94 
in his rows of Gastanea mollissima , some of 
which, though only six or eight feet high, 
are already In fruit. 
The success of Gastanea mollissima , the 
sweet character of the kernels, the preco- 
ciousness of the tree, and the fact that 
many of the seeds which were distributed 
through the Pennsylvania chestnut bark dis- 
ease organization have failed, make me feel 
that we ought to make a drive on this Gas - 
tanea mollissima as a nut producing species 
for orchard purposes. This being the case, 
would it be possible for you to collect or 
have collected a considerable quantity of 
seed - several hundred pounds - and ship 
them through by the shortest route to San 
Francisco. Now that Doctor Van Fleet has 
broken up Gastanea crenata and Gastanea 
pumila and has hybrids of these species, 
if they behave anything like Citrus trees 
do, it may be possible to work into these 
hybrids all the other forms and species of 
Gastanea, at least, such as will add valu- 
able characteristics. This being the case, 
v/ould it not be advisable during your stay 
in Ghina to get, if you can, any species of 
chinquapin v/hich exists there and particularly 
the large species of Gastanea which Wilson 
pictures in his album and which I believe 
v/as described as Gastanea vilmoriniana . I 
v/ill leave to your judgment the amount of 
these to secure, assuring you, however, that 
we shall be in a position to handle a good 
many thousand seeds of any species of chest- 
nut which you may secure out there. 
On October ?4, I917, from King men, Hupeh, Mr. Meyer wrote: 
There are times that a person v/rites letter 
after letter and there are periods that one but 
scribbles a few lines in a long time. 
Well, I have been in one of these last 
mentioned periods. I have had great diffi- 
culties with this pear-seeds problem, with 
much uncongenial weather and with personal 
indisposition. There is at the present much 
malaria and dysentery here in this district 
and I have had an attack of the last; I am 
about over it now but it is an unpleasant 
disease. Mr. Johnson, a Swedish-American 
missionary here, has it very serious and a 
December 31, I917, 
