879 



elated, being of easily decaying properties but being 

 light and non-odoriferous, much used for making tea chests 

 and other boxes. 



"Then I noticed the real Oriental persimmon, Diospyros 

 kaki t wild all over the mountains. The fruits are said to 

 be small, of red color and quite puckery. 



"Chestnuts too occur here and there and In so far as I 

 saw a few trees, they seemingly had no bark disease. 



"We are having here some sultry, sticky weather, with 

 occasional showers and the air as humid as can be, not 

 very conducive to quick movements, as my hands even stick 

 to the paper I am writing on. 



"The markets, however, are very interesting; heaps of 

 fresh lytchees; fresh mangosteens (without any flavor); 

 good yellow mangos; fine golden loquats; ripe plums 

 (Prunus triflora and P. mume) , the last also sold freshly 

 pickled in brine and eaten out of hand with powdered li- 

 quorice root sprinkled over it, quite appetizing! Then 

 several varieties of peaches, green crab-apples, the last 

 apricots of the season, while new Xagis are just coming 

 in. We also have an abundance of shoots of Kau ba, 

 Zizania kitifolia; last Saturday Mr. Swingle and I had them 

 for lunch at the Astor House, boiled in water and served 

 hot with a cream sauce; they tasted like Jerusalem arti- 

 chokes, with a bit of young parsnip flavor added; last 

 night I had them sliced, well scalded and served cold with 

 a dressing, as a salad they tasted somewhat like bamboo, 

 like reed-sprouts and like celeriac. This vegetable cer- 

 tainly has a future ahead in America. In the foreign 

 hotels here they call them water bamboo sprouts! 



"Mr. MacGregor has shown me over his new parks, which 

 have prospered amazingly, only they have had a very severe 

 winter, the mercury went down to 15 Fahr. in January, 

 L915, and as a result the camphor trees were totally de- 

 foliated; Cliavuierops excelsa losing many leaves; some ole- 

 anders frozen to the ground; Eucalyptus gunnii, one of the 

 hardiest of the genus, has been killed outright, except in 

 some very sheltered localities; hardy Japanese lemons 

 suffered badly, but a hardy tangerine tree, 20 feet high 

 , and of local origin, escaped unhurt. 



"Shanghai as a town has grown largely since I was here 



ast in 1908, but as business Is much depressed on account 



the war, life seems much duller here than formerly. 



till Shanghai seems to be destined to become the New York 



of China, just like Hangchow js said to develop into the 



; Chicago of this gigantic land." 



