eONTRir.i TiOXS TO WESTERN IfOTANY NO. 16 



cf him. He was then about 40 years old, some 10 years older than I. We 

 had many pleasant visits around the camp fire on the trip. He told me he 

 was of Quaker stock, was married and had separated from his wife because 

 of inability to get along with her, and that this was the reason for his trips 

 west. He was a very mild spoken man. with positive opinions which he 

 never tried to impress on others. He was a very quiet man also. He had a 

 young man along with him as helper, and had his own outfit for traveling, 

 that is a team and wagon and horses. The first thing I noted was his antipa- 

 thy to poor specimens of plants. He never would collect a specimen unless 

 it was just right. We camped together but each party had his own outfit and 

 got their own meals. Parry and I had Charley Orcutt as teamster and cook, 

 a lazy boy of 19 years who knew a little more about everything than the 

 Almighty. 



In later years Pringle specialized on \\,-; Me.\ic; n botany and discov- 

 ered many new species of plants. 



Pringle impressed me as a very conscientious man, absolutely on the 

 square about everything. I have known men who knew him in Mexico, and 

 at whose places he stayed while botaniz as. He usually 



sought out the ministers (missionaries) of the regions, and stayed with them. 



ASA GRAY. 



but rather my in ■ through some 



When in the early seventies I found it impossible to identify plants by 

 the books, I wrote to Parry, who was the only botanist I knew of in Iowa, to 

 name certain plants for me. I had never met Parry, but he was a self- 

 advertiser who kept his name before the public as much as possible. Parry 

 was not able to name my plants for me but suggested that I send certain 

 ones to Gray, and certain others to Engelmann. In due time I got a report 

 from Engelmann, who suggested that I consult William Boott for the Carices. 

 Gray replied after a while, and informed me that Watson would report on 

 the plants not named in Gray's report. Thus began my acquaintance with 

 Gray and Watson, neither of whom I ever saw personally. 



Gray always wrote in his chicken-track scrawl, which was almost as bad 

 as my own. Engelmann almost always wrote on postal cards in an impossi- 

 ble scrawl, which consisted of a few wiggles at the beginning of a word and 

 then tapered off to a line at the end. The only way it could be read was to 

 take a run at it, a kind of hop-skip-and-jump, and then if you did not get 

 it right you had to start over and guess again. Watson's writing was always 

 legible. . 



When I began my systematic examination of the flora of Colorado in 

 1878 I had many plants to identify, and I divided them up among the three 

 men. Engelnu.; then Gray, and last Watson. Gray's 



reports were always to the point, and gave the latest information. He was 

 always courteous. Once he made fun of me for naming Chenopodium 



