of a year he gets four hundred numbers. He is not waht 
might be considered a rapid worker. He pleased me greatly 
by appearing one day at the Museum while I was absent and 
telling the boy who worked for me that it was impossible to 
make good specimens by drying them with artificial heat. 
I do not know how you man do much with orchids any other way. 
Almost all the time I was in Costa Rica I had with me 
Juvenal Valerio, a young man of about £5, inspector of 
schools in Guanaeaste, a position for which older men usually 
are employed. He is a pupil of Alberto Brenes, and Oton 
Jimenez admits that he has acquired some of Bon Alberto's 
characteristics, but at that he is a very good fellow. He 
was certainly a congenial companion and a most useful one. 
I lost my patience with him a good many times, but that was 
probably a good deal more my fault than his. There is no use 
in expecting Central American people, even the best of them, 
to do things as we are accustomed to having them done, and 
very often it results that they obtain just as good results 
as we do, doing things in their own way. 
Valerio is a very competent and capable fellow, with a 
good education. He is an untiring reader and well informed 
on a great variety of subjects. He is more interested in 
botany than in any other subject, and 1 believe that.we can 
expect something worth while from him. He has certainly had 
some tutoring in botanical methods, and he knows now how to 
collect and prepare specimens. 1 left with him most of the 
outfit that I used this year. 
At present he is located in Guanaeaste, and he is ex¬ 
pecting to do some collecting there this year. He knows 
what and where to collect. ?/hen it comes to collecting 
orchids he is particularly good, and he has more patience 
with them than i have. Of those that I brought back this 
year, I think he collected about half. If there are any 
new species in the collection, 1 hope you will keep him 
in mind in naming them. Also, if you can send him any 
publications, I know he v/ill appreciate them highly, par¬ 
ticularly those relating to Central America. He has quite 
a large library, and takes great pride in it. His address 
is Prof. Juvenal Valerio, Tilaran, Guanaeaste, Costa Rica. 
Valerio would like very much to come to the States to 
spend a year in study, and I hope it may be arranged some¬ 
how. He is hoping to get a grant of a hundred dollars a 
month from the government, for study for a year. it would 
be a good thing for him, and incidentally for the United 
States. Very few Costa Ricans come to the States to study, 
except physicians and dentists. Most of them go to hurope. 
In Salvador, on the other hand, nearly all the students come 
to this country. 
I am sure that already 1 have written enough to try your 
patience in reading it, and it is probable that I have o- 
mitted some of the most important things that 1 wished to 
mention. You have seen, 1 believe, most of the notes that 
