Cattleya Mendeli and C. Mossiæ.--I have plants of Cattleya Mendeli and C. Mossiæ showing flower-sheaths at top of new bulb. Should they be kept dry now till spring, or will they be better kept growing longer? None of my Orchid books tell me what to do in this case. The plants seem quite strong and healthy. --A. R. W.

    Keep the plants growing in the Cattleya house until the young pseudo-bulbs are quite made up, when a slight reduction in the water supply may be made. C. Mendeli should by now be finished, but C. Mossiæ, flowering rather later, usually requires a little more time. They have both the same habit, viz., resting in sheath during the winter and making up the young growths after the flowers are past. In this way they differ from C. labiata autumnalis and C. Gaskelliana, which bloom on the current year's pseudo-bulbs. A good deal depends on how all these Cattleyas are watered during the winter. If well ripened by exposure to light during the autumn they will do with much less water than if green and succulent, but in no case must they be kept dry too long, this causing the bulbs to shrivel and the buds in consequence to start weakly in spring. --R.