Frank Meyer,Agricultural Explorer

For 60 years the work of Frank N. Meyer hasremained a neglected segment of America’sheritage. Now, as people are becoming con-cerned about feeding the world’s growingpopulation and about the loss of genetic di-versity of crops, Meyer’s accomplishmentshave a special relevance. Entering China in1905, near the dawn of the single era whenexplorers could travel freely there, he be-came the first plant hunter to represent agovernment and to search primarily for eco-nomically useful plants rather than orna-mentals. No one before him had spent 10

years crossing the mountains, deserts, farms,and forests of Asia in search of fruits, nuts,vegetables, grains, and fodder crops; no onehas done so since.

During four plant-hunting expeditions toChina and Central Asia, Meyer enrichedAmerica’s agricultural and horticultural re-sources, made important botanical discov-eries, and improved the economy of hisadopted country. As he fulfilled his promiseto "skim the earth in search of things goodfor man," no hardship or danger deterredhim. He sent the United States Departmentof Agriculture hundreds of shipments of livecuttings and thousands of packages of seeds,which resulted in more than 2,500 plant in-troductions. Though he published little, the

Isabel Cunningham’s biography of Frank Meyer,entitled Frank Meyer: Plant Hunter .m Asia, waspubhshed in June of this year by Iowa State Um-versity Press.

Isabel Shipley Cunningham

2,500 pages of his letters tell of his journeysand the plants he collected, and the USDAInventory of Seeds and Plants Imported con-tains descriptions of his introductions.

Until recently little was known about thefirst 25 years of Meyer’s life, when he livedin Amsterdam and was called Frans Meijer.Dutch sources reveal that he was bom into a

loving family in 1875. Frans was a quiet boy,who enjoyed taking long walks, readingabout distant lands, and working in his fami-ly’s small garden. By the time he hadfimshed elementary school, he knew that he ’wanted to be a world traveler who studied ,if ’

plants; however, his parents could not affordto give him further education. When he was14 years old, he found work as a gardener’shelper at the Amsterdam Botanical Garden.During the next eight years, Frans pro-

gressed to gardener and then head gardener incharge of the experimental garden. Hugo deVries, director of the experimental garden,observed that Frans was intelligent, indus-trious, and dependable and trained him to behis assistant. He taught the boy French andEnglish and allowed him to attend lectureson botany and plant propagation. In his lei-sure Frans studied languages, mathematics,and science and collected herbarium speci-mens of the plants of the Netherlands. Whenhe was 20, de Vries arranged for him to studyfor six months at the University of Gronin-gen.

Though he continued to work at the

Amsterdam Botanical Garden for two yearsthereafter, Frans felt faraway places beckon-

’ ing until his desire to see the world becametoo strong to resist. For several months he

wandered across Europe, using maps and a

compass as guides. Once he almost lost hislife in a blizzard when he crossed the Alps inan area where there were no roads. In 1900

he set out for England to earn money for hispassage to America. A year later, in October1901, he arrived in the United States.When Meyer reached Washington, he pre-

sented a letter of introduction from Hugo deVries to Dr. Erwin F. Smith, a bacteriologistat the department of agriculture, and foundwork in the USDA greenhouses on the Mall.For a year he was content in new surround-

ings. Then his desire to see what lay beyondthe horizon led him to work as a gardener insouthern California. There he continued to

long for "farther off and unseen places." "

After 18 months he left California to studythe flora of Mexico. He walked 1,000 miles,discovering new fruits and flowers everyday, and felt that he was learning more aboutplants than books could have taught him in10 years.After returning to the United States in

July 1904, Meyer found employment at theMissouri Botanical Garden, where he ini-tiated the preparation of a list of seeds forexchange with botanical gardens in othercountries. He planned to leave St. Louis assoon as he had saved enough money toexplore the Andes; however, his destiny wasto lead him in another direction. David Fair-

child, head of the Foreign Plant IntroductionSection of the USDA, for several years hadbeen searching for an explorer to send toChina. When he heard of Meyer’s willing-ness to walk great distances and his passionfor plants, Fairchild offered him this assign-

ment and Meyer eagerly accepted. To trainhim for his work, Fairchild sent him on a10-day trip to the New York Botanical Gar-den and the Arnold Arboretum. After exam-

ining Augustine Henry’s herbarium speci-mens in New York, Meyer studied the tre-mendous collections at the Arnold Ar-boretum and received the advice of the di-

rector, Charles Sprague Sargent. Two dayslater he began his journey to China.

The First Expedition

Soon after Meyer reached Peking (Beijing) inSeptember 1905, he hired a guide, cart,driver, and donkeys and set out into themountains on a 10-day trip. A sweet, seed-less persimmon four inches in diameter washis first major discovery. "As soon as theleaves are off," he promised Fairchild, "I’llgo back to those trees and will try to send

you a thousand scions." Sargent later pre-dicted that this persimmon would add$100,000 to the American economy. In lateautumn Meyer divided his collection ofgrape, apricot, and catalpa cuttings, pear,persimmon, and elm scions, and Ginkgobiloba andPinus bungeana (white-barkedpine) seeds. Then he mailed bundles to theUSDA and the Arnold Arboretum. He nevertrusted anyone else to pack his cuttings andscions, for only he could judge just howmuch water he must wring out of the dam-pened sphagnum moss before wrapping eachpackage first in oiled paper and then in bur-lap, which he stitched at the seams. If themoss were too wet or too dry, the materialwould not survive the long journey to Amer-ica.

Meyer eagerly complied with the USDApolicy of collecting ornamentals "when en-countered." In January, when ice a foot thick

5

formed on the canals, he returned to theWestern Hills, where he had observed rem-nants of original vegetation around an-cient temples. There he collected cuttings ofthe Chinese pistachio (Pistacia chinensis), a ahorse chestnut (Aesculus chinensis/, a acatalpa (Catalpa bungei/, and a cultivar ofthe Peking willow (Salix matsudana ’Um-braculifera’). None of these trees was new tobotanists, but all were virtually unknown inAmerica. In the mountains he also found a

columnar juniper (juniperus chinensis ‘Col-umnaris’), wild peach trees (Prunusdavidiana) for use as a rootstock, the famous

Frank Meyer collected the globular-headed wil-low (Sahx matsudana ’Umbracuhfera’), below, inthe Western Hills, Pekmg (Beijmg~ China.

Peking pear (Pyrus pyrifolia var. culta /, apromising maple (Acer truncatum), and asemidouble rose (Rosa xanthma "to beshared with Professor Sargent." Sargent laterwrote that this rose had been known tobotanists only through Chinese paintingsuntil Frank Meyer sent it to America.The letters Meyer wrote during his first

six months in China reflect a kaleidoscopeof impressions and emotions: the miserablenights spent on brick beds in filthy inns,where he battled bedbugs, centipedes, lice,and scorpions; his joy when he "felt at peacewith the whole creation" as he collectedseeds of crimson oaks and flaming maples inthe Ming Tombs Valley; the shock of awa-kening one night in Mongolia to find an as-sassin’s knife a few inches from his throat;

6 , I

his pleasure while watching his Chineseguide making his own herbarium collection;the frustration of lacking time to learn Man-darin and the many dialects of the Chinese

language; and his pride in finding usefulplants to send to his adopted country. Headmired the Chinese people: "China is goingto come to the front, for the people are asolid kind of men and they possess manysterling virtues. In agriculture, they are ex-perts." "

When authorities approved his plan to fol-low the Yalu and Tumer rivers to Siberia insearch of hardy plants, he left Peking m lateApril for Newchwang (Yingkou) in Man-churia. There he mailed the USDA a collec-tion containing the first oil-bearing soybeansent to the United States. He then set out

through wild mountainous country withcarts, mules, an intelligent guide, and acoolie "of doubtful character." Though hehad no equipment for pressing or drying her-barium material, he frequently paused togather specimens as he traveled. North ofMukden (Shenyang) he found a drought-resistant alfalfa, white peonies blooming inravines, and a wilt- and bright-resistantspinach that was to save the threate~edAmerican spinach-canning industry.When Meyer crossed to the Korean side of

the Yalu at Antung (Dandong), he entered anunexplored region. For weeks he and hismen followed narrow footpaths acrossmountain ranges and waded icy streams. Hecollected zoysia grass (Zoysia japonica) nearthe Yalu, and in the mountains a pyramidalcherry with bright green foliage, whichAlfred Rehder of the Arnold Arboretumnamed Prunus meyeri. Farther north he andhis party passed through primeval forestsnever before seen by Westerners. Thoughthey lived on boiled oats during the last two

weeks of the journey, they walked 20 to 35miles every day. At last they reached Siberia.From Vladivostok Meyer shipped his col-

lection of 220 kinds of seeds and cuttings, aswell as herbarium specimens, and then con-tinued his journey north. At Nikolsk (Us-suriysk, formerly Voroshilov) he arranged anexchange of seeds of hardy plants with agovernment forester; in the countrysidenearby he collected seeds of the Amur maple(Acer ginnala), which bore an abundance ofrosy-red fruits.He paused at Khabarowsk to mail his col-

lection of pears, plums, nuts, wheat, barley,forage crops, and the Amur lilac (Syringaamurensis). He also arranged seed exchangeswith the government agronomist and thehead forester of the Imperial Domains there.At dusk he would watch the sun setting overthe ice fields of the Amur, silhouetting thewhite birches against the dying purple of thewestern sky. One evening as he returned tohis inn, three murderous ruffians attackedhim, but he drew his bowie knife and de-fended himself so vigorously that they ranaway.Meyer spent Christmas at Kwan Tientse

(Changchun) with a missionary who agreedto collect seeds for the USDA m exchangefor seeds of hardy vegetables and flowers.After leaving his host, he traveled south inbitter cold but forgot the frigid air that frozehis beard to his scarf as he watched the risingsun color the mountamtops rosy red. On

January 21 he arrived at Mukden and pre-

pared 20 large sacks of cereals and legumesfor shipping to the USDA. Then a telegramordering him to meet E. H. Wilson in Shan-

ghai before February 10 abruptly canceledhis plans to collect plants he had previouslyspotted in Manchuria.When Meyer reached Shanghai, he learned

7

that Wilson had promised to send the USDAeconomically useful plants from the upperYangtze and that he himself was expected tocollect botamcal specimens for the ArnoldArboretum in the barren Wu Tai Shan. He

made no attempt to appear content with the

bargam Sargent and Fairchild had made. Let-ters from both explorers show that their im-tial meeting was a disaster. Unaware thatMeyer believed his own work had beenundervalued, Fairchild also had chosen thistime to convey Sargent’s criticism of theUSDA’s failure to collect herbarium speci-mens "of the botanical species of which you

Frank Meyer and his collecting party at 4,000 feetnear Ying Tau Ko, China.

have sent us seeds." Earlier Sargent had in-sisted~that Meyer’s work include the collec-tion of herbarium material, but Fairchild hadtold Meyer that the department "did notplace that much importance on herbariumspecimens." Meyer nevertheless had col-lected herbarium matenal on his journeynorth and had shipped two boxes of speci-mens from Vladivostok. The contents ofthese boxes were badly damaged m a ty-phoon. Frustrated by this loss, Meyer repliedthat Sargent’s criticism "is somewhat comi-cal. It is just as if the department peoplewere disappointed when Professor Sargentdid not collect plants of economic intereston his journeys." "

In April Meyer mailed 14 packages to the

8

USDA and set out with his interpreter and

guide for the Wu Tai Shan. "There goesnothing above fresh air, a blue sky aboveone’s head, and if some mountains or lakescan be added, then life is worth living. I loveexploring better than anything else," hewrote Fairchild. After reaching the moun-tains in a snowstorm, he studied the sparsevegetation and took photographs of the bar-ren landscape. He then traveled south toTaiyuan. There he found quantities of Rosaxanthina, which bloomed early and freelyand withstood cold temperatures and long

A Chinese cart loaded with boxes of seeds, mostlywild peach stones and chestnuts, leaving FrankMeyer’s hotel enroute to America.

periods of drought. At this point his in-terpreter and guide refused to endure furtherhardships, forcing him to return to Peking.

Sargent later complained that Meyershould have remained in the Wu Tai Shan

until more vegetation appeared; Meyer re-plied that he could not have done so "unlessI was of a barnacle nature, which God helpme, I never hope to become." The followingFebruary he returned to gather seeds, stayingin a room so cold that ink froze on his pen.For five days he collected seeds of severalspruces, a pine, and a larch that had not beenrecorded previously. He also found two wil-lows, a lilac, a rose, rhubarb, hull-less oats,and a rare hull-less barley.

9

After a trip to sultry Chekiang (Zhejiang)Province, where he collected edible, orna-mental, and timber bamboo (including onenow called Phyllostachys meyeri), Meyertraveled to Tsingtao (Qingtao) and began ajourney across Shantung (Shandong) Pro-vince. In the Lau Shan he found a rare dwarf

sorghum and a previously unknownyellow-flowered catalpa. Later he collectedthe Shantung plum-cot, a single yellow rose(Rosa xanthina f. spontanea) that bloomedprofusely m rocky soil, and epiphytic or-chids that Fairchild forwarded to the RoyalBotamc Gardens at Kew.As he and his guide searched for the cele-

brated pound peach of Shantung, soldierswarned them of robbers nearby. Meyer’sparty did encounter a band of outlaws thenext day, but he held his pistol "glistening intheir eyes" and saw the leader signal his mennot to attack. The risks of the journeyproved worthwhile near the village ofFeicheng, where Meyer found the sweet andjuicy peaches that sometimes weighed morethan a pound. Jumperus chmensis and Pinusbungeana trees at least 1500 years old madethis trip memorable. He also saw Chinesecabbages (Brassica pekmensis ~ weighmg upto 40 pounds each, hawthorns (Crataeguspmnati fida bred to produce fruit that madedelicious preserves, a rare yellow-fruitedhawthorn, and a dogwood loaded with darkgreen berries that the natives used as asource of oil for lamps. After four months hereturned to Peking.Meyer disliked the confining task of label-

ing, describing, and packing seeds and cut-tings of the hundreds of plants he collected.To assist him in determining the correctChinese names of the plants, he employedChow-hai Ting, who continued to workwith him during his later expeditions. While

he labored indoors, he yearned for "the bum-ing sun and the smell of the mountains."

"

Sargent criticized him for covering too muchterritory, but he argued that he must travelwidely in order to find plants that wouldmake America "wealthier and better." He

firmly believed that "any ordinary botanist"could stay in one place and collect speci-mens of shrubs and trees; identifying grainsand fruits that might benefit humamtyseemed to him infinitely more challenging.To give his expedition "a fitting end," "

Meyer planned a series of journeys. In No-vember a trip north to Jehol (Chengde)yielded acorns of oaks that looked likechestnut trees (Quercus variabihs) and 73bundles of fruits, nuts, forage crops, andhardy ornamentals. But he despaired as hewatched farmers cutting down trees. "I seewith sad eyes the last vestiges of a oncegrand vegetation," he mourned. Late m Jan-uary he worked in deep snow m the moun-tains beyond Peking, collecting the white-barked pine, a rare pyramidal white poplar(Populus tomentosa), persimmons, apricots,yellow plums, a free-flowering pink rose(Rosa odorata and pods of a spiny locust/Gleditsia heterophylla). Since this treeseemed to be in a state of mutation, he askedFairchild to send sets of pods to Sargent andto de Vries. He also assembled a large quan-tity of scions of the dry-land elm (Ulmuspumila), a dwarf lemon (Citrus x meyen), a asilver-blue juniper of dense habit (juniperussquamata ’Meyeri’~, and a dwarf lilac(Syringa meyeri). Published accounts stateincorrectly that Meyer found this lilac (PI23032) in the Wu Tai Shan. He boughtSynnga meyeri at Fengtai near Peking onMarch 31, 1908. He previously had collectedSyringa mllosa (PI 22675) m the Wu TaiShan.

10

After transportmg his collection to Shang-hai in May 1908, Meyer supervised thepacking of 20 tons of plant material, includ-ing 2 zelkovas, a Chinese holly, 18 lilacs, 4viburnums, 2 spireas, a rhododendron, adaphne, 30 kmds of bamboo, and 4 lilies.Throughout the four-week voyage to Amer-ica, he exposed his plants to sun and airwhenever the weather was mild and caredfor a pair of rare northern monkeys that hewas bringing to the National ZoologicalPark.

During a year in the United States, Meyervisited many agricultural experiment sta-tions, forming a list of their needs to guidehim on his coming expedition to CentralAsia. Long before the discovery of germ-plasm, he wrote, "In the future we willcreate unheard-of strains of fruits and shrubsand trees and flowermg plants. All we need

. now is to build up collections so as to havethe material at hand." He eagerly returned to

Frank Meyer’s caravan crossmg the MussartGlacier m Chmese Turkestan (Ym~ang Au-tonomous Region).

the Arnold Arboretum to study the exten-sive living collections and herbarium speci-mens there. When Sargent reprimanded himfor his failure to collect a large number of thelatter, Meyer responded that the USDA hadsent him to Chma to collect plants of eco-nomic value; privately, he told Fairchild thathe agreed with Sargent about the need forauthentic material in herbariums. In re-

sponse to Sargent’s request for specimens ofall the arboreal species that he might find inthe future, he asked the USDA to authorizehim to fulfill that request.Meyer spent most of the spring and sum-

mer of 1909 "cooped up in that little officein hot and humid Washington." He sortedhis hundreds of negatives and photographsand studied the 1,664 mventory cards thathad accompamed his introductions. Ofthese, 1,297 had survived, and over 50 percentof the 497 varieties that he had sent as scionsor plants were growing in America. He alsocompleted his bulletin, Agricultural Explo-ration m the Fruit and Nut Orchards ofChma, before he received his appropriationand set out on a three-year journey to Cen-tral Asia.

The Second Expedition

Aware that he had begun his first trip toChina without adequate preparation, Meyerprepared for his second by visiting Europeannurseries and botanical gardens. In Englandhe spent a week studying the "wonderfullyrich" herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gar-den. "If I had known that Kew is after allrather poor in northern Chmese material ...I most certainly would have collectedmore," he wrote Fairchild. "It really hurtsme now to find out how much more useful Icould have been to mankind." He was im-

11 1

pressed by the Chinese plant introductionsthat E. H. Wilson "kindly pointed out" atVeitch and Sons and at Kew. As he studiedcollections at the Jardin des Plantes andVilmorin Nurseries in France and "othercenters of accumulated knowledge" in Bel-gium, Germany, and Russia, he arrangedplant and seed exchanges for the USDA. ,

When his itinerary took him to Antwerp,he acted as host to members of his family,whom he had been longing to see. "We are acrowd of eight people," he wrote Fairchild."I am, of course, the most popular member,and they want me to talk for hours and hoursabout all my experiences." Four days to-gether were not enough. He took his entirefamily with him for three additional dayswhen he traveled to Brussels. Then hemoved on to botanical gardens in Germanyand Russia.

After a series of frustrating delays in St.Petersburg (Leningrad), Meyer received thenecessary permits and journeyed to theCrimea. On a rocky cliff there he found thecommon privet (Ligustrum vulgare), whichproved to withstand cold winters anddrought in the upper midwestern UnitedStates. In addition to roots and seeds, hemailed to the USDA olive cuttings; her-barium specimens, to be divided with theArnold Arboretum; and algae and fungi, forthe New York Botanical Garden. Then, ac-companied by an assistant and an interpre-ter, he boarded a steamer and crossed theBlack Sea.

Meyer assembled a large collection and ar-ranged several seed exchanges during fourmonths m the Caucasus. An early shipmentcontained seeds of apples, cherries, almonds,and an evergreen hawthorn (Crataegusmeyeri); several kinds of wheat; soil sam-ples ; and herbarium specimens to be "shared

liberally with Professor Sargent." From hisbase at Tiflis (Tbilisi), he explored not onlyGeorgia but also Azerbaidzhan and Armenia,sending the USDA grapes, plums, apricots,black barley, coffee made from soybeans, anew peony, and cuttings of the Paradiseapple (Malus pumila var. paradisiaca) fromits native habitat. In late April he and his in-terpreter left Tiflis on foot for the northernCaucasus. Despite snowstorms in themountains, Meyer collected alfalfa, clover,and herbarium specimens of other plants.When he reached Baku, he sent the USDAfruit, grain, legumes, and alfalfa, as well asfossils and ancient pottery for the Smithso-nian Institution. On May 30, 1910, he ’

crossed the Caspian Sea to Russian Turkes-tan.

Vegetation in Russian Turkestan lackedvariety, and the police there harassed Meyercontmually. Nevertheless, before venturinginto the Hissar Mountains south of Samar-kand, he found the drought-resistant

A crowded street on market day in Tching toTchun, Shensi, September 1914.

12

Kashgar elm (Ulmus carpinifolia var. um-braculifera) for settlers in the arid south-western United States. No roads existed inthe steep mountains and food was scarce;

however, he collected the Siberian bushcherry (Prunus prostrata) and herbariumspecimens of pistachio, almond, maple, andjuniper. After stopping at cholera-infestedTashkent, where he hired a German in-

The north side ot a mountain densely grown withtorests ot the Thian Shan spruce (Piceashrenckiana near Idm-Kul, Chmese Turkestan.

terpreter of Russian, Meyer and his smallparty plodded across the desert throughankle-deep sand with 1,200 pounds of bag-gage.When they reached Chinese Turkestan

(Xinjiang Autonomous Region), Chow-haiTing joined the party. From Kashgar (Kashi)they traveled to Yarkand (Shache) and con-tinued south across "dreary expanses of sandand grit," relieved occasionally by oasessheltered by Russian olive shrubs (Elaeagnusangustifolia). Near Khotan (Hotan) Meyercollected a drought-resistant ash (Fraxinuspotamophila), which later proved to be use-

13

ful in Nevada, and two wheat cultivars(Triticum aestivum ’Ak-Mecca Boogdai’ andT. aestivum ’Kizil Boogdai’) that are stillmaintained in the USDA germplasm collec-tion at Beltsville, Maryland. Returning toKashgar on trails used only by natives, heand his men climbed barren mountainswhere food was scarce and then trudgedacross snow-covered deserts until they losttrack of time. The tents of the fierce Kirghizsometimes offered shelter from icy windsthat froze their hot tea before they coulddrink it. On the mountainsides Meyer founda spruce species (Picea schrenkiana severalkinds of hardy wheat, hull-less barley, andalfalfa and cut scions of fruit trees, elms, wil-lows, and rare poplars. He returnedexhausted to Kashgar on January 1, 1911,after an absence of two months. There he

packed and mailed seeds of peaches, nec-tarines, plums, and pomegranates; 11 Ivarieties of sweet apricot kernels (Prunus ar-meniaca pistachio nuts, and grains, as wellas herbarium specimens of other plants.Meyer and his party then set out across

the desert to Aksu (Aqsu), where Chow-haiTing took the main road east to China andthe others followed a rough trail north. In avalley in the towering Tian Shan, Meyer col-lected two types of wheat (Triticum aes-tmum ’Kara Boogdai’ and T. turgidum thatare stored in the USDA germplasm collec-tion today. As his small party approachedthe Mussart Glacier, which formed a passthrough the Tian Shan, they prepared for theawesome climb along shifting trails besidegaping chasms. They reached solid groundafter six hours on moving ice and then scaleda steep ascent to 13,000 feet. Descending indeep snow at dusk, they camped in bittercold. Though snow, rain, and hail fell duringthe next several days, Meyer "grubbed out"

roots of climbing asparagus and a rare alfalfa a(Medicago platycarpa and cut scions of ap-ples, apricots, and willows. From Kuldja a(Guldja or Ining) he mailed 52 packages ofroots and cuttings, including a hawthorn forthe Arnold Arboretum. North of Kuldja hehad difficulty finding a guide because he andhis party were entering a "robber district."

"

Though robbers "prowling around" dis-turbed their rest on four nights, they con-tinued north across an alkaline plain whereonly artemisia and tamarisk grew. Finallythey arrived at Chuguchak (Qoqek orDacheng) in Mongolia.

After pausing at Chuguchak, Meyer andhis interpreter trekked through barren andmonotonous country until they reached theAltai Mountains in Siberia. Siberian irises

(Iris sibimca globe flowers (Trolliusasiaticus and daphne (Daphne altaica) cov-ered the slopes and perfumed the air. Amongpatches of snow in alpine meadows, Meyernoticed primroses, gentians, anemones, anddense masses of pansies, buttercups, and vio-lets. Near Lake Markakol he and his com-

panions were forced to balance on fir logs asthey carried hundreds of pounds of baggageacross a rushing mountain stream. Even on alimited diet of bread, wurst, and tea, he en-joyed climbing range after range of snow-capped mountains. Camping under a majes-tic pine near a swift and icy stream, he re-joiced because "fear and wrong disappear insuch surroundings." After descending at lastto the lowlands, he and his interpreterreached Omsk on July 2, 1911, havingwalked about 1,000 miles from Kuldja. Thejourney along the border of Mongolia andSiberia had yielded extremely hardy apples,apricots, currants, and alfalfa, as well as twonew pasture plants, Lathyrus pisiformis andVicia megalotropis.

14 .

Mail from three continents awaited Meyerat Omsk, but a letter from Augustine Henrypleased him most. Dr. Henry, a formerBritish consular official in China, had sentmany herbarium specimens to the RoyalBotanic Gardens at Kew. His letter com-

plimented Meyer on his bulletin about fruitand nut culture in China. A USDA requestfor 500 pounds of seeds of wild Medicagofalcata anchored Meyer in Siberia until fall.After his German interpreter of Russian re-turned to Tashkent, he traveled to Tomskand spent 10 days studying herbarium mate-rial and conferring with professors at theuniversity there. He then searched the areaaround Semipalatinsk where the yellow-flowered wild alfalfa grew in scattered loca-tions. When he returned to Omsk, he mailedthe USDA alfalfa, legumes, vetches, clovers,and two promising forage crops (Astragalussp. and Hedysarum sp. as well as conifercones, samples of wheat, and herbariumspecimens of other plants for Sargent.Though he had intended to go on to China,news of the revolution there forced him toturn westward.As Meyer traveled along the Volga, he vis-

ited agricultural stations, nurseries, anduniversities, collecting seeds and scions ofhardy fruits and 15 cultivars of the variableMedicago falcata. He also arranged ex-changes of seeds and wheat samples. In aravine near Saratov, he found a creeping vine~Coronilla varia from which propagatorsdeveloped Emerald crown vetch, agroundcover that now controls soils erosionon the banks of interstate highways. Thoughhe had developed typhus malaria, he spenttwo days at Koslov (Michurinsk) with Gre-gori Mijurin, called the Luther Burbank ofRussia, and mailed the USDA scions of someof the hardiest cherries, apricots, plums, and

Frank Meyer at 23 years old. Photo courtesy of DeArde en haar Volken, Amsterdam, Holland. Fromthe Library of Congress collections, Washington,D.C.

quinces in existence. He also arranged seedexchanges at the Kharkov Botanical Garden,the Moscow Agricultural Institute, and theSt. Petersburg Bureau of Applied Botany.When his illness became severe, he stayedindoors long enough to complete a 38-pagereport on wild alfalfa and to pack wheat, bar-ley, flax, herbarium material, and cones of ahybrid pine for Sargent.

In March 1912, he left Russia and visitedhis family and Hugo de Vries in Holland be-fore going to England. At Cambridge he con-ferred with Augustine Henry and conveyedan offer from Fairchild to Kingdon-Ward. Healso studied rare ornamentals at Veitch and

15

Sons and the Royal Botanic Gardens, whereofficials asked permission to publish some ofhis photographs. His assignments com-pleted, he crossed the Atlantic on theMauretania, passing through dense low fogjust one day behind the Titanic.

Confined to an office in Washington oncemore, Meyer wrote reports and identified hisphotographs. Though Fairchild often urgedhim to record his botanical observations,Meyer found formal composition unconge-nial. He prepared to return to China afteronly six months m America. Before depart-ing, he spent two weeks at the Arnold Ar-boretum, studying the herbarium collec-tions, taking notes in the library, and confer-ring frequently with Sargent, Wilson, andJackson Dawson, superintendent of plant-ings. They welcomed him cordially, and heenjoyed discussing plant exploration in theinterior of China. Sargent suggested that hesend all rare woody plants directly to theArnold Arboretum; however, Meyer couldpromise only to label all rare arboreal plantsto be forwarded to the Arboretum. The rela-

tionship between Wilson and Meyer hadchanged since their first meeting. Wilsontook time to show Meyer his own collectionof Prunus and the newly introduced Chineseplants at Farquhar’s Nursery. From BostonMeyer traveled to New York, where he vis-ited botanists at the New York BotanicalGarden and shared his knowledge of un-explored northern Korea with Roy ChapmenAndrews at the Museum of Natural History.Then he set out on a three-year expeditionthat would encircle the globe.

The Third Expedition

Meyer stopped briefly in England to consultWilliam Purdom, the only Western collec-

tor except Potanin who had worked inKansu (Gansu) Province in China. In Januaryhe crossed Russia and Sibena by train, stop-ping occasionally to visit potential USDAcorrespondents or to arrange seed collectionsand exchanges. Once m Peking he hiredChow-hai Tmg as his interpreter and Johan-nis de Leuw, "a young Hollander," as his as-sistant. He soon mailed seeds of Swiss stone

pine (Pinus cembra var. sibmica/, Japaneselarch (Larix leptolepis), Japanese fir ~Abiesfirma/, Cryptomema japonica, Zelkovaacummata, and the Hmoki cypress

’

(Chamaecyparis obtusa). After a brief trip toShantung and a severe attack of malarialfever, he packed and mailed seeds of finelocal varieties of vegetables and scions of theseedless Chmese jujube (Zizyphus jujuba), /,the English walnut (juglans regia/, and theChinese walnut (juglans cathayensis) forSargent.Because the Office of Forest Pathology

needed to know whether the chestnut blight(Endothia parasitlca that was killing Amer-ican chestnut trees was of foreign origin, theUSDA asked Meyer to look for the fungus inChina. Meyer searched the mountains be-yond Peking and soon mailed specimens ofthe fungus to America; however, he ob-served healed wounds on the Chinesechestnut trees (Castanea mollissima) andreported that they appeared resistant toblight. After pathologists had grown culturesthat proved the American chestnut blighthad come from the Orient, they told Meyerthat he had accomplished the most impor-tant work done m plant pathology in 10years. Meyer was amused and wrote Fair-child, "Haven’t you any more such problemsto solve in China? They do not involve somuch trouble as, for instance, bamboo cul-ture or jujube problems."

16

Meyer delayed his expedition to Kansu formonths because bands of outlaws were ter-

rorizing the inhabitants of the interior.While he waited for conditions to improve,he shipped the USDA grains, legumes, adwarf cherry (Prunus humlhs), 150,000stones of the promising bush cherry (Prunustomentosa), 20,000 persimmon (Diospyroskaki seeds, 1,500 pounds of Prunusdavidiana stones, 250 pounds of chestnuts(Castanea molhssima), entomological and

A field of Chmese cabbages /Brassica chmensis/, ),near Huai-jau, m 1905.

pathological material, and a wooden casecontaining several sets of 500 labeled her-barium specimens. He also sent scions andcuttings including Viburnum farreri. Sar-gent later declared that such a handsomeshrub had not been mtroduced into Americafor a long while.Meyer, de Leuw, and Ting finally left Pek-

ing by train in mid-December. At the end ofthe railroad they began a challenging journeyacross Shensi (Shaanxi) Province. In the rug-ged Ta hua Shan, where trails were too steepeven for donkeys, Ting fell and sustained aninjury. When they reached Sian (Xi’an), adoctor informed Ting that he could not con-

17 7

°

~

tinue the journey to Kansu. While he rested,Meyer spent several weeks in the coun-

tryside near Sian. There he found heavenlybamboo (Nandina domestica/, jasmine(Jasmmum nudi florum the pagoda tree(Sophora japomca the Chinese honey lo-cust (Gleditsia sinensis), and the princesstree (Paulowma fortunei He collected ninenamed persimmons, four named jujubes,

A row of watermelon plants /Citrullus vulgams /m northern Chma, "where the duststorms blowso fiercely m spring and early summer that theplants would be blown to pieces if not shielded bywmdbreaks of reed stems." "

chestnuts that appeared unusually resistantto blight, and a slow-growing privet (Ligus-trum qmhoui/ bearing masses of black ber-ries. In the southern United States thishandsome privet now produces pamcles ofcreamy white flowers and remams ever-

green all winter. Meyer, de Leuw, and Tingleft Sian on February 1 and crossed Shansi(Shanxi) and Honan (Henan) provinces, de-spite wind, sleet, and snow. Moving on toShantung, Meyer collected scions.of pears, apples, peaches, haw, quinces,and jujubes; 12 tree peonies (Paeoma suf-fruticosa) and 5 herbaceous peonies (P. lac-tiflora) ; and root cuttings of Paulownia for-

18

tunei, Albizia chinensis, and Populus to-mentosa. Then he and his men boarded atrain for Peking.Though he intended to explore Kansu, the

difficulty of replacing Ting and the activitiesof a murderous band of outlaws called WhiteWolves delayed Meyer’s departure. While hesearched for an interpreter, he mailed theUSDA 15 cases of seeds of the bush cherry,rooted rice plants, roasted soybeans, vegeta-bles, and ornamentals. In desperation, hefinally employed an interpreter who lackedexperience in the field. Accompanied by deLeuw, Chi-man Tien (the interpreter), and acoolie, he left Peking with 30 bulky pieces ofbaggage.As they crossed the mountams of Honan

and Shansi provinces, high temperatures andheavy rainfall spoiled their food and madedrying specimens nearly impossible. Meyernevertheless continued his journey with re-

lays of pack animals, despite a band of out-laws nearby and several attacks of "this ac-cursed fever." East of Pingyang (Lmfen/ henoticed a small green peach the size of amarble and recognized it as the original wildpeach (Prunus davidiana var. potammi~. Hefound it repeatedly as he traversed Shansi,Shensi, Kansu, and the Tibetan borderland.Potanin had collected herbarium specimensof this peach m Kansu, but Meyer sent theUSDA dried fruits, samples of the wood, sci-ons, and 700 peach stones. Tired, dirty, andhungry, he and his men reached Sian on Au-gust 19, 1914, only to hear upsetting news ofthe outbreak of war in Europe. Despiteofficial warnings that the roads ahead wereunsafe, they continued their journey.Between Sian and southwestern Kansu

(Gansu) Meyer and his party climbed steepand slippery mountain trails and sharedshelters with their mules or slept among

idols in ancient temples. As they traveled,Meyer collected a large amount of her-barium material and dried it over charcoalfires. Though botanists then believed thatPinus bungeana grew only in Hupeh (Hubei)Province, Meyer found it in Shansi, Shensi,and Kansu as well. Approaching the Tibetanborderland, Chi-nian Tien and the coolie re-fused to continue the journey because theyfeared certain death at the hands of the Tibe-tans. When Meyer reached Siku (Zhugqu/, hehad spent three days trying to persuade Tiento abide by his contract.By coincidence, a British plant-hunting

expedition led by Reginald Farrer and his as-sistant, William Purdom, happened to be inthe remote town of Siku at this time. Farrer,who had been sending the Gardeners’Chronicle a series of articles describing his"state of perfect isolation," heard of Meyer’sarrival "in a tempest of surprise, by nomeans wholly pleasurable." Farrer and Pur-dom called on Meyer and then left Siku forseveral days. While they were gone, Meyerexperienced "great difficulty with the in-terpreter and coolie. They left the inn andhid themselves." Farrer also described these

events, although they took place m his ab-sence : "Words flew until the interpreter de-scended the stairs with more precipitationthan he would have chosen, followed by thecoolie." He then added that Meyer’s conductso antagonized the townspeople in Siku thathis life was in danger there. Though Farreravoided saying that Meyer shoved Tien, re-cent versions based on Farrer’s accountstate that Meyer threw Tien and the cooliedown a flight of stairs.When Meyer returned Farrer’s visit, he ex-

plained that he had asked the magistrate toenforce Tien’s contract. Since Farrer spokeChinese, he accompanied Meyer to a hearing

19

/

and helped to present his claims. "Had it notbeen for our presence indeed," Farrer wrote,"it is not easy to imagine how the Americanparty could have extricated themselves fromthe present predicament." Farrer wrote thathe assisted Mr. Meyer and "[sent] him on hisway rejoicing." Actually, Meyer did not goon his way. Farrer and Purdom left for winter

quarters, but Meyer used Siku as a base fortwo weeks. He first journeyed to the moun-tains south of Siku and across the Siku River

"A large bush of the Tangutian almond (Prunustangutica / lodgmg m the cremces of a mightyrock. Such a situation proves the remarkabledrouth-resistant qualities this almond seems topossess."

"

into what was then Tibet (Xizang). After hehad found the bush almond (Prunus tan-gutica), Potanin’s peach, and other fruits, hereturned to Siku. Then he followed the SikuRiver west, collecting scions of fruit treesand a hazelnut (Corylus tibetica) at altitudesup to 10,000 feet. Returning to Siku oncemore, he dried his herbarium material and

negotiated with muleteers for the journeynorth to Lanchow (Lanzhou).On November 19, 1914, Meyer and de

Leuw began a challenging trip over snow-covered mountains without an interpreter ora guide. They crossed four mountain passesat elevations above 11,000 feet in a singleday. Magnificent spruce trees 150 feet tall,splendid red-barked birches nearly 100 feethigh, and groves of Smarundinama nitida (atype of bamboo) repaid Meyer for the hard-ships he endured. At Taochow (Lintan) _

American missionaries received him cor-

dially and agreed to ship the USDA seeds ofbarley, oats, flax, and spring wheat in returnfor winter wheat, vegetable seeds, and flowerseeds. He and de Leuw and their muleteersthen climbed a cham of high mountains.Food was scarce and the White Wolves hadleft the few inns along their route in ruins.Nevertheless, Meyer enjoyed the ruggedscenery and collected nuts, scions of fruit

trees, herbarium specimens, and Daphnetangutica, "a first-class decorative." Whenhe and de Leuw reached Lanchow, they hadwalked a thousand miles from Sian. Able torelax at last, Meyer spent the night reading120 letters that awaited him.During his stay in Lanchow, Meyer was

disturbed by news of the war in Europe andby his failure to find an interpreter. Unsanit-ary conditions there also troubled him. Allwater used m the city came from the YellowRiver (Huang He) in wooden buckets, and,

20

"horrible to say, in these same buckets, allthe waste water [was] carried to the river andthrown out."Despite these problems, Meyer seta record by successfully shipping live plantmaterial from Lanchow to Washington.After a prolonged search, he abandonedhope of finding an interpreter to accompanyhim as he returned to Peking. He and deLeuw therefore prepared to make thedifficult and dangerous journey alone.

Early in January 1915, Meyer and de Leuwleft Lanchow with two muleteers, threemules, and a cart containing rare herbariumspecimens. Setting out at daybreak eachmorning, they climbed windswept moun-tains and endured dust storms and bittercold. When they reached the Kansu border,they encountered soldiers who suspectedMeyer and de Leuw of carrying contrabandpoppy seeds and forced them to stand against

Floating rafts of bamboo poles, Cryptomenajapomca and Cunninghamia lanceolata.

a wall in preparation for immediate execu-tion. Fortunately the soldiers changed theirminds and escorted the two men to a nearbytown for consultation with a superiorofficer. After a customs inspector in thetown examined their baggage, he releasedthem. For several weeks they trekkedthrough Shensi (Shaanxi) and into Honan(Henan), crossing deep ravines and climbingsteep mountain trails, despite fierce duststorms, icy winds, sleet, and snow. Theyfinally reached the railroad, having walked40 miles in 15 hours that day. When theyarrived at Peking, they heard further news ofthe war in Europe and of Japanese aggressionin China. "A dark cloud hangs over all hu-manity," Meyer wrote Fairchild. "If only weare not at the threshold of another dark age."Despite his concern, he labeled and packed acollection that mcluded grains, alfalfas, soy-beans, fruits, nuts, ornamental trees andshrubs, lichens and mosses, and cones forSargent. Before leaving Peking for Chekiang(Zhejiang) Province, he tried to fill Fair-child’s requests for seeds: 50 pounds ofPrunus davidiana, a bushel of Pistaciachinensis, several bushels of Pinusbungeana, 75 pounds of Ulmus pumila, anda 1,000 pounds of Zizyphus jujuba. He alsoreceived a plea from the USDA: "We havebeen carrying out your suggestion and send-ing Professor Sargent one-fourth to one-halfof all the seeds you are sending. Couldn’t wepropagate first and then share?"

Meyer and de Leuw traveled south in May1915, stopping at Nanking (Nanjing~ to ar-range a shipment of seeds of the Chinese elm(Ulmus parmfoha) andAlbizia chinensis.They reached Hangchow (Hangzhou) duringthe rainy season, but Meyer forgot the sultryweather when he saw hickory nuts in the

. 21

markets. Knowing that the hickory neverhad been reported in China, Meyer ques-tioned missionaries and learned that thenuts probably came from Yuhang (Linping)in the Pan Shan, south of Hangchow. AtYuhang he found that he must travel westseveral days. At last he discovered groves ofhickories (Carya cathayensis) in shelteredvalleys in the mountains and also observedGinkgo biloba growing semiwild. Sargentlater wrote Meyer that finding the hickorywas by far his most interesting accomplish-ment from a botanical point of view. Afterparting from de Leuw at Shanghai, Meyerwent to Japan. There he found the chestnutblight unrecognized but well established.His assignments completed, he left Japan forthe United States.At the USDA’s plant introduction station,

m Chico, California, Meyer inspected histhriving Tangsi cherries, jujubes, dwarf lem-ons, almonds from Turkestan, Chinesechestnuts, olives from Central Asia, andtung-tree seedlings. Best of all, he saw or-chards of fruit trees growing on his Prunusdavidiana stock in alkaline soil that had

previously been considered useless, even foralfalfa. In contrast, the news of the loss of his

shipment from China in a cyclone at Galves-ton was difficult to accept. He hoped thatthe rare herbarium specimens that he hadcollected in the interior of China might besalvaged, but all were lost.Once more Meyer devoted much of his

time m America to paperwork. He also vis-ited agricultural experiment stations, gavelectures, and wrote the article "China, AFruitful Field for Plant Exploration." InMarch he spent pleasant days with E. H.Wilson, Camillo Schneider, and JacksonDawson at the Arnold Arboretum. Late in

May he attended Wilson’s lecture at theNew York Botanical Garden before movingon to Boston. He stayed there three weeks,conferring frequently with Sargent and Wil-son about his next expedition. He also en-joyed discussing plant propagation withJackson Dawson and visiting him and hisfamily. Before returning to China, he visitedexperiment stations in western states.

The Fourth Expedition

In Oregon Meyer studied the fire blight(Bacillus amylovarus) that was destroyingAmerican pear orchards. F. C. Reimer of theSouthern Oregon Experiment Station, whohad tested all available varieties of pears,told him that only the wild pears he had sentfrom China (the Chinese sand pear, Pyrusussumensis, and P. calleryana) resisted fire ’-‘

blight. He therefore planned to collect greatquantities of wild pear seeds for use in de-veloping a congenial immune stock forpears.Three weeks after Meyer reached China,

he and Chow-hai Ting set out to collect theChinese sand pear in the Shingling Shan,northeast of Peking. Published accountshave confused this pear (Pyrus ussuriensis /with the Peking pear (Pyrus pynfolia var.culta), which Meyer collected in the sameregion 10 years earlier. Thereafter he sent tothe USDA not only seeds and roots of thewild pear but also a spruce (Picea meyeri), theManchurian walnut ~Juglans mandshurica), /,15 cases of stones of Prunus davidiana, sev-eral hundred pounds of dried ZIzyphusjujuba, 75 pounds of Juniperus chmensisberries, seeds of the huge Brassica pekinen-sis, hchens and fungi for the New York Bo-

22

tanical Garden, and acorns for Sargent. As heleft for the Yangtze Valley, he admitted toFairchild that he did not feel quite well,blaming "this never-ending, horrible war"for "making me feel like a ship adrift." "

Meyer and Chow-hai Ting traveled up theYangtze River (Chang Jiang) to Ichang(Yichang). "I am now on Terra Sancta," hewrote Fairchild. "Mr. Wilson and Dr. Henryhad Ichang for headquarters for many years. Ifeel like a Christian in Palestine or aMohammedan in Mecca." He soon began anextensive search for the Callery pear (Pyruscalleryana) and found the trees widely scat-tered on sterile slopes, sunny ledges, and instanding water in low areas. When he re-turned to Ichang, he was pleased to learnthat the USDA had distributed 17,234 of hisUlmus pumila to settlers on the northernplains.

In a letter written during his stay inIchang, Meyer said that America’s entry intoWorld War I caused him to feel so depressedthat he could not eat or sleep. His doctorwarned him that continued overwork, lone-liness, and worry about the war, especiallyin the debilitating climate of the YangtzeValley, could cause further attacks of "ner-vous prostration." "

A few weeks later Meyer and Chow-haiTing went to Hankow (Hangou), whereMeyer looked forward to a visit from LibertyHyde Bailey. "At last I will again meetsomebody who is my superior in knowledgeof plants," he commented. When Bailey ar-rived, he and Meyer visited markets and gar-dens and enjoyed "solid talks." In JuneBailey returned to confer with Meyer forseveral more days. Meyer stayed in hot andhumid Hankow throughout the summer,but Chow-hai Ting returned to the coolerclimate of Peking in July. Before leaving

Hankow, without any competent assistance,Meyer shipped the USDA a 260-pound cratecontaining citrus specimens, nuts, early rice,late soybeans, soil for nematode analysis,cones for Sargent, and entomological andpathological specimens.

After a 16-day journey through the moun-tains of Hupeh (Hubei), Meyer settled atKingmen (Jingmen) where he had observedthe greatest concentration of Pyruscalleryana. His frustration mounted asweeks passed, for the pears were ripeningvery slowly. He was forced to wait in orderto extract the seeds and was unable to collectin the mountains north of Ichang as he hadplanned. By mid-October, he had accumu-lated 5,000 pounds of pears the size of mar-bles. Eventually he and his helpers cleanedand dried about 100 pounds of seeds. In addi-tion, he harvested a large quantity of seeds ofPistacia chinensis and Eremochloa

ophiuroides, afterward named centipedegrass.His solitude ended when F. C. Reimer ar-

rived to study the wild pears in their nativehabitat. Meyer shared with Reimer "unre-servedly" the information he had gleanedand showed him "special trees that it tooksweeks to spot." They then spent five daysexploring the Chikang Shan west of Ichang.After Reimer departed, Meyer began a17-day trip north of the Yangtze that tookhim almost to the border of Szechwan (Sic-huan) Province. Along the way he foundGinkgo biloba growing "undoubtedly wild"for the first time. He also collected the

Ichang lemon (Citrus ichangensis) and thekiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) before re-turning to Ichang by rowboat. Though civilwar had spread to Hupeh, he neverthelessexplored for another week south of theYangtze.

23

When Meyer reached Ichang again, he wastrapped there by government and revolu-tionary troops that were fighting in the sur-rounding countryside. He filled the winterdays by helping Westerners with their hor-ticultural problems, arranging his herbariumspecimens, and serving with other foreignresidents on a defense committee. Despiterifle fire a mile from the city and stories of

looting and atrocities, he occasionally tooklong walks in the country. All commercestopped and food became scarce. In March hewrote Fairchild that "fighting occurs almosthourly and everyone feels depressed fromthis long-drawn state of suspension."

"

Meyer’s Death

Meyer and his guide, Yao-feng Ting,slipped through the battle lines on May 2 andwalked 80 miles past looted and burned vil-

lages. Though soldiers occasionally stoppedthem, Meyer was able to reach Kingmen andreclaim his baggage and collection. Then hewalked 60 miles to the Yangtze, where hefound a boat bound for Hankow. He plannedto go to Shanghai to mail his collection andthen to move to the cooler coast of Shantungto label and mail his herbarium material;however, he delayed leaving Hankow be-cause he had contracted a severe digestivedisturbance. On June 1, 1918, he and Yao-

feng Ting boarded a steamer for Shanghai.The next day Meyer talked at length to aBritish passenger and felt well enough tohave dinner for the first time smce his ill-ness began. Just before midnight the cabinboy reported that he could not find Mr.Meyer. The captain ordered a search of theriverboat, but Frank Meyer was not onboard.

As soon as the American consul at Shang-hai heard of Meyer’s disappearance, helaunched an mvestigation. Meyer’s body wasrecovered from the Yangtze and brought toShanghai for burial in the Bubbling WellCemetery. Horticulture reported that Meyerfell overboard and was drowned, while theAmerican Nurseryman called his death "oneof those mysteries of the white man in theOrient." Sargent commented in a letter toWilson, who was in Korea. "He may havecommitted suicide or some of the Chinamen

may have thrown him overboard. This is

certamly bad news, for he was getting to bea useful collector." I

People on three continents mourned thedeath of Meyer. The supervisor of parks mShanghai wrote that he "undoubtedly knewmore about the economic vegetation ofChina than any other man." Liberty HydeBailey said, "I shall never cease to regret hisuntimely end; and I am more than ever gladthat I had the two opportunities to be withhim last summer, not only because I likedhim personally, but also because he gave meso very many points of view and so much in-

teresting information about China.... Hewas worthy of anything we can do to per-petuate his memory." From the ChosenHotel in Korea, Wilson wrote to Fairchild. "Iam much distressed over the sad end of

Meyer and also deeply puzzled. By his un-timely death plant exploration has lost oneof the most energetic and enthusiastic ser-vants it ever had." In a letter to Meyer’sfather, Fairchild said that the thousands ofplants that Meyer had introduced had beenincreased to hundreds of thousands by prop-agation and had been scattered throughoutAmerica; however, he deeply regretted thatMeyer’s "remarkable fund" of knowledgehad not been recorded and published.

24

Meyer’s Contribution

Frank Meyer introduced plants that are stilltreasured because they are useful, beautiful,or new to botanical science. His efforts tofind in remote regions "the rudimentary andlong-forgotten parent stock or as yet unusedwild plant that might be adapted to man’sprofit" furnished new germplasm for the de-velopment of improved varieties of fruits,nuts, grains, fodder crops, shrubs, and flow-ers. He opened the field of agricultural ex-ploration in Asia. He also investigatedmethods of dry-land farming that theChinese had perfected; developed the ear-liest USDA seed exchanges; established agroup of USDA correspondents andmissionary-collectors abroad; perfectedtechniques for shipping live material overgreat distances; and collected thousands ofherbarium specimens. The National Ar-boretum in Washington holds a set of hisdocumented specimens; other specimens arepreserved at the Arnold Arboretum, the NewYork Botanical Garden, and elsewhere.Drought-resistant trees and ornamentals

previously unknown to botanists are amongMeyer’s significant introductions. HisUlmus pumila thrives from Canada to Texasand breaks the searing winds on formerlytreeless prairies, while his Pistacia chmensisis used for street plantings in the Southwest.His new trees and shrubs include Caryacathayensis, Citrus x meyerl, Crataegusmeyeri, Jumperus chmensis’Columnans’,Juniperus squamata ’Meyen’, Picea meyeri,Prunus x meyeri, and Synnga meyen. Hewas the first to send to America Ligustrumqmhom, L. vulgare, and Viburnum farreri.No other plant hunter in modern timesfound Gmkgo biloba in the wild or sent liv-ing plant material of Prunus davidiana

’Potaninii’ and P. tangutica to the Westernworld.Ornamental plants that have Meyer’s in-

troductions as their source include all hardyyellow roses that grow in New England orthe northern prairie states, greenhouse rosesthat had as grafting stock his Rosa odorata,lilies propagated from his scarlet KoreanLilium species, and ornamental trees bredfrom his hawthorn, bush almond, Feichengpeach, and Callery pear. An outstanding ex-ample is the ’Bradford’ pear, which Dr. JohnL. Creech of the USDA developed and calleda living memorial to Frank Meyer. Othercultivars fromPyrus calleryana are ’Aristo-crat’, ’Chanticleer’, ’Whitehouse’, and’Capi-tal’.The USDA still holds many of Meyer’s

trees and shrubs, including Acerbuergeranum (USDA Plant IntroductionNo. 19411), ), Acer truncatum (PI 18578),Diospyros smensis (PI 23013/, Malus hal-hana (PI 38231/, Myrica rubra (PI 22905), ),Syringa meyeri (PI 23032), and Viburnummacrocephalum (PI 22978). The Glenn DalePlant Introduction Station in Marylandmaintains a 100-foot-long Ligustrumqmhoui hedge (PI 38807), while Juniperuschinensis ’Columnaris’ (PI 18577) formshandsome hedges at Glenn Dale and at theNational Arboretum. Rosa xanthma (PI21620) apparently now grows only at the Ar-nold Arboretum.

Among the fruits that Meyer collected,Prunus davidiana not only proved to be agood rootstock for peaches but also enabledorchardists to grow apricots and plums ondry, alkaline soil. In addition, it has beenused to develop a leading rootstock that isresistant to nematodes. His Tangsi cherry(distributed as Prunus pseudocerasus) con-tinues to be a factor m breeding early cher-

25

ries. Persimmons grown commercially inAmerica, despite their Japanese names, are adirect result of Meyer’s work in China. HisPrunus calleryana remains the rootstockmost resistant to fire blight and pear decline.The Meyer lemon (Citrus x meyeri) is animportant source of frozen lemon juice inFlorida and is also grown commercially inTexas, South Africa, and New Zealand.The contributions made to American ag-

riculture by Meyer’s grains, fodder and for-age crops, grasses, and vegetables werelargely unrecorded. The USDA Small GrainsCollection at Beltsville, Maryland, holds 10of Meyer’s wheats, while the National SeedStorage Laboratory at Fort Collins, Colorado,stores one of his soybeans and two of his sor-ghums. His centipede grass is used as a lawngrass in the Gulf States. Though his celery-cabbage, bean sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, andbean curd failed to interest his contem-

poraries, his Spinacia oleracea collected inManchuria is m the breeding lines of mostmultidisease-resistant cultivars of spinachgrown in the United States today.Meyer acknowledged the pioneering na-

ture of his work when he wrote, "We are

only cutting out a few steps m the mountainof knowledge and others have to mount byour steps." Though he collected 42 varietiesof soybeans and contributed careful studiesof soybean products, especially as a proteinsubstitute, this represented only a begm-ning. He laid the groundwork for future ac-complishment when he found blight-resistant chestnut trees m China and whenhe collected zoysia grass in Korea. Otherswent to Asia later to collect soybeans,chestnuts, zoysia, peaches, and pears, butMeyer first pinpointed their location and re-vealed their value. Meyer’s introductionsoften entered the mainstream of American

"A large grove of Chmese pistachios (Pistaclachmensis planted as a bunal ground to theneighbormg village. In the foreground are care-fully planted beds of garlic." "

agriculture unrecognized when propagators "

used them as unrecorded breeding parents. -

Though it is impossible to identify each useof a specific introduction, what is significantis that all uses were made possible by his in-itiative and discrimination.

Conclusion

E.H.M. Cox, who accompanied Farrer onhis second expedition, wrote, "It is unfortu-nate that much of Meyer’s work has beenforgotten in comparison to the more showyintroductions of other collectors who spe-cialized more in ornamentals than in eco-nomic plants .... To most gardeners he isnot even a name, but he has done more to-ward helping the economic life of a countrythan most plant collectors and his nameshould be a household word among Amer-ican farmers." "

Despite physical hardships and an increas-

26

ing sense of isolation, Meyer pursued hisgoals courageously. He could have no morefitting epitaph than the words Fairchildwrote soon after his death: "Meyer’s fieldwork is done. Whether his body rests nearthe great river of China or under some of thetrees he loved and brought to this countrymatters little to him. He will know that

throughout his adopted land there will al-ways be his plants, hundreds of them, infields, in the backyards and orchards of littlecottages, on street corners, and in the ar-

boreta of wealthy lovers of plants. Andwherever they are, they will all be his." "

China remained fully open to foreign plantcollectors for less than half a century, the

Grand Age of plant exploration. Frank Meyeremerges from the shadows that have sur-

rounded his life and work to take his rightfulplace beside E. H. Wilson, George Forrest,and Frank Kingdon-Ward, the giants of thatmemorable era.

References

Archives

Meyer, Frank N. Letters, Reports, Notes, and other Rec-ords. National Archives and Records ServiceRecords ot the Bureau of Plant Industry, Divisionot Plant Exploration. Record Group 54. ProjectStudies, Volumes 105-9, Boxes 3-I8.

Sargent, C. S. Papers. Arnold Arboretum of HarvardUniversity of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Wilson, E. H. Papers. Arnold Arboretum of HarvardUniversity, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Pubhshed Matenal

Cunmngham, Isabel S. 1984. Frank N Meyer PlantHunter in Asia. Ames: Iowa State UniversityPress.

Derksen, Leo. 1957. "De Onrust van Frank Meyer "

Panorama, 44(20): 4-6.Donald, W H. 1915 "China as a Most Promismg Field

for Plant Exploration." Far Eastern Review,12~2~: 41-48.

Fairchild, David. 1938 The World Was My Garden.New York- Charles Scnbner’s Sons.. 1920 "An Agncultural Explorer m China." "

Asia, 21: 7-131919. "A Hunter of Plants."National Geo-

graphic Magazme, 36: 57-77.Farrer, Reginald. 1917 On the Eaves of the World 2

volumes. London E. Arnold. 1915. "Mr. Reginald Farrer’s Explorations m

Chma "Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3rd ser., 58: 1

1914. "Mr. Reginald Farrer’s Explorations inChina." Gardeners’ Chromcle, 3rd ser , 56 : 347.

Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported by the Officeof Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 1908-1918. Volumes 12-57 Washington, D.C ’ Bureauof Plant Industry, U S Department of Agricul-ture

Meyer, Frank N. 1916 "China, A Fruitful Field for PlantExploration." In Yearbook of Agnculture, 1915,205-24. Washington, D C : U.S. Department ofAgnculture

. 1916. "Economic and Botanical Explorations inChina." In Transactions of the MassachusettsHorticultural Society, Part I, 125-30.. 1911. Agmcultural Exploration m the Frmt and d

Nut Orchards of China Bulletin 204. Washing-ton, D.C : Bureau of Plant Industry, U.S. De-partment of Agriculture

Smith, Erwm F. 1918 "Frank N. Meyer " Science, 48:335-36.

Sutton, Stephanne Barry. 1970 Charles S Sargent and dthe Arnold Arboretum Cambndge, Massachu-setts. Harvard University Press

van Uildmks, Fredenke J. 1919 "De Reiziger-PlantKundige Frans N Meyer en Zr~n Werk." DeAarde en haar Volken, January/February: 1-24;March/Apnl~ 41-96; July/August. 145-71.

Wilson, Owen. 1909 "The Travels of a Plant Hunter."World’s Work, 18’ 11,670-84