276 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



the United States of America. Twelve days after- 

 ward I landed in Boston, Mass., and on the after- 

 noon of the same day made my first acquaintance 

 with the Arnold Arboretum. My stay in Boston was 

 limited to five days and nearly the whole time was 

 devoted to looking over the Arnold Arboretum collec- 

 tions and I departed enriched in knowledge and with 

 much sound advice on matters relating to the col- 

 lecting and packing of seeds and plants from Pro- 

 fessor Sargent and from the late Mr. Jackson Daw- 

 son. 



My trip across the continent was delightful; every- 

 thing was new, strange, and interesting, and the 

 hours of daylight were not long enough to drink my 

 fill from the Pullman windows. When crossing Texas 

 a talkative brakesman told me hair-raising stories of 

 the exploits of the notorious James brothers and so 

 impressive was his language that a thrill goes through 

 me now as I recall it. On May 6th I sailed from San 

 Francisco and on June 3d safely reached Hongkong 

 where I had letters to friends. 



The holiday part of my journey was now over. 

 My immediate destination was the Chinese city of 

 Szemao, situated in the southwest corner of Yunnan 

 near the frontier of northern Burmah and my route 

 lay through French Tonking to the Chinese border 



