48 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY [1912-13 



Holland. She did, however, shov/ the narcissus and the tulip, 

 t\vo of the most favorite flowers of Holland. She told of the 

 tulip craze of 1636 when tulips and other bulbous plants sold 

 for exorbitant prices. Finally, after several months of this 

 craze, the government decided that such buying and selling 

 was illegal, and should have to be stopped. Through this many 

 people lost their fortunes. 



In closing her lecture, Mrs. Peck showed the pictures of the 

 queen of the Netherlands, Wilhemina, and her little daughter, 

 Juliana. 



Thursday, Feb. 15, 1912. 



THE WANDERINGS OF A PLANT COLLECTOR IN 

 WESTERN CHINA. 



E. H. Wilson, Arnold Arboretum. 



Mr. Wilson has spent the greater part of the last ten or twelve 

 years in the western part of China. He said that what the 

 Chinese do not know about agriculture — getting the most out 

 of a small plot of ground — is not worth knowing. 



In speaking of rice-growing in China, Mr. Wilson said that 

 every fall thick nursery beds are transplanted by hand into 

 the fields. Many men, women, and children turn out to the 

 fields to help in the transplanting, and, if they work diligently, 

 they may earn as much as twelve cents a day for their labor. 



All the la ad everywhere is cultivated with some sort of 

 vegetation. The principal vegetables grown in China are 

 squashes and gourds. The tobacco grown in China is of as 

 good quality as can be found anyehere inthe world, but of 

 curing, packing, etc., the Chinese know absolutely nothing. 



Formerly, one could travel for a month or more along the 

 banks of the Yangtze River and see nothing but fields upon 

 fields of the opium poppy. The white poppy making the best 

 (or worst) opium, though every now and then, the monotony 

 of white was broken by a field of red poppies. Now, however, 

 you could travel along the river for months and not see a single 



