95 
doctor is on the road coming 4 days away from 
here. That's the trouble in these interior 
.places, medical helt) is not to "be had. The 
missionaries here have "been yery kind to lae 
and "by supplying me with the right sort of 
food I was able to shake it off after a few 
days only . 
The pear troubles are more serious. I 
cannot get pure Pyrus calleryana ; P. "betuli - 
folia in some of its forms is so much like the ■ 
other that . only when there are leaves attached 
to the fruits can one distinguich between the 
two. Kow since the fruits were all brought 
in v/hile still hard, it is only now that they 
are getting ripe, that one can say which is 
which, for the true calleryana turns dark 
brown when ripe and soft, while P. betulifolia 
becomes perfectly black . You may imagine what 
a work it is to go thru 5.000 lbs. of fruits 
and pick out those that are not wanted. How- 
ever, we are doing it the best we can. This 
is a new work and one has to learn how to do 
it best. I got already c.a. PO lbs. of clean 
dry seeds, but we want at least 5 times as much. 
Prof. Reimer also had bad luck up at Shing 
lung Shan, almost no fruit at all, he wrote me. 
I am very glad, therefore, I went there last 
winter and got what little T sent in. This 
calleryana-pear problem prevents me from doing 
almost anything else and the more so since my 
interpreter is not fit for such a big task like 
this. — Well, we will get thru it again. 
Prof. Reimer is now on the way to see me 
and tomorrow he will arrive. Then we'll settle 
a fevr points and both of us will feel relieved, 
I dare say. 
I am in receipt of several letters from 
you and I'll answer them chronologically. 
Letter of July 27, 191?. I see your re- 
marks concerning Washington being so busy on 
account of the war. It must be interesting to 
watch the change. 
And our office removed to 13th and P Streets. 
This is a bad thing. It takes us further away 
from plants and the out-of-doors, than ever be- 
fore and besides, far away from all the other 
workers. I consider it a bad piece of business. 
About your contact with us being not as in- 
timate as formerly. Yes, this is to be regretted 
most strongly. To a man far-away, like myself, 
cordial letters, full of suggestions and inform- 
ation, are about the only things that keep him in 
December 31, 191?. 
