40 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



paper might turn out little more than a bare catalogue, and thus 

 only wear}' your patience without exciting the interest which from 

 the nature of the subject I have felt that some at least among you 

 would take in it. 



I propose noticing some of the most interesting among both the 

 wild and cultivated fruits and flowers of Yesso. Not by any 

 means all of those of which I shall speak are peculiar to this 

 island. Very many, probably nearly all, of the wild species of 

 which I shall speak are found also in some parts of the more 

 southern islands, in many instances on the mountains. How 

 many are the cases I can recall when my hopes of having found 

 something new have been shattered by the discover}- that it had 

 been previously collected in some mountain region of the South. 

 Nikko, the celebrated site of the most famous mausoleums and 

 temples of Japan has proved the grave of many hopes of this sort. 

 On reflection, however, it must be perceived that in view of the 

 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 gi'eat degree of 

 similarity in the flora throughout the country wherever suitable 

 differences in altitude counterbalance differences in latitude. 



I am particular to bring out this point because I must offer this 

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

 doubtless shall, to plants with which many among 3'ou 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 con- 

 siderable 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 horti- 

 culture. 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 speak- 

 ing of them. You will, I feel sure, under the circumstances 

 pardon the fact that some of my " coals are brought to New- 

 castle." 



