r 
V 
879 
elated, being of easily decaying properties but being 
light and non-odoriferous, much used for making tea chests 
and other boxes . 
"Then I noticed the real Oriental persimmon, Diospyros 
kaki, wild all over the mountains. The fruits are said to 
be small, of red color and quite puckery. 
"Chestnuts too occur here and there and in so far as I 
saw a few trees, they seemingly had no bark disease. 
"We are having here some sultry, sticky weatner, with 
occasional showers and the air as humid as can be, not 
very conducive to quick movements, as my hands even stick 
to the paper I am writing on. 
"The markets, however, are very interesting; heaps of 
fresh lytchees; fresh mangosteens (without any flavor); 
good yellow mangos; fine golden loquats; ripe plums 
{Primus triflora and P. mume) , the last also sold freshly 
pickled in brine and eaten out of hand with powdered li- 
quorice root sprinkled over it, quite appetizing! Then 
several varieties of peaches, green crab-apples, the last 
apricots of the season, while new ^a|w are just coming 
in. We also have an abundance of shoots of Kau ba, 
Zizania latifolia; last Saturday Mr. Swingle and I had them 
for lunch at the Astor House, boiled in water and served 
hot with a cream sauce; they tasted like Jerusalem arti- 
chokes, with a bit of young parsnip flavor added; last 
night I had them sliced, well scalded and served cold with 
a dressing, as a salad they tasted somewhat like bamboo, 
like reed-sprouts and like celerlac. This vegetable cer- 
tainly has a future ahead In America. In the foreign 
hotels here they call them water bamboo sprouts! 
"Mr. MacGregor has shown me over his new parks, which 
have prospered amazingly, only they have had a very severe 
winter, the mercury went down to 15° Pahr. in January, 
1915, and as a result the camphor trees were totally de- 
foliated; Chamaerops excelsa losing many leaves; some ole- 
anders frozen to the ground; Eucalyptus gunnii, one of the 
hardiest of the genus, has been killed outright, except m 
some very sheltered localities; hardy Japanese lemons., 
suffered badly, but a hardy tangerine tree, 20 feet high 
and of local origin, escaped unhurt. 
"Shanghai as a town has grown largely since I was here 
last in 1908, but as business Is much'depressed on account 
of the war, life seems much duller here than formerly. 
Still Shanghai seems to be destined to beoome the New York 
of China, just like Hangchow is said to develop Into the 
Chicago of this gigantic land." 
