INVENTORY OF SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED 

 BY THE OFFICE OF FOREIGN SEED AND PLANT 

 INTRODUCTION DURING THE PERIOD FROM JULY 

 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1915 (NO. 44; NOS. 40896 TO 

 41314). 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



This inventory covers the period between July 1 and September 30, 

 1915, and describes 419 introductions, the major part of which have 

 been secured by correspondence. 



There is, however, one notable collection, made by Mr. O. F. Cook 

 in the Peruvian Andes, where he was sent as a representative of the 

 Department of Agriculture on the Yale-National Geographic Society 

 Peruvian Expedition to find out the character of the agriculture of the 

 peoples who produced such remarkable terraced hillsides as those 

 in the region back, of Cuzco. (See National Geographic Magazine, 

 vol. 29, pp. 471-534, May, 1916.) Mr. Cook's collections furnish 

 striking evidence of the antiquity of these peoples, through the vari- 

 ety and character of their food plants, in particular their highly 

 developed root crops, some of which appear to be nearly as important 

 to the present inhabitants of this mountain region as does the potato 

 itself. The great variety in shape and color of the potato, which is a 

 staple crop there, and the distinctive names by which these many 

 forms are known are further evidence of the age of the civilization 

 through which this most remarkable of all food vegetables was intro- 

 duced into universal cultivation. The immense value of this one 

 Peruvian tuber, which has met with such success throughout the 

 world, should encourage us to look more closely at the other root 

 crops which were developed probably by the same people who devel- 

 oped the potato. Mr. Cook's collections will assist us in doing this 

 and in discovering the regions in this country sufficiently similar cli 

 matically to that of the high Peruvian altitudes where these crops 

 are grown to make it possible to establish these new rout crops in 

 America. Our high altitudes are unfortunately much warmer than 

 the Peruvian in summer and incomparably colder in winter. Mr. 

 Cook believes that the cool coastal climate of southern California ap- 



Note. — This bulletin is intended for distribution to the agricultural experiment stations 

 and the more important private cooperators of the Department of Agriculture. 



