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THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
pass off quickly ; for if any water lodges about the roots they will 
rot. My opinion being that the leaves and pseudo bulbs are the 
principal absorbents, I think it is very wrong to give the house 
any great portion of air, because it must dry up the food of the 
plants, and so tend to render them weak and unhealthy. The air in 
the house should be kept up to near the point of saturation. At 
the time of growing, the plants cannot by any means develop their 
leaves, and, of course, their pseudo bulbs must be small; the flowers 
will be small, and few of them on a spike ; and they will not 
have that fine proportion which they have when they are grown 
in a strong moist heat. . It is the opinion of some that much air is 
necessary in the growing season—but this I deny ; and those who 
attempt it will certainly fail in growing fine plants, or producing 
good flowers. In Messrs. Rollisson’s nursery, here, is to be seen 
the finest plants in the country ; and I believe they have had 
but little air at any time, and this season none; and yet no 
plants can look better than they now do, and many of the species 
have flowered splendidly.—I have said all that I consider necessary 
about the genus Stanhopea, and I hope that many persons will 
take an interest in this tribe of plants. 
Tooting Nursery, 
Sept. 18, 1840. 
ON THE CULTURE OF HYDRANGEA. 
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
Sir, —As one of the readers of the Florist’s Journal, I take the 
liberty of addressing you in the character of a humble petitioner. 
We, practical men, can do many things well. The arts of raising, 
propagating, and cultivating almost all sorts of plants, whether 
hardy or tender, we are most of us well acquainted with. But 
there are various effects of our management, which, though we 
produce them intentionally, we cannot account for the results in 
a rational and satisfactory manner. It is, therefore, quite obvious 
that we require a little sprinkling of philosophy, especially chemi¬ 
cal philosophy, to be associated with our general stock of profes¬ 
sional knowledge. 
I have been led to make these remarks from having had lately 
to attend to the propagation and subsequent culture of the 
