B. P. I.— 418. 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED DURING THE 

 PERIOD FROM APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1908: 

 INVENTORY NO. 15; NOS. 22511 TO 23322. 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



This fifteenth inventory of seeds and plants imported by the Office 

 of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction between the dates of April 

 1 and June 30, 1908. inclusive, comprises 812 numbers, and among 

 the more important are those which our agricultural explorer Mr. 

 Frank N". Meyer secured personally in his exploration trips in north- 

 ern and central China. While it is too soon to tell anything about 

 the real value to the country of these new importations, it may be 

 worth while to call especial attention to certain ones from which we 

 expect more than others. Occasionally, it is the thing of which little 

 is at first expected that turns out the most important, but as a rule 

 the predictions of the explorer in the field have come true. 



Among the plants from Mr. Meyer are some especially interesting 

 shade and ornamental trees, which he secured at great personal dis- 

 comfort and risk from the almost barren mountains of the Wutai, 

 where the climatic conditions are similar to much of the territory 

 of the Northwestern States. The unusual difficulties of collecting 

 seeds in these mountains will be appreciated when it is mentioned 

 that of some species onty single trees are standing in absolutely barren 

 wastes extending for scores of miles around. Although Mr. Meyer 

 made two trips to this inhospitable region, it was quite impossible 

 for him to be on hand when the seeds of single rare elms and spruces 

 ripened and, as can well be believed, the wild rodents which were 

 on the spot did not wait for him. Some of the things of which he 

 obtained cuttings have been pronounced new by Professor Sargent, 

 of the Arnold Arboretum, and it is to be regretted that more material 

 from this region could not have been secured. 



Of items of interest from other parts of China, Mr. Meyer for- 

 warded four distinct varieties of the Yang Mae, or strawberry tree 

 (Myrica nagi) ; the evergreen chestnut {Castanopxis tibetana) ; VI- 

 mus pumila, a promising dry-land elm from Manchuria for the 

 Northwest; the remarkable white-barked pine (Pinus bungeana), 

 which can hardly fail to attract the attention of our landscape gar- 

 deners ; four species of lilac as yet undetermined ; five species of 

 Chinese roses; a very unusual collection of twenty-nine forms of 



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