BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 181 



In addition to the 2,000 offshoots of the Saidy, several hundred 

 offshoots of the Hayany variety were also secured. This is an early- 

 ripening date Avhich has proved well adapted for growing in Ari- 

 zona. It is one of the handsomest of the palms, and a few trees in 

 a dooryard lend a strikingly ornamental effect to the landscape, while 

 at the same time yielding a supply of fresh dates for home use. 



SMYRNA FIG GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES. 



The Smyrna fig industry in California has undergone such a rapid 

 expansion that it promises to become one of the major fruit crops 

 of that region. The absolute dependence of this valuable crop on the 

 supply of the fig insect (Blastophaga) for fertilizing the Smyrna 

 figs and the growing scarcity of insect-bearing figs at the critical 

 time of fruit setting have emphasized the importance of such caprifig 

 plantings as the department has maintained at Loomis, Calif., and 

 the need for similar small collections in protected localities, ripening 

 their crops at different times. The supply of caprifigs made available 

 from the Loomis garden has saved fig growers many thousands of 

 dollars during the past season, not only by preventing private dis- 

 tributors from setting an exorbitant price on their surplus supply 

 but in the actual, saving of whole crops dependent upon securing 

 caprifigs at the proper time. 



Some progress has been made in the investigation of Smyrna fig 

 culture in the Southeastern States. Figs of the Smyrna type were 

 matured at five different places in as many States as a result of a 

 small distribution of caprifigs from a tree at Brunswick, Ga., which 

 has carried the Blastophaga now for three years. The Smyrna 

 trees thus made productive were old seedling trees that had never 

 previously matured a crop. 



NEW CITRUS FRUITS. 



The breeding of citrus fruits and stocks resistant to citrus canker 

 for use in the Gulf coast region continues to be of leading interest and 

 importance. The behavior of the principal varieties of Satsuma and 

 other Mandarin oranges grown in the Orient is being observed at 

 testing stations at Los Banos, P. I., and at the Canton Christian Col- 

 lege, Canton, China, while numerous hybrids made in this country 

 have been sent to those stations, where canker susceptibility can be 

 observed under natural conditions. Inoculation experiments in co- 

 operation with the Alabama Experiment Station have also been in 

 progress, giving verification in a number of cases of the resistance 

 offered by certain hybrids and varieties to canker infection. The 

 citrangequat (a citrange-kumquat hybrid) is apparently fully as im- 

 mune as the kumquat aijd makes a good stock for the Satsuma and 

 other citrus varieties. Severinia, a citrus relative, has proved to be 

 entirely immune and offers considerable promise as a citrus stock 

 and as a hedge plant to replace the susceptible trifoliate orange. 



Siamese puminelos. — The canker resistance shown by certain forms 

 of the Siamese pummelo seems quite well established by field obser- 

 vations in the Orient as well as by inoculation experiments. At least 

 two of these pummelos are of excellent quality and good appearance, 

 ■while being normally seedless. An early introduction of a supposedly 



