274 THE PLANT WORLD 



recently introduced by commercial nurserymen. In many instances the 

 specimens shown are from the original trees of the respective varieties. 

 The climatic and cultural range of these new varieties is not yet deter- 

 mined. 



9. Water-color paintings of fruits. — A representative collection of water- 

 color paintings of fruits is displayed upon the partition at the rear of the 

 collections of pecans. These paintings are accurate delineations of the 

 varieties they represent, and illustrate the effectiveness of this important 

 method of recording varietal characters. They are specimens from the 

 collection of fruit illustrations in the Office of thePoraologist, from which 

 are taken such original paintings for reproduction as plates as are used 

 in the Yearbook and other publications of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



The paintings in this collection are by Miss D. G. Passmore and Miss 

 Bertha Heiges, artists. 



SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 



Foreign plants. — The exhibit of the Office of Seed and Plant Intro- 

 duction and Distribution consists of specimens, photographs, and models 

 of some of the foreign plant cultures which have either been successfully 

 introduced into America by the Department of Agriculture and have 

 added materially to the agricultural wealth of the country, or are now being 

 studied by the experts in this Office with a view to the growing of these 

 crops in the various portions of the United States where they are most 

 likely to be financially successful. These specimens, photographs, and 

 models represent only a very small percentage of the thousands of seeds 

 and plants which have been introduced since the establishment of the 

 Office in 1897. They are such, from the preliminary examination which 

 has been made of them, as are deemed worthy of a prominent place in 

 the estimation of American agriculturists. 



Agricultural explorations. — Many of the articles exhibited have been 

 secured in foreign countries by the agricultural explorers of the Office ; 

 some of the most important have been presented by the Hon. Barbour 

 Lathrop, of Chicago, while others have been obtained through corres- 

 pondents in various parts of the world. The wide range of fruits, vege- 

 tables, and grains exhibited illustrates the possible benefit to the country 

 of this branch of the work of the Department, which has been systemati- 

 cally carried on for less than seven years. 



Promising introductions. — The exhibits include the famous Kiushu 

 rices of Japan, which liav^e been so remarkably successful in the newly 

 irrigated regions of Louisiana and Texas ; macaroni wheats gathered by 

 agricultural explorers in Russia, on the northern coast of Africa, and in 

 Italy, which have shown their remarkable ability to thrive in the arid 

 belt of farming country of western Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas ; 

 fodder crops from Egypt and Algiers, including the remarkable Egyptian 

 clover called Berseem, which is without doubt the best annual winter 

 fodder plant for irrigated regions having a mild winter climate ; timber 

 bamboos from Japan, which are among the most profitable plant cultures 

 of that country ; the Japanese paper plant, from which the most delicate 

 paper in the world is made and which it is hoped can be grown econom- 

 ically enough to lead to the creation of a new plant industry in the Gulf 



