ON BOYHOOD DAYS 



chance, one fell to pieces his effort was always to 

 reconstruct it. Flowers were his first toys, and 

 when he was old enough to toddle about they be- 

 came his pets. Especially dear to his heart was a 

 thornless cactus (Epiphyllum) which he carried 

 about in his arms, until in an unhappy moment 

 he stumbled and fell, breaking pot and plant. This 

 was his first great sorrow, although by persistent 

 effort and care the plant was made to flourish 

 again." 



Conceivably this early association with a thorn- 

 less cactus may not have been without its subcon« 

 scious influence in determining an interest in the 

 development of new races of thornless cactus half 

 a century later. 



Be that as it may, the inherent fondness for 

 plants that the incident illustrates was accentuated 

 year by year. My earliest recollections center 

 about the pleasure experienced in wandering in 

 the woods, gathering wild flowers in summer and 

 in winter making excursions among the walnuts, 

 birches, oaks, and pines that, viewed in perspec- 

 tive, seem to have been almost of the proportions 

 of Sequoias, but which visits of later years 

 revealed as trees of very ordinary proportions. 



Even while employed in the turning factory I 

 spent every spare moment in wandering about the 

 country, and the letters home were full of refer- 



[51] 



