1916.] PHYTOGEOGRAPHIC EXCURSION IN CALIFORNIA 17 



these great trees. I shall make one journey to them ; shall see them 

 only once.' We shall now hear with very great interest from Pro- 

 fessor Tubeuf of, the University of Munich." 



"Ladies and Gentlemen : The uniqueness of this occasion has im- 

 pressed me more and more during the course of this dinner. No- 

 where on our long journey have we been received with such mag- 

 nificent, not to say princely, hospitality. And the ladies here, fair 

 as your skies, rosy as your wine — nowhere else have ladies and 

 wine added so memorable a feature to American hospitality. The 

 Hebrews have a proverb to the effect that one ought 'not to muzzle 

 the ox that treadeth out the corn.' You follow it to the letter. You 

 even insist that he shall open his mouth, whatever be the result. 



"You will, I hope, not take it amiss that I speak in my native 

 tongue. In German I am on firm ground. In English I am liable to 

 get stuck in a swamp of words. Among your accomplishments you 

 doubtless reckon this also, that you have a botanist's familiarity 

 with flowers of speech — even German ones. I am speaking for my 

 colleagues as well as for myself when I say that we are intensely 

 interested in the extremely diversified flora of California. 



' ' When a lad I read in the geographies of your high mountains, 

 wonderful trees, and fields of glorious bloom. It was the dream of 

 my youth to see this paradise. Now in the evening of life I come, 

 with my colleagues. We are not disappointed, we are astonished; 

 what we find is finer than any dream. Your ancient trees seen in all 

 their living splendor are far beyond what any picture can convey. 

 And as we stood looking up at one of the giant Sequoias a creature 

 flew about nearby. Everything you had shown us was on such a 

 grand scale, I said, ' this must be a California butterfly. ' It alighted ; 

 and behold, it was no butterfly but a bird, a hummingbird. How 

 most remarkable, at the same moment, to see the smallest of birds 

 and the greatest of trees ! 



"And not less interesting than your flora is the freedom, the 

 abandon, the largeness, the youth, of your Western life. It is ex- 

 tremely gratifying to find amid this absorbing material develop- 

 ment of your civilization that interest in scientific pursuits to which 

 this dinner, this Society, and this splendid occasion testify. It is 

 truly American — may I say Californian? — that town and gown 

 unite in cherishing and promoting this interest in the wonderful 

 world of plants. Let me assure you that this will remain a memor- 

 able occasion with us all, and we hope the California Botanical 

 Society will live to the age and dignity of your mighty Sequoias. ' ' 



The President: "We have here in California no botanical 

 garden which may be truly called such ; nor have we any great 

 arboretum, although we have the finest of all natural coniferous 

 woodlands in the world. As we have just returned from the Sequoia 

 gigantea groves, it is fitting that the foremost of living botanists 

 should say a word in regard to the greatest of all trees. I now have 



