MY FOURTH EXPEDITION TO CHINA. 



Being some account of the Arnold Arboretum's Second Expedition 

 IN quest of New Plants. With 100 Stereopticon Views. 



By E. H. Wilson. 



"Delivered before the Society, March 16, 1912. 



On the Arnold Aboretum's first expedition to Western China 

 (my third in all) a large number of new kinds of conifers was 

 discovered, but unfortunately the season was unfavorable and 

 seeds of the Pines only were obtainable. The herbarium material 

 collected demonstrated that the Chino-Thibetan borderland was 

 the headquarters of the Spruce family, a fact previously unsus- 

 pected by the scientific world. Exactly how many species occur 

 there cannot be determined until the material collected is syste- 

 matically named and described, but it may be put down as between 

 twenty to twenty-five distinct species. As spruce timber is of 

 considerable economic value, the commercial importance of this 

 discovery will be readily appreciated. Furthermore, from the 

 altitude at which these new spruces were found and the climatic 

 conditions which obtain there, we have good reason for believing 

 that the majority will prove hardy and amenable to cultivation 

 here in New England. 



The Director of the Arnold Arboretum, Prof. C. S. Sargent, at 

 once realized the potential value of this discovery, and that for- 

 estry and horticulture might have opportunity of testing these 

 new conifers promoted a second expedition to Western China. 

 This expedition, my fourth in all, is the one I am about to talk 

 with you upon. The special object, then, of this expedition was to 

 introduce to the Arnold Arboretum, and incidentally to horti- 

 culture in general, as many as possible of these new conifers. But 

 aside from the main object, the securing of seeds of any other kind 



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