I wish that I were not tied down so much by tedious detail in the medical work, as there is a most interesting book that needs to be translated telling much of the folk lore of the peach interwoven with the plot, which is supposed to be the journey of Hsien tsang to bring back the sacred sutras of Buddha from India. It is said that this is an actual historic occurrence, but this tale is evidently semi-religious and allegorical, as well, combining in itself the characteristics of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Hans Christian Andersen, and the Arabian Nights, if you can imagine such a mixture, yet giving graphic pictures of Chinese life in various phases that are as true as when the book was written. One of the most charming legends of peach flower lore is that of the 'Peach Blossom Fountain,' an allegory written by T'ao Yuan Ming between A. D. 365-427, describing how a fisherman got lost one day and penetrating up a river finds himself in a creek bordered with many peach trees full of bloom, at the end of which he comes upon a small mountain in which is a cave which he traverses and enters on a new country where there is every sign of prosperity, every one is courteous to each other, kindliness and contentment prevail, but they wear the garb of the times of the First Emperor some five centuries previous and have been lost to the rest of the country ever since. The fisherman returns after a sojourn with them, and tells his fellow villagers of this wonderful country and stirs up so much interest that finally the governor of the province joins in the search for this wonderful country, but it is all of no avail and at last the fisherman realizes that he will never more see the peach blossom days of his youth with its rosy dreams and ideals that come but once in a lifetime." Lastly, a significant fact suggesting the Chinese origin of the peach is found in the behavior of this fruit in America. The peach is more at home in North America than in any other part of the world unless it be China. Now, that there is a pomological alliance between eastern Asia and eastern America is well known. The remarkable relationship between the plants of the two regions was first set forth by Asa Gray and subsequent writers have added much to what he told us. The explanation lies, as all agree, in similarities in climate. Now, with this relationship of the wild and cultivated floras of eastern America and China in mind, the rapid acclimation and acclimatization of the peach in the United States are readily understood if we accept China as the habitat of this fruit. On the other hand, the natural plant-products of Persia find life anything but easy in eastern America.