78 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing with many unoxpocted (lifriculties, has pushed his way into Chinese 

 Turkestan. Amonf^j tlie hiroje number of interestins^ things he has 

 secured is a variety of alfalfa from Eri^^an which is said to be longer 

 lived than the Turkestan variety ex])erimente(l with in the Caucasus; 

 a species of Medicago from an altitude of over 4,000 feet, which is 

 already being utilized in the work of creating new hybrid alfalfas 

 for the Northwest; a wild almond from the Zarafshan Valley, found 

 growing on the dr}^ mountain sides at an altitude of 0,000 feet, which 

 may prove to be a desirable stock for stone fruits; a drought-resistant 

 cherry for home gardens in the Northwest and for use as a dwarfing 

 stock, from the mountains near Samarkand; a collection of apricots 

 with sweet kernels from the c3ame region; the Afghasian apple and 

 special varieties of pears for trial in the Gulf States; some remarkably 

 hardy olives which have withstood zero temperatures and still borne 

 good crops of fruit ; late and early varieties of Caucasian peaches for 

 trial in the Southwest; seeds collected in the Caucasus from wild 

 plants of the true Paradise apple, which is used as a dwarfing stock, 

 for the purpose of obtaining seedlings not infested with croAvn-gall; 

 scions of a newly produced crab apple, reported to be a better keeper 

 than American crab apples; the Slew Abrikose, a variety of apricot 

 with a skin as smooth as that of a nectarine; seed of the Karakatch 

 tree, a Turkestan elm, for the hot, dr}" sections of the United States; 

 a remarkable drought-resistant poplar for the Middle West; a wild 

 strawberry, fruiting at the end of February on the dry calcareous 

 clifTs of the Caucasus, of possible use to strawberry breeders; a col- 

 lection of hardy table-grape varieties from the Caucasus, some of 

 which are reported to possess very unusual keeping qualities; and 

 varieties of Asia Minor wheat and a collection of cereals from the 

 oases of Samarkand, Old Bokhara, and Merv. 



Two tons of roots of the edible aroids were harvested in South Caro- 

 lina as a result of an experiment with these wet-land root crops, which 

 seem to thrive well where the potato can be grown only with difficulty, 

 and a much more extensive experiment in the growing and market- 

 ing of these important crops is under way. 



The hardy yellow-flowered alfalfas wliich were obtained from cen- 

 tral Asia have already been crossed with the hardiest of the blue- 

 jflowered forms, and the resulting crosses have proved their unusual 

 hardiness and are now being investigated to determine their value 

 to the farmers of the Northwest. 



The popularity of a newly introduced Japanese salad plant and 

 vegetable called udo has reached the stage when one of the largest 

 asparagus growers in the country contemplates testing it on a consid- 

 erable scale with a view to placing it on the market. 



The fruiting at various points in the Southern States of the Chinese 

 wood-oil tree, from the nuts of which the best drying oil is expressed. 



