42 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPOETED. 



43553 to 43556— Continued. 



43554, Paxicum miliacf.um L. Poatese. Proso. 



" No. 1. Supposed to be a very old local variety. It matured almost 

 two weeks earlier than regular Russian varieties of proso. From Tulun 

 Experiment Field, Government of Irkutsk, Siberia." 

 43555 and 43556. Pisum sathtjm L. Fabacese. Garden pea. 



43555. " No. 15. A typical representative of old field peas of 

 Irkutsk. From Tulun Experiment Field, Government of Irkutsk, 

 Siberia." 



43556. " No. 28. Very early form of field peas. From Tulun Ex- 

 periment Field, Government of Irkutsk, Siberia." 



43557. X Crataegus dippeliana Lange. Malacese. Hawthorn. 

 From Kew, England. Presented by Sir David Prain, director, Royal 



Botanic Gardens. Received November 7, 1916. 

 This hybrid is a handsome shrub whose origin is unknown. It is spiny and 

 has deep green, coarsely serrate, deeply lobed leaves. The white flowers are up 

 to an inch in diameter and are produced very freely in June. The dull-red fruit 

 is from one-half to five-eighths of an inch in diameter. This hybrid has been 

 thought to be a cross between Crataegus tanacetifolia and C. punctata and re- 

 sembles the former, although it has larger leaves and smaller fruits than this 

 former species. (Adapted from Bean, Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British 

 Isles, vol. 1, p. .'/28, and from Bailey, Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, 

 vol. 2, p. 888.) 



43558. Prunus mume Sieb, and Zucc. Amj^gdalacese. 



Japanese apricot. 



From Yokohama, .Japan. Purchased from the Yokohama Nursery Co. Re- 

 ceived November 6, 1916. 



A tree of the dimensions of the common apricot, with sharply serrate leaves 

 up to 4 inches long and pale-rose flowers a little more than an inch wide. The 

 yellowish or greenish fruits are produced singly or in pairs, are scarcely edible, 

 and are about an inch in diameter. This tree is a native of Chosen, and perhaps 

 of China. It is nmch cultivated in Japan for ornament, and the double-flowered 

 form was introduced into Europe in 1878. (Adaptetl from Bean, Trees and 

 Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles, vol. 2, p. 244j and from Bailey, Standard 

 Cyclopedia of Horticulture, vol. 5, p. 282Jf.) 



See also description of fniit under S. P.. I. Nos. 9211 to 9216. 



The following recipe for pickling the fruits is taken from a letter from Mr. 

 Frank N. Meyer, dated October 20, 1916 : Pick fruits when full grown, but be- 

 fore they are quite ripe (they must be still hard) ; soak in a tub of water for 

 24 hours ; drain off water, add salt, mixing one-third salt and two-thirds fruit in 

 quantity ; let them stand for a period of five to seven days. Should the weather 

 be cool, seven days will make them right ; should it be warm, five days is 

 enough. Leaves of the red-leaved variety of Pcrilla nankinensis should be mixed 

 among them. After tliis salting process the fruits are spread out in the sun to 

 dry. and the juice of the salted red Perilla leaves is sprinkled over them by 

 squeezing a handful of them, and the fruits turned over. Every day this 

 process is repeated, and after three to five days they are put up in vessels in 

 moderately weak brine with Perilla leaves mixed among them- and in this way 

 the product can be kept almost indefinitely. Mr. Watase was shown fruits said 



