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I was not a little surprised at the progress made by Professor 
Earle in so short a time, even allowing for the fact that he has no 
wintry weather with which to contend. The buildings are more 
commodious and substantial and the organization and actual work 
of experimentation in progress both in field and laboratory 
is much more extensive than I had anticipated. I wish here to 
express my appreciation of the cordial reception tendered me by 
Professor Earle and his able staff of ie ne of their 
kindly and valuable assistance during m 
Our first collecting was done in Havana province within easy 
reach of Santiago de las Vegas. Excursions to the dry lime- 
stone hills near Managua, about twenty miles to the east, and 
along the river near San Antonio de los Bafios, about the same 
distance to the west, resulted in several hundred specimens, 
chiefly woody forms belonging to the Pyrenomycetes and Poly 
poracee. This being the driest season of the Cuban year, fleshy 
orms were not expected and were found very sparingly during 
the entire trip. 
On March 6 we left Santiago de las Vegas by the Western 
Railway for Herradura, about seventy miles to the west, in the 
province of Pinar del Rio, The change from red land and royal 
palm to gray savanna land and cabbage palmetto was soon very 
remarked. As the ranges of the Organ mountains came into view, 
a tract of sandy land was reached resembling the pine regions of 
Florida, on which pines and barrel palms were conspicuous. The 
barrel palm is considered by the Cubans a sign of a poor soil 
and this may be true of the elevations upon which it grows, 
but this district as a whole, the famous wwel/ta abajo, is the 
finest fruit land in Cuba and the best tobacco land in the world, 
the soil being light and porous, easily cultivated and at the same 
time remarkably retentive of moisture during the dry season. 
On March 7 we hired a mule team and pushed on over the 
rough roads to the edge of the Organ mountains north of San 
Diego de los Bafios, an attractive village celebrated for its sulphur 
springs, and camped in the foot-hills by the San Diego River. 
Here we encountered for the first time the dense virgin forest of 
hardwoods which covers much of the island. The mountains are 
