.813 
bushes right on the missionary property, namely, on the 
grounds of a former Tibetan temple called Lu ba tze and 
though he was not aware of these things being good for 
anything but firewood, he now has become much interested 
in them and for all I know he might have despatched al- 
ready some seeds for you, for I made the arrangement, with 
him on Nov. 27, 1914, and gave him your address and in- 
structions to send through the American Consul at Shanghai. 
I may say that the altitude of New Taochow is, by my ane- 
roid 9,400 feet; the climate is semi-arid, the rains fall- 
ing in the summer, with clear, cold winters in which com- 
paratively little snow falls. The growing seasons are 
short and local Chinese and Tibetans say that the summers 
are becoming cooler these last years. 
"He will also try to obtain for us seed, of the real 
Moutan peony, which occurs in very inaccessible mountain 
Valleys in Tibet proper, where white men are not allowed 
to proceed to under ordinary circumstances. He has native 
helpers, however, who can do such a job. 
"In regions West and South West of Siku, heretofore 
unexplored by white men, I found groves of hazelnut trees 
growing from 80 ft. to 100 ft. in height (Corylus tibetica?) 
The season for the nuts was passed long ago and the few 
nuts I collected are probably bad, since the rodents carry 
away all the good ones. I collected scions, however, 
which I hope will arrive alive. 
"In these same regions we went through groves of mag- 
nificent spruces, growing 150 ft. to 200 ft. in height and 
with trunks 12 to 15 ft. in circumference. I also found a 
few trees of very peculiar make, standing midway between a 
chestnut and a hazelnut. Then I noticed a Ribes growing 
25 feet in height, Hippophae rhamnoides as a tree, 40 ft. 
tall; splendid red-barked birches (Betula bhojpattra?) up to 
100 ft. in height and stranger yet, clumps of a very hardy 
small bamboo, Arundinaria rviUda, growing well in the shade 
of firs, spruces, red and white birches and covered with 
snow at elevations from 8,000 to over 10,000 feet above 
sea level. On one mountain top even tall firs, tree-like 
Rhododendrons and this bamboo formed an almost impenetra- 
ble jungle and this place was just about 10,000 ft. in al- 
titude by my aneroid. I really never had expected to find 
a bamboo there and in such a company. 
"This AruTidinaria nitida is really not a handsome bamboo, 
for It is rather leafless and dies off at the tops, the 
canes grow from a few feet in height up to 40 feet in very 
favorable localities, with much shelter, they remain very 
thin, however, more or less in the nature of a reed. The 
natives, however, use them extensively in the weaving of 
large mats; in basketry of various forms; as house build- 
ing material and in the making of strong cables, along 
