THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE 



149 



beyond forty-five hundred elevation. From the 

 last mentioned elevation up to eight thousand 

 feet and nine thousand feet a great number of 

 species of orchids are found, some of which 

 are very beautiful, such as Miltonias and 

 Odontoglossums and many more. All of these 

 love a cool and moist temperature. Still 

 higher up in the colder climate many more 

 exquisitely beautiful kinds are found, such as 

 the Masdevallias. These, however, although 

 very beautiful, are rarely brought to this coun- 

 try owing to our hot summers. They grow 

 in a continuous low temperature and it is 

 almost impossible to imitate conditions here 

 to make them thrive. 



"The collecting of the orchids proper is more 

 or less the same in all the countries where they 

 grow. Parties go out into the forests in twos 

 or threes, or sometimes more, carrying food 

 for a week, also shotguns and ammunition, 

 string bags and the indispensable 'machete/ 

 The latter is man's constant companion in the 

 tropical forests. Without it little could be 

 accomplished. A camp is now selected and a 

 ranch built of a few poles covered with palm 

 leaves. During the day the men go about 

 looking for the particular kind of orchid 

 wanted, and when any are discovered the trees 

 are as a rule cut down, the plants are stripped 

 from the trunks or branches and put carefully 

 in the string bag, the latter being first lined 

 with green palm leaves so as to keep the 

 plants fresh and to protect them from the 

 sun. 



"The plants are now carried on men's backs 

 to the village where a house of some kind is 

 secured to store the plants in such a way that 

 they are kept dry, shady and airy. After a 

 sufficient quantity is accumulated the plants 

 are packed in boxes made for the purpose 

 from logs sawed into boards by hand. The 

 boxes are well ventilated, and the plants 

 packed in dry shavings to keep them from 

 rotting in transit. They are now loaded on 

 mules or oxen and transported to the nearest 

 river, and, if the journey takes several days 

 or weeks, care must always be taken to see 

 that the boxes are under cover when unload- 

 ing — in the middle of the day to protect them 

 from the burning sun, and at night from the 

 rain. For this purpose tents are carried. Once 

 at the river the boxes are loaded on specially 

 built rafts or in large canoes and floated down 

 the river, sometimes with great danger, until 

 a place is reached from which transportation 

 by steamer can be obtained down to the coast, 

 where they are again embarked for Europe or 

 the United States, where if the plants arrive 

 in good condition they are made under proper 

 culture to produce their beautiful flowers — 

 sometimes in less than one year from the time 

 the plants were taken from the trees in their 

 native forests." 



In addition to this we were permitted 

 to read an extended letter from Mr. 

 Lager to a friend, telling anecdotes and 

 experiences in collecting in South Amer- 



ORCHIDS IN BOXES OX A RAFT OX A SOUTH AMERICAN RIVER. 



