April IS.] 
young shoots have commenced to grow freely, encourag¬ 
ing them to do so l>y rich surface dressings, and clear 
manure water. The mode of potting must depend upon 
- the object aimed at; for nice little pots, about eight 
' inches in diameter, one old tuber with two or three 
young shoots will be amply sufficient; but where a great 
mass of flower stems is desired in a large pot or tub, a 
; proportionate number of old and young shoots must be 
inserted. Though more striking from the great mass, 
yet by this method it is not often that the individual 
stems are so good as when few are grown in a smaller pot. 
Soil .—This should consist of three parts lumpy 
peat, three parts libry loam, one part of the following: 
silver sand, leaf mould, and dried cow dung, using plenty 
of drainage, and inserting pieces of charcoal, llefore 
you start them into growth or flower, scrape away a 
portion of the surface, and top dressing with equal por¬ 
tions of cow dung, peat, and loam. 
Water .—Let this be given liberally when the plants 
are growing; and, alternately, with pure water use liquid- 
manure made of soot, with a little lime to clear it. When 
the plants are in a dormant state, water should be nearly 
altogether withheld, hut not so much so as to cause the 
leaves to droop or wither. We do not think this ever 
should take place until the bulbous tuber has finished 
its allotted purpose of growing and flowering. 
R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
EXOTIC ORCHIDACExE. 
Insects.— The destruction of insects that are injurious 
to plants is always desirable, and no less so to orchids 
than to any other tribe of plants. At page 0 of the 
present volume, the method of destroying the thrip was 
described ; and we may here mention that the same 
means will destroy the green fly, and greatly check the 
red spider, which sometimes makes its appearance on 
the thinner-leaved species. As this is the season when 
all kinds of these destructive, though diminutive, ene¬ 
mies breed rapidly, and the food they like best (namely, 
the young tender roots and flower-stems,) is most abun- 
: dant, every means must be used to prevent their ravages. 
After the thrip, the insects that are most injurious, and 
| generally too prevalent in the orchid-house, are cock- 
' roaches, woodlice, small shell slugs, white scale, brown 
| scale, mealy bug ; and sometimes, though happily more 
i rarely, the large shell slug or snail, and the black and 
grey common snails or slugs. This is a fearful host to 
contend with, yet by patience and industrial applications 
of the means of destruction, this host, though so nu¬ 
merous, may be nearly, if not quite, destroyed. We 
will now detail the means we have used successfully 
to arrest their progress, and finally banish them from 
i amongst our favourite plants. 
Cockroaches. —The kind of cockroach that most com¬ 
monly infests the orchid-house is a native of the warmer 
t climates of the West and East Indies; and, no doubt, 
I was first introduced into our hothouses amongst plants 
I brought from these countries; but, more especially, they 
are imported amongst orchideous plants. We have seen 
cases of those plants completely destroyed on their pas- 
I sage by them. Whenever we receive a case of orchids, we 
I always search very diligently for the cockroaches before 
! taking a plant into the hothouse: looking diligently 
| for the eggs as well as for the insects themselves. If a 
j house is clear of them this precaution is very necessary, 
I not only with regard to importations from abroad, but 
also to plants received from any nursery, or even private 
\ collection. They may be in the pots amongst the rough 
peat, or amongst the drainage; therefore, repot every 
plant that is received from any quarter, so that no breed 
85 
may obtain an entrance into the house clear of them 
previous to the new arrivals. Yet with every care and 
precaution some tiny ones will escape the keenest eye, 
and will soon grow larger, and propagate amazingly last. 
As soon as their presence is observed or suspected, then 
use the means to entrap, catch, and destroy them we are 
about to detail. The common beetle trap is a box with 
sloping sides, and a glass funnel let into the upper side. 
Into this box put some crumbs of bread, mixed with 
coarse raw sugar. Place these traps (for more than 
one will be desirable if the house is large and the 
insects numerous) in the place where they have been 
observed feeding, If any are found in the trap in the 
morning, empty them into a vessel of boiling water, 
and so kill them at once. Set in different places 
amongst the plants glass vessels half filled with sugared 
beer ; the insects will fall into them and be drowned; 
but these vessels must be placed near to something—the 
pots for instance—that they can climb up to the edge of 
the trap. Next cut some potatoes in two, and hollow 
out with a knife part of the inside; or slices of small 
turnips will answer the same purpose. Place these upon 
the peat or sphagnum in the pots and baskets, or even 
on the larger blocks. Every morning look these traps 
over, and crush all the insects you may find concealed 
under them. These are the best traps we know of to 
catch the small shelled-snails and woodlice. They 
answer the purpose also, in a measure, of feeding the 
insects, and so preventing them from preying upon the 
tender roots of the plants. Resides setting these traps, 
try to catch and destroy the insects by baud. And as, 
like beasts of prey, they prowl about seeking for food 
during the night, it is then they must be hunted for. 
Now, as the cockroach is an exceedingly shy and active 
enemy, we must look sharp, and be more active than 
he to catch him. The best instrument we ever saw 
for the purpose, was made of a long round piece of wood 
with a flat end, and that end stuck pretty full with 
needles, about three-quarters of an inch projecting. 
With this instrument in one hand, and a bull's-eye 
lantern or a candle in the other, the moment a cockroach 
is perceived dart your spears upon him, and nine cases 
out of ten you will impale the enemy. Crush him to 
death instantly, or, what is better, have some scalding 
hot water handy and plunge him into it. With an in¬ 
strument of this kind we must plead guilty of having 
killed hundreds of cockroaches. Night after night the | 
house must be diligently hunted over till the last ; 
enemy visible is destroyed. If after all this trapping, 1 
catching, and destroying, the plants are still found 
having their young roots eaten, and so their growths 
crippled, the last remedy to- lie resorted to is poison. 
The way in which this most destructive agent has been 
employed, is to mix lard, honey, and arsenic together, 
and stick small portions of it upon small rods, six or 
eight inches long. Sharpen the end where the poison is 
not, and stick them here and there into the pots. The 
insects will soon scent it, feed upon it, and be found 
next morning either dead, or in such a feeble state as j 
not to be able to crawl away to their dens of concealment. 
Remove them out of the house, or the stench from their j 
dead bodies will be disagreeably offensive. This method ! 
of destroying cockroaches was first adopted, we believe, I 
by Messrs. Loddiges, in their large collection; and we ! 
were assured by one of the firm, that the first morning j 
after the poison was placed amongst the plants more j 
than half a peck of these destructive insects was gathered 
up. Care must, however, be taken that this mixture ; 
containing so deadly a poison does not touch the leaves | 
of the plants. We have been assured by an eminent 
grower of orchids, that whenever that was the case the j 
leaves became spotted, and eventually rotted away. The ! 
same grower suggests that the poison might be put in j 
small shells—such, for instance, as the shell of the 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
