July 8, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



41 



THE ROMANCE OF ORCHID 

 HUNTING. 



Mr. P. Harvey Middleton has written 

 a very interesting article about Or- 

 chid Hunting in the "American Homes 

 and Gardens Magazine." The narra- 

 tive is very charming, hut he has been 

 so grossly misinformed that the whole 

 thing appears to be a "Fairy Tale." 



It is a very peculiar circumstance 

 that very few people can write about 

 orchid collecting without letting their 

 wild imaginations work wonders, 

 which they spring on the man who 

 later takes those fibs as truths, and 

 adorns them with his florid language. 

 In the article in question there is a 

 reference to a typical example of the 

 kind of stuff that orchid hunters are 

 made of. 



"He had been near death's door with the 

 fevers of the tropics and tropical swamps. 

 he has been robbed and deserted by his 

 guides and left alone to starve in Andean 

 mountain forests, and has been attacked, 

 tormented and all but eaten by hundreds 

 of big, black ants. He has had to fight 

 treacherous guides for his life, and has 

 had escapes too numerous to describe. 



"It was while engaged in hunting Or- 

 chids in Colombia for the Philadelphia Or- 

 chid Queen that a revolution broke out. 

 Barrault was seized by Colombian soldiers 

 and forced to fight for them. As a French- 

 man he had seen military service, and 

 philosophically accepting his fate he led a 

 regiment of the Colombians to battle, and 

 was engaged in seven stiff fights. It was 

 on the last occasion, when the slaughter of 

 his men seemed imminent, that Barrault 

 seized a flag and rallying a handful of 

 soldiers about him charged straight at the 

 line of popping gnns ahead. The rest 

 of his regiment (who worshipped their 

 apparently invincible leader) followed ex- 

 citedly. On they rushed until almost band 

 to hand with the enemy, when suddenly 

 Barrault staggered and fell severely 

 wounded, and panic seized his followers, 

 who turned and fled. 



"And so Barrault, the orchid-hunting 

 soldier, was thrown into prison by the 

 rebels and there left to get well as best 

 he could. Slowly, but surely, his fine con- 

 stitution pulled him around, and one night 

 about six months later he floored his 

 guard and got away. Two days and 

 nights brought him to the forest, where 

 he knew rare orchids were to be found. 

 Living on roots and herbs" that former ex- 

 perience had taught him were good for 

 food, Barrault gradually worked his way 

 through the forest until he came to a 

 lonely village off the track of the opposing 

 armies. Here he secured another set of 

 guides and started off on the trail of a 

 wonderful snow-white orchid which had 

 been graphically described to him by a 

 half naked Indian in the streets of Bogota 

 — 'An orchid so big,' said the native, 

 clasping hands and rounding arms, 'and 

 as white as snow on the mountain tops. 

 I will take you to it.' 



"Barrault headed an expedition that 

 was fraught with many adventures, to the 

 mountain haunt of the marvellously big 

 flower. Hardly had he started before the 

 first of them occurred. Barrault's saddle- 

 girth broke as his mule was stepping 

 gingerly along a narrow mountain path 

 at the edge of a two-thousand foot preci- 

 pice, over which the orchid hunter 

 promptly disappeared. He was caught in 

 a tree growing out of the side one hun- 

 dred feet below, and after his guides, 

 peering cautiously down the chasm, had 

 recovered from their dismay, a rope was 

 lowered and he was hauled back to safety, 

 none the worse except for a few scratches. 



"They arrived without further mishap 

 at their destination, two weeks later, and 

 were soon hard at work collecting the or- 

 chids, which grew in great profusion. 

 Then swamp fever struck the camp, and 

 one after another the guides fell ill, so 

 that Barrault had to give up his beloved 

 orchids and turn nurse. Then he, too 

 caught the fever, and was prostrated for 

 days. Some of the guides recovered be- 

 fore he did and taking advantage of his 

 helpless condition, stripped him of his 

 possessions, including the orchids, and left 

 him alone in the forest. In his weakened 

 state It took Barrault a week to work his 

 way out of the dense gloom of the forest, 

 guided to some extent by the almost over- 

 grown path his expedition had hacked 

 through the undergrowth. But at last he 



CYPRIPEDIUM CAUDATUM. 



We present herewith a picture of a 

 remarkable plant of Cypripedium cau- 

 datum as in flower now at the con- 

 servatories of Mr. Chas. J. Carpenter, 

 New Brunswick, N. J., where Aug. 

 Seeman is gardener. As this lovely 

 cypripedium is becoming practically 



extinct in its native habitat, and is 

 consequently very scarce, it is very 

 pleasing to receive a photograph of 

 such a large specimen, showing in 

 every way the cultivator's skill. We 

 are indebted to Lager & Hurrell for 

 the use of the photograph. 



readied a cluster of huts and rested for a 

 week. Then, with the determination of a 

 man who never knows when he is beaten, 

 he set to work organizing another expe- 

 dition. 'It was during this trip.' wrote 

 Barrault, 'that with two guides I stumbled 

 into an army of big, black ants. Before 

 we could escape they swarmed all over us 

 from head to foot. It was half a mile to 

 the nearest forest stream — a half mile 

 covered with dense undergrowth. Frantic- 

 ally we crawled our way to the water, 

 suffering agonies from the bites of the in- 

 furiated ants, and when, after what 

 seemed years, we reached the stream's 

 brink, we barely had strength left to fling 

 ourselves into the water.' 



"Barrault's heart was still set on the 

 possession of that beautiful snow-white 

 flower. He had the remnant of Mrs. Wil- 

 son's gold in belts strapped to his body, 

 and the party had not proceeded far when 

 half a dozen of his redskin followers con- 

 spired to kill him in order to secure this 

 money, which he had been forced to show 

 them in order to obtain their services. 

 Just before sunrise on the following morn- 

 ing, he, who was always on the alert for 

 trouble, heard a slight noise outside his 

 tent. Peeping out he saw six of his 

 guides, armed with the long knives they 

 used in hewing their way through the 

 undergrowth, stealthily advancing on the 

 tent. Without waiting a moment Barrault 

 seized the sword he had used to such g>od 

 purpose in his fight with the rebels, and 

 sprang out. The Indians, although sur- 

 prised, relied on their superior numbers 

 and returned the orchid hunter's sword- 

 thrusts with murderous lunges of their 

 long knives. Barrault skillfully parried 

 their blows until he had backed up 

 against a huge tree, and then the real 

 fight began. With the dexterity he had 

 acquired in the French army he beat down 

 the guards ' of the Indians, severely 

 wounded three of them, and put the others 

 to flight." 



In the New York Herald of August 



16, 1910, the adventures of another 

 one of these collectors were recounted, 

 although they were not as marvelous 

 as those of Mr. Barrault. As a sam- 

 ple we copy the following: 



"With a force of forty Indians to cut 

 a path through the dense forest, Mr. Ben- 

 son, with guides and pack mules, made his 

 way across Colombia from its capital, 

 Bogota, and returned only after many nar- 

 row escapes, to say nothing of tribulations 

 that came with the desertion of many of 

 his Indians and the loss of others through 

 death. 



"Mr. Benson said that if it had been 

 possible to climb the trees to which the 

 orchids attached themselves, it would have 

 been easy to obtain them, but that climb- 

 ing was perilous owing to the presence of 

 small poisonous green snakes hidden in 

 the foliage. 



"While making his way in a boat up the 

 Carae River, Mr. Benson said his craft was 

 overturned by an alligator, which with its 

 mate made off with one of the Indian 

 guides. Mr. Benson said that he saved the 

 life of one of his Indians who had been 

 bitten by a snake by keeping him walking 

 about for fourteen hours to dispel the 

 lethargy that followed the bite. At 

 another time, when his chief guide had 

 left to obtain more Indians, Mr. Benson 

 got lost in the forest and wandered about 

 for two days without food." 



The writer does not believe that 

 either one of the collectors mentioned 

 told the stories as published. Some 

 reporter let his mind wander and 

 manufactured tales that went into 

 print. If they ever heard these stor- 

 ies and contradicted them is something 

 that I do not know of. If the wonder- 

 ful exploits would refer only to green 

 or blue snakes, tremendous precipices, 



