33 
want to spend it enriching our ovm country with 
the plants of the v/orld which produce good things 
to eat and to look at. 
Of course the funds which we have been given 
this year for our work may be reduced to such an 
extent that we will have to retrench and then I 
will notify you of any change in our plans. At 
the present time nothing of this kind has been 
suggested and I think they may let us go ahead 
with our work. 
Good-night, iny dear Meyer, and may the spirit 
of goodness watch over you through the coming 
months which look so full of uncertainty. 
I shall be back in Washington in a few days 
but I wanted to have this quiet chat with you be- 
fore the rush of new things overwhelmed me there 
in Washington. 
Mr. Meyer wrote again from Ichang, China, on March ?6, 1917. 
part of which letter reads as follows: 
Dear Mr. Dorsett: 
Several letters from you have come into my 
possessionship of late and I'll answer them 
herev/ith. 
Letter of Jan. 10, 1917* I see your re- 
marks re getting seeds of Pyrus ussurlensis . ' 
Well, I hope the small quantity I have sent 
has been received lately. It certainly is no 
small job to get seeds in quantity of wild 
plants; without a competent interpreter who 
knows humanity, it is almost an impossibility. 
We are now at the P yrus calleryana problem and 
are up against some difficulties. One fruit 
shop will take the contract to collect 100 cat- 
ties of seeds at $4.00 per catty, but they want 
#200,00 in advance and can not promise that 
they actually will be able to get hold of as 
much as 100 catties. I am not sure that the . 
deal will be thoroughly soundl 
I aia first going out on a few weeks' trip, 
investigating localities where these wild pears 
occur in greater quantities than here, after 
that we will draw up a binding contract. 
I sure am glad to ndtice that our Office has 
obtained additional funds; we are growing to be 
some institution] Y/henever Chlco gets her allot- 
ment of more land, please let me know. 
Re citrus cankerl Yes, we may see the time 
December 31, 1917. 
