Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/241

Rh and yet the fact remains that there is no class of plants about which an increase of knowledge is more imperative than these same ugly weeds. A few dollars expended in awards by each fair association would bring together lists of plant pests the exhibition of which would not only surprise but greatly instruct those who see them. It is not less important for the farmers of any district to know of the arrival of a new weed than of the advent of a new fruit or grain.

In this connection, and in conclusion, it is a pleasure to announce that space at the World's Columbian Exhibition has already been set aside for a display of the weeds of the whole country, and preparations are now making for a full occupation of the allotment.



S delineated on a Korean map of the country, the White Head Mountain seems to consist of a circle of jagged peaks inclosing a moderate-sized lake. The description of it in Chinese, in the letterpress department of the Atlas, recites that "Peik-tu San, or White Head Mountain, lies seven or eight days' journey to the west of Hoiryeng (a town on the Korean border), in Manchu territory. The mountain is in three tiers, is two hundred li, or sixty miles high, and the circuit of its base covers one thousand li, or three hundred miles. On the summit there is a lake eight hundred li, or two hundred and fifty miles in circumference, whence flow the three rivers Yalu, Sungari, and Tumen." These dimensions are greatly depreciated in Mr. James's description of the mountain in his book, The Long White Mountain. Nevertheless, lakes in mountain-tops seven or eight thousand feet above sea-level are rare enough to tempt the adventurous traveler to try to explore them; and this one on Peik-tu San yields precedence in interest, historically and geographically, to few others in the world. So thought Mr. Charles W. Campbell, of the English consular service in China, when, on the last days of August, 1889, he left Seoul on the tedious journey, by primitive Korean conveyances, of six hundred miles to the mountain. From his account of the journey, and the discussion it called forth in the Royal Geographical Society, are derived the facts given in this article.

The country traversed during the first four days of the journey was typical of the center and south of the Korean Peninsula. "Korea is a land of mountains. Go where you will, a stretch of level road is rare, and a stretch of level plain rarer still. The 