Sa ee ee 
20 
fas} 
(Continued from p. 18.) 
From the time of ALEXANDER VON Humpotpt, who only indicated a few species of 
Orchids, up to my arrival in the Andes, the most brilliant representatives of the Cattleyas 
and Odontoglossums, as well as many other species of great merit, were still undiscovered. 
I had the good fortune to arrive first, but I was closely followed by Hartwec, travelling 
for the Royal Horticultural Society of London. We met at Bogota, and it was during an 
excursion that we took together that we discovered, near Pacho, Odontoglossum crispum, 
which gave occasion to a trade for a value of millions during the last few years. 
At the time of my journey a certain number of more or less interesting Orchids were 
already in cultivation in Europe. They had been imported principally from the East Indies, 
Brazil, and Mexico, and their introduction was due to chance, rather than to careful search. 
After travelling in Brazil, I explored in succession Cuba, Mexico, the North of Guatemala, 
Jamaica, Venezuela and Columbia. The best years of my youth were passed in solitudes and 
virgin forests. In return for not being a Don Juan, whose name however I should bear in 
spanish language, I remember carrying off large numbers of these children of the air, which 
L encountered at all altitudes, up to the chilly regions near the eternal snow. They were not 
at all shy, and were carried off without resistance, but once in my possession, difficulties 
began. It was necessary to bring them down from the mountains to the port of embarcation 
by roads which cannot be imagined by any who have not traversed them. At that time no 
steamboat had yet crossed the ocean, and the poor plants had to endure the sea voyage at 
the bottom of the hold of a rough sailing vessel, after having waited, sometimes during 
more than a month, for a chance of carriage to a port near their destination. Packed like 
herrings in a barrel, the heat and fermentation worked sad havoc, and but few of them 
arrived alive. 
‘To-day the rapid and frequent communication, together with fixed dates for the depar- 
ture of the steamers, have led to the importation of Orchids in immense proportions. 
The number of amateurs is following this progress, and our jubilee meeting, which we 
celebrate to-day, furnishes a sufficient proof. Many little children of my ancient victims 
figure at this meeting, and you come to weave their crowns for the fiftieth time, and this 
makes me hope that you will pardon the indiscretions of my youthful days. 
I cannot conclude without saying that my son Lucien has strongly seconded my 
work, as you have seen, because long ago I abandoned the government, and only retain 
the direction of the journeys of exploration, for which I preserve all my ancient ardour, 
which will remain, I hope, for a long time to come. 
It is more agreeable, and more to my taste, not to recognise the disagreements, inevi- 
table at the present time, of commercial competition, for do we not contemplate the 
conquests made by science in‘ the world of the unknown, and do we not see that the love 
of plants is an elevating and civilising one, which only develops the nobler sentiments of 
those which follow it, and draws them near together. What better occasion can we find 
than our fete to-day for advancing that amiable confraternity which the taste for horti- 
culture gives birth to among its adepts? 
its Ree oe ee eician pees eee euro inc, ORCHID EENNE), Of 
: iS ee, also to the exhibitors and all the adherents 
present and absent, of this charming Orchid fete. 
