THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 17 



In a few davs I diil return. I'ut, alas, the trolley com- 

 pan\- liacl mowed the ri^hl of way, and my blue dandelions 

 were no more. 



The next spring found me still stationed at Fortress Mon- 

 roe, in spite of frantic efforts to get overseas. But, just 

 before dandelion, time, I was transferred to another post, and 

 in the haste of packing forgot to arrange for someone else 

 to get the seeds for me. 



In June, 1920, and again in 1921, I wrote my borthcr 

 officers at Fortress Monroe, beseeching them to walk out 

 toward Buckroe and get me some blue dandelion seeds; but 

 my appeals produced merely ribald inr|uiries from some as to 

 whether blue dandelions would be an> more useful in violat- 

 ing the Volstead Act than dandelions of any other color. One 

 friend did finally have the decency to take the trip, only to 

 report that the trollev companv had filled in its right of way 

 with cinders, thus covering up the spot where the precious 

 flowers had used to grow. 



Nothing daunted, I again appealed in 1922, this time 

 including the Reverend Father Superior of Old Point Comfort 

 College. He succeeded in finding a clump of blue dandelions 

 which had not been buried by the unintentional vandalism of 

 the trolley companv; but he also succeeded in losing my let- 

 ter of inquiry. 



Nevertheless, realizing the seriousness of the situation, 

 he made a frantic eff< »rt to reach me. The letter which he 

 wrote me had my name wrong, the name of my company 

 w rong. and it was addressed to the wrong city. Yet through 

 one of those strokes of genius of the Post Office Department, 

 which one reads about, but .seldom sees, the letter reached 

 me ; and I at once ordered a shipment of the seeds. 



