The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-01-31
The Rage for Orchids.

Are we to witness the revival of a
mania similar to that which ragged in
Holland some two and half centuries
since? 1t is recorded in the City Regis
ter of Alkmaar that in 1859 100 tulil S
sold for $4,000 gull lers, or about SlO,-
900; and that one 81 ecimcn, named
The Niceroy," brought the amazing
sum OF 400 guilders. So cxtracrdi-
nary was, indeed, the flower frenzy
which prevailed in the Netherlands in
1886 and 1867, and reached its climax
in 1858, that men speculat d in bulbs as
in orr own times they dabble in mining
stocks or buy and sell railway shares.
The highest rice ever given at Haar-
lem for tulip was 1900 guilders, the
"Sem er Augustus" having been the
variety thus honored. 1.-The owner
ship of bulb was often divided into
shares. Men sold bulbs which they d d
not possess on condition of delivering
them to the purchasers within stipu-
lated time; while of some varieties far
more bulbs were sold than actually eX-
isted." These eXtravagances We're not
of much duration, but they lasted long
enough to involve many haplcss adven-
turers ruin. Something OF Il not widely
different kind threatens to arise among
ourselves. During last spring the sums
of Us and of 2I5 guineas, or 1920, for
two plants, were paid at Stevens Nat
ural History sale rooms for a couple of
varieties of an orchid called the ''l att
leyea Trianr." Last week a st II higher
sum was given for single Orchid; and
such is the S, eculation now existing in
orchidaceous plants that ere long some
English speculator may see his way to
getting up corner in the "Lrli>s"
and -, attlevas" for which the Brazilian
forests are so Justly renowned, or in or
ganizing ''put and CALI for the wax
like "tandas' of Hindostan, and the
lovely "Phala MOI ses, or moth orchids,
of the Philippine Islands. Oddly
enough, these prodigious prices are paid
for specimens of lants which are found
scattered over almost the entire surface
of the globe. They abound eve y
where except in the coolest and most
exposed regions. but are most numer-
Gus in the humid forests of the torrid
zone, and especially of America.
Until comparatively recent date the
imported specimens We're cultivated in
hothouses together with other eXot;cs.
but now single and special prepared
structure Of glass and iron is devoted to
varieties of one sort alone. Sometimes
it happens that individual plants pur-
chased for few shillings may prove,
when they flower for the first time, to
be distinct in some particular from the
previously known patterns of the same
~ hoY - N
windfall and, should the fortunate pos
SCISSOR wish to part with the plant, there
are plenty of purchasers who would be
anxious to secure the prize at almost
any price.
Curious and multifarious are, indeed,
the classes of men who attend the great
plant sales in King street, Convent Car
den. There are, to begin with, the
nursery gardeners of these islands, in
terspersed with others who act for prin-
cipals ON the Continent and in North
America Sometimes a noblemen or
count. y gentleman is seen hurrying
away with a precious rarity, as he con-
ceives it to be, which could be put into
a teacup; but no class is so largely rep
resented as that consisting of the ank-
% tiC cOl4SIVOiE tLiC StOShDlOhCIS, lDC
medical men, and the pawnbrokers of
this wealthy metropolis. A well-known
and popular solicitor of Lincoln's Inn
fields has the credit of being one of the
best judges of orchidaceous plants in
the world; and the windows of one
eminent physician in Grosvenor street,
who is noted for his exhaustive books
on "The Use of the Microscope and
other cognate subjects, are garnished
with small hothouses richly bedizened
with hanging tropical flowers of the
rarest kinds.
The rage for orchids and fol other
exotics. which in this climate can only
thrive under glass, may be accepted as
an indication that the suburbs of this
metropolis can grow fewer and fewer
Towering plants which are able to stand
the smoke-infected atmosphere hanging
over this mighty camp of human beings
ike pail, Within the memory of men