March 21.] 
Some time ago I was invited to pass an opinion 
upon a huge box of soil, that had been sent to ladies 
who were very fond of pot gardening. It was mise¬ 
rable effete stuff, sifted so fine that you might have 
strained your eyes to find a piece the size of a pea. 
At the back of the house a piece of ground had been 
trenched early in winter, and laid up in ridges for 
summer crops. In a twinkling, delicate hands had 
collected a couple of bushels of fine, dry, hazelly, 
flaky soil from the tops and sides of the ridges, it 
might be called a clayey loam, rather than sandy ; a 
little road-drift would make it all right, but even that 
was not required, for in a corner was found a little 
heap of the parings of the grass-plat the previous 
spring, and sweepings of the walk during the sum¬ 
mer. This mixed with the soil, with good drainage, 
putting a little chopped fresh straw to separate the 
soil from the pebbles below, produced such pleasing 
results, that the annual importation of soil was never 
more repeated. It. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC ORCHIDACE2E. 
Sobralia Macrantha. —This is a splendid plant 
of great beauty, with extraordinary large flowers, 
some of them measuring as much as seven inches 
across. They have something the appearance of an 
overgrown Cattleya. The colour of the flower is of 
the richest purple crimson; the labellum has the 
throat shaded off to white. The flowers are pro¬ 
duced upon tall reedy-like stems, out of a drooping 
spatlie, one at a time. Each flower lasts about three 
days. As soon as it shows symptoms of decay, it 
ought to be removed, to make room for the succeed¬ 
ing budding flower to come forth and expand its 
beauty. On strong stems as many as five flowers, 01 - 
even more, will make their appearance in succession— 
thus keeping the plant in beauty for a fortnight, or 
longer. There are some three or four more species 
of similar habits, but smaller flowers, and of shorter 
duration, seldom lasting more than a single day. 
We cannot recommend them to any cultivator, but 
the S. macrantha is a plant that any one possessing 
a stove, let alone an orchid-house, ought to grow. 
We trust our friends that are lovers of orchids, and 
have not yet obtained a plant, will try to get one. 
They are not so expensive as many of these rare 
singular plants are. A nice plant maybe purchased 
for 10s Od, and a strong blooming one for 21s. The 
peculiar treatment they require we shall now proceed 
to describe. 
Heat .—We mentioned above, that this fine plant 
will grow in a cool stove. Being a native of Gua¬ 
temala, where the temperature seldom exceeds 75°, it 
does not require so much heat as several even from 
Mexico. We grow it constantly in the stove, and 
certainly find it to do better than in any other house. 
Air is given to this stove whenever the thermometer 
indicates 00°; and in winter it often falls as low as 40°. 
Soil .—The compost which we use consists of, turfy 
loam three parts, turfy peat one part, leaf mould one 
part, and a small portion of river sand, all well in¬ 
corporated together at the time of potting. Sobralias 
have long strong roots, very like those of asparagus ; 
hence they require comparatively large pots, especially 
specimens of tolerable size. We have seen a large 
plant six feet high, and as many across, growing in 
a large tub. This plant is in a collection we have 
mentioned more than once, belonging to R. S. Hol- 
335 
ford, Esq., of Weston Birt; Mr. Bassett, the gar¬ 
dener, has grown this plant to the highest perfection. 
It was a perfect picture of industrial skill. Mr. B. 
said it had frequently had on it at once as many as 
fifty of its magnificent flowers in perfect beauty. 
Water .—This plant is found in marshy ground in 
its native locality, growing on little raised hillocks. 
During the rainy season they have abundance of 
moisture; then the plants grow and flower; the dry 
season returns, the surface of the marsh dries, and 
the plants cease growing and have a kind of rest. 
Exactly the same culture must be followed in this 
country in our stoves, with regard to moisture; 
they will bear great extremes of it. In the spring, 
commencing with the month of March, and up to the 
end of August, they require abundance of water; after 
that time till the middle of November, it must be 
given in small quantities; and from thence till the 
spring-time returns, no water at all; and here is the 
difference between the culture of this plant and that 
of Broniheadia palustris —the latter requiring water 
and heat all the year. See the account of it at page 
279 of this volume. 
Some cultivators place pans under their pots of 
Sobralias, but we do not approve of this, even in the 
hottest months of summer. We give abundance of 
water, but allow it to run off through the drainage. 
The roots in summer are growing freely, are soft at 
the extremity, and liable to perish, if soddened in 
water. Sobralias are not water-plants, but marsh- 
plants ; and, therefore, do not actually require a lake 
to grow in, but are well content with a good slushing 
of the watery element when they are producing their 
strong shoots and noble flowers. They will bear this 
every day at that season, but when the heat declines 
be wary of applying water, or you will lose your 
summer-made roots. 
Propagation .—The way these plants are increased 
in number is by division, and the time to do this is 
in early spring, before the new shoots and roots begin 
to grow. To be successful in this operation a con¬ 
siderable sacrifice must be made—a whole plant must 
be devoted to the purpose. Take the plant to be 
divided, and turn it out of the pot carefully; then 
shake it gently, and all the soil will easily drop off 
from the roots. Place the plant upon a bench or 
table, and insert a knife between the stems, cutting 
the hard woody rhizoma (root-branch) in two ; then, 
with the hand, pull that division away from the main 
plant. Do this carefully, but firmly; it will require 
a considerable amount of vigour to part them. 
Having got one off’, insert the knife again into an¬ 
other division, and pull it off too. Proceed in this 
way to make as many divisions as the plant will 
afford, and then pot them into rather small pots, in 
fact as small as the roots can be conveniently got 
into, using the same compost as for the established 
plants, and giving plenty of drainage. Place these 
divisions in a corner of the stove, where you can give 
rather more shading; or, if you have that conve¬ 
nience, plunge them in a moderately-warm bark-pit, 
shading them there till they begin to make fresh 
roots and new growth, and are able to bear more 
light, air, and less heat. In this transition-state they 
will require very careful attention in the application 
of water; too much, or too little, being equally inju¬ 
rious. It is impossible to give the exact amount of 
water they require in this delicate state. We would 
advise the propagator to rather underdo it than give 
too much. In general, a rule may be followed of 
never giving water till the surface appears dry, and 
the plants rather droop in their foliage; then give 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
