A HUNTER OF PLANTS 



65 



Bogh-dolah, where 

 the Kirghiz guides 

 had told us that 

 men are sometimes 

 butchered like 

 sheep for sacrifice. 

 It seems those 

 things did occur 

 some twenty - five 

 or thirty years ago, 

 but now I hardly 

 think anything like 

 that would happen. 

 In the days when 

 Dr. Regel was bot- 

 anizing here, 

 strange things were 

 reported; even the 

 Chinese practiced 

 human sacrifices in 

 times of epidemics 

 and famines." 



finding the fa- 

 mous PEKING 

 PEAR 



Here is a letter 

 postmarked P e- 

 king : 



"On December 

 29 we started from 

 Peking, en route to 

 the Western Moun- 

 tains. On the way 

 I secured some pic- 

 tures of white- 

 barked pine trees 

 and some cuttings 

 and seeds of a 

 large Lycium. 

 That night we slept 

 in a temple in the 

 mountains where it 



was pretty cold, as there was no fire in 

 these airy rooms. 



"The next morning a fine snow fell, 

 but about one o'clock it cleared up and 

 we got bright, cold weather. I utilized 

 that time to get a lot of scions of the 

 male and female pistache trees and had 

 several men and boys at work to try to 

 get a quantity of good pistache seeds, for 

 most trees bore simply empty capsules. 



"I paid many 20-cent pieces and got 

 but few seeds. These are very hard to 

 get, for they are small and have about the 



A ROW OF POPLARS IN CHILI PROVINCE, CHINA 



The trees, planted along the edge of a field bordering a stream and 

 trimmed up high so as to make poles, had a peculiar appeal for Meyer. 

 They may have reminded him of some scene in Holland or of some 

 Dutch- painting. 



same color as the ground from which 

 they have to be picked. Notwithstanding 

 my offer of a Mexican dollar for a small 

 linen bag full, the natives were not will- 

 ing to do the job. 



"The pistache is a fine shade tree, espe- 

 cially the male form, and for the mild- 

 wintered regions of the United States it 

 will be a nice acquisition. 



"In a temple yard that same day I col- 

 lected a quantity of scions of the Chinese 

 horse-chestnut, which will probably be a 

 good shade tree for the United States. 



r 1 



