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February 9, 1933

Mr. L. A. Nichols, Comptroller
California Hall
Campus

My dear Mr. Nichols:

You will be interested to know that in a letter just received
from Dr. Rock, he reports the arrival of the products of our expedition
in good condition at Yunnanfu. He is now engaged in arranging the dried
plants and seeds, and preparing them for shipment. According to his esti-
mate the collection should be received here within six weeks. Of par-
ticular interest is his statement that we will obtain between 25,000
and 30,000 dried specimens, and seeds of at least 1,000 different spe-
cies. You may remember that his promise to us called for 20,000 her-
barium sheets and 500 packets of seed.

In our experience Dr. Rock collects an abundance of seed in
the case of each species he thinks of importance. In other words, we
will doubtless obtain in many cases far more seed than we will need
for distribution to the contributors to the Expedition Fund and to a
few of the larger botanical gardens of the world. I would suggest that
the residue be sold through the trade. I believe that a very consid-
erable sum can thus be realized; my own estimate would be not less than
$2,000.00. In view of the possibility that you would approve the sale
of the surplus seed, I have informally discussed the matter with Herbst
Brothers, one of the most representative seedsmen in this country, and
an organization which has specialized in the sale of seed of rare and
valuable plants. This company is quite anxious to undertake the sale
of our seed, and I am therefore submitting the proposal to you. Actu-
ally I believe that we should get into touch with other seedsmen, par-
ticularly English firms before we decide which organization we desire
to deal with, and, indeed, it might be well to make arrangements with
more than one agent. The question also arises as to whether the seed
should be offered for sale under the name of the agent or under the
name of the University. I believe that the former policy would be
more desirable, although this would probably involve our selling the
seed outright to the agent or agents.

I am anxious to obtain a decision on this matter in advance
of the receipt of the large accumulations of seed from Dr. Rock; be-
cause I have in hand considerable quantities of seed which he sent me
after a preliminary expedition which he made a year and a half ago.
Herbst Brothers have proposed to offer for sale at once our surplus
of this original seed to test out the condition of the market.

Very truly yours,

THG:ML