DECEMBER, 1905, TO JULY, 1906. 97 



18635. PiSTACIA CABULICA {i ). 



From Chaman, British India. Presented by Lieut. W. L. Maxwell, One Hun- 

 dred and Twenty-Seventh Baluchistan Light Infantry. Received June 4, 1906. 



"These wild nuts are much eaten by the Pathans around here. With regard to 

 planting them, the following information may be useful: The Pathans say that a 

 new tree onlv grows where one of the hill partridges eats a nut and passes it through 

 in its excreta on to suitable ground. I asked the forest officer in (iuetta if there could 

 be any truth in this extraordinary statement. He told me that he had several trees 

 growing in the tiuetta plantations, and that all had been grown from seed so treated. 

 The reason presumablv is that the oil, in which these- nuts are very rich, nuist first 

 be extracted from the "seeds. I heard from a cultivator here that if the seeds were 

 well rubbed between the hands until all the oil was extracted, satisfactory results 

 were obtained from planting them. The seeds ripen in August." {Max-well.) 



18636. PiSTACIA VERA. Pistachc. 



From Yiernyi, Semirvetchensk Province, Turkestan. Presented by Mr. K. Val- 

 neff, through Mr. "E. A. Bessey, of the .Subtropical Labratory, Miami, Fla. 

 Received June 4, 1906. 



"I'istache seeds from north Persia, the best that we know." ( Valneff.) 



18637. PiSTACIA iNTE{JERRiMA. Zebra wood. 



From Khost, India. Presented by Mr. Philip Parker, of the Indian Irrigation 

 Service, through Mr. J. S. Davis, executive engineer, Bannu, Kuram Valley 

 Irrigation Project. Received June 4, 1906. 



"This is the famous zebra wood of Kakra, India, which grows to be a large tree 40 

 feet or more high, with a trunk in diameter from 2i to 3 feet, or even as nuich as 

 4| feet. It grows on the warm slopes of the Himalaya Mountains in northern India, 

 usuallv at an altitude of from 1,200 to 8,000 feet. The wood is very hard and close 

 grained, brown in color, and beautifully mottled with yellow and dark veins, whence 

 the name 'zebra wood.' 



"Stewart and Brandis, in their ' Forest Flora of Northwest and Central India,' say: 

 'The heartwood of mature trees is the best and most handsome wood of the north- 

 west Himalaya for carving, furniture, and all kinds of ornamental work.' 



"According to Mr. Bolton, settlement officer at Dehra Ishmail Kahn, this species 

 is difficult to cultivate, 'as it is necessary for the seed to pass through the intestines of 

 a bird before it can germinate.' 



"Mr. Parker writes as follows: 'I gave one seed to a bird (fowl) that was to be 

 killed the next day and told my cook to give me the seed when drawing the bird. 

 I have just noticed that the seed, after being jnit in water, has begun to germinate, 

 so evidently the Indian fowl is good enough.' 



"This species is very little known, but it is of some promise as an ornamental and 

 even perhaps as a timber tree in some parts of the southwest." [Swingle.) 



18638. Agave rigida sisalana. Sisal. 



From Paramaribo, Surinam. Presented by Dr. C. J J. Van Hall, Director of 

 • Agriculture for the Dutch West Indies Received at the Porto Rico Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Mayaguez, P. R., in May, 1906. 



"Parent plants are believed to be direct descendants of plants in the Trinidad 

 Botanical Gardens which were brought from Yucatan, Mexico." {Barrett.) 



18639 and 18640. Onobrychis onobrychis. Sainfoin. 



From Paris, France. Received through Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., June 4, 1904. 



18639. Double. 18640. Common. 



106 



