MARCH, Ig15.| THE ORGAID. REVIEW. 69 
ORCHID CULTURE IN BELGIUM. fy 
HIS was the subject of a paper read at the Kew Gardeners’ Mutual 
Improvement Society on January 18th, by Mr. H. P. Chollet, an 
assistant in the Orchid houses at Kew, and son of M. Chollet, foreman of 
Messrs. Sander & Sons’ Bruges Establishment. 
The essayist prefaced his remarks with a few words about M. J. J. 
Linden, a name famous in the annals of horticulture, and one of the 
pioneers of Orchid cultivation in Belgium. Born in 1817, at Luxembourg, 
Linden became a distinguished schclar and linguist, well versed in 
Geography, Botany, and Geology, and when the Belgian Government 
decided to send a scientific expedition to Brazil they chose him as its chief. 
The expedition was successful, and returned to Belgium in 1837 with a 
splendid collection of living botanical zoological specimens. Gratified with 
the results of the first trip, the Belgian Government decided to send Linden 
out again, with the task of exploring Mexico, Guatemala, and the Greater 
Antilles. Linden and his party were away for four years and four months, 
returning in 1847. Apart from the extensive collection of dried botanical 
specimens, which were distributed amongst the different European Herbaria, 
he also introduced to Europe a censiderable number of living Orchids, some 
of them for the first time. 
Linden was still possessed with the travel spirit, and he sailed again the 
same year, this time to Colombia. After revisiting the Sierra Nevada and 
Cuba he returned home, with his health impaired by ten years of hardships 
as a scientific explorer. The Orchids collected during this expedition were 
described by Lindley in a special publication, entitled ‘‘ Orchidaceae 
Lindeniana,’ and included novelties in Masdevallia, Odontoglossum, 
Oncidiums of the higher Cordilleras, Uropedium Lindenii, Anguloas, 
and others, which we cultivate to-day. 
~ On his return Linden established himself in business as a nurseryman at 
Brussels, the establishment being largely devoted to the introduction of 
exotic plants which he had met with during his travels. A few years later 
he was appointed Director of the Brussels Zoological Gardens, a post 
which he filled for ten years. For many years he sent collectors to 
Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, Assam, and other localities, and soon 
took a leading position in supplying European horticulturists with new 
plants, including Orchids, of which a very large number were introduced by 
him for the first time. He died in 1898, in his 81st year. 
In giving a brief outline of Orchid culture in Belgium, it was pointed 
Out that the last quarter of a century had witnessed a great development, 
