6 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



Meyer's character sketches of the things he finds and the uses which 

 he believes can be made of them are always interesting reading, and 

 often they give a glimpse into the circumstances surrounding the 

 discovery and securing of the seeds or other plant material which 

 he sends in to be grown somewhere in this country. As only little 

 more than a year has passed since these collections were sent in, it 

 is manifestly impossible to indicate anything regarding the ultimate 

 success of the various introductions which he made. 



One unfortunate circumstance it may not be out of place to record 

 here, as it may have a bearing upon the botany of some of Mr. Meyer's 

 introductions. Although perhaps the most laborious work of the 

 expedition was the collecting and drying of the herbarium specimens, 

 of which he procured a large number, a considerable portion of his 

 collections was lost in the great Galveston storm, which by an unfor- 

 tunate coincidence struck that city just as his collections were on the 

 " last lap." so to speak, of their long steamer and railroad journey 

 from Kansu to Washington. About a third of his specimens were 

 ruined, especially herbaceous material, but the larger part of the 

 woody specimens were saved, mounted, and are now in the herbarium. 



A variety of hull-less oats (S. P. I. No. 40650) and a hull-less bar- 

 ley (S. P. I. No. 40652), two varieties of high-altitude corn (S. P. I. 

 Nos. 40653 and 40654) from western Kansu, near the borders of Tibet. 

 and five varieties of kaoliang collected in the Provinces of Shensi and 

 Kansu, may prove of value in the development of varieties suited to 

 our own high plateaus. 



The recent researches of Reimer, which indicate that certain of the 

 Chinese pear species have a remarkable resistance to pear blight, 

 will give an unusual interest to the collection of three as yet unde- 

 termined forms of Pyrus from Kansu. 



The collection of Chinese jujubes at Chico has been enriched by 

 two varieties (S. P. I. Nos. 40506 and 40877) which Mr. Meyer con- 

 siders stand second only to a variety which he discovered previously 

 at Paihsiangchen, Shansi. One of these (S. P. I. No. 40506) has 

 fruits as large as a small hen's ^g:g and unlike most varieties is 

 destitute of spines when old and produces trees having trunks li 

 feet in diameter. Another (S. P. I. No. 40878) is used for boiling 

 with millet, or much as we do raisins for baking in bread. 



As was expected. Mr. Meyer found that Kansu possesses a great 

 variety of ornamental tree- and shrubs. Two species of Viburnum 

 (S. P. I. Nos. 40692 to 40694). three species of Euonymus (S. P. T. 

 Nos. 40696 to 40698), four species of rose (S. P. I. Nos. 40699 to 

 40702), and a linden (S. P. I. No. 40720) which may make a valuable 

 park tree arc among those recorded in this inventory. 



At an altitude of 6,000 feet near Lungteh, Kansu, Mr. Meyer found 

 the davidiana peach (S. P. I. No. 40722). This is possibly its most 



