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INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY 

 THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT IN- 

 TRODUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JULY 

 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1921 (NO. 68; NOS. 53896 TO 

 54425). 



INTRODTJCTORY STATEMENT. 



Almost every one of the plants described in this inventory opens 

 up a vista of romance to any person who is interested in plants. 



We have read these descriptions now for 23 years, and each new 

 inventory brings as we read it new thrills. We want to grow almost 

 every plant and be on hand at its first performance, when it begins 

 to loom up as something of more value to America than a mere 

 curiosity. 



If the inventory is read hastily by anyone the effect produced is 

 bewildering, but if the reader will rivet his attention on those plants 

 which particularly strike his fancy he will desire to experiment with 

 some of them. Out of these desires comes the usefulness of these 

 plants to the country. It is beyond the range of human possibility 

 for any one person to test thoroughly very many of these new plants, 

 but if each of our thousands of experimenters makes a home for a 

 few the aggregate of information which will accumulate will be 

 very great indeed. 



In singling out for special mention certain of the plants described 

 in this inventory, it should be understood that the writer is merely 

 pointing to those which, from his experience with new foreign 

 plants, strike his fancy and seem to offer more to the experimenter 

 than do others. Among those not mentioned, just as likely as not, 

 are the prize packages of the collection. 



The fact that the cost of procuring certain plants is great natur- 

 ally enhances their value in one's mind. Among those first described 

 here, therefore, as worthy of mention are those collected by our 

 agricultural explorer, Wilson Popenoe, in the back country of 

 Ecuador, more particularly the Chota Valley. Of all the regions 

 visited by him during his years of exploration in Central America 

 and South America, none perhaps has afforded more actual dis- 

 comfort and danger than this Chota Valley of Ecuador, with its 

 primitive civilization and its malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It is 

 gratifying, therefore, to be able to state that he collected there plant 

 material which to his experienced judgment looks unusually promis- 

 ing. He found a new center of avocado seedlings, which he be- 

 lieves msij prove of unusual importance to those who want hardier 

 forms that are as large as fanciers demand. His Tamayo variety 



