Horticultural Wanderings In Oriental Fields 
By Dr. Wm. C. Richardson. 
Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen : 
I regret, probably more than any of 
you, that I am not able to show you some 
of the pictures I was privileged to take 
of the marvelous things I saw in horti¬ 
cultural and other lines on my recent tour 
around the world. There is a gentleman 
present here who made the trip on the 
same boat that I did, and just a moment 
ago he said that unless we had some such 
evidence as pictures, actually taken, it was 
doubtful whether or not our statements 
could be believed. If I should make any 
statement seemingly startling or incred¬ 
ible, you may call on him to verify it. 
The subject of my talk, or lecture, is 
somewhat misleading in the program. It 
hardly could be dignified by being called 
an address, because it has not been care¬ 
fully prepared. Up to an hour ago, I had 
thought I should give you a talk from 
pictures, but we have failed after every 
effort to get any instrument to throw 
them on the screen. I have some notes 
of lectures delivered on shipboard, and 
other memoranda from which I can re¬ 
fresh my mind as I go along, and may be 
able, perhaps, to give you a little diver¬ 
sion and entertainment; at any rate, I 
hope I may not bore you. 
My tour around the world was a rather 
hurried one, and yet owing to its perfect 
arrangement and management, was so 
planned that we had ample time and op¬ 
portunity to see a great deal more than 
people ordinarily do who take three or 
four times as much time as we did in 
making the trip. 
Before starting in on the oriental fields, 
I want to say just two or three words 
with regard to some occidental observa¬ 
tions from a horticultural standpoint. Our 
trip was made westward, and the first 
stop was in California, in the Riverside 
citrus neighborhood, a very short time 
after the freeze they had a year ago last 
January. In order that you may get 
some idea of the severe temperatures they 
had out there, I will give you a statement 
that I got from the Weather Bureau in 
Los Angeles. It appears from the offi¬ 
cial report that in Southern California, in 
1909 and 1910, it was below freezing nine 
days in December, and ten days in Jan¬ 
uary; at San Bernardino, four days in 
December, four days in January; at Red¬ 
lands, five days in December and six days 
in January. At the office of the Fruit 
Exchange in San Bernardino, they told 
me that growers had reported much low¬ 
er temperatures than any recorded by the 
Weather Bureau. In some instances, 
26, and even as low as 20 degrees were 
reported. If we had any such cold as 
that, in Florida, we would think we were 
going to the bow-wows right away. The 
result of that cold in the orange groves 
