REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 77 



PROGRESS IN PLANT INTRODUCTION. 



The possibilities which he in the introduction of the wild relatives 

 of cultivated plants and in the breeding of them \\'ith well-known 

 domesticated forms have become apparent to a wide circle of official 

 and private experimenters throughout the country. In order to 

 meet the demand for these wild plants, which in themselves are little 

 more than curiosities, a world search is being carried on by hundreds of 

 correspondents of the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 

 The time required to secm-e and place in the hands of an experimenter 

 some foreign species of plant which he ^\dshes to hybridize is rapidly 

 being reduced to a negligible quantity, and the stimulus afforded in 

 the creation of new varieties suited to peculiar local conditions is of 

 great and lasting benefit. 



The search which was made in northern China three years ago for 

 the original vnld peach resulted in the discovery of a new form of 

 peach {Amygdalus davidiana) which for hardiness in Iowa, at least, 

 exceeds anything yet growoi there. There are two strains, and both 

 have proved much hardier than the peaches grown at this Imiit of 

 the peach belt. At the same time this Chinese peach, which is 

 used by the Celestials as a stock on which to graft all of their stone 

 fruits, bids fair to prove a drought-resistant stock for the peach 

 growers of the Southwest. Extensive experiments are under way 

 to test more thoroughly tliis important stock for stone fruits. 



Ten acres of Japanese timber bamboo are now growdng at Brooks- 

 ville, Fla., as a result of the introduction of more than 3,000 young 

 plants from Japan, wliile a similar but smaller area is located at 

 Avery Island, La. This is the first serious attempt in this country 

 to test on a commercial scale the culture of a plant which in the Orient 

 forms one of the best paying crops. 



The mango industry of Florida and Porto Rico has reached a stage 

 when the demand for grafted plants of imported varieties is much 

 greater than can be supplied by the Department, and several thousand 

 seeds have been ordered for propagation purposes. One single tree 

 of an imported variety produced this season 428 fruits, and the fancy- 

 fruit dealers of New York have pronounced these imported mangos 

 worthy of commanding the highest prices. 



The unusual interest attached to the discovery of the wUd drought- 

 resistant wheat in Palestine mentioned in the last report made it 

 advisable to send an expert in acclimatization to inspect on the slopes 

 of Mount Hermon this new prototype of the great cultivated cereal 

 and secure data and material which ^vill aid in the future study of its 

 possibilities for dry-land conditions. This investigation is still in 

 progress. 



An agricultural explorer of the Department has spent the 3"ear ex- 

 ploring the plant resources of southwestern Asia and, although meet- 



