the base of the plant. Ordinary 
garden pots are the best when well drained. Perforated or orna¬ 
mental pots often harbour cockroaches, woodlice, crickets, snails ; 
and when the roots are eaten continually the plant cannot thrive. 
Newly imported plants should not be potted as soon as received, 
but be carefully examined and cleaned by sponging and cutting 
away any decayed portion. When cleaned lay them out in a 
shaded position in the Orchid house or bang them up without any¬ 
thing about the roots for two or three weeks, when they may be 
placed into pots nearly full of crocks broken about an inch square 
for large plants. Smaller plants in pots must have crocks of less 
size than named; when they begin growing and show some roots 
they may be top-dressed with peat and moss, but they must have very 
little water up to this time. As they become established they may be 
treated more liberally with water until they have finished growing. 
February and March are good times for potting established 
plants when they are commencing growth ; those that do not 
require potting may be top-dressed with fibrous peat and moss, 
the old compost being removed without injuring the roots. 
Some Dendrobiums are more suitable for baskets, others for 
blocks of wood, Dendrobiums Devonianum, primulinum, Fal- 
coneri, and others with long pendulous stems being the best 
adapted for baskets, as they show to more advantage when in 
flower, besides being their natural habit of growth as they are 
found growing on branches of trees. The best material for use in 
baskets is sphagnum, small crocks, and charcoal. The basket 
most be in proportion to the size of the plant. It cannot be too 
large, for if made of wood it will only last a few years, when the 
plant may be placed into a larger one, teak being preferable. 
Have a layer of moss at the bottom, then some small crocks and 
•charcoal, filling up with moss and small crocks mixed ; place the 
plant level with the top of the basket, fix a stick or two in the 
compost to hold the plant firm, cover the roots with a layer of 
moss, and water through a rose, finishing by pressing the wet moss 
firmly. Dwarf Dendrobiums, like aggregatum, require a little 
living moss attached to the block to retain moisture. A few will 
■grow on bare blocks, but they require more frequent watering, for 
■they are then depending entirely on the atmosphere of the house 
for moisture. The plants must be secured to the blocks firmly 
with copper wire, but when the roots have attached the plant to 
iihe wood the wire may be withdrawn. 
There are different modes of increasing Dendrobiums. Most 
•are easily propagated by dividing the plants just before they com¬ 
mence growing. February is a good time for many of them, each 
-divided portion having roots attached to it, and being potted into 
as sm-all a size pot as convenient, then place them in a shaded 
•position in the East Indian house. A few Dendrobiums may be in¬ 
creased by bending the old pseudo-bulbs round the basket or pot 
in which they are growing, and pegging them down on the surface 
•of moss. This will induce them to break from the joints and 
produce new shoots and roots, they can then be cut off the parent 
•plant and potted in the usual way. They can also be increased by 
■cutting the old pseudo-bulbs and laying them down on a damp 
•surface in the house on a gravel bed or sphagnum in a shaded 
5 )osition with plenty of moisture. 
They may also be raised from seed, and we have many that 
liave been raised in this way, and shall have many more, for this 
mode is becoming general in large places where they have a good 
collection to hybridise. It is a slow way of raising plants, taking 
four or five years to grow them to the flowering size, but is well 
worth attention. Sow the seed as soon as it is ripe on the surface 
of the moss on any of the Orchid pots where they will not be dis¬ 
turbed, and where the surface is in a rough state. Do not cover 
the seed, but supply water when i" is sown through a fine-roc can. 
The seed takes from six to nine months to germinate. When the 
small plants are fit to handle they should be placed round the inside 
of small pots inchopped sphagnum, sand, and very small crocks mixed. 
After they have been a year or so in these pots they may be pUced 
singly in small pots, and repotted as the plant increases m size. 
(To be continued.) 
DEXPUOr.IU.M MI'.r.AXODISCUS VARIETIES. 
A r.E.auTiEUE series of hybrid Dendrobiums from Burford 
Lodge formed one of the attractions at the R.H.S. meeting last 
week, and those who seem to fancy that the possibilities of 
satisfactorily extending the hybiidisati.n of Orchids are exhausted 
FIG. 18.—DEXDEOBIUai MELAXODISOUS VAR. PALLEXS. 
must have been agreeably disappointed. From a cross between 
Dendrobium Ainsworthi and D. Findalyanum a distinctly inter¬ 
mediate form was obtained same time ago, and named D. melanc- 
discus. From the same cross other seedlings have since flowered, 
and though agreeing generally in their principal ch^aracters they 
yet present so many minor divergene’es of f'rm and colour that 
they have fittingly received special titles. Two of these, named 
respectively pallens and Rainbow, were adjudged awards of merit 
at the meeting in question, and mark as it were the two extremes 
of variation. D. mehinodiscus pallens (fig. 48) has well-formed and 
exceedingly delicately tinted flosvers, in this respect unsurpassed 
in the whole genus. The sepals and petals are white tipped with 
a clear and bright but faint purple tinge ; the lip is large and 
open with a pale yellow tint in the centre fading into the white 
margin. The variety Rainbow is of a bolder character and deeper 
c flouring, presenting a remarkable contrast with pallens as remlting 
from the same crois. The sepals and petals are tipped with purplish 
mauve, and the lip has a heavy cential w'eh-defiued intensely rich 
nvigenta blotch. Both are of good habit, graceful, free, and likely 
to become even more useful than either of their parents.—C. 
SOWING LAWN GRASS SEEDS. 
Those persons who purpose making a new lawn by sowing 
grass seeds instead of laying it down wdth turf will need to prepare 
the ground for the seeds. Any time after the 1st of April is 
suitable, but more depends upon the state of the soil and t ie 
