The Arizona sentinel., 1888-09-08
ORCHID-HUNTING TOURS.
Expeditions Which Cost Considerable Money and Renuire Great Patience.

Expeditions Which Cost Considerable
 Money and Require Great Patience.
 Tulips are of easy cultivation. They are multiplied without trouble, and are of rapid growth. Orchids, on the other hand, are of exceedingly slow growth; they are obtained only at the expense of money and trouble, fre- quently attended by danger and even loss of life, and are by no means easy to grow. Many remarkable stories might be told of the adventures of seekers after orchidacee. They re- quire the most arduous travel, the most careful seeking, and the greatest care in transport. Orchids are indig- enous to most hot climates, but one thing which they need quite as much, if not, indeed, more than heat, is water. Given a tropical climate, seek swampy valley, well protected from the night winds and sheltered from the direct rays of the sun. Then you will be most likely to find your orchid. It must not, however, be imagined that all orchids grow together. Their habit ants are as different as their colors, and while some species are found only in the East, others are tied to the West until they are hunted out, gathered and transported with the greatest care by the assiduous collector, to ultimate ly meet in some glass-house within the bounds of civilization. All classes of orchtdace9 have in their wild state a great horror of man. As settlements advance, so the orchids retire, until their hunting-grounds get smaller and smaller and ultimately disappear alto gether
 Orchids flourish in well-nigh every part of the tropical world. The coun- tries which are especially affected by the orchidaceg are Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Borneo, Java, Assam and Rangoon. Colombia prob ably yields more spoil to the orchid hunter than all the rest put together, but the most prolific districts have been pretty we'll explored now, and at- tention is being turned to the interior of the islands in the Straits settlements and Burmah. To equip an orchid hunting expedition costs no trifie. A skilled botanist to take the command is sine qua non. He must be accom- panied by at least one practical assist ant, and supplied with means for pro- tecting and packing the plants when found. The travelling expenses to the far land to be explored are a fraction of the cost of the expedition. Arrived in Mexico or Assam, as the case may be, a small regiment of men and boys, horses and don- keys has to be hired to convey the party and to carry back the orchids. The expedition is frequently gone six months or more, and sometimes re- turns empty handed. Even when a good find is reached and burden of several thousand roots is safely con veyed to the coast, the trouble is but half over. Many cases are on record where the botanist, after having seen his precious treasures carefully slowed away on board the steamer, muses contentedly over his success on the way, until, arrived in London, be opens his bales to find every plant dead. A good load brought safely to market more than makes up for such mishaps, however; and when it is borne in mind that any thing like a novelty or even fresh strain in an orchid brings a price of from $25 to $100, it will be seen that the risk is worth running, g,-SDriDofeId (Nass.) Republican.