Pruitvale,Calif crnis,. August 3,1904. 
Dear ;.!r Deane 
Here it is Already into August aad no. special 
prospect of my starting east cor some time to come..Merriam is 
printing something and is delayed by the Government Printing 
Office which simply means that he can tell nothing about the 
time of leaving Washing ton.There is little doubt that I shall 
catch Will at the farm.Will you kindly tell him so.Anyway r want 
to see what he has been doing up there so I am not so disappointed 
as I might be though I had hoped to find him in his Cambridge 
home. 
Of course I shall see you when I come on aad I want to tell 
you something of the glories of the plant life of Hawaii;perhaps 
I ought to say its pecupiarties as the vegetation in the islands, 
I mean of course the indigenes,are at first very disappointing* 
There is little about it that is beautiful except the very 
luxuriant growth of ferns, but much that is strange and interesting. 
It would be a wonderful field for a botanist with the capacity to 
work up the floraLHillebrand is nearly worthless as a means of 
idantif icatiotil. 
Very truly Yours 
