30 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



25959 to 25962. Zea mays L. Corn. 



From Central Soledad, Cienfuegos, Cuba. Presented by Mr. Robert M. Grey, 

 Harvard Botanical Experiment Station. Received September 21, 1909. 



Seeds of the following; notes by Mr. Grey. 



25959. Harvard selected flint . This is our surest cropper, best keeper, and, 

 being free from surface starch, less subject to attack from weevils and ants. 



25960. Selected white flint Cuban. This is used as a sweet or table corn, is 

 early, and a small-cob variety. 



25961. Hybrid purple cob (Cuban dent X Cuban flint). 



25962. Cuban dent. 



These two last are the varieties commonly cultivated here and are very 

 productive. 



The above have been under selection for six years. The husk of all closes tight at 

 the apex, a great prevention and safeguard against insects. 



25963. Vicia faba L. Horse bean. 



From Magyarovar, Hungary. Presented by The Plant Culture Experiment 

 Station, requested from Prof. A. Cserhati. Received September 22, 1909. 



"These seeds are planted in the spring and mature in about one hundred days. 

 The plants grow from 35 to 40 centimeters high. The beans are ground up and make 

 a very nutritive food for stock. The fodder is of hardly any value." (Gydrfds.) 



25964. Gossypium hirsutum L. Cotton. 



From Nyasaland Protectorate, British Central Africa. Presented by Mr. 

 J. Stewart J. McCall, Director of Agriculture, Zomba. Received September 

 27, 1909. 



"Seed of Upland cotton which received the first prize at the recent show at Blantyre. 

 I think you will consider it a very high-class hirsutum cotton, and it is very gratifying 

 as we received 6d. to 7d. per pound for it at the Manchester market." (McCall.) 



25965. Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. Cowpea. 



From Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa. Presented by Prof. J. Burtt Davy, 

 government agrostologist and botanist, Transvaal Department of Agriculture. 

 Received September 10, 1909. 



"Kafir bean." This lot apparently contains several different varieties. 



26047. Garcinia mangostana L. Mangosteen. 



From Port of Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies. Presented by Mr. F. Evans, 

 botanical department, Department of Agriculture. Received fall of 1909. 

 Seeds. See No. 25887 for description. 



"The mangosteen will be an unusually good shipper, as tropical fruits go. The 

 small crate of fruits from which these seeds were taken, shipped by Mr. Evans on the 

 28th of September, was delayed for more than a week in New York and reached 

 Washington on the 19th of October. Even after holding these fruits for five days after 

 arrival in Washington — i. e., twenty-six days from the time they were picked — they 

 were still in an edible condition, although naturally they had lost a good deal of their 

 delicacy and the pulp had begun .to adhere to the thick rind. One remarkable feature 

 about these fruits lies in the fact that as they decay the rind hardens until it becomes 

 almost as hard as a rock. I believe it may not be necessary to crate these in shipment 

 on this account. A single rotten fruit may not infect others, ,as in the case of mangos 

 or other soft-skinned fruits; in fact, as tropical fruits go, it seems tb be an ideal 

 shipper." (David Fairchild.) 



