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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1908)
MEW I - 2y33irZAZ. 3STOJtTJl : .4 Iff' BY JOHN lil.FRETH WAT KIN 3. HKRE is a great project: The plant wondcHs of north China are-to be introduced throughout the United Slates. This land of ours is to be adorned by dwarf trees; is to bristle with bam boos biff and little, and edible; is to yield the giant persimmon, the papershell wal nut, the sweet apricot kernel, the quince pear; is to be perfumed' by the blossom of the wild apricot, the wild peach, the wild plum; is r shui't to enjoy the most sHcrod of those botanical treasures at whivh all travelers in the kingdom of queues have marveled these fjenturies past, but which the proud mandarins have hitherto hoarded closely unto .themselves which they have been especially loath to share with the white "foreign devils." I have the odd story from sthat well known Botanist and .explorer,.-. David; Oramiismi Kairchild, who has himself , scoured the most inaccessible corners of I the earth from far Cathay to the islands I of the South seas in search of plant novelties. On his return from & four year trip -around the world he was In trusted by Secretary Wilson with the or ganization of a grand scheme for intro ducing into our soil all foreign species of the vegetable kingdom which we lack and need. In developing the latest phase of this work, Mr. Fairchild spread before him charts showing the topography, the meteoroloRical conditions ' and the life zones of ihina and of the United States. Then upon a map of , our country he washed in. with water olor, our areas, wherein the plants of north China would be climatically at home. The .result was that he thus covered practically the whole of our vast domain. Here was a great, varied expanse somewhere -within which was bound to 'thrive each of the plant wonders .of the north Celestial, empire that region which, of all great? continental expanses, .is the least known agriculturally; yet -which not excepting rvn Europe most closely approaches our own territory -climatically. Lands in a Typhoon. So it was determined to send an Ameri can expedition to this region. But where was .there- to be found an explorer of suf ficient spunk and skill to make it? Many regions of this vast expanse had never seen the white face of a Caucasian. After some difficulty, Mr. Kairehild tells .me, , ho . discovered " the most promise in a young Hollander. Frank N. Meyer, who had but lately arrived in America. Air. Fahvhild told him to pack up, pull out for San Francisco, and hurry over to Peking and " Meyer stood not upon the order of his Roinj. .1 have been permitted to take elaborate notes from the hun dreds of pages of hitherto unpublished letters which have been received from Mm to date. That -his story is not a very dull one you will directly agree with m. " A Terribly Strange Bed. A terrible typhoon greeted him on the day of his landing at Shanghai. Besides doing millions of dollars' worth of tiam Re in tiat city, this convulsion of nature ruined part of the young explorer's equipment.- He arranged to depart direct ly for Tientsin, but was obliged to wait several days because all railway tickets had been sold out.. At Tientsin he found that guests at the inns were required to supply their own mattresses: but, being unable to find one. he spread his thin blanket upon the hard brick bedstead with which the Chinese innkeeper always furnishes his rooms. Mr. Meyer soon found that he was not alone in this ter ribly strange bed. Although misery usually loves company, he preferred to spread his blanket- upon the dirt floor. , 5 ?L " and there - to. seek repose far from the eZEOPZA. J7VJV maddening throng. In the morning his eye opened upon a poisonous 'centipede gazing hungrily down upon him from the wall. Complaining of this to his native guide, he received the consolation that the latter had shared his chamber with ar big scorpion, which was far more deadly. During the remaining vnights spent here he slept with one eye open and with his electric flashlight close beside him. These inns, his. guide informed him, are abandoned when- 10 years old, because ho guest will brave the myriads of insects great and small which by that time have congregated within their walls. His sec ond day in Tientsin he discovered in the garden of a wealthy Chinese some speci mens of a. hardy bamboo, which will-be introduced as far north as possible in: the United States, as will a perfectly hardy and quite seedless persimmon which he found in the markets. On hotel tablesat Tientsin he found delicious yellow fruit which appeared' to be a cross between the quince and pear, and he" walked 20 miles tone day in a vain search for the "trees. While seeking plant novelties, in the suburbs of Pekin lie was taken ill with. fever, but quickly recovered and was soon oft to th-e moun tains upon another quest for the mysteri ous "quince-pears." Is at finding many of these, he turned his attention to some new apricots, early peaches and other fruits. Per simmoiis Bigger Than Apples. A giant seedless persimmon larger than the ordinary apple was a rich find made in the mountains.' It is fo.ur inches in diameter, and has the form of a big acorn. Mr. Fairchild has discovered an Oriental process of removing the tannin which gives persimmons their astringency and the discovery will make this intro duction of even greater value. This is done after the fruit is picked hard and before it is softened. He tells me that this, delicious fruit will doubtless flour ish in our country as for north as New England, and possibly the northern great plains region, where tne Japanese per simmon will not grow. Cuttings sent over by Mr. Meyer are already growing in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Florida. In these same mountains the ex plorer obtained the Chinese pistache, which not only bears nuts, but affords an ornamental shade tree. It will be tested as a hardy stock on which to grow fur-' ther north in this country the pistachio of commerce, now growing in California. Paper Shell Walnuts. An apricot whose sweet kernels are eaten like almonds was another find made in these "northern hills" of the celestial empire. Leaving this region Mr. Meyer next explored Chang-11, 200 miles to the eastward, and secured some in teresting paper-shelled walnuts the shells so thin that ttfe meat can be seen through them. Attempts may be made to hybridise this, novelty with our inck shelled black walnuts. Mr. Meyer was the first .white man ever seen in some of these regions of Chang-It, where he discovered some deli cious new grapes, like the muscatel; also more seedless persimmons, a large flat peach, and a g fruited thorn, which the Chinese use in preserve-making. A bad sandstorm caught the explorer up in Mongolia, whither he next jour neyed. The hubs of his cart were so clogged with sand that his mules could not pull the cumbersone vehicle, and after a. four boues battle with this blind ing tempest he. rtearly fell exhausted. Groping his way to the nearest inn, he found upon its walls warnings left by European guests as to the nature and numbers of the insect life which might be depended upon at this primitive hos telry. Taking heed, the explorer placed three frail tables together in the middle of the floor, and upon this improvised couch managed to sleep unmolested. Wi;.. -4i l zW x ti m ; ':rv 0 1 . mu vkmwf ii vis si a-z-m x:r? - . -t -fe4, - - .to : W - z-r. u -. 7 r'V f -yfc5 film 3 Jvfcl ywu i hv THE SUNDAY OltEGOXIAN. PORTLAND. JANUARY 26, 1908. &3 But the next day, when the pig-tailed landlord boasted of his fine accommoda tions and pointed to the writing on the walls as testimonials, the explorer ex plained to his host the true portend of these inscriptions. The celestial boniface at first waxed very wroth,, but, when convinced; replied that it was "too cold for them to bite." "For most of the inns along the. road I have nothing but con tempt, writes Mr. Meyer. "If there was a fire in a room the insects were simply omnipresent, and it there was no fire one shivered from the . cold, for the wind, blew at a high rate through the holes in the paper windows." In this trying coun try he obtained cuttings of a new white grape and discovered how the Mongolians bury their grape vines to protect them from the eold, sand-laden storms of their severe Winters. . A beautiful tall white pine, whose silvery overcoat of bark en ables it to withstand extremely trying AVinters, was obtained in the same re gion. This new ornamental tree will supply a want of which our northern hurserymen have been complaining for many years. . A hite apricot, a juicy white pear, and a large-leaf oak which the Autumn turns to a gorgeous scarlet, were other novelties foujd up here in Mongolia; also a hardy wild persimmon -which should . flourish in - New England and the peach regions of Michigan. One Vay to Keep Warm.' While returning to Tientsin by way of Chang-li in search of some interesting edible hawthorns and other, n$w things for Yankees to eat, Mr. Meyer continued to shived at the deplorable country inns. The public bedrooms, such as were gen erally occupied by 20 or 30 men, the land lords would condescend to heat with fires kept , burning under the brick beds, but a private room, such as Mr. Meyer al ways demanded, was hot provided with such a means of heat, unless he endured the stifling smoke for a whole day, the time required to generate a comfortable temperature. "When I - eat in such a place." he aays,BI sit on blankets and have an overcoat and A sheepskin on, so as to keep warm, for the paper windows are in a pitiful state of repair." A short grass which never needs mow ing and which thrives and keeps- green after long droughts was next found by Mr. Meyer. It will be tested for lawn purposes in oar arid regions. On a trip to the Western Mountains, .which he next undertook, he obtained a pistache tree a fine new shade tree for our mild-wintered regions. In these mountains he at last got cut tings of the delicious quince-pear, hith erto sought in vain, and which may af ford us an entirely new species of home grown fruit. Arriving at Shan Hai Kwan on this journey, he dressed the wounds of a foreigner who had just been beaten and robbed by a Chinese mob. On his way thence to Chang-li he was refused en trance to an inn because the presence of a "foreign-devil" was obnoxious to some Chines officers quartered thereat. After sleeping in a temple on the hills he pro ceeded on donkey-back over steep and dangerous passes. Once after throwing him to the ground his steed fell on top of him, but, he says, "having a heavy coat on. none of my ribs was broken." Up in these mountains, where the apri cot and peach grow wild,, he was fol lowed 12 miles by a curious crowd of eight men and boys. - - "One feels like a monkey in a zoo. studied by a crowd of provincials," is his comment on the interest which the peo ple thus manifest in him as be travels. Plant Wonders to Be Intro duced Throughout United States by the .Government. Giant Persimmon, Paper-Shell Wal nut, Edible Bamboo, Quince-Pear and Juiube. From this region he sent cuttings of the wild mountain - peaches . and apricots, which will afford us a beautiful flowering shrub. Further north he obtained a lot of "cherry-bud sticks," which the natives bud and graft upon wild peach stock and which .may be esteemed by Americans because they will fruit earlier than -our common - cherries. Proceeding next to Shanghai, he found no sleeping or eat ing accommodations on the train, where every passenger carried his own bed ding and provisions. . - Attacked at Hautow. . He was attacked by rowdies during an j evening .stroll tho.ugh the native quarter of Hankow, where he stopped en route. While some of the ruffians were beating him with their fists, others were thrusting their hands into his pockets, and at the same time ail raised a terrible howl, which immediately drew from the. neigh boring houses and shops a great crowd which yelled and sneered." Affecting to regard these demonstrations as an ova tion, he doffed his hat, bowed in all di rections , and backed out of the mael strom while his tormentors stood rooted ' to the earth in silent wonderment and " amazement. Passing" on to Shanghai, by boat, he there obtained cuttings of a rare white loquat, a new pomelo, an ever green chestnut, and a curious fruit which seems to be a cross between the bitter orange ., and "tangerine, and which Mr.. Meyer suggests as a "new tonic fruit for our breakfast tables. After some diffi culty in obtaining guides willing to share the hardships of Manchuria w,ith him, he now proceeded up to that northern re gjpn. , . . . Land of Brigands and Wolves. Powerful bands of robbers who "levied blackmail on passers-by were in posses--sion. of the part of this territory which he now traversed. One town, where he" stopped wtih a missionary, had lately .been besieged by these brigands for three days. Delayed by dust storms on mountains- where beautiful peonies and great snowballs grew wild; stopping at filthy, vermin-infested inns; craving clean water, which he nowhere found; victimized by bis coolies, who pilfered his food, and de serted by guides who had demanded pay in advance,- the explorer had a strenuous time in these Manchurlan wilds. Amid the growling of wolves in the entangle ments of underbrush he traveled in the wake of a wanderer whom the dreaded Hung-Lutses the brigands aforemen-tloned-rhad murdered a -few days before, further ahead on the trail. But he went on undaunted until below Liaoyang he beheld the "Thousand Peaks," which he describee as- a "gigantic saw marked in blue silhouette agaiast the sky." These are the most densely wooded mountains of the world. With two Chinese mule carts" he next crossed from Liaoyang to Antung, a ten days trip over mountains and through valleys, the people of the small villages en route colectmg at the inns "to see the foreign beast who had just arrived." After he had reached Northern Corea one of hi horses fell "head over tail" down a precipice and a box of provisions was precipitated into the Yalu. 200 -feet below. "In less than ho time I was in the water," he reports, "and with a few strokes of swimming it was in safety." In these Corean mountains, - whose slopes were sometimes covered by beauti f ul sca-rlet lilies, he saw giant apricot trees, some time? ten feet in circumference, and ,he obtained seed of a red blackberry, besides many other novel plants. He next spent eight days in a junk on the Yni0 the food abominable and the other conditions so insanitary that he .contracted fever. His next jourpey was to -Vladivostok, where his Chinese guide deserted him. ; . . , By cart, by foot and by; train he next journeyed to Inman through a region tilled with tigers, wild boars, bears and wolves, and where ISO people had been murdered, by outlaws in the ten previous months. - Bloody Duel in the Night. But the most thrilling incident of his entire typ occurred, after he had reached Habarowsk, Siberia; where he was at tacked by three ' desperadoes while he was returning from a restaurant, "at 8 o'clock at night. "AIT at once,' he says, "I heard some rustling behind me and immediately a piece of cloth was drawn round my throat. They got me down on the ground and I received a Tew heavy blows on my head; but they did' not stun me. I returned the blows in the faces of the two attackers (the third BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTS FOR THE HAIR risHK somewnat. ornate character oil I the up-to-date coiffure lias - not only brought about--, an amazing demand for false hair but 'has stimu lated the interest in hair ornaments as well. Not in many years have so many beautiful combs been sold, for the soft mass of puffs now poised more or less deftly upon almost every wo man's head offers opportunity for the becoming adjustment ; of large or odd combs which would have been hope lessly unadaptable in connection with earlier coiffure fads. The best of paste is durable, with pronep care, and almost as brilliant as the diamond, though the secret of Its brilliancy lies in the setting rather .flian in the stone itself. Designers have planned for the high-class combs' settings as dalntj' and artistic as though they were to be devoted to real diamonds, and the results are alto gether charming. The nouveau art combs and crafts man's combs set in semi-precious stones must also be taken into accountt and some of these are eminently artis tic and beautiful, but while the paste combs are (n order with any evening dress the combs in shell and cabochon stones with gold or' silver mountings demand Judgment in the wearer and must harmonize with frocks and hair colorings, as well as with the coiffure lines. . Moreover combs of this sort have been so quickly imitated in the cheap est and most tawdry of materials that unless the comb of real shell and semi precious stones is particularly original and beautiful it is likely to be mis judged. There are some wonderfully lovely things in' this style of comb, however, and in combs of enamel and jewels, too, the famous jewel workers like Lalignes have given great thought and effort to the producing of combs that should be genuine works of art, and the humbler but aspiring crafts men have followed as successfully as might be in their footsteps. Some excellent designs In real shell with gold mountings are shown, and many women prefer these to rlie. more showv jewelled combs, but for ordi nary daytime wear the fastidious wo man chooses handsome shell without other adornment than its cutting. The large ball and pofht tops are still much used, but broad straight tops, piain or carved, are perhaps better liked. Side combs are now so often entirely hidden by the coiffure that they jdo not assume the importance they once did, and indeed if one adds to' the clustering puffs and c,urls which spread - ."P'! IJI'JJI i.ui,hi ii urn iijmimjji.uMH'jw.Lin. kept watch) . and at an opportune mo ment I drew my large dagger and plunged it into the stomach of the leader, on which he uttered a cry and immediately the vagabonds cleared off." The next morning the frozen corpse' of a well dressed man. evidently another victim of the trio, was found 200 feet from the same spot. During the past few months this strenu ous young man, -who cannot find guides able to keep up with his pace, has been interested, primarily, in obtaining . for us cuttings of the wonderful edible and timber bamboo of North China. The shoots of certain Chinese bamboos af ford a new food which. Mr. ' Fairchild tells me, we should seriously consider in this country, where they .can be grown in the South and marketed in the North. They taste somewhat like celery roots, but have a strictly characteristic flavor of enjoyable crispness. They are one of the high-class vegetables of China, where they are a prime favorite among Ameri can tourists. They are generally served in a ' sort of . stew. In fact, he has gotten cuttings from over so much of the head an arsenal of combs and pins the effect is lament able. The barrette is used when neces sary, ' but eliminated if possible: the side combs -do not show, and the large comb is set among the puffs instead of beiow the massed hair, after the jola fashion. Often there is no comb at all, hand some 'shell pins witli large ornamental heads being preferred, and such pins MBnA in prpnt nrivnntaire with the nrMpnt cniffure. i The Parisian's favorite coiffure of the moment, or at least her favorite coiffure for evenings does not take combs into ac count at all. She may wear a beautiful diamond or paste comb, but if she does not sport a tiara the clmnces are that she Ues no jeweled or shell ornaments save the ordinary pins. She has said "Avaunt!" to the unnat ural marcel wave, too. Possibly irons are still used upon; her hair, but they must produce Only the loosest, largest, most unaggressive and natural of waves, and the women who visited Paris last Sum mer and Fall have been distressing the souls of their New York hairdressers by vehement protests against waving as it i generally known here. Then, too, the Parisian, while she puffs her hair out extravagantly and pins it up to her hat. in -the effort to fill in the angles of the capacious chapeau does not understand the pompadour as , it is once more being travestied here. Her hair must be drawn, back loosely, softly, with no suggestion of a roll or other support. The support may be there, but any thing like the smooth, hard roll seen on so many American women is a carica ture of the mode. The front pompadour need not b very high. The hair is drawn back softly, usually dropped a lfttle' side wise over the brows, and Is" massed there, not in a puff collection of such enormous and obviously artificial size as one fre quently sees, but in a cleverly adjusted arrangement of loops and puffs and curls-, which softens every sharp angle of the head without introducing any amazing new ones. The dressing when done, while Increas ing greatly the' -5-ize of the head, does really follow and indicate the shape of the head itself, and for that reason is a tiling prettier and more generally becom ing than any of the old modes, such as the chignon or the much abused Psyche knot which -made head and hair depart at a tangent from each other. . Of course all this applies' to the con servative Parisian eoiffure. There are ex aggerations there as here, but it is sel dom that . the elegant ' mondaine goes in for the spectacular extravagances of hairdresslng. - One of the prettiest and most popular of evening hair ornaments at present is the ribbon'or snood drawn around the head in and out among the soft locks and puffs and finishing at the left front with ' . :. . ....... sta hundreds of bamboos which will be u.seful to us some as stakes for vines or orange trees, others as ornamental landscape screens, others as temporary irrfgat ion pipes these latter saving the expense of making troughs or buying drain tile and iron piping. Some of .those -bamboos obtained in China will, Mr. Fairchild hopes, grow here, as far north as Phila delphia. Giant radishes, some 16 inches in di ameter, which may be grown in this country-, as a better stock fodder than turnips, are among the other hundreds of novelties which Mr. Meyer has sent over. The Chinese jujube is still another of these interesting importations. Of these plum like fruits the Orientals have as many varieites as we have plums and prunes. -One form just sent-over is three inches long, another is flat and still another is seedless. Then there are scores of species of grains and grasses and garden vegetables and freak flowers and trees some tiny dwarfs' which are no higher than your knee when 20 years old. ' Washington, D. C. a knot of ribbon, a little cluster of flowers, a Jeweled ornament or some form of sweeping -feather ornament. On the whole, the cluster of flowers a camellia, with its glossy dark green foli age, a rose spray, or some other effective blossom is the thing most in harmony with the -suggestion of simplicity of the ribbon, arrangement, and a more charm ing coiffuro than this of loosely waved and puffed locks, interwoven velvet rib bon and flowers we have not had in many a year. The chief rival of this sort of hair or namentation in Paris is the more au dacious os-prey plume or egret (a large and full egret) posed at the left front and sweeping away somewhat to the side. The osprey used in this- iasliion has a certain grace, but the - big egret,', even at its softest and fluffiest, dues suggest a feather duster thrust sidewise Into the coiffure. In London both osprey and true egret have been practically banished from fashionable hats and hair as a re sult of Queen Alexandra's intense antag onism to the wearing of these . feathers, and it seems a pity that there is not some autocratic and humane leader of fashion who can do as much or Paris or New York. The half wreath and the spray of arti ficial flowers or foliage if still In evi dence, and much is done witli such orna ments all in gold or silver. With the puff coiffure on the crown of the head the Spanish side ornaments of flowers are, of course, impracticable, but in this day of eclecticism in fashion many women wear their hair as best suits their heads instead of conforming to set rules, and where the hair is low a spray ,of flowers back of the ear is liked. Handsome knots, bows, etc., in velvet beautifully embroidered in seed pearls, tiny brilliants, gold, silver, cry.vtal, etc.. are worn to harmonize with evening cos tume. The Real Folks. Washington (D. C. ) Mar. Folks that likes you them's the kind "Worth a Journey long to lind. Pause it's sometnlng purty tine To be Ktandin' up in tine Where the chosen congregate In the councils of the great. Y?t fame, somehow, doesn't seem To bring mutual esteem. I'll admit it must be good For to have it understood That you're one o' the select Few considered quite correct, , Havin people near an' fur Bowtn' low an' savin' "sir" Muitt 1 mighty soothln', still "Druther hear Jes "Howdy. Bill''" Folks that whispers in your ear Compliments that ain't sincere; ' Folks "that use ye fur a day Then Jes' laugh an' turn away How we strive their praise to win. Only to return agin To the fellers that Stan true Folks that likes you 'cause they do.
