JANUARY 1 TO MARCH 31, 1010. 79 



27297 and 27298. Colocasia sp. Dasheen. 



From China. Presented by Mr. Geo. Campbell, Kia-ying chau, China. Re- 

 ceived March 29, 1910. 



Tubers of the following; notes by Mr. Campbell: 



27297. "Chinese name Pak ho, meaning white water lily. This should be 

 planted anywhere from the end of the first month of the Chinese calendar 

 to the second month (February). Take each tuber and cut off about a third 

 of the root end before planting (this third is the perquisite of the hogs). It 

 will do well in either loam or clay soil if one only gives it plenty of human 

 urine by way of manure. '(The Chinese attach the greatest value to urine 

 as manure but always dilute it freely before applying.)'" 



The sprouts of these are white. 



27298. "Chinese name Chong chu. It is named, I suppose, after the great 

 city of Changchow fu, west of Amoy. The directions for planting this are 

 the same as for the above (S. P. I. No. 27297), save that the time of planting 

 corresponds to about the last week in January and first week in February." 

 The tips of the sprouts of these are pink. 



27299 and 27300. Citrullus vulgaris Schrad. Watermelon. 



From Hockanum, Conn. Presented by Mr. X. H. Brewer. Received March, 

 1910. 



Princess Marie. Seed grown from S. P. I. No. 22657: 



27299. "Dark seeds from melons whose flesh was a gray white and not as 

 sweet as the yellow (S. P. I. No. 27300)." (Brewer.) 



27300. "White seeds from a yellow-fleshed melon which was very sweet." 



(Brewer.) 



In size these were larger than described, " being oblong like an ice-cream melon." 

 (Brewer.) 



27301. Rosa gigantea Collett. Rose. 



From Oporto, Portugal. Presented by Baron de Soutellinho, 115 Entre Quintas, 

 who procured his original plants from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 

 England. Received March 29, 1910. 



"It is now twenty-five years since Dr. (now Sir George) Watt discovered this king 

 of wild roses in Manipur (India), and nineteen years since the late Sir Henry Collett 

 sent seeds of it to Kew. 



"Here is an account of it by Mr. Hildebrand, who knew and grew the rose in Burma; 

 indeed, I believe he helped Sir Henry Collett to get it home to England: 'Rosa 

 gigantea grows in profusion immediately opposite the window I am now writing at, 

 and for 100 yards or more away. The boles of some of the plants are as thick as a 

 man's thigh. It is a creeper, and does not flower until it gets over or beyond the 

 tree it climbs. These specimens are on large evergreen trees, and their roots are in 

 limestone and vegetable mold, through which run innumerable springs of pure water. 

 The boles never get the sun, and they are always in the neighborhood of the water, 

 which, no doubt, the roots find. The whole of a large group of trees on the southern 

 and western side is covered up to 50 or 80 feet with the rose's shoots, and when in 

 full bloom they look like a sheet of white, and the air all round is most deliciously 

 scented. It is certainly a glorious sight. The ground all round is strewed with the 

 seeds of the rose in July.' ' (Extract from The Garden, February 9, 1907, p. 67.) 

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