282 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



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. It is much to be regretted 

 that orchid-growers of this country are so exacting in their 

 demands that, as has been already pointed out, some species 

 are becoming extinct in their native habitats. In 1890 the 

 number of species which flowered at Kew was 766, and besides 

 all these, imported from tropical lands, the numerous hybrids 

 bi ought 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 in 

 cultivation in England. The value of these orchid collections 

 is immense. When some of the finest specimens are gathered 

 together at a show, such as that for many years held in the 

 grounds of the Temple by the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 the aggregate worth of the plants has been computed at about 

 £100,000. New varieties pass hands privately for very large 

 sums, while at public auctions as much as a thousand guineas 

 have been given for a small plant. 1 



In the hasty review that has been taken of the progress of 

 Horticulture, the prominent position of the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew has not been properly pointed out. They were begun 

 by the Princess of Wales, mother of George III., about 1760. 

 In the extremely quaint and original poem, The Botanic 

 Garden, in 1791, Erasmus Darwin alludes to the wonders of 

 Kew in his usual stilted verse : 



" So sits enthroned, in vegetable pride. 

 Imperial Kew by Thames' glittering side ; 

 Obedient sails from realms unfurrow'd bring 

 For her the unnam'd progeny of Spring ; 



1 On March 22, 1906, at Messrs. Prothero and Morris's, 122 lots realized 

 £5,342. Odontoglossum crispum Pittianum (three bulbs with two 

 leaves) fetched 1,150 guineas, Odontoglossum crispum F. K. Sander 

 (one bulb, one growth) 800 guineas, etc. 



