Volume 4 No. 2 
MUHLENBERGIA 
A. A. HELLER, Editor 
Los GaTos, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 14, 1908 
NOTES BY A PIONEER BOTANIST—I 
By J. G. LEMMON 
It was in the mountain home of my elder brother Frank, 
one mile south of Sierraville, Sierra county, California, that I 
woke up one early morning of October, 1866, an emaciated, 
feeble survivor of Andersonville prison atrocities, then increased 
by a liberal diet of one year, to the weight of about 90 pounds. 
As I peered out of the window, and later groped about the 
premises, the strange flowers, bushes, and even the trees, pro- 
claimed the fact that I was in a practically unknown world. 
Imagine the ecstacy of my re-awakened mentality—a terra 
incognita, a paradise, an open field of opportunity; all in sight! 
Born a botanist my mother declared (perhaps inheriting the 
reincarnated spirit of an ancient weed-puller), I had spent the 
infrequent respites from the exacting duties of farm life, as also 
my school and college vacations, in exploring the plains, swamps 
and hills of southern Michigan, with Ann Arbor for headquar- 
ters. Then I had three years of marches, battles and sieges, 
closing with six months in rebel prisons. 
Now I was thrust into the real workshop where things were 
still being created. The thought was a staggering one, yet full 
of inspiration. Ignoring weakness and pain, I at first groped 
about the yard, upheld by the fence rails. The next day I was 
(17) 
LIBRA! 
NEW Y‘¢ 
BOT ANKE 
GARDE 
