694 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 1, 1893. 
love of God’s creation and of every branch 
of natural history was displayed very remark¬ 
ably in his writings. He loved all God’s 
creatures, but especially the birds. The picture 
they had of Gilbert White had been filled in by a 
mass of family correspondence that had recently 
come to light. Mr. Edmund White, who knew him 
very well, spoke of " his pure character and strict 
religious principles. Gilbert White had the power 
of attracting to himself all persons of every age, but 
peculiarly did he attract the young, who listened 
with great delight to his instructive tales.” It was 
thought by some that Gilbert White did nothing but 
attend to and study birds, beasts, fishes, and insects, 
but that was a great mistake. The impression 
received from studying the records of White’s life 
had been summed up in this fashion:—‘‘His life 
may be truly said to have been passed in the constant 
and diligent fulfilment of the duties of his holy office, 
from the time of his taking holy orders in 1747 till 
his death in 1793.” Gilbert White’s book would be 
his memorial to the end of time. 
THE HERBACEOUS BORDER, 
Choice plants In flower. 
Campanula Hendersoni. —In this we have a re¬ 
markable and ornamental hybrid produced between 
C. carpatica turbinata and C. pyramidalis. The 
progeny is not always identical, for we have seen 
plants that were smooth and shining as in the latter 
parent, and on the other hand with hairy stems and 
leaves, taking after the former parent. There is a 
large bed of the latter form in the nursery of Mr. T. 
S. Ware, Tottenham, and which is now in a flori- 
ferous condition. The flowers are almost those of 
C. pyramidalis and blue, while the leafy stems are 
only 12 in. to 15 in. high, bearing the flowers in a 
terminal leafy raceme. The leaves are ovate-cordate, 
and the upper ones lanceolate. 
Lilium Bloomerianum magnificum. —From ten 
to two dozen blooms of great size are produced on 
the stems, which generally bear about six whorls of 
lanceolate, dark shining green leaves. The recurved 
segments are crimson on the apical third of their 
length, while the rest is orange-yellow, heavily 
spotted with crimson. It is a magnificent Lily, 
about 4 It. to 5 ft. high, notwithstanding the unusually 
dry summer. 
Lilium pomponium.— The bright orange-red 
flowers of this species, although of moderate 
imensions compared with those of L. Bloomeria¬ 
num, are nevertheless handsome. They are closely 
revolute like those of L. pyrenaicum, which is closely 
related to the present plant, although' the colour is 
so different. The leaves in both cases are linear and 
very densely arranged upon the stems, and to all 
intents and purposes are closely identical. The 
stems vary from 18 in. to 3 ft. in height, but are only 
about half their usual height this season. 
Campanula rotundifolia Hostii.— At first sight 
this plant is considerably different from the usual 
form of the wild plant of this country ; but it differs 
chiefly by its larger size and greater vigour, with 
larger and more numerous lanceolate leaves upon the 
stem. The flowers are blue, but there is a variety 
named C. r. H. alba, with white flowers, and very 
choice. 
Alstrcemeria chilensis.— The variation in colour 
of this species is considerable. The flowers are 
produced in a sort of corymb on stems about 12 in. 
to 18 in. high, and as almost every stem of any 
strength flowers, a bed of the plant presents a 
floriferous and gay aspect. The ground colour of 
the flower may be scarlet, rose, pink, pale or deep 
yellow, and the two upper segments, which stand 
away from the rest, are beautifully striped with 
crimson-scarlet. The leaves have been ripened off 
before their time by the great heat. The plant likes 
an open friable soil. 
Delphinium nudicaule.— The dwarf habit of 
this plant and its somewhat succulent nature require 
somewhat different and more careful treatment than 
the stronger growdng species. Slugs are very fond 
of Delphiniums in the early spring, but particularly 
of D. nudicaule, which should be planted in friable 
well-drained soil, in a position where it would be 
more directly under the eye so that it could be 
looked after. Most of the above we noted the other 
day with Mr. T. S. Ware, Hale Farm Nurseries, 
Tottenham. 
EXPERIENCES OF AN 
ORCHID COLLECTOR. 
Mr. Ignatz Forsterman, of Newtown, Long Island, 
U.S.A., spent six years of his life travelling through 
the districts of the East where Orchids grow in 
greatest abundance, and where the chances are most 
numerous for discovering plants which have been 
hitherto unknown to the world at large. No more 
enthusiastic horticulturist ever set out upon a cam¬ 
paign of this kind than Mr. borsterman. He was 
born at the ancient City of Coblentz, on the River 
Rhine, and being rather frail in his youth the doctor 
prescribed out-door work, and thus he came to be 
regularly educated as a florist. He went to one of 
the manygardening schools which exist in Germany, 
and there he remained for three years, becoming 
meanwhile greatly interested in all forms of plant 
life. From there he went to a great establishment at 
Bingen on the Rhine, now the property of the Duke 
of Hesse, where his knowledge of botany was greatly 
extended and his enthusiasm immensely stimulated. 
Here he became very much interested in Orchids, 
but it was not until he went to the Botanical 
Gardens at Basel, Switzerland, that he caught the 
fever for exploring foreign fields for rare flowers. 
The inspector of these gardens had travelled in 
Brazil in search of flowers, and he related his expe¬ 
riences to Mr. Forsterman, and the latter then 
determined to improve his first opportunity to travel 
in Eastern lands. 
How Cypripedium Spicerianum was Found. 
This opportunity came to him in the shape of 
a commission from the firm of Sander & Co., St. 
Albans, England, who desired him to proceed to 
Calcutta and find an Orchid which was very rare, 
but which was known to be growing somewhere in 
India. This was in the year 1881, and the name of 
the Orchid was Cypripedium Spicerianum. There 
were only three specimens of the plant outside 
India, and these were valued at Si,250 apiece. It 
scarcely needs to be stated that India is a very 
extensive country, because everybody knows it, but 
this fact must be borne in mind in order to fully 
comprehend the immensity of Mr. Forsterman’s 
undertaking. Fortunately, he knew the name of the 
man who had sent the precious plants to England, 
and so when he reached Calcutta he applied to the 
Post Office Department for his address, but all infor¬ 
mation was refused, and the Orchid hunter spent 
weeks trying to find some traces of the whereabouts 
of the man whom he had come thousands of miles 
to find. One day Mr. Forsterman was walking the 
streets of Calcutta, anxiously turning over in his 
mind some new expedient for discovering the man 
he was after, when he accidentally caught sight of a 
sign which read “ Tea Planters' Gazette.” It so 
happened that the man who sent the rare Orchids to 
England was a tea planter, and so Mr. Forsterman 
reasoned that at the office of such a paper the man 
might be known. He reasoned correctly. But, alas, 
another difficulty immediately presented itself. 
There were two persons of the same name, and they 
were both tea planters. Mr. Forsterman again put 
his reasoning powers at work, and came to the con¬ 
clusion that a flower so rare as the Orchid he was 
trying to find must of necessity come from the 
locality least known, and where there was the smallest 
number of inhabitants. Again the thinking 
apparatus, without which no Orchid hunter can be 
successful, stood him in good stead. He proceeded 
to the tea plantation of the man in the more 
secluded region of India, and there he found the 
flower ' he came so many miles to discover. The 
place was a very long distance from Calcutta. Mr. 
Forsterman travelled part of the way by rail and 
part by boat. When on the cars and certain rivers 
were reached, he was obliged to alight, go on board 
a steamboat, and take another train on the opposite 
bank of the river. The reason of this was that these 
streams widened in the rainy season until they were 
six miles across, and so bridges could not be built 
which would be of much service. When travelling 
by b 5 at the motive power for propelling the craft 
was coolies on the shore with a stout rope, who 
pulled the boat along. By this primitive xnethod of 
travelling Mr, Forsterman finally reached his desti¬ 
nation. 
The most difficult part of his task was now to be 
performed. The precise location of the plants was a 
profound secret. The forests of that country also 
abound with wild beasts of the most ferocious kinds. 
After much patient inquiry Mr. Forsterman suc¬ 
ceeded in locating the precious plants, and he imme¬ 
diately proceeded to make up a party to go with him 
into the forests and secure them. There had to be 
men to carry the luggage, to build huts for tempo¬ 
rary shelter, and still others who were familiar with 
the habits of wild beasts, and were prepared to 
defend the Orchid hunters against them. A fatal 
disaster befell a member of the party while on the 
way, which well might have discouraged a man of 
less sterner stuff than Mr. Forsterman. A man who 
was well in advance of the main party was attacked 
by a tiger and killed before his companions could 
come to his relief. Some soldiers who were posted 
near where the disaster occurred heard the cries of 
the man and shot the tiger. It was just between 
daylight and dark so that the soldiers did not pene¬ 
trate further into the jungle at the time, but waited 
till morning. They then went to see the result of 
their marksmanship, and found that they had 
wounded the tiger so that he could not move from 
the spot, and he was feeding upon the dead man 
whom he had slain before the soldiers had fired upon 
him. They then despatched the brute, and he 
proved to be an old one. These are the sort, Mr. 
Forsterman says, which are mah-eaters in India. 
The younger animals are able to kill deer and large 
game of that kind, but when a tiger begins to get old 
he becomes a man-eater. The natives who made up 
this party were very expert at building huts for 
shelter at night. In an hour’s time they would con¬ 
struct a house which would be very serviceable 
indeed, being water-tight and a good protection 
against the prowling wild beasts which are the con¬ 
stant dread of those who are obliged to penetrate 
into the East India forests. 
At last the long-sought Orchids were found in 
great profusion. Mr. Forsterman says that it is im¬ 
possible to form any conception of the beauty of 
these plants when seen growing in the dense forests 
of India. In tropical countries it is an ordinary 
sight to see a tree adorned with multitudes of the 
most beautiful Orchids of a variety of colours, forms, 
and odours. To get a sight of this kind fully repaid 
Mr. Forsterman for all his many privations. There 
were a multitude of birds of brilliant plumage in the 
regions visited, and delicate ferns, one of which, 
Pteris Victoriae, Mr. Forsterman introduced to the 
Western world, and specimens of which he now has 
growing in his greenhouses at Newtown. The 
Orchids which were procured on this first trip were 
taken down to the city of Calcutta and carefully 
packed and shipped to England, and the successful 
hunter was in due time gladdened by a cable 
message informing him that they had arrived at 
their destination in safety. After selecting a number 
of the choicest of the plants the rest were sold at 
auction and the sum of $16,000 was realised. 
Borneo and the Head Hunters. 
After visiting various parts of India and meeting 
with much additional success, Mr. Forsterman went 
to the Island of Borneo, where Orchids grow in 
great luxuriance and wonderful abundance. This 
locality is the home of the barbarous Dyaks, who 
are also known as head hunters because of their 
propensity for cutting off the heads of their enemies, 
smoking them, and then hanging them up in their 
houses as ornaments. Some of the orgies which 
these people practice when the passion for human 
blood comes upon them are too terrible almost for 
belief. “ I never had the slightest trouble with 
them,” said Mr. Forsterman, in speaking of his 
experiences in Borneo. “ I went into their houses, 
saw the heads hanging up in various places, and 
they were ghastly in appearance, I can assure you, 
but the Dyaks never gave me any trouble. Though 
theseTiead hunters are almost in a savage state, they 
still stand in wholesome dread of the consequences 
of interfering with the white man. Once I was 
invited to one of their sacred dances and could not 
avoid going, though I would gladly have stayed 
away if possible. They mixed what was to me a 
most disgusting liquor made from rice, and dipped it 
out of a big cauldron standing in the middle of the 
house where the conclave was held. The Dyaks 
chewed a nut from a palm which grows in that 
country, and this left their lips stained in a manner 
surpassing the most inveterate tobacco chewer in 
this country. The small drinking vessel was for the 
entire company, _which added to the disgusting 
character of the entertainment for me .”—Brooklyn 
Times. 
