22d February, A. D. 1894. 



ESSAY 



BY 



JAMES COMLEY, Lexington, Mass. 



Theme: — My Visit to Japan; Its Ghrysa)itht7nnms and other 

 Floioers. 



In 1858 I unpacked the first two cases of plants ever imported into 

 the United States from Japan. They included some Lilium axiratum^ 

 and six varieties of Retinospora, all grafted upon one stem, which had 

 been cut from the tree and placed in damp soil to preserve the graft. 

 This exploit in grafting excited my curiosity respecting the methods 

 of horticulture in Japan, and I have ever since felt a strong desire to 

 visit that country of the rising sun. Therefore it was with great 

 pleasure that I accepted an invitation to accompany Francis B. Hayes, 

 Esq., on his proposed trip to Japan. But now I have been there, I 

 cannot be satisfied until I have been there again. 



We left Boston Oct. 5, going via. New York to Chicago, thence to 

 Omaha, and via Union & Central Pacific route to San Francisco. As 

 we passed rapidly along, we saw many evidences of the wondrous 

 enterprise of our people, especially as shown in agricultural and horti- 

 cultural operations, involving not only hundreds but thousands of 

 acres of laud, in the country west of the Mississippi River. The 

 grandeur of Nature's handiwork also engaged our attention. 



We arrived at San Francisco Oct. 10, and were there five daj's, 

 which I passed in visiting Golden Gate Park ; Sutro Heights, the seat 

 of Adolphus Sutro ; Sherwood Hall, the estate of Timothy Hopkins 

 — a costly and once beautiful home, but now a commercial garden, 

 although the costly vases, statuary, etc., are still remaining upon the 

 grounds. At the station near Sherwood Hall was an Agave Ameri- 

 cana, in bloom, rising thirty to forty feet in height. A market garden, 

 ten acres in extent, also near, showed every variety of vegetable, with 



