66 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



28825— Continued. 



"In appearance khat is a dark-green shrub of thick foliage, its elliptical leaves vary- 

 ing greatly in size, color, and texture in individual plants. In general the mature 

 leaves will average from IJ to If inches in length, and from three-eighths to five-eighths 

 of an inch in width, according to the locality in which they are grown. 



"Khat is grown altogether from cuttings. Cultivation of it is simple and original. 

 The field is first flooded until the soil has absorbed all the water it can hold; care is 

 taken that the water brings in no sand with it. It is then well mixed with sheep and 

 goat manure and left to 'ripen' for a few days. WTien the ground is sufficiently dry 

 and 'ripe ' they set out the cuttings in shallow holes from 4 to 6 feet apart, with space 

 enough between the rows for pickers to pass easily (usually 2^ to 3 feet). The cuttings 

 grow rapidly and spread widely. They are given shallow hoeing for the first year, 

 by which time the shrub is about 2 feet high, with a spread of perhaps 18 inches. Soft 

 earth is then piled up about the base to conserve all moisture, and the leaves become 

 more numerous. Though it is customary to begin picking the leaves when the plant 

 is a year old, this may not always occm*. The Arab follows a different rule. When 

 he sees the leaves being eaten by the bii-ds, he knows they are ripe and of good flavor 

 for the market. 



" The khat caravans arrive daily at Aden about 11 a. m. The British Government 

 provides rooms for the storage and sale of the shrub, which later is taxed according to 

 weight. On fevery 25 pounds of the high-grade kinds the tax is $0.3244; on the low- 

 grade product (which is used by the common people) the tax is $0.3244 for every 20 

 pounds. The only reason advanced for the higher tax being placed on the cheaper 

 khat is that its use is more common and therefore the more to be discouraged. 



"Khat is used universally throughout all Arabia. There is no coolie too poor to 

 buy his daily portion of this plant. It is the great fact, next to their religion, in the 

 everyday life of the people. The expense to the native is out of all intelligible pro- 

 portion to his income, and can only be explained as the Arabs explain it, to wit: that 

 without khat they would not consider life worth li\TJig, nor would they ever achieve 

 the energy to do any sustained or arduous work. 



"The Arab of Aden who earns 30 cents per day spends at least half of it for khat. 

 In Ilodeida the man earning the same wage wtII average 10 cents per day for the 

 support of his family and expend the other 20 cents wholly on khat. Among the better 

 class the proportion of expenditure is not so high, but it is at least 25 per cent of their 

 incomes, and some of the wealthy will spend several dollars per day for their favorite 

 passion. The fresh leaves and tender stems are always chewed, never brewed or 

 made into any sort of beverage. Nothing is known in Arabia of the chemical con- 

 stituents of khat. " (Moser.) 



See No. 24714 for previous introduction. 



28826. Passiflora edulis Sims. Passion flower. 



From Melbourne, Australia. Presented by Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. Received September 29, 1910. 

 "Passion fruit will grow in the States; it prefers a loose sandy-loam soil, but must 

 be high enough up to be out of the reach of frosts, and near the sea for preference, 

 within, say, 10 miles. It requires plenty of manure and should be grown on a wire 

 trellis, that is, an ordinary fence with posts 15 feet apart. In place of having the wire 

 as in the fence, nail acrosspiece about 18 inches long on the top of each post and run 

 two wires along this crosspiece. Train the \4ne up by the main stem until the wires 

 are reached, then run an arm out each side along the wii-es. The lateral growths will 

 hang down like a curtain and the fruit bears on this lateral growth. Plant vines 15 

 feet apart, one between each two posts; train \ane8 up a stick until they reach the wire. 

 Rows to be 15 feet apart. The best manure for them is composed of 7 hundredweight 

 223 



