522 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 17, 1891. 
of a new member a week beforehand merely on the strength of the 
promised discussion. _ 
But how very sad was the news Mr. D’Ombrain had to impart—that 
Mr. W. J. Grant had met with so severe an accident 1 We were heartily 
sorry to lose him from the amateur ranks, but to miss him altogether 
from our gatherings will be a great calamity. Not only was he able to 
show some of the finest stands ever staged by an amateur, but he was 
ever ready to rejoice in the success of others, to acknowledge defeat, or 
to give a word of advice and encouragement to a beginner. Genial 
and hearty, “straight as a line,” and a magnanimous opponent, he was 
a type of the class of exhibitor we can least afford to lose. May we all 
be ready to follow the example he so ably set us !—J. B. 
THE NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY. 
The annual meeting of the members of the Botanical and Horti¬ 
cultural Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle was held 
last week in Cross House Chambers, Westgate Road. In the absence of 
the President (Mr. Thomas Nelson) Mr. Benjamin Plummer occupied 
the chair. The Secretary (Mr. J. J. Gillespie) read the annual report, 
w r hich contained the following :— 
In previous reports the Council has invariably had to attribute the 
failure of the year’s operations entirely to the wet weather which has 
prevailed at the shows, in spite of which they have struggled from year 
to year to keep the Society together, notwithstanding that there has 
often been a large deficiency in the funds. This year the Society 
commenced free from ;debt. The spring Show, held in April, was a 
financial success, and your Council looked forward with confidence to 
the autumn Show, which was likely to have been one of the best ever 
held, exhibitors having brought their plants from an area extending as 
far south as Wiltshire and as far north as Aberdeen. What happened 
is now a matter of history, as on the Council assembling in the early 
morning of the 26th August, at the Leazes Park, to place the exhibits, 
they found the tents had been totally destroyed by the violent gale 
of the previous night, and that considerable damage had been done 
to the plants already staged. After mature consideration your 
Council unanimously decided to abandon the Show, as it was impossible 
to re-erect the tents. After considering the claims sent in, and the 
available funds of the Society, it was found there was a deficiency 
of £335. Many of the local tradesmen having offered to reduce their 
accounts, and in some cases to waive them altogether, and letters 
having been received from several local gentlemen proffering subscrip¬ 
tions, your Council, though greatly disheartened, resolved to issue 
an appeal for financial assistance, believing that the sympathy of the 
public was with them. The Chairman of the Council and the then 
Mayor (Councillor Jos. Baxter Ellis) kindly undertook to sign the 
appeal, which appeared in the Newcastle newspapers of the next day. 
The response was at once both generous and hearty, and far exceeded 
the expectations of your Council. The result is that not only are the 
liabilities of the Society paid off, but that there is £560 to the good. 
Encouraged by the sympathy and help already given the Council will 
endeavour to uphold the status of the Shows by offering liberal prizes, 
giving the best musical entertainments, pyrotechnic displays, &c. ; and 
whilst they will do their utmost to add to tbe surplus fund by keeping 
the expenditure within the income each year, they ask the subscribers to 
induce their friends to join the Society, so as to increase the ordinary 
revenue. 
The Chairman moved the adoption of the report. He said that the 
unhappy experience they had in the autumn was not without its lessons. 
It brought them proof that the public had confidence in the Committee, 
or they would not have made such a generous response to the appeal 
that was issued for assistance. The Committee had worked hard, and so 
improved their shows that, as a matter of fact, an exhibit which would have 
taken first prize eighteen or twenty years ago would now only take the 
third prize or none at all. One of the lessons they might learn from the 
catastrophe of last autumn was the necessity of doing something further 
than they had hitherto done for retaining the confidence of the public, 
and sustaining their willingness to assist them in case of need. There 
were several ways of doing that. In a prize pamphlet on profitable 
fruit-growing was the suggestion that such societies as theirs might do 
something in the way of distribution of fruit trees, and he would ask 
them whether they could not do something in that direction. Another 
point that occurred to him was, could they not arrange to hold their 
annual meetings in the afternoon, and arrange for some competent 
person to address the society on some subjects bearing upon the objects 
of the society. The adoption of the report was seconded and carried. 
The Chairman moved the re-election of Mr. Thomas Nelson to the 
office of President, and the motion being seconded by Mr. G. Nesbitt, 
was carried unanimously. 
The Mayor of Newcastle was elected Vice-President, after which the 
meeting proceeded to the election of members of the Council. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
Iravels and Adventures of an Orchid Hunter. By Albert Millican. 
Cassell & Company, Limited, 1891. 
The wish has often been expressed by plant-lovers generally that 
travellers who visit tropical and other distant countries in search of rare 
or beautiful plants for introduction to this country would more fre¬ 
quently relate their experiences. As a rule, of course those engaged in 
this hazardous work are employed by nurserymen, and when competition 
i9 so keen it is not in their interest to describe all the localities and 
situations where certain plants are found. It might often be possible, 
however, to give useful particulars as to the local conditions that would 
serve as a guide to cultivators at home without indicating the exact 
geographical position. This is sometimes done, but usually in a meagre 
and unsatisfactory manner, and insufficient details in such matters are 
apt to prove more misleading than serviceable. 
From the title of the work under notice, which professes to be “ an 
account of canoe and camp life in Colombia while collecting Orchids in 
the Northern Andes,” it might be expected that it would contain very 
much material of spec : al interest to hoiticulturists, and this in a 
measure is true ; but after a perusal of the book we are somewhat in 
the position of Oliver Twist—namely, we “ want more,” i.e., more of the 
interesting information of which we receive only a taste. The author 
dedicates the work to R. Brooman White, Esq. of Arddarroch, “whose 
wealth and love of Orchids have encouraged and supported me in the 
journeys described, and whose kindness has rendered the present publi¬ 
cation possible.” Mr. Millican further tells us that “ the book aims at 
representing to the reader, and especially to the lover of Orchids, the 
circumstances under which these plants'are found in the north of South 
America, as well as being a guide to the traveller.” Later in the preface 
he informs us that “ It is not a missionary’s report, nor a traveller’s 
diary, nor a student’s compilation, but a narrative of things seen and 
experienced by me while travelling with natives through the forest, 
sharing with them the hospitality of the wayside hut, or the forest 
shelter and the camp fire, as well as the more agreeable life of hotels and 
towns. The information contained in this volume has been gathered 
over a period of four years, during which I have made five journeys to 
the Orchid districts of South America, the time occupied being generally 
from the month of October to the month of July.” 
The book comprises 222 pages, but up to page 114 we have little 
directly connected with Orchids, the first eight chapters being devoted 
to a description of the passage from Liverpool to the West Indies and 
South America, together with the journey “ up country ” from Barran- 
quilla on the river Magdalena. Having reached BucaramaDga, the 
author states (page 110), “ My journey was made in search of the fairy 
tribe of Orchids, and as up to the present I had not even seen a 
single plant of value, I was delighted to learn that the early botanists 
had found the gorgeous Cattleya Mendeli growing around here in pro¬ 
fusion. Now, however, through the immense exportation of these plants, 
not a single one is to be found within many days’ journey from here on 
mule9.” Starting on the journey, Mr. Millican notes in passing the town 
of Pi& de Cuesta at about 3500 above sea level, with “ a mild balmy 
air, which is never oppressively hot or disagreeably cold,” that he 
found “the beautiful Epidendrum atropurpureum covering the walls 
around the houses, all flowering in profusion.” Continuing the expedi¬ 
tion beyond Pi5 de Cuesta, the author mentions an extensive plain, 
termed La Mesa de los Santos at a considerable elevation, and while 
“ the vegetation consists of a tall rank herbage, with occasional scrub, 
intermixed with thousands of the beautiful Sobrolia leucoxantha, with 
rose and white flowers of the colour and substance of a Cattleya Men¬ 
deli, but so difficult to transport that very few of the plants are known 
in England.” The description, however, scarcely corresponds with the 
Sobralia known under the name given in collections here, for the flowers 
are yellow and white. At one side of this plain it appears are precipices 
over 200 feet high, and “ on the ledges of these precipices, where the eagle 
and the condor make their home, the lovely C. Mendeli has grown in 
profusion since the memory of man. Even when the first plant-hunter 
arrived, these dizzy heights offered no obstacle to his determination to 
plunder. Natives were let down by means of ropes, and by the same 
ropes the plants were hauled up in thousands, and when I visited the place 
all I could see of its former beauty and wealth of plants was an occa¬ 
sional straggling bulb hung as if in midair on some point only accessible 
to the eagles. I left the place impressed with the magnificence of the 
scenery, but disappointed in my search for plants.” 
After a prolonged search in a semi-tropical vegetation, consisting of 
Ferns, Selaginellas, Bamboos, Palms, and timber trees, the author was 
“ rewarded with the object of my search in the myriads of Bromeliaceae 
and Orchids which literally cover the short, stunted trees and the bare 
points of rocks, where scarcely an inch of soil is to be found. The most 
magnificent sight for even the most stoical observer are the immense 
clumps of Cattleya Mendeli, each new bulb bearing four or five of its 
gorgeous rose-coloured flowers, many of them growing in the full sun or 
with very little shade, and possessing a glowing colour which is very 
difficult to get in the stuffy hothouses where the plants are cultivated. 
Some of these plants, considering their size and the slowness of growth, 
must have taken many years to develope, for I have taken plants from 
the trees with 500 bulbs, and as many as 100 spike3 of flowers, which to 
a lover of Orchids is a sight worth travelling from Europe to see. Apart 
from the few extraordinary specimens, the Orchids, as a rule, are very 
much crowded and mixed up with other vegetation. The photograph 
taken on the spot represents a tree growing in its natural state in the 
forest. The higher branches are covered with a long, white lichen ; 
a little lower is an immense clump of Tillandsias ; while the branch on 
the right hand is inhabited by some Oneidiums. The next plant, lower 
down, is a nice piece of Cattleya Mendeli. The whole of the mountains 
at the time of my visit were crowded with the famous parasite. Like 
most of my predecessors, I was tempted to bear away a large quantity of 
