Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-12-24

Unto which he had been refused
permission to go by General Och
Iiai
From Mukden Mr.. Meyer in
tended to go again into the rich
fruit district of Liao-yang, but, in
January, 1907, he received tele-
gram to meet another party from
the Agricultural Department, and
without more ado he set out for
shanghai. The instructions for
this second party were to explore
the Wutai-shan district west of Pc
king. This had been once a very
rich country, but now it is chiefly
an object lesson of the destructive
ness of man. The pictures and
information which Mr.. Meyer col
lected there, added to the pictures
and data collected by Mr.. Bailey
Willis of the Geological Survey.
formed striking part of one of
President Roosevelt's last mes
sages on conservation. But there
was so little for the agricultural
explorers in this country that Mr..
Meyers stayed but a few days, and
went on south to Tai-yuan, the
capital of the province of Shan-si.
One of the most unusual things
which he discovered in this region
vas wonderful yellow rose which
grows wild in the mountains. From
Tai-yuan he went, partly by road
and partly by rail, back again to
Picking. Travelling in the interior
of China is comparatively expen-
sive. Ten dollars a day will pay
for horses, men, lodging, and food.
The food especially is cheap.
Three eggs and a little paper of
salt, for example, cost the equiva-
lent of a cent.
In the spring of 1907, Mr.. Mey-
er returned to Shanghai and went
all through the district between
Hang-chau and the quiet old city
OF Ningpo, getting samples Of
bamboo and making contracts to
have specimens sent to him here.
The Ning-po country has never re-
covered from the destruction
wrought by the great TAPPING re
bellion, and there are many ruined
towns and weed-grown fields.
While in this war-scarred country
Mr.. Meyers was taken sick with
a malady akin to cholera. He grew
rapidly worse and finally was fore
ed to go north to a cooler climate
at the German port of Kiao-chau.
Even there it was some time be-
fore he recovered.
AS soon as well enough to trav-
ell, he set out for Tsi-nan, the cap
ital of Shan-tung, which is agri-
culturally the richest province of
North China.
AT Tsi-nan he went to the mar
kets day by day and looked over
the produce. Whenever he saw
any fruits or vegetables which
showed promise Of value for Am
erican markets, he asked where
they came from. If he was told
by one man that the fruit came
from a certain place, he thought
that it might be possible If two
people told him the same thing,
he thought that perhaps it was
true. If three people gave the
same answer, he thought the re
port bolieveable. If four or five
agreed, he considered it worth in
vestigating He had learned this
caution by many weary miles of
walking on fruitless requests. But
in Shan tung he was very FORUM
ate. He discovered valuable varie-
ties of peaches, apples, plums, and
watermelons. The Shan-tung wat
ermelons were of many different
shades inside-white, pink, sal
mon colored, and red like our own.
The most remarkable product
of this province, however, are the
Fei-tau peaches, a hundred thou
sand of which are sent every year
to the court at Picking. Fei-tau is
small town not far from Tsi-nan,
where for generations the people
have grown peaches. Because
the soil and climate are particu-
larly favorable and probably also
through a process Of unconscious
selection, the Fei-tau peaches have
come to be larger than any other
known variety. They often weigh
a pound apiece. The town is now
famous, just as the Albemarle
County, Va, is famous for its APP
lples. AT Lao-ling, between Isl
nan and Picking, Mr.. Meyer found
orchards of seedless dates we'll
adapted to the arid and semi-arid
sections of the United States.
They have an advantage also over
most crops now grown in the dry
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