68 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
Society found its exertions needless. Messrs. 
Rollisson of Tooting, Messrs. Veitch of Chelsea, 
and Messrs. Low of Clapton distinguished them- 
selves from the outset. Of these three firms one 
is extinct ; the second has taken up, and made 
its own, the fascinating study of hybridi- 
zation among orchids; the third still per- 
severes. Twenty years ago, nearly all the great 
nurserymen in London used to send out their 
travellers ; but they have mostly dropped 
the practice. Correspondents forward a ship- 
ment from time to time. The expenses of the 
collector are heavy, even if he draw no more than 
his due—and the temptation to make up a fancy bill 
cannot be resisted by some weak mortals. Then, 
crave losses are always probable—in the case of 
South American importations, certain. It has 
happened not once but a hundred times that the 
toil of months, the dangers, the sufferings, and the 
hard money expended go to absolute waste. 
Twenty or. thirty thousand plants or moie an 
honest man collects, brings down from the moun- 
tains or the forests, packs carefully, and ships. 
The freight alone may reach from three to eight 
hundred pounds—I have personally known in- 
stances when it exceeded five hundred. The cases 
arrive in England—and not a living thing therein! 
