Frank N. Meyer: Plant Hunter in Asia

by Isabel Shipley Cunningham

Pp. xviii, 317; 33 photo-plates, 4 full page maps. Publisher's original black cloth, lettered in silver on the spine, color pictorial dust jacket, lg 8vo (9.25 x 6.25 inches). Meyer participated in four expeditions through China, Siberia, Russia, Manchuria, Turkestan and Mongolia collecting agricultural plants such as fruits, nuts and grains. Many of the more than 2,500 plants he introduced are still in use in agriculture today. Meyer disappeared off a steamer on the Yangtze River on June 1, 1918 - his body was never found. No ownership marks.

Genres: China

317 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1984

Reviews

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, the author of this book is Isabel Shipley Cunningham, not Frank Meyer himself.

I bought this book after reading about Meyer's interesting career as a plant explorer abroad in China, and how his important contributions to American plant diversity and hardiness went largely unrecognized. There are few people seemingly more well matched to their jobs than Meyer was. A restless soul who preferred plants to politics, he led a difficult but rewarding life attempting to better his adopted country. The most interesting part of the story though, are his adventures through a part of the world that so few had seen before! It has a real cowboy feel to it, because Meyer and his colleagues really were pioneers in the east.

I think I just like the stories of this sort of unheralded heroes, and I saw plenty of parallels with Captain James Cook -- self-made, found a calling, largely solitary, loyal and dedicated to the mission, died in the field. Meyer wasn't perfect, but he was unwavering. His contributions are decidedly unsexy and hard to quantify. After all, who gets excited about windbreak elms and improved stone fruit rootstock?

This was Cunningham's first book, and she took a deeply immersive approach. She labored for years uncovering and digesting Meyer's 2500 letters both in the states an abroad, doing the scientific research necessary to add context to his discoveries, and spend serious time trying to understand the man and his motivations. Still, she presents the entire story in almost a dry fashion, preferring to let the adventures speak for themselves. The detailed lists of what seeds and cuttings were sent back at every stop did become tedious, but even these lists served to illustrate Meyer's thoroughness. Cunningham couldn't help becoming a cheerleader for Meyer, and defends him against assaults on his character, offering background and context to back him up. Eccentricities like a small list of somewhat marxist political beliefs are presented without comment. Still, I deeply admired how much she cared about giving Meyer a fair shake, and how important it was to her to get the details right. She really did the man -- and the few interested readers like me -- a service.

This is apparently not a common book, and I was lucky that my "used" edition had belonged to the Mount Vernon Library, and, according to the card in the back, had never been checked out.

I hope your copy has an equally interesting provenance, and that it interests you as much as it did me.

[John Sgammato · Rating 4 out of 5]

IS Cunningham did a fine job of reducing adventures easily on the order of The Lord of the Rings to 272pp plus another 45pp appendices and notes. Every page makes you sit up in your chair to share what you just read with someone nearby.
Cunningham's narrative style is that of an historian or a journalist. Like Joe Friday, she's after "Just the facts". It's not a charming read like Fairchild's later works; what Cunningham accomplished is to pull together thousands of pages of letters, expense reports, and other primary information into a coherent narrative. Meyer's life would make a great movie. Cunningham's book is not the script, but it's indispensable source information, every page of the way.

[Rimma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me aware of plant hunting at the turn of the last century and curious about other plant hunters, plants from other continent, and plant propagation.