Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-12-14
PLANT HUNTERS IN EGYPT.
Collectors From the ime of Rameses
to Present Day.

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. A
series of exquisite carvings or sculp-
lures adorn the walls, and these are
representations of foreign plants col
lected and brought home by Thothmes
Ill. on his triumphant return from a
campaign in Arabia. These sculptured
records show not only in the natural
aspect of plant or tree, but leaves and
flowers, fruits or seed pots are shown
separately, as in our modern botanical
works of today. w. Flinders Petrie,
the well-known Egyptian explorer and
archaeologist, 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 else
where. These sculptured pictures, for
some were colored originally, must not
be confounded with the actual dried
specimens of Egyptian garden and
wild plants that have been found pre-
served in the mummy wrappings of
Ahmes l., Rameses II. and other great
men, and in the graves discovered at
Dalschur, Sahkara and der ell Bahara.
These actual flowers consisted of blue
and white lotus, peoples, narcissus,
grasses, palms, clover, barley, jupiter
and other plants which grew and flour
ished at least 1000 years before our
Savior was born at Bethlehem Sam
pies of these actual flowers as used in
the funeral wreaths of Egypt 1000
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, voyages, such as Drake
and Raleigh, 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 collecting be-
gan with such merchants and travel
ers as Reeves, Parks. Fortune and
others, in China, the last two having
been sent out as collectors by the Hor-
ticural Society. Messrs. Veitch & Son
then of Exeter, also sent out the
brothers Thomas and William Lobb
the first named being especially sue
cessful. Then men like Linden, Hart
veg, Gardner, Wier and Roezi sent
home the cream of the orchids and
other rare plants of South America
and DR.. Hooker and DR.. Thomson in
troduced many orchids-Lillium
rhododendrons, ETC.. from northern
midland were pioneers in the good
work done afterward by Parish, Ben
son, Boxall, Berkeley and many others
Of recent years.
Just at the present time plant col
are concerned, is mainly limited to
orchids. of which enormous cargoes are
now and then secured from both the
eastern and western tropics OF these
the cattleyas and odontoglossums OF
the west and the phalaenopsis, den
drobes, vandas and cynripedes of the
east seem at present the most market
~ -. n
fact we may observe that plants, like
other things, have their prevailing
vogue or fashion. and collectors, like
ali other carterers for the public, must
study the law of supply and demand
the markets as represented now main
ly by the London auction-rooms and
the larger nursery gardens everywhere
Now and then fine new or very rare
species is discovered and introduced.