182 
THE FLORISTS JOURNAL. 
house, because there their flowers will last much longer, and be 
much finer in their colours. I have seen several of them flowered 
in the common stove ; but I never saw any flowered there of 
which the blooms were so large and fine as those grown in the way 
I have recommended. 
Different species of Cattleya have different times of flowering. 
Some of them flower early in the season, and before they begin to 
grow ; but by far the greater number flower after they have com¬ 
pleted their pseudo-bulbs. Indeed, they all, of course, complete 
these pseudo-bulbs before they flower ; only, the early ones 
alluded to take rest between the formation of the bulbs and the 
flowering : whereas, the others continue the one growth imme¬ 
diately after the other. If there is a rest between the bulbing 
and the flowering, it indicates that the plant has a double season in 
its native locality ; that is, that there is a second or returning rain : 
whereas, if both flowering and bulbing are continued without any 
pause, it indicates that there is only a single rainy season in the 
native locality. Thus, those curious plants of peculiar regions 
afford us no little insight into natural geography, if we only study 
them aright. This holds true, not of plants only, but of all na¬ 
tural subjects ; and if we study nature aright, the one part of it 
is always the best interpreter of the others. 
Although I have recommended pots and peat as the most ad¬ 
visable for growing the Cattleya, yet there are many of the species 
that may be grown very fine on suspended pieces of wood, or even 
in baskets, with sphagnum, or common bog moss. But if grown 
either of those ways, much more attention requires to be paid to 
watering than when they are grown in pots. This is one reason 
why I have recommended pot cultivation as the general mode of 
treatment. There are, however, other reasons, which the habits 
of the plants themselves suggest. Billets or baskets answer re¬ 
markably well for orchidaceae with downward or drooping flowers, 
because such show best when the eye is below them. But the 
Cattleyas are all upward flowerers ; and if they are suspended so 
as to be above the eye, they cannot be seen to advantage unless 
taken down for the express purpose ; and this, besides the trouble 
which it occasions, is in some danger of damaging the plants. If 
in pots, one can place them in any situation that is most desirable, 
and thus derive the full enjoyment of their beauties without any 
risk of doing them injury. Such is the general mode of treating 
