INTRODUCTION 
It was in the year 1879, when I was a mere boy, that I began to collect the 
native bulbs of my home country, Northern California. 
First as a collector for a firm handling hardy native plants, (the pioneer in 
America in that line,) then gradually enlarging my field. 
Soon afterwards I began the cultivation of my specialties in a small way, 
and gradually became a grower as well as a. collector. 
My experiments in bulb culture has been extensive, and in several localities. 
Some years ago I discovered the peculiar fitness of a little valley which nestles 
m the highest portion of that branch of the Coast Range mountains which lie 
between Mendocino and Lake counties, for the culture of the true lilies, ( Liliums) 
I n this beautiful little natural park called Lyons Valley, I now grow most of my 
lilies, while at The Terraces, another garden near it in which nature has prov¬ 
ided endless variations of soil, climate, and situation as regards shade and 
moisture, I am growing a great variety of bulbs. In the two gardens fully a 
million bulbs are growing. 
A better site for a garden in which the Flora of widely seperated localities 
can be gathered could hardly be selected. 1 already have nearly all of the 
bulbous plants of value, native to the vast region which I have chosen as my 
held, and which may be described as reaching from the Eastern flanks of the 
Rocky mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and from British Columbia to Northern 
Mexico, a vast empire fully fifteen hundred miles square. 
Through a large corps of collectors I reach nearly every portion of t his great 
region, and my connections are widening yearly. 
ft is my aim to gather into my garden all that is best or the Flora of the 
territory that I have indicated, and to test and disseminate those of value. So 
large an undertaking will lake much work and years of time. 
Rare Plants 
If any client wishes plants, bulbs or seeds known to grow within mv field 
it will be a pleasure to oiler him my facilities for obtaining the same. 
The charge in such cases will be made as reasonable as possible, but cus¬ 
tomers must bear in mind that special collections are often quite expensive. 
Frequently the plant or seed desired is not one which it would pay me to pro¬ 
pagate or ofler to the general trade, and in such instances the entire cost of col¬ 
lection must be assessed to the one desiring it. Often the rarest plants may be 
found near the line of travel of one of my collectors and in that case the charge 
is very reasonable. In other instances the collection of a single ounce of seed or 
a dozen plants involves a journey of hundreds of miles. The actual time con¬ 
sumed will'll if is reached is trifling, the expense to reach il large. When the 
habitat is actually readied, cattle or shell may have eaten or tramped the 
plants, it may lie too early for the seed to be ripe, ora little too late and it has 
been lost. A teaspoon fill of Wilene Hookerii cost me a hundred and fifty miles 
driving during two seasons. 
This year I had a request from a friend for some tree seeds which would 
have necessitated a journey of two thousand miles for my nearest available man. 
1 solicit correspondence in these matters and customers will be assured of as 
reasonable a charge as circumstances allow. 
