298 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



a great horticulturalist. For years after other species were sent 

 home, which passed for the true labiata, until it was discovered 

 that the "vera" no longer existed in cultivation, and that its 

 native home was forgotten. For fifty years it was the aim of all 

 collectors to find this treasure again. By chance at last in 1889 

 some plants were sent home to M. Moreau, of Paris, from whom 

 Messrs. Sanders learnt its habitat, and sent off in search of it, 

 and soon all orchid growers were able to add the long-lost 

 treasure to their collections. Many fruitless voyages have been 

 made to procure these floral wonders, and frequently the collector 

 has at last met with them when least expected. One plant of 

 Cypripedium Curtisi was sent home by Mr. Curtis from Penang 

 in 1882, and no more were forthcoming until collectors despaired 

 of ever finding it. At last, Ericsson, climbing a mountain in 

 Sumatra, took shelter in a little hut. On the walls he saw among 

 the names of the travellers who had rested there, a drawing of 

 the very flower he was in search of, and underneath was written 

 " C. C.'s contribution to the adornment, of the house." He at 

 once set to work to look for it in the neighbourhood, and at 

 length he found it in a most unlikely place, just as he was about 

 to return home in despair. Such stories could be multiplied 

 ad infinitum, as every year collectors are going through toilsome 

 expeditions in order to procure these plants. One firm alone, 

 Messrs. Sanders, at St. Albans, have often as many as twenty 

 collectors working at one time. In the Spring of 1894 they had 

 two in Brazil, two in Columbia, two in Peru and Ecuador, one in 

 Mexico, one in Madagascar, one in New Guinea, three in India, 

 Burmah, and Straits Settlements. Besides those species sent 

 home from all tropical lands, the numerous hybrids brought 

 out each year by large firms, such as Veitch, Bull, or Low, 

 or from private collections, must be taken into account to 

 form an estimate of the numbers of orchids now in cultivation 

 in England. 



In every branch of gardening the changes have been rapid. 

 The florists' varieties of Begonia, Gloxinia, Geranium, Cyclamen, 

 Cineraria, Primula, Streptocarpus, Carnations, Achimenes, 

 Chrysanthemum, Violas, Dahlias, Asters, Verbenas, and many 

 such-like things, were unknown during the early pait of this 



