86 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



very mountainous character of the country, this is only what 

 should be expected. When it is further remembered that the 

 bodies of water separating the islands of the empire of Japan 

 are nowhere wide enough to offer any great obstruction to plant 

 distribution, and that ocean currents indeed lend themselves to 

 the work, it will not be wondered that there should exist a 

 great degree of similarity in the flora throughout the country 

 wherever suitable differences in altitude counterbalance differ- 

 ences in latitude. 



I- am particular to bring out this point, because 1 must offer 

 this peculiarity of the Japanese flora as an excuse for alluding, 

 as I doubtless shall, to plants with which many among you are 

 already familiar. Little has been written in English on the 

 flora of Yesso — almost nothing if we except what our lamented 

 Dr. Gray wrote, after examination of the collection of the 

 Perry Expedition, a considerable part of which came from the 

 vicinity of Hakodate, in Southern Yesso ; but I am sensible 

 that what I shall say, will probably in many cases, lack the 

 charm of novelty, because of the peculiarity to which I have 

 alluded. This however, has seemed to me unavoidable, for I 

 am no specialist in either botany or horticulture. In common 

 with most of mankind, I love fruits and flowers ; I have known 

 those of which I shall speak in their native haunts ; I have 

 loved them, and this must be my excuse for speaking of them. 

 You will, I feel sure, under the circumstances, pardon the fact 

 that some of my " coals are brought to Newcastle." 



A brief glance at the position, size and physical peculiarities 

 of Yesso, together with a few remarks upon the nature of its 

 soil and climate, and some of the most striking peculiarities of 

 its flora, must precede the mention of any of its special features. 



Yesso lies oft' the coast of Siberia, from which it .is separated 

 by the Ja[)an sea, which at the narrowest point between the 

 island and the continent is about two hundred miles broad. 

 The island of Sachelen, which is separated from the continent by 

 a narrow strait, approaches to within about thirty miles of Yesso. 

 The Kuriles on the north also aftbrd a means of connection with 

 Kamtchatka ; and the larger Japanese islands, with smaller 

 subsidiary chains, make plant immigration from Corea and 



