A HUNTER OF PLANTS 



71 





"Tremendous for- 

 est fires rage at 

 times, and so we 

 traveled sometimes 

 for days through 

 burned areas. A 

 pitiful sight it is, 

 but in these areas 

 one can see the sun 

 and the sky — a 

 thing which is well- 

 nigh impossible in 

 the unburned for- 

 est. 



"To explore the 

 primeval forest is 

 simply impossible. 

 There is generally 

 only one trail 

 through it, and as 

 soon as one leaves 

 it he is in the entan- 

 glement of vines, 

 fallen and dead 

 trees, undergrowth, 

 peat - bogs, m u d- 

 holes, and heaven 

 knows what else. 



"Traffic is exceed- 

 ingly light — some 

 days we didn't see 

 a single man or 

 beast — and food is 

 not to be found; 

 neither is water, 

 except at a few 

 places. 



"There is an aw- 

 ful gloom in these 

 forests ; birds are 

 seldom seen o r 

 heard, and the qui- 

 etude is almost op- 

 pressive. Even the drivers of the horses 

 come under the spell of the solitude, and 

 our caravan proceeded in silence, except 

 for the noise of breaking branches of 

 trees and the sound of the horses' hoofs 

 touching rocks or tree stumps in the 

 track. In some places a monarch of the 

 forest had fallen across one's trail, and 

 then we had to make wide detours to 

 keep clear of it." 



This is a letter from Tai an fu, Shan- 

 tung, China : 



"Yesterday I returned from a hurried 



\ plant 



HAUL 



How the packages of seeds and cuttings used to come in from Meyer. 

 He packed them with great care, sewing each package in cloth, but the 

 long distance and the rough handling generally tore the outer wrapping 

 to pieces. This is part of a collection of rare specimens which Meyer 



made in Chinese Turkestan. 



trip to Feitcheng, bringing back with me 



eight 



grafted 



'to 



trees 



of the famous Fei 



peach. 



''We had much trouble in getting these 

 peaches, as the people demanded the most 

 fabulous prices ; for instance, $40 and 

 $50 per tree. My interpreter, through 

 some diplomatic dealings, got a plot con- 

 taining eight trees for S40. but we had 

 to leave Feitcheng hurriedly, because the 

 relatives of the man who sold to him 

 had not been consulted and they wanted 

 to take the trees back or destroy them. 



