CHAPTER XVI
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, Lælias, 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 Phalænopsis, Aërides, 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.
Phalænopsis 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.