November 2 '.). 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Ill 
ravages of slugs, &c., strew over the surface of the 
bed, when cleaning it, several times during the win¬ 
ter, with dry charcoal dust, quick-lime, and burnt 
earth, or even dry sand—an application that will be 
useful to all the others, whether in the open air or 
under glass; and by attending to their wants, in pro¬ 
tecting, air giving, and watering, you will he well 
rewarded. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC ORCHIDACEJE. 
Baskets for Orchids. —In our last week’s num¬ 
ber the baskets for orchids requiring peat were de¬ 
scribed, and the genera mentioned that ought to be 
so cultivated. Several other kinds will not do so 
well in peat in baskets, and it is of these we now in¬ 
tend to write. The genera that require the treatment 
we shall describe presently, are Aerides, Sacco- 
labiums, Sarcauthus, Renantlieras, and Vandas. 
Amongst these are some of the most beautiful and 
most deliciously fragrant of the whole tribe. They 
are all, or nearly all, natives of the hottest parts of 
the globe, and of that class we have denominated 
“ East Indian,” requiring the hottest house. They 
are mostly strong growers, sending forth roots fre¬ 
quently as thick as the stem itself. Though they 
will grow on logs, or even if hung up in the moist 
air of the orchid house, with their roots unattached 
to anything, yet we have always found them to nou¬ 
rish and flower best in baskets. The material we fill 
tiie baskets with is sphagnum, or white hog moss. 
First, put a thin layer over the bottom of the basket, 
then carefully bend the long roots round within the 
basket; add moss from time to time, working it in 
amongst the roots. Do this lightly and carefully, so 
as not to break them. Not more of the stem itself 
should be buried in the moss than two or three 
inches. As the leaves are rather weighty, the stems 
of some of them will require sticks to support them. 
Home species, Aerides odorata and crispum, for in¬ 
stance, run up a considerable height without branch¬ 
ing, sending out roots rail the way up the stems. In 
order to cause them to break, or, in other words, to 
produce more shoots, the main stem may he bent 
down, and, in a short time, will then produce them, 
and so become in time a bushy plant. Each shoot 
in two or three years will flower nearly as well as the 
centre one. It requires, however, a considerable 
time to obtain from a small plant a good specimen. 
Perhaps there are no plants that exercise the patience 
of the cultivator so much as orchids. A plant of 
Plial/cnopsis amabile will be at least seven years be¬ 
fore it can he increased. Thus, if the amateur has 
been fortunate enough to obtain a small branch of 
that rare and beautiful plant, the Saecolabium gutta- 
twn, and ties it to a log, hangs it up over the cistern, 
syringes it daily through spring, summer, and au¬ 
tumn, dipping it occasionally in the water; then, 
if it does well, it will produce a root or two, and, 
perhaps, two or three leaves the first year. Hav¬ 
ing made these roots, it may, about the middle of 
March, be safely put into the smallest sized basket 
in sphagnum. In this it thrives for another year, 
and is now a plant with several roots and half-a- 
dozen healthy leaves. The third year it will be ad 
visable to enlarge its quarters by removing it into a 
larger basket—one about 10 inches square. It grows 
well this third year, sending forth more seekers for 
food, and obtains, perhaps, two pairs of leaves more. 
The fourth year it progresses again. “ And will it 
not flower this year?” we think we hear our readers 
exclaim. The reply is, It probably may; but if it 
does it is more than we expect. The filth year it is 
pretty certain to do so Now, flowering plants of 
the division we are writing about are very expensive. 
When it is considered what a length of time they 
take to bring them to that state, it need not be won¬ 
dered at that they are so high priced. A good flow¬ 
ering plant of Saecolabium guttatum, a plant men¬ 
tioned above, is worth, or rather it will cost, seven or 
eight pounds; and even that is not a remunerating 
price when the time (six or seven years) it takes to 
grow it to that state is taken into account. Some 
I orchids take even longer. The first plant that flow- 
! ered of the truly magnificent Vanda Batenianniana 
\ was at least twelve years old. However, not to dis¬ 
courage the new beginner too much, nor tax his pa¬ 
tience too severely, let us add that there are plenty 
of species which flower much sooner, if well managed 
in respect to hard growing and thoroughly resting,— 
two points of culture to be strictly attended to with 
all orchids. The splendid Phaius Wallichianus we 
have flowered finely at two years old, and se¬ 
veral Dendrobue at the same age. There are 
some species of Dendrobioe that do better in bas¬ 
kets than in pots. The finest plant ever seen of 
that fine species, Dendrobium macroplu/llmn , was 
grown by Mr. Basset, gardener to R. H. Holford, Esq., 
of Weston Dirt, near 'L'etbury. This fine plant was 
grown in a basket suspended from the roof: it had 
six strong shoots, or pseudo-bulbs, from three to five 
feet long. Each shoot was nearly as thick as a man’s 
finger, and produced numerous flowers on each. That 
rare species, Dcndrobium Devonianum, the flower of 
which has been said, on account of its extreme 
beauty and delicacy, to be “ not a flower of earth, 
hut of heaven,” thrives best in a small basket. A 
good specimen of this beautiful species may be seen 
in the collection of A. Kenriek, Esq., at West Brom¬ 
wich, also in the fine collection of S. Rucker, Esq., 
at Wandsworth. D. fimbriaium , also, is a basket plant. 
Good specimens, so grown, may be seen at Messrs. 
Rollinson’s, of Tooting, and at Messrs. Henderson’s, 
of Fine-apple-place Nursery, Edgeware-road. These 
instances of successful cultivation are given for the 
purpose of showing the best way of cultivating the 
species in question, and also to stimulate the young 
beginner to strive so to grow his plants as to come 
up to the mark of excellence. “ What man has done, 
man may do again,” was a motto over the door of 
the village school where the knowledge of A andB, 
and all the rest, was first beaten into the head of 
the writer of these lines. It may be said, however, 
; in addition, that what man has done hitherto may 
be better done by those that come after; therefore, 
instead of being content to produce such fine plants 
as the instances mentioned above, we trust our 
readers will strive by patience, ingenuity, and perse¬ 
verance, to surpass them. Every exhibition-grower 
of plants of every kind should make it .a. point to be 
attained as soon as possible (next year for instance), 
! to visit at least once the great metropolitan exhibi¬ 
tions. There they may see how the present genera- 
j tion of cultivators surpass the preceding, not only in 
orchidese, hut in every kind of plant grown in pots. 
Those who have never seen any of these exhibitions 
would, we opine, ho rather astonished, as well as 
! highly gratified, with the sight; they might there 
I see the different modes of growing orchids, we are 
endeavouring to describe, carried out to great perfec¬ 
tion. They would sec concentrated, as it were, in 
, one focus tiic greatest amount of gardening skill, and 
