The times., 1899-07-09
THE PLANT HUNTERS.
Collectors From the Time of the An
cfent Egyptians to the Present.


(From Amateur Gardenng.)
On the walls of a room in the great
Temple OF Karnac, at Thebes, there are,
perhaps, the earliest art records of plants
existing in the world today. series of
exquisite carvings or sculptures adorn the
walls, and these are representations of
foreign plants collected and brought home
by Thothmes III on his triumphant return
from campaign of Arabia. These sculp-
tured records show not only in the natural
aspect of plant or tree, but leaves and
flowers, fruits or seedpots are shown sep
arately. as in our modern botanical works
OF today. Mr.. w. Flinders Petrie, the
well-known Egyptian explorer and arch
aeologist, has taken casts and photographs
of these records and some OF these may
be seen in the museum at Cairo, in the
British Museum, and elsewhere These
sculptured pictures, for some were col
ores originally, must not be confounded
with the actual dried specimens of Egyp-
tian garden and wild plants that have been
found preserved in the mummy wrappings
of Ahmes l, Ramesse II and other great
men, and in the graves discovered at Dals-
chur Sahkara, and Dier ell Bahara. These
actual flowers consisted OF blue and white
lotus, poppies, narcissus, grasses, palms,
clover, barley, juniper, and other plants
which grew and flourished at least two
thousand years before our Saviour was
born at Bethlehem Samples of these ac-
tual flowers as used in the funeral wreaths
of Egypt four thosand years ago may be
seen in the museum at Cairo. as well as
in the British Museum and at Kew.
Coming down TO comparatively modern
times, voyagers, such as Drake and Ra-
leigh, doubtless brought home the useful,
If not ornamental, plants, seeds, and roots
from foreign lands-tobacco and, above all,
the potato, among the number. Even our
Kentish cherry yards and orchards owed
their early beginnings to trees brought
over from the Continent by Harris and
other of the royal gardeners at Hampton
Court so late as the time OF Henry VIII.
Then we know that Tradescant fetched
choice fruit trees from France to Hatfield,
where records of his costs and expenses in
so doing are still preserved. In the present
century the birth OF the modern plant col
lecting began with such merchants and
travellers as Reeves, Parks. Fortune, and
others. in China, the last two having been
sent out as collectors by the horticultural
Society. Messrs. Veitch & Son, then OF
Exeter. also sent out the brothers Thomas
and William Lobb. the first named being
especially successful. Then men like Lin
den, Hartweg, Gardner. Wier, and Roezl
sent home the cream OF the orchids and
other rare plants of South America, ana
DR.. Hooker and DR.. Thomson introduced
many orchids-Lilium, rhododendrons, etc.,
from Northern 1ndia-and were pioneers in
the good work done afterward by Parish
Benson, Boxall. Berkeley, and many 9TH
ers of recent years.
Just at the present time plant collect
ing, so far as nurserymen generally are
concerned, is mainly limited to orchids, of
which enormous cargoes are now and then
secured from both the Eastern and West
ern tropics. OF these the cattleyas and
odontoglossums of the West and the rha-
laenopsis, dendrobes. yandas. and cypri-
pedes of the East seem at present the
most marketable In large quantities. from
which fact We may observe that plants,
like other things, have their prevailing
vogue or fashion, and collectors. like all
other caterers for the public, must study
the law of supply and demand, the mar
kets as represented now mainly by the
London auction rooms, and the larger nur-
sery gardens everywhere. Now and then
a fine new or very rare species is discoy-
cred and introduced, and then competition
ensues and prices run high. When we
come to consider the actual pursuit of
collecting itself, we get, so TO speak, on
enchanted ground-that is, of course, If
one is born a collector or plant hunter
for above everything good collector is
so far like the poets are said to be. that
is, born and not made. OF course, II man
has the true hunters blood in him, and
also acquires experience in the best new
and rare plant nurseries and botanical gar
dens, then you may expect good, even If
not the best. results. Above all, a collec-
tor must be man of many parts; he must,
like the proverbial cat, always drop on his
feet, and nothing must daunt or deter his
ardor-he must be as persistent as blood
hound on the trail.