ORCHID BASKETS. 
branches of such trees have, for the supports -which are formed by these roots when they reach the 
ground. Instances have been known of these trees, although the main trunk has been totally destroyed, 
yet continuing to live ; its functions being performed, and the whole mass supported by the supernu¬ 
merary stems formed of the tender rootlets given out by the branches.— London Journal of Botany. 
The Bejarias, with the exception of B. racemosa, a native of Florida, have all been obtained from 
South America, They are found growing on the high mountains of the torrid zone, in the regions 
where the thermometer only varies from twelve to fourteen degrees Cent, during the day, and from four 
to six during the night. They are found in the chain of the Andes, from the southern part of Peru to 
seven degrees north of Pampelona, where Messrs. Funck and Schlim discovered B. cestuans and B. 
drymifolia in the mountains. They are found, again, at 1290 kilometres to the west of the Cordillera 
of Santa Fe-de-Bogota, and on the peak of the Silla of Caraccas, the summit of which is more than seven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea. Notwithstanding this great elevation, which indicates a low 
temperature, it is probable that these plants should always be grown in a greenhouse in Europe. Mr. 
Pince, of Exeter, hopes, indeed, that they will be found hardy enough for the mild climate of Devon¬ 
shire. We think, however, with MM. Humboldt and Bonpland, that it will be found more difficult 
to grow them well in the level plains, than on the alpine districts of Europe. The Bej arias, and the 
other plants of the Cordilleras, are habituated to a mild temperature, and in that perpetual spring of 
the elevated regions of this part of America, their health is such that they suffer when they are trans¬ 
ported to climates where the air is sometimes intensely cold and very humid, and at other times exces¬ 
sively hot. Generally speaking, the analogy which exists between the climate of certain parts of 
Europe and that which is proper, either to the valleys of Mexico or the elevated regions of the Andes 
of Northern America, has been far too much exaggerated. It is neither in England, nor in the south 
of Europe, that the Bejarias will find that regularity of temperature, and that dry and balmy air which 
is peculiar to mountainous regions. According to MM. Humboldt and Bonpland, Bejaria cestuans , 
B. coarctata, and B. grandijlora, grow at a height at which the barometer is very much lower than on 
the hills of Eastern Florida, where B. racemosa thrives. We cannot therefore hope to see the cultiva¬ 
tion of these plants successful in the midst of an atmosphere as dense and humid as that of the South 
of France and England, and the best mode of treating them is no doubt that practised with the 
Azaleas and Indian Rhododendrons. —Bevue Horticole. 
OBCHID BASKETS. 
t T is well known that many kinds of orchids are best cultivated in suspended “ baskets,” as they are 
called; and that these are for the most part constructed of fillets of wood. These serve the purpose for 
