May 1, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



351 



ORCHID COLLECTING. 



Some of John E. Lager's Experience 

 in Southern Countries. 



There was no more interested or in- 

 teresting attendant at the recent or- 

 chid show in Boston than John H. 

 Lager of Summit, N. J., one of the 

 best known orchid coUecters in the 

 world. What Mr. Lager had to say 

 about his experience was deemed to be 

 of sucli importance fhat the Boston 

 Evening Transcript gave a halt page 

 to it in its feature section. In part 

 the article reads as follows: 



There are orchid collectors who 

 merely go to the tropics and buy plants 

 which the Indians have brought to 

 easily accessible points, but these are 

 not the true collectors. The true col- 

 lecter seeks unknown fields. Like 

 many other men who have done big 

 things in their lines Mr. Lager is mod- 

 est, but he relates a typical experience 

 of the true collector. 



"On one of my trips to Colombia," 

 he said, "I had struck miy Eldorado in 

 the form of a virgin Cattleya district. 

 No man before had ever robbed these 

 forests of its jewels. The plants and 

 the varieties were superb, but the prob- 

 lem was how to get the plants out. The 

 nearest I could get to a point from 

 which. I could get transportation to a 

 certainty was 50 miles; but from where 

 I was I could strike the same river at 

 the point considered not navigable, in 

 about six hours. I reasoned that with 

 the water high in the river, even If 

 there were plenty of rocks and the cur- 

 rent strong, I could float my plants 

 down in champanes (large canoes) and 

 I set to work accordingly. I packed 

 my plants at night in bags and sent 25 

 or 30 leads down to the river next 

 morning, where I had tents pitched. 

 The mules unloaded, they returned for 

 more plants until I had the entire lot 

 moved. Now commenced the real 

 battle. I had to go down along the 

 river a considerable distance and try 

 and induce some of the owners of 

 boats to come up where I had the 

 plants, but as they had not done this 

 before, it could not be done now. I was 

 determined, however, and after consid- 

 erable arguments I succeeded in con- 

 vincing three parties that it could be 

 done, with the result that they com- 

 menced to ascend the strong current. 

 I returned to my plants, waiting 

 several days tor the boats, when sud- 

 denly a freshet came rushing down the 

 river, swelling it out of all proportions. 

 I had the plants on a knoll near the 

 river and in a few hours the water 

 cut behind us and we were on an is- 

 land helpless. We had to abandon our 

 tent, the water eating gradually to- 

 ward the plants. It seemed the ques- 



tion of a few minutes and all would be 

 lost, when suddenly the waters stopped 

 advancing (this was during the night) 

 and plants and all were safe. The 

 boats were caught in the freshet and 

 had to tie up to some rocks, and as the 

 water rose in the river, they had to 

 cut away trees and branches in order 

 to save themselves. In the evening 

 the boats arrived. We loaded the 

 plants by candle light and started 

 down stream early the next morning. 

 Everything went well our champanes 

 racing down the rapid current like 

 feathers, missing stones or rocks by 

 inches or less, but the net result was 

 that 1 got the plants out. 



■" Columbia a Paradise 

 ■'The most in.teresting and most im- 

 portant field for coUecters is undoubt- 

 edly Colombia. Venezuela is second, 

 and Brazil third. In Colombia we find 

 eight different species of Cattleyas. 

 The widest territory is covered by the 

 Cattleya Gigas. I have seen this Cat- 

 tleya climb up the mountains until 

 actually stopped by the cold. The 

 plants in such localities are as a rule, 

 stunted, struggling as they do for an 

 existence. The front part of the plant 

 somehow will push out new leads re- 

 peatedly, while the bulbs behind lose 

 their leaves and die off. Then again, 

 they are found descending the warmer 

 slopes and in a few places join hands, 

 so to speak, with C. Chrysotoxa, and in 

 such localities natural hybrids occa- 

 sionally occur. This is extremely rare, 

 for as a rule there is no promiscuous 

 mingling of these species, for although 

 they occur in close proximity, the lines 

 of abode are strictly defined. 



"This particular region I found to be 

 exceedingly interested in orchids. The 

 Andes or part of the same called 'The 

 Cordillera Central' is here simply a 

 mass of spurs and ridges in every di- 

 rection forming great canyons, valleys, 

 hollows and precipices of every imag- 



inable shape, and where every kind of 

 climatic conditions prevails, from the 

 torrid to the cold 'Paramo.' The trails 

 run along the mountain sides in some 

 places at appalling heights, in places 

 so dangerous that the only safe means 

 of locomotion is to dismount and walk. 



In the Cauca. 



"At Cartago in the Cauca we are 

 right in the heart of the home of the 

 Cattleya Choconensis. 



"This Cattleya, unlike most of the 

 others, occurs in forests on level land 

 which is very swampy; the trees are 

 as a whole small and stunted and over- 

 grown with moss. Here, strange to 

 say, I saw the most beautiful sight it 

 has been my fortune to see. In these 

 jungles, the plants grow by thousands, 

 the trees being literally covered with 

 plants and these in full bloom (end of 

 August) . I particularly remember that 

 I got my mule under a tree and sit- 

 ting in the saddle, picked a large 

 bunch of flowers. These were particu- 

 larly fine and not half open, as is the 

 case under cultivation. The treatment 

 we give this plant under cultivation 

 probably has something to do with 

 this. Where they grow, it is very 

 warm and humid. I noticed in the 

 early morning, as soon as the sun 

 reached the forest, a dense mist would 

 rise from the ground and envelop 

 everything. This would gradually dis- 

 appear, as soon as the sun became 

 stronger. 



"In the country around Miraflores, 

 on one of the grassy treeless hills, I 

 saw some of the most beautiful sights; 

 the entire hills from foot to summit 

 were literally covered with Sobralia 

 Violacoa in full bloom, in all shades 

 from pure white to dark lavender. The 

 best time to see this show was in the 

 early morning, before the sun became 

 too strong, with the night dew still 

 lingering on the foliage and with the 

 galaxy of colors on such a large scale. 



Orchid Hunting: in South .America 



