ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE EPIDENDRUM. 
EY MR. DON. 
This is a singular and beautiful genus, well deserving the 
careful attention of the cultivator of Orchidece, and one that will 
repay him for all the trouble that he can bestow upon it, in a 
profusion of the singular and beautiful flowers. Some of the 
species are caulescent, while others are pseudo-bulbous ; and it is 
a very variable genus, in respect to its habits of growth, and also 
in the form of the flowers. 
The mode which I should recommend for the successful culti¬ 
vation of Epidendram, is, that the plants should be either grown 
in pots or baskets, filled with equal portions of turfy peat and 
sphagrum, cut rather small, and well mixed together. A very few 
potsherds will answer to be put at the bottom for drainage. With 
regard to the size of the pots, the cultivator will be guided by that 
of his plants. In planting them, the pots should not be filled 
above the rim, as they do not require to be elevated, as in the 
ease of Stanhopeas, and other genera, of which the flowers grow 
downwards, as all this genus are upright-flowering plants. In 
putting them in baskets, no potsherds are requiredbut some 
Ions: moss should be laid along the bottom and round the sides, 
so as to prevent the smaller portions from getting through. When 
the plants are growing, they should have gentle waterings, so as 
to keep them always moist, but not wet. In their season of growth, 
the house in which they are grown should be kept up to the 
point of saturation with moisture, and at a heat ranging from 60° 
to 100°, and they should be well shaded. But in their season 
of rest, they should be kept rather cool and very dry;—their 
season of rest of course means when they have fully completed 
their growth, and their pseudo-bulbs and stems have become 
firm and fully swelled; and when they again show signs 
of eitheir flowering or growing, they should be moved out of the 
resting-house into the growing one, and no water should be given 
to them for a month or six weeks. After that, they should have 
gentle waterings till such time as they have again completed 
their growth. When resting, as little shade as possible will be 
