INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED BY 

 THE OFFICt OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT INTRO- 

 DUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 1 

 TO MARCH 31, 1919 (NOS. 46951 TO 47348). 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



The purpose of these introductory statements has been to empha- 

 size certain introductions which, from the accumulated experience 

 of those in contact with the stream of plant immigrants, appear to 

 have unusual promise or interest. As the years have passed and that 

 experience has widened, the proportion of new plants which appear 

 interesting seems to have increased and the introductory statements 

 have become correspondingly longer. This is quite the opposite of 

 the predictions of my friends, who raised the question in the begin- 

 ning as to what I proposed to do when all the plants which were 

 worth while had been introduced. Instead of the widening prospect 

 that actually lies before us and which embarrasses us with its wealth 

 of opportunity, they saw in their imagination the stream of new 

 plants becoming a tiny brook and finally stopping altogether. It is 

 interesting to note that, whereas in the spring quarter of 1913 there 

 were 407 introductions, six years later, 1919, there were practically 

 as many (39T), and this in the face of a world war which had de- 

 moralized shipping. The dearth is not in plant material of great 

 potential possibilities but in experimenters who can adapt these 

 plants to the wide uses of mankind. Ten thousand independent ex- 

 perimenters scattered over this country could spend their lives work- 

 ing on the material we have brought in and not exhaust its possi- 

 bilities. It is hoped that these introductions will attract the atten- 

 tion of amateurs to important and interesting problems in a way 

 which, perhaps, the descriptions themselves would not, and it is with 

 this idea in mind that the following comments are made : 



Beet tops as greens are so common a vegetable that those who 



are fond of them; may like to have a perennial variety (No. 46951) 



sent by Dr. Trabut from North Africa, which yields large quantities 



of leaf. 



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