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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.
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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.