DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49977#0320
•298
A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND.
a great horticulturalist. For years after other species were sent
home, which passed for the true labiata, until it was discovered
that the “vera” no longer existed in cultivation, and that its
native home was forgotten. For fifty years it was the aim of all
collectors to find this treasure again. By chance at last in 1889
some plants were sent home to M. Moreau, of Paris, from whom
Messrs. Sanders learnt its habitat, and sent off in search of it,
and soon all orchid growers were able to add the long-lost
treasure to their collections. Many fruitless voyages have been
made to procure these floral wonders, and frequently the collector
has at last met with them when least expected. One plant of
Cypripedium Curtisi was sent home by Mr. Curtis from Penang
in 1882, and no more were forthcoming until collectors despaired
of ever finding it. At last, Ericsson, climbing a mountain in
Sumatra, took shelter in a little hut. On the walls he saw among
the names of the travellers who had rested there, a drawing of
the very flower he was in search of, and underneath was written
“ C. C.’s contribution to the adornment of the house.” He at
once set to work to look for it in the neighbourhood, and at
length he found it in a most unlikely place, just as he was about
to return home in despair. Such stories could be multiplied
ad infinitum, as every year collectors are going through toilsome
expeditions in order to procure these plants. One firm alone,
Messrs. Sanders, at St. Albans, have often as many as twenty
collectors working at one time. In the Spring of 1894 they had
two in Brazil, two in Columbia, two in Peru and Ecuador, one in
Mexico, one in Madagascar, one in New Guinea, three in India,
Burmah, and Straits Settlements. Besides those species sent
home from all tropical lands, the numerous hybrids brought
out each year by large firms, such as Veitch, Bull, or Low,
or from private collections, must be taken into account to
form an estimate of the numbers of orchids now in cultivation
in England.
In every branch of gardening the changes have been rapid.
The florists' varieties of Begonia, Gloxinia, Geranium, Cyclamen,
Cineraria, Primula, Streptocarpus, Carnations, Achimenes,
Chrysanthemum, Violas, Dahlias, Asters, Verbenas, and many
such-like things, were unknown during the early part of this
A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND.
a great horticulturalist. For years after other species were sent
home, which passed for the true labiata, until it was discovered
that the “vera” no longer existed in cultivation, and that its
native home was forgotten. For fifty years it was the aim of all
collectors to find this treasure again. By chance at last in 1889
some plants were sent home to M. Moreau, of Paris, from whom
Messrs. Sanders learnt its habitat, and sent off in search of it,
and soon all orchid growers were able to add the long-lost
treasure to their collections. Many fruitless voyages have been
made to procure these floral wonders, and frequently the collector
has at last met with them when least expected. One plant of
Cypripedium Curtisi was sent home by Mr. Curtis from Penang
in 1882, and no more were forthcoming until collectors despaired
of ever finding it. At last, Ericsson, climbing a mountain in
Sumatra, took shelter in a little hut. On the walls he saw among
the names of the travellers who had rested there, a drawing of
the very flower he was in search of, and underneath was written
“ C. C.’s contribution to the adornment of the house.” He at
once set to work to look for it in the neighbourhood, and at
length he found it in a most unlikely place, just as he was about
to return home in despair. Such stories could be multiplied
ad infinitum, as every year collectors are going through toilsome
expeditions in order to procure these plants. One firm alone,
Messrs. Sanders, at St. Albans, have often as many as twenty
collectors working at one time. In the Spring of 1894 they had
two in Brazil, two in Columbia, two in Peru and Ecuador, one in
Mexico, one in Madagascar, one in New Guinea, three in India,
Burmah, and Straits Settlements. Besides those species sent
home from all tropical lands, the numerous hybrids brought
out each year by large firms, such as Veitch, Bull, or Low,
or from private collections, must be taken into account to
form an estimate of the numbers of orchids now in cultivation
in England.
In every branch of gardening the changes have been rapid.
The florists' varieties of Begonia, Gloxinia, Geranium, Cyclamen,
Cineraria, Primula, Streptocarpus, Carnations, Achimenes,
Chrysanthemum, Violas, Dahlias, Asters, Verbenas, and many
such-like things, were unknown during the early part of this