Frank Meyer project
Storyboard Tekst
- Frans Meijer (later known as Frank Meyer) was born in 1875 at Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Frans was a quiet boy, who enjoyed taking long walks, reading about distant lands, and working in his family's small garden.
- By the time he graduated elementary school, Frans knew he wanted to be a world explorer who studied plants. However, his parents could not afford further education. When he was 14, he found work as a gardener's helper at the Amsterdam Garden.
- Hugo de Vries, the director of the experimental garden, taught Frans French and English and allowed him to attend lectures on botany. When Frans was 20, de Vries arranged for him to study for six months at the University of Gronnigen.
- Frans was excited to go see far away places. For several months he wandered across Europe, using a map and a compass for a guide. In 1900, he set out for he set out to England; a year later he was in America.
- Meyer went to southern California to become a gardener. He still longed to see unknown places. After 18 months, he left California to study the flora of Mexico.
- While in Mexico he walked 1,000 miles, discovering new fruits and flowers. He felt he was learning more about plants than books could have shown him.
- David Fairchild, head of foreign plant introduction section of the United States Department of Agriculture, for several years had been searching for an explorer to send to China. Meyer eagerly accepted.
- David Fairchild, head of foreign plant introduction section of the USDA, for several years had been searching for an explorer to send to China. Meyer eagerly accepted.
- Meyer's first discovery in China in 1905 was a sweet, seedless persimmon. Meyer divided his collections of grape, apricon, and catalpa cuttings, pear, persimmion, and elm scions, and white barked pine seeds. Then he mailed the bundles to the USDA and the Arnold Arboretum.
- In the winter, Meyer returned to the Western Hills in China. There he collected cuttings of the Chinese Pistachio, horse chestnut, and a cultivar of the Peking Willow. None of these trees were new to botanists, but virtually unknown in America.
- Meyer also mailed to the USDA a collection containing the first oil-bearing soybean sent to the United States. He then made his way to Siberia to collect more clippings. Siberia was very unexplored at that time.
- In a more prepared second expedition to China and parts of Central Asia, Meyer discovered the common privet, alfalfa, clover, and herbarium specimens of other plants. He also visited camps and settlement areas.
- In his third expedition, Meyer traveled around the world for three years. He started in Europe, then China, and Russia. In one of his collection packages, he had the English walnut and the Chinese walnut.
- In his fourth and final expedition, Meyer visted China once again. He hope to discover wild pear seeds for use in developing a stock for pears. Meyer had a breakthrough when he realized that the Chinese sand pear and the Peking pear were two different species.
- Frank Meyer died on June 2, 1918. One version of his death is that he was on a steamer headed for Shanghai. After dinner Meyer was nowhere to be found. When eventually found he was drowned. Another version is that he was killed in a Chinese uprising.
- Frank Meyer introduced plants from around the world to the United States that are still treasured because they are useful, beautiful, or new to botanical science. He opened the field of agricultural exploration in Asia and other remote places.
Over 30 millioner storyboards opprettet