TEST-TUBE ORCHIDS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21323, 18 April 1939, Page 10

TEST-TUBE ORCHIDS

COLLECTORS RISK DEATH (By Air Mail.) (Special to the “Timaru Herald.”) LONDON, March 25. Tens of thousands of exotic orchids are being grown from test-tube to maturity—which takes four years—in Bradford, Yorkshire. The seeds from which these costliest of flowers are grown are sent from Mexico, China, Venezuela and India by collectors who sometimes face death to do it. “To get the stock,” said Mr Frank Hatchell, the scientist in charge of the research work at the orchid nurseries, “we have native collectors in all countries where orchids are found.

“One of them, searching for rare specimens, had his donkey crushed by a python. He himself was hurled into a bush and a thorn pierced his eye. His injuries caused blackwater fever and he died.” “Orchids are extremely long-lived flowers. Some have been known to live seventy years. “Orchids are the healthiest of all flowers. A spray for evening wear, if placed in water, will live for six weeks.”