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4) InterAmerican cooperation -- At the request of South American governments and/or their educational and scientific agencies I, personally, have cooperated as follows: 1) given over 150 lectures (in Spanish), including courses on plant breeding and improvement, plant distribution and history of plant science and individual lectures on the vegetation of the United States, national parks, flora of California, vegetation of the Andes, relation of Agricultural research in California to plant and animal improvement, etc.; 2) designed and assisted in development of a 400 acre National Botanical Garden and plant research station in Chile which has large potential importance for increasing Chile's agricultural self-sufficiency; 3) redesigned and developed the Botanical Garden in Lima, Peru (founded ca. 1780) to encourage the testing of numerous, little-known Peruvian species of potential medicinal, industrial and ornamental value, to thus improve the national economy of Peru. 4) acted as consultant on numerous occasions to the Ministries of Agriculture of Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina on a variety of agricultural and allied problems 5) advised agricultural organizations, government officials (for example, the President of Chile in 1952) and private citizens on individual agricultural and forestal problems

In addition to the above, the information obtained by the Expeditions concerning the nature and distribution of the floras of the republics above mentioned has been made available to the governments of those republics and represents a potential source of national economic improvement. More specifically, the data secured on the relation of temperature, altitude and humidity to the distribution of native vegetation has been of service, particularly in Chile, in pointing to areas appropriate for extension of local agriculture, particularly with irrigation. In general, the new scientific data obtained by the Expeditions has made large additions to knowledge of local floras and has stimulated South American botanists to further extend this knowledge.

Appreciation in South American republics of the significance of the Expeditions for their economy and prestige is seen in the active and sustained cooperation of local government agencies, including supplying of transportation facilities, etc and by the honorary professorships in Universities to which I have been appointed, the memberships in leading scientific societies to which I have been elected and my receipt of honorary degrees and decorations.

5) War effort -- The knowledge and experience concerning routes of travel in little-known areas, occurrence of poisonous plants and reptiles along these and other transportation routes, availability of food and water, etc gained during the early Expeditions was upon request made available in 1942-43 to U.S. government agencies at that period concerned with the possibility of Japanese landing on the West coast of South America. The vegetational surveys made were also used in determining sources of rubber and quinine produced by native plants, a matter of large importance in the early U.S. war effort. Restricted information on a variety of topics was also obtained, upon request.

I understand that considerable portions of the above summary may not be of immediate interest to you but it seemed to me that a more or less composite picture might be of some value for future reference and also anticipate certain questions which might occur to you. A bibliography is attached.

Sincerely,

THG:T