310 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[March 7. 
tion must be given to the end of the chapter. On 
the one-sliift system, a plant is at once transferred 
from a five-inch pot to one of twelve inches or more, 
or less; the soil, of course, is used much rougher, 
and more attention must he paid to drainage, and 
rapid growth after being shifted. Anything like a 
clogging up of the drainage is ruinous. Above the 
broken potsherds should be placed a layer of moss, 
and some small clean-washed pebbles, or broken 
charcoal sifted, to take out the dust. The moss, if 
fresh, will not only for a long time keep the drainage 
clear, hut will act as an equaliser of moisture. There 
is no necessity for elevating the hall in the centre of 
the pot. By the common method of potting, your 
plants will grow more slowly, hut every year will be 
improving; by the other, you will obtain a fine spe¬ 
cimen in a third of the time, but it will sooner begin 
to deteriorate. 
After-management: Waterincj .—Like heaths, no 
plants suffer more from being allowed to get very 
dry. “ Strange, and they natives of such high and 
dry places.” No! not so strange after all. There, how¬ 
ever meagre the soil, the fibres had next to unlimited 
range, and in the driest and clearest weather the 
moisture raised by evaporation and capillary attrac¬ 
tion from the subsoil and the rocks beneath, would 
supply their liair-like fibres as it passed them. 
Here we give them no "such advantages when con¬ 
fining them in a pot, and setting them, it may he, on 
an isolated shelf. When potting on the old system, 
the general principle in watering must he attended 
to—namely, water thoroughly, and give none until 
again wanted. This same principle followed out in 
the one-shift system, would render failure more than 
problematical. The great rule here is not to patch 
the new soil with water, until the roots are getting 
into it. 
Potting being done generally in spring, or early in 
summer, the plants in both cases, hut especially for 
the one-shift system, should he set in a close pit, to 
encourage growth ; giving and increasing the air only 
as that has been effected. Shading at first to keep down 
the temperature when the sun is hot, and syring¬ 
ing the plants and the walls of the pit, thus imitating 
the rainy season in their natural localities ; increas¬ 
ing the air and full exposure to light, as the growth 
approaches completion; removing then the sashes en¬ 
tirely, and allowing the plants either to stand in the 
pit, or be placed in any sheltered situation, where 
they can stand full in the sun, and yet be protected 
from drenching rains; taking care, however, to pro¬ 
tect the pot from full exposure to the sun’s rays, 
either by plunging it or setting it inside of another 
of larger size, that the fibres within be not scorched; 
removing them inside the house before danger of 
frost; giving tliem the lightest and airest position ; 
when in winter and spring they will reward you with 
blossoms nearly as numerous as the leaves on the 
well-ripened shoots. When done flowering, cut the 
shoots back; keep the plants rather close until they 
break afresh, after which the general routine must 
again commence. There are numerous species, and 
some beautiful hybrids. We have already indicated 
what we consider the four most beautiful species. 
Propagation of approved kinds, by cuttings of the 
points of the young shoots taken off in spring, 
and placed in suitable soil covered with white sand, 
and inclosed with a bell-glass. The young shoots, 
just as they begin to break, with a small heel of the 
older wood, strike freely, either with or without a bed 
with bottom-heat. When struck, plant three or four 
round the sides of a three-inch pot. R. Fish , 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC ORCHIDACEiE. 
PLANTS REQUIRING PECULIAR TREATMENT. 
Cypiupedium.—T his genus recommends its species 
to the favour of the cultivator on three accounts : 
first, because they all produce handsome flowers 
that last a considerable time in bloom; secondly, 
because several species have leaves prettily marbled ; 
and, thirdly, they are easily cultivated and propa¬ 
gated with the peculiar treatment we are about to 
describe. 
Cypripedium barbatum (Bearded Venus's Slipper).— 
Sepals and petals brownish purple; labellum whitish 
with reddish stripes ; leaves mottled. 
C. purpuratum (Purple Venus’s Slipper).—Very like 
the former, but the purple deeper and labellum more 
clearly marked ; leaves more vividly mottled. 
C. insigns (Noble Venus’s Slipper).—Sepals and petals 
yellowish green, shaded with red and spotted with brown, 
the centre petal has the end tipped with pure white ; the 
labellum is orange, tinged on the outside with rich 
brown; leaves green. 
C. venustum (Beautiful Venus’s Slipper).—The flowers 
are yellowish green, tinged with blight red ; the outside 
of the labellum is of a light greenish brown, veined with 
dark brown ; leaves mottled. 
Cypripedium Lowii (Low’s) and C. caudatum (Tailed 
Venus’s Slipper) are two species introduced by Messrs. 
Low and Co., Nurserymen of Clapton, from Borneo. 
The latter is very curious and handsome, each sepal 
and petal being lengthened so as to have the appear¬ 
ance of tails, hence its specific name. We have only 
seen dried specimens, so cannot describe the colours. 
We have been told that the C. Lowii is not very 
handsome. (There are several species natives of N. 
America, and one even is found in Britain, all worth 
growing, but as they do not require hothouse or even 
greenhouse treatment we shall not mention their 
culture in this place.) They all belong to that divi¬ 
sion of orchids we have named “ terrestrial,” and 
grow best in turfy-loam, fibrous peat, and leaf-mould, 
in equal parts with some coarse river sand to keep 
the compost open. March is a good time to pot 
them; let the pots be well drained. They love 
plenty of water from the potting time till August, 
but from thence to March again only just enough to 
keep them from flagging. We have found them to 
do well in a pit during the summer months, without 
any shade, and with but little air; in this pit they 
grew strong, produced fine, highly-coloured leaves, 
and flowered remarkably well the spring following. 
We know but little of their native habitats, whether 
they grow on plains, in thickets, or other shady 
places, but, from the fact of their thriving well in 
an unshaded pit facing the south, we should suppose 
they are found in open places in their native country. 
They will grow and flower well even in a common 
stove, but not so well in a greenhouse, excepting 
during the summer months. In places where there 
are vineries or pine-stoves these plants may be set 
upon the kerb stones, or on shelves, or on a platform 
over the pipes, or in any other convenient jihace, 
among such plants as gloxinias, achimenes, gesne- 
rias, &c., where they will grow and flower well, and 
be an ornament and a variety among the other 
plants. In fact, numbers of the terrestrial species 
of orchids would be benefited by being placed in 
such situations; more air being required for the 
regular inhabitants of such houses than is usually 
given, or is prudent to give tathe orcliidacous house, 
