8 SEEDS AND PLANTS [MPOBTED. 



made f<>r all the species of Diospyros which may in any way be of 

 value for breeding purposes or as a. stock. Special interest may attach 

 to Diospyros peregrinaQ^o. 28584), from Sibpur, Calcutta, from the fact 

 (hat the expressed juice when boiled with powdered charcoal is used on 

 a Large scale for paying the bottoms of boats and that an excellent 

 glue is made from the juice by the natives of the Malabar coast. 

 Diospyros montana cord [folia (No. 286S4), a tree which is found from 

 the Himalayas to Australia and which bears small fruits the size of 

 cherries, and Diospi/ros microcarpa from Australia (No. 28343) have 



alxt been secured. 



Two strains of maize from the Kalahari Desert region of South 

 Africa (Nos. 28614 and 28615) and a form from Zomba, Xyasaland 

 Protectorate (No. 28661), may interest the corn breeders. 



Dr. A. Weberbauer, whose collections in the Peruvian Andes are 

 well known, has sent two wild forms of Solanum from the region 

 about Lima. One, which he believes to be Solanum maglia, is from 

 the cool, cloudy Loma region and the other from the same vegeta- 

 tion zone is an undetermined form (Xos. 2S656 and 28657). 



Western China is known to have many wild species of Rubus, 

 some of which are reported to bear fruit of unusual excellence. The 

 vigor of the Chinese brambles and the early-ripening habit of certain 

 of those already introduced have attracted the attention of plant 

 breeders in this field, and the introduction of a species from the top 

 of Mount Omei, on the Upper Yangtze, described by the sender, 

 Dr. Edgar T. Shields, of Yachow, as "a delicious large yellow rasp- 

 berry" can scarcely fail to attract their attention. 



Two of the best fruits of the Malay Archipelago are the ram- 

 boetan and the kapoelasan, species of Xephelium. A Wardian-case 

 shipment, has been made from Java, containing three varieties of 

 the latter (Xos. 28332 to 28334) and seven varieties of the former 

 (Xos. 28335 to 28341), and an attempt will be made to propagate 

 these on various stocks for distribution in Porto Rico, Hawaii, and 

 the Panama Canal Zone. 



Dr. L. Trabut, the veteran experimenter of Algiers, has sent in seeds 

 of the remarkably alkali-resistant grass Festuca fenas (Xo. 28355) 

 from the Shott Khreida. 



A collection of medicagos and trifoliums from Beirut, Turkey, 

 containing six species (Xos. 28788 to 28793) will be of use to those 

 breeding these leguminous plants. 



The khat plant of Yemen, on the west coast of Arabia, has been 

 in cultivation for generations. Its fresh leaves are chewed by the 

 Arabs almost universally in that region. To them life and hard 

 work would be unendurable without khat, and every coolie, even the 

 poorest, buys the leaf. The plant yields a marketable crop the sec- 



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