LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Plant Industry, 



Office of the Chief, 

 Washington, D. 6 7 ., February .\. 1010. 



Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith a paper entitled "Agri- 

 cultural and Botanical Explorations in Palestine," by Mr. Aaron 

 Aaronsohn, Director of the Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station 

 at Haifa, Palestine, and to recommend its publication as Bulletin 

 No. 180 of the series of this Bureau. 



The paper contains a summary of agricultural observations on a 

 considerable number of economic plants indigenous in Palestine, more 

 particularly cereals, that are considered worthy of introduction into 

 the United States, the very close similarity of the natural conditions 

 of Palestine to those of California and the adjacent States of the 

 Southwest being pointed out. At the suggestion of Mr. David Fair- 

 child, Agricultural Explorer in Charge of Foreign Seed and Plant 

 Introduction, Mr. Aaronsohn has spent several months in the United 

 States inspecting our agricultural industries and experiments in 

 the interest of his work in Palestine and in studying American con- 

 ditions, especially in dry-land regions. This experience has pecu- 

 liarly fitted him to recognize plants adapted for introduction into 

 America. 



Mr. Aaronsohn is known in the scientific world for his botanical 

 explorations of Palestine, and particularly for his discovery of the 

 wild emmer, from which our cultivated types of wheat and related 

 cereals seem to have been derived. This plant was found to cover 

 large areas on the slopes of Mount Hermon. The study of wild 

 ancestral forms of our cultivated plants is yielding many facts of 

 practical assistance in the work of introducing, acclimatizing, and 

 breeding improved varieties adapted to the endlessly varied conditions 

 found in the United States. 



Respectfully, G. H. Powell, 



Acting Chief of Bureau. 



Hon. James "Wilson, 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



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