COLLECTING ORCHIDS. 39 



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 they 

 arrived. We loaded the plants by candle light and started down 

 stream early the next morning; ever\i;hing 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 I got the plants out. 



Now, in working on these lines, the collector will get a fair idea 

 of what the country is hke, and in no other way. He will also know 

 where and how most species grow, so that he can at any time put 

 his finger on the map and point out where the different plants occur. 



A very important matter for a collector in getting any kind of 

 orchids is to find and select a good central place to serve as a base 

 for his operations; a place as near to the mountains as possible 

 and at the same time a place from which the plants can be moved 

 when packed without too much expense. It is also important 

 to know that the varieties are good, as a shipment of plants of a 

 poor type costs as much as that of a good type. To ascertain this 

 will sometimes consume considerable time, but it pays as a rule. 



For a base, any old building or ranch will do; if none is to be had 

 one must be built in which to store the plants, make boxes, etc. 

 Personally, however, I very seldom used buildings for this purpose 

 owing to the fact that in most instances I was in places where none 

 could be had. I had large tents made and when these were not 

 large enough to accommodate evervthing I bought cotton goods and 

 mounted a skeleton of stakes and bamboos in the shape of green- 

 houses. Over this I stretched the goods, one piece overlapping 

 the other, in order to shed water. This kind of structure I found 

 to be very good in more ways than one, and I could work independ- 

 ently and be close to where the actual collecting was going on. 



As soon as the base is selected lumber must be secured. This 

 is a tedious operation, as it is cut by hand, and arrangements for 

 it can not begin too soon. In places where I found it impossible 

 to procure any, on account of scarcity of men to saw the logs into 

 boards, I used coffee bags cut open and put two of these crossways 

 in a box without bottom, the box to serve as a form; then placing 

 a good layer of palm leaves in the bottom I packed the plants 

 in layers very firm and at the top as a last layer more palm leaves; 

 then drew the bags together and sewed them with string. When 



