Evening star., 1939-08-20
Mrs. Archbo|d Gives
Energy as Well as
Cash 10 Expedition
Society Grandmother
To Hunt Plants
In Strange Isles
By BETH CAMPBELL

Dt H DILL
Mrs. Anne Archbold, capital So
ciety grandmother who will sail on
q Chinese junk for the South Seas
next month to help famous scien-
tist hunt plants, is law unto her
self.
It's typical of the wealthy daugh-
ter of a Standard Oil founder that
when she decided to finance a
scientific expedition, she chose to
60 along. That's the way she
handles philanthropies. Time and
energy go with her money.
She's siXty-ish, but dark haired.
She gives ultra-eXclusiye parties.
but doesn't limit them to the social
register. She knows the wards of
charity hospitals as we'll as she
does the quaint streets of fash
ionable Nassau.
Ordinarily she doesn't let her
left hand know whom her right
hand is helping. And one nights
dinner guest never knows who got
past the gate of her palatial es-
tate the night before.
But even an expert at anonymity
like Mrs. Archbold couldn't hide an
important botanical expedition like
the one she will begin in September
Fairchild Chief Scientist.
Chief scientist is DR.. David Fair
child. 70-year-old former chief of
the Governments plant production
service. He's the man who brought
this country the soy bean, seed of
q S60000,000 industry, and count
less valuable plants that hadn't been
grown here before.
The expeditions ship will be one
of those quaint Chinese junks with
lug sails-and two Diesel engines
for good measure. Mrs. Archbold's
having it specially built in Hong
kong China, equipped as floating
botanical laboratory.
Besides Dr. Fairchild and Mrs.
Archbold, the party will include
Mrs. Fairchild. who is also in her
sixties and is a daughter of Alex
ander Graham Bell. Only other
American is the young chief engi-
neer. The crew will be Chinese.
They'll sail from Hongkong for
the Moluccas and Sprice Islands
north of Australia. DR.. Fairchild saw
the islands 40 years ago and has
been wanting to 90 back ever since.
Experts here say the Moluccas
haven't been explored botanically
for more than 200 years.
A Sturdy Junk.
When friends remind Mrs. Arch
bold of Richard Halliburtons fate in
a junk, she explains that her ship is
new, not secondhand She said she
had heard that Mr.. Halliburton re-
moved bulkheads from his craft,
leaving a frail shell, whereas her
junk will be sturdy as schooner
Finally. she said, her Junk will not
be used to sail the opean ocean. Her
trip calls for poking around small
islands in narrow seas, a job for
WhidX junks are ideal. Mr.. Hallibur-
ton, the adventure writer, disap-
peared on a trans-Pacific junk
cruise.
The expedition begins next month,
ode 40 Cill ID AlOcllilllS. IL OSptIlQS,
somewhat, on what they discover.
DR.. Fairchild hopes to find tropical
plants which will have commercial
possibilities in the United States or
in South America.
The proposed botanical expedition,
friends say, is Mrs Archbold's first.
But she's an old hand at travelling.
She has hunted big game and ex-
plored the wilds of Kruger National
Park in Africa. She has Travelled
this country by rail and air.
Family of Travellers.
Mrs. Archbold's children are
hardly Stay-at-homes. Mora,
daughter, married Nicol Smith. an
explorer and lecturer, and they're
homeward bound now from Hainan,
an island off the Chinese coast.
Lydia, who is Mrs. Elliott Strauss,
will tour Europe this fall, as will
John, son. Armar, another son,
now is travelling in Sweden.
Richard Archbold, who recently
returned from flying expedition in
New Guinea, is nephew.
Mrs. Archbold is the daughter of
John D. Archbold, an associate of