8 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



bilities of the situation. As these shrubs are among the most hardy- 

 known, as they are very heavy bearers, and as some of the varieties 

 are seedless, a large-fruited seedless variety which could be used 

 for jam production might not be so unimportant as it would seem at 

 first thought {Berberis spp., Nos. 44523 to 44530). 



Through the Central Experimental Farm of Ottawa, Ontario, a re- 

 markable collection of new selected seedling varieties of apples (Nos. 

 44713 to 44720) has been introduced. Five of them are seedlings of 

 the well-known Wealthy variety, which, because of the hardiness of 

 the trees and the most excellent eating qualities of the fruit, deserve 

 especial attention by our horticulturists in the northern tier of States. 



In connection with the search for a species of the genus Pyrus 

 which might prove immune to the pear-blight, is it not possible that 

 the closely related genus Docynia, of which the species D. delavayi 

 occurs in western Szechwan and also in Yunnan, might furnish such 

 a species and at the same time prove a suitable stock for the culti- 

 vated pear? E. H. Wilson photographed a tree which was 25 feet 

 tall and 7 feet in circumference and reports it to bear edible fruits 1 

 inch long. Xo. 44677 represents seeds of this species sent in by Mr. 

 Frank Pilson, but it can be easily grown from cuttings. 



The existence of delicious-fruited hybrids between the cherimoya 

 and the sugar-apple, produced independently by Wester in the 

 Philippines and by Simmonds in Florida, and the fact, according to 

 Pittier, that these hybrids occur in Venezuela and are recognized as 

 distinct from the ordinary cultivated anonas, make the production 

 by Wester of a hybrid which represents three species (Nos. 44671 

 to 44673) of special interest. The large number of related species 

 and the fact that so many of them have edible fruits and that, as 

 orchard trees, they bear early would seem to single out this family, 

 Annonacese, as one particularly favorable for the plant breeder's 

 work. The biriba of Brazil. RoUinia mucosa (Nos. 44658 and 

 44659) , is another species introduced for the breeders of this family. 



The great beauty of the different species of Styrax for use as 

 shrubs around the dooryard, where they follow in their flowering 

 habit the early-flowering shrubs like the lilac and spirea, will 

 make the collection {Styrax spp., Nos. 44591 to 44595) imported 

 from Chenault & Sons, Paris, welcome to nurserymen. 



Dr. E. D. Merrill, of the Department of Agriculture of the Phil- 

 ippine Islands, has sent in a remarkable species of ornamental 

 Ficus, Ficus fseudofolma (No. 44470), from Corregidor, which, 

 because of its resemblance to a slender-stermned palm, is known as 

 the little coconut. It has a crown of leaves which are nearly a meter 

 in length. 



