ORCHIDS. 
173 
should lose no time in getting them settled in their respective 
places. The Indian species, to be grown to any perfection, 
must have a place devoted to them; and, if the establishment 
does not afford a house for each class, it would be far more ju¬ 
dicious to exchange the minor one for others of the opposite 
character, than, by continuing their culture, incur the risk of 
spoiling both. 
The seasonal shifting should also take place with such as have 
done flowering :—this leads to the consideration of the most 
suitable material to be used in the operation ; the importance of 
which must be apparent to all concerned in their culture. Long 
experience has proved that moss should enter largely into the 
formation of the compost prepared for them; its open texture 
enables the roots to traverse the mass without obstruction, and 
remembering that naturally these roots take up no inconsiderable 
amount of their food in the form of thinly dissipated vapour, it 
is evident we should secure a very free passage for the atmosphere 
of the house through the compost; besides which the quick 
escape of superabundant moisture is also necessary, all these ends 
are answered by the free use of moss, let it then form the greater 
part of the mixture made for every species, and some of them, 
especially those requiring small baskets and blocks of wood, 
succeed best when moss only is employed. The kinds generally 
used are the sphagnum or water moss, and hypnum or green 
wood moss ; the first has been most extensively used, but in my 
opinion is objectionable on more than one account: my experience 
goes to prove that sphagnum, when constantly wet, as in the 
growing season, is apt to turn sour, and on the other hand, in 
the resting season, it dries into hard impenetrable flakes, very 
difficult to moisten, and therefore irregular in its results. A 
repetition of these ills induced me to try the hypnum which 
subsequent trials has proved to be greatly superior. It will be 
readily acknowledged that any unwholesomeness in the food 
supplied must be highly detrimental to vegetable life, and also 
that a living medium for the roots is preferable to any other, 
because under such circumstances they are more naturally placed : 
these considerations were amply met in the hypnum; it may be 
kept continually growing with very little trouble and no injury to 
the plants, even in the most dormant period of their existence; and 
