IMPORTING ORCHIDS
Many interesting Orchids have been imported by amateurs who have friends
or correspondents in the countries which the Orchids inhabit, and many
more would have arrived alive if the persons who sent them possessed
some knowledge of the best methods of collecting, packing, and
forwarding the plants. The want of this knowledge often results in the
trouble the collector has taken being in vain, and disappointment to the
receiver who gets the dead plants and has to tell his correspondent the
sad tale of failure.
Orchids should be gathered and forwarded during their resting season,
and with a sufficient time between their being sent off and their
natural growing season to allow of the period of their transit being
made before their resting season expires. This rule is often needlessly
violated by those who are settled in the district from whence they are
sending the Orchids, and who could easily wait until the resting season
comes round. For those who are travelling and have to take the Orchids
when they can and in whatever condition they may be, however, there is
some excuse, and by carefully forwarding the plants, even although at
the wrong season, many may get them over alive. Residents in the tropics
often grow a collection of Orchids, bringing to the gardens around their
residences the plants collected in distant parts of their districts.
These growers have a notion that cultivated plants are the best to send
their correspondents, therefore, although they could collect fresh
plants, they think it safer to send those in their own gardens. These
are the very worst plants to travel. They are usually collected in high
localities, and their sojourn in a garden results in lowered vitality,
which explains why a large proportion die during the journey to this
country.
Freshly collected plants, in whatever stage they may be, are the best,
the ideal conditions being to take the plants at mid-resting season, to
have the case to receive them beneath the trees on which they are
growing, to pack them off at once to a shipping agent at the port of
embarkation, to catch a steamer previously timed, and to consign the
case or cases to a reliable shipping agent in England.
Another cause of mortality in Orchids during transit arises from the
mistaken notion that the plants require to be prepared by drying before
packing, and this practice is continued so long and rigorously in many
cases that the plants are half dead before they are despatched.
No such preparation is needed; the plants should be packed at once after
collecting, and any moisture which may be in them will escape through
the small holes in the case. The parcels post is available from many
parts of the tropics, and from some places it is the only reliable means
of getting Orchids over in a reasonable time. But it is only available
for small lots, and for these it forms the best means of forwarding.
Unfortunately, there are drawbacks even to these means, for the parcels,
especially from some ports, are frequently stowed in hot chambers on
board the mail steamer, the object being to keep the mails dry, and
plant-life is destroyed by the excessive heat.
Epiphytal Orchids with pseudo-bulbs, such as Cattleyas, Laelias, and
Epidendrums, if collected at or near the proper season, require very
little packing. The cases being ready, it is necessary to place a layer
of plants at the bottom, with their heads all facing one way. The next
layer is placed with the heads the reverse way, and so on until the box
is full of plants firmly pressed in, but not sufficiently close to cause
injury. During the packing a few struts of wood should be placed across
the inside and fastened by nails driven into their ends from the
outside; these will prevent the plants from forming a mass and rolling
about when the boxes are moved. A few small holes should be bored in the
boxes to admit a little air.
Leafy epiphytal Orchids, such as Phalaenopsis, Aerides, Vandas, and
Saccolabiums, may be forwarded in the same way, but with a sprinkling of
fine paper cuttings, layers of paper, fine but not resinous shavings, or
dry moss between each row of plants. In respect to species which do not
possess pseudo-bulbs it is absolutely necessary that they be sent at the
proper resting season, if forwarded in bulk in boxes.
Phalaenopsis for sending at any time are prepared by collectors in Java
and the Philippines by establishing the plants on blocks. They are
almost the only temporarily cultivated Orchids which often travel well
when so managed, and they are usually sent fastened round the sides and
backs of Wardian cases, a method which is somewhat costly. Terrestrial
Orchids, such as Phaius, Calanthes, and others with above-ground
pseudo-bulbs, if collected at the proper resting season, travel well
packed in cases of moderate size and with a little dry packing material
placed between the rows. The danger with these kinds is that the
pseudo-bulbs, being soft and containing much moisture, are liable to
decay, and a few damaged plants may cause the loss of all contained in
the box.
Tuberous-rooted, terrestrial Orchids of the same nature as the British
Orchis, and including the African Disas, and Satyriums, also the
Habenarias of different regions, should be marked when in flower and
lifted in the resting season, the tubers being placed in small boxes
with a sprinkling of nearly dry sandy peat or sand, run in between the
tubers. If there are several different kinds to be forwarded, all the
small boxes containing them may be packed together in a larger box.
Next to the trouble caused by loss in transit is that of having plants
arrive without any means of identification. The collector should be
careful to write the name of every specimen on an imperishable label,
or, better still, send each under a number and forward a numbered list
with the names corresponding to the numbers on each kind sent. Those who
are collecting Orchids should, as often as possible, dry specimens of
the growth and flowers of each kind, forwarding one set, numbered
similarly to the set retained, to their correspondent, or to some
authority, for identification. A description or rough sketch of the
plant should be given on the same sheet as the dried specimens, stating
such important particulars as colour of flowers, altitude of habitat,
and exact locality.