May, 1918.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 101 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., in his opening address at the Orchid 
Conference held at South Kensington in 1885. He remarked :— 
“In former years collectors were sent out by wealthy amateurs, gentle- 
men who desired to adorn their gardens with new plants, new flowers— 
gentlemen such as the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of Northumberland, 
and other persons occupying similar positions. Of course the Royal 
Horticultural Society did a great deal of good work by employing very 
enterprising, skilful collectors. All this, so far as private people are 
concerned, has come to an end, and I think, perhaps, on the whole, it is to 
the advantage cf the cultivation of Orchids that this matter should have 
passed into the hands of business people who collect Orchids as a matter 
of commerce. In referring to that for one moment one would not do 
justice to several of the persons to whom we owe so many of the beautiful 
species, if we were not to pay some personal tribute to them. The firm of 
Messrs. Hugh Low & Co. have for many years devoted themselves, their 
capital and enterprise, in this direction. Then there are Messrs. James 
Veitch & Sons, Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son, Mr. William Bull, and 
Messrs. Backhouse. Many other firms have in years past devoted a good 
deal of enterprise to this matter. I must allude to the great energy and 
enterprise which have been displayed for many years by Mr. F. Sander, of 
St. Albans, and his collectors. They have added to these qualities 
conspicuous skill and success.in collecting and importing Orchids, the 
results of intelligent care and observation, and of long and varied 
experience. Mr. Sander has largely added to the genera and species of 
Orchids in cultivation, and among his introductions have been many 
novelties of great merit. 
“T have a list of the countries that have been covered by the collectors 
of one firm only. These are—the Argentine Republic, Borneo, Brazil, 
Guiana, Ceylon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, British Honduras, 
British India, Upper Burma, Jamaica, Java, Labuan, Madagascar, Mexico, 
Celebes, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Panama, Malay Peninsula, Singapore, 
Philippine Islands, Trinidad, San Salvador, United States of Colombia, 
and Venezuela. This shows at all events that there has been no want of 
very wide travel on the ‘part of the collectors, and perhaps it may lead 
some people to suppose that we have very nearly collected all the Orchids 
we are likely to get. I do not think this is the case. In regard to one 
Orchid, one of the principal importers of plants told me his collectors had 
been searching for it for many years, although it was known about where 
it grew. I refer to the Odontoglossum nevium majus. Perhaps some day 
it may be found in profusion. 
** There is another curious circumstance with which I think the industry 
of collectors is making us better and better acquainted. There exist 
