100 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
the news that he was in the market for ‘Tulipans’ and the 
natives immediately got together their pack-mules and started 
in all directions on the orchid hunt. During this time my 
agent was making packing cases of a standard size and con- 
structed so as to permit plenty of ventilation. Bamboo strips 
were used at the ends of most of the cases, permitting free 
circulation of air into the center. Of course it had been neces- 
sary for him to buy American nails and likewise saw and 
hammer, before leaving Bogota for this small native village. 
After a period of three to four weeks the natives, with their 
pack-mules loaded with ‘Tulipans’ roughly tied in bundles, 
began to arrive. These were bought by the collector for so 
much the arroba. They were then cleaned and put under 
cover to dry, then packed in the cases without any packing 
material whatever. The most important feature was to see 
that the plants were absolutely dry when packed, otherwise 
they will rapidly begin to rot. 
‘“The next lap of the journey was by mule back to the Upper 
Magdalena River, twenty-five mules with two cases each being 
required. Here a large double-decked coffee raft was waiting. 
On this raft the cases were floated down the stream to my 
base of operations in Girardot. From there they were again 
freighted on mule back to the Norman Black warehouse, 
near by. The next part of the journey after their final in- 
spection and O. K. was in the hands of Mr. Norman Black. 
From the warehouse to the boat by pack-mule again, by 
steamer to Beltran, by train from Beltran to La Dorada where 
they were again unpacked and taken to a steamer on the 
Lower Magdalena River to continue their five or six hundred- 
mile trip to the coastal town of Barranquilla. From there 
they were sent by train to Puerto Colombia; from there by 
ocean steamer to Panama, where they waited to be transferred 
to a New Orleans steamer. At New Orleans they were taken 
in charge by our agents and shipped to East St. Louis by fast 
freight. To hasten delivery at the Garden, automobile trucks 
brought them to the Garden without awaiting transfer across 
the river by the Terminal Railroad. This itinerary of the 
orchids from their native environment to their new home em- 
phasizes the fact that the biggest factor of expense is trans- 
portation and not the original cost of the orchids. 
‘‘Tnasmuch as the collector of Cattleya Schroederae needed 
