355 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Mass. December 29th, 1921. 
My dear Dr. Schlechter: First: all the best wishes in the world 
for the ooming year. 
I have been busier than ever before in my life, but my efforts 
seem to be comparable to those of the fabled frog who in trying to 
escape from a well of water fell baok three feet every time he 
jumped up two feet. 
Fascicle VII of Orchidaoeae is almost ready for publication. 
This opus has kept me very much occupied, because I tried to in¬ 
clude in it all of the new species fromtwo large collections made 
in Mindanao and Luzon. That is after the proof of Orchidaoeae began 
to come in I undertook to work up one set from the Mountain Prov¬ 
ince of Luzon which contained over one hundred numbers and eleven 
hundred duplicates, and one large set from Bukidnon in Mindanao, 
and to include the ne species in my manuscript, I almost rivaled 
your record in the hours of work, and as a result I felt the need 
of a rest in the country when my labors were ended. I returned to 
the city yesterday and immediately took up my work again. Of the 
Mountain Province collection I set aside a very full set for you 
that contains several interesting novelties as well as some good 
duplicates of species that have not been collected since Merrill's 
expedition to Mt. Data in 1906. 
Proof of the Folia will go to you soon. This work has been 
held up by the general depression in the publishing business. T "e 
are having a disagreeable time of it here and some of our scientific 
magazines are just coming out with the April and August numbers. 
Some magazines are on the point of suspension owing to the hard 
times and the high costs of printing. 
The tracings of types are very satisfactory. I think the pencil 
records are really superior to photographs done the way you are 
