JUNE 4, 1923 PROCEEDINGS: BOTANICAL SOCIETY 239 
Mississippi Valley. He called attention to the large size and enormous spread 
of the branches of this oak. One of the finest trees on the Department of 
Agriculture grounds in Washington is a planted bur oak. Dr. Bartrscu 
called attention to the fact that there is a large bur oak on the Hygienic 
Laboratory grounds. Prof. Corserrrt called attention to the fact that this 
oak had pushed its way up into the dry northwest. He became acquainted 
with it in South Dakota. 
Program: Dr. Roprerr D. Ranps: Botanic gardens and plant industries of 
Java and Sumatra (illustrated). Dr. Ranps traced briefly the early history 
of the famous government botanical garden at Buitenzorg, Java, and its 
importance in the establishment and development of the great European 
plantation industries of these islands. In the approximate order of their 
importance, the principal industries are sugar, rubber, tobacco, coconut 
products, coffee, tea, cacao, cinchona, kapoc, palm oil, and sisal. 
In more recent years the planters’ associations have established their own 
experiment stations, which at present number ten; three are devoted primarily 
to the study of tobacco, four to rubber, and one each to sugar, tea and cin- 
chona. Despite the great importance of these ‘‘EKuropean cultures,” the 
area they occupy is much smaller than that tilled by the natives. The 
latter, who in Java exceed thirty millions in number, are engaged largely in 
the cultivation of rice, maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, and other food crops. 
Since 1905 the botanical gardens have formed a subdivision of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, which was established at that time. The main one, 
located at an elevation of 900 feet at Buitenzorg, was founded in 1814; in 
number of species and development it is probably the finest in the tropics. 
Within its grounds is the splendidly equipped Treub laboratory for visiting 
botanists, maintained by the government free of charge. There are in 
addition a large Cultuurtuin, or experiment station, and a selection station 
for annual crops. The acclimatization garden at Tjibodas, at an elevation 
of 4500 feet, and the vegetational zones of the magnificent virgin jungle on 
Mt. Gedeh, extending from the upper margin of the garden to the summit 
crater of the mountain at 10,000 feet, were described and illustrated. At 
Tjibodas, the government maintains a laboratory and lodging quarters for 
visiting biologists. In closing Dr. Ranps referred briefly to his studies of the 
disease of rubber and cinnamon in which he was engaged for three years as 
botanist in the Dutch Colonial Service at Buitenzorg. 
J.H. Beattie: Sweet potato nomenclature (illustrated). From a utilitarian 
standpoint, the sweet potato is perhaps the most important member of the 
well known Morning Glory family. In the Torrid Zone and in the warmer 
parts of the Temperate Zones the plant is a perennial, but in the United 
States, where it has attained its greatest economic importance, it is treated as 
an annual. 
Evidence exists that the sweet potato originated in the Western Hemisphere. 
De Candolle supports this view, but admits that there are important argu- 
ments in favor of its origin being Asiatic. Ovildo, writing in 1526, mentions 
the sweet potato as being freely cultivated and eaten by natives of Santo 
Domingo. Columbus, in presenting Queen Isabella with the choice products 
of the new world, did not fail to include the sweet potato. Chinese works 
written during the second or third century of our era mention other species 
of Convolvulaceae, hence we are compelled to believe that the plant has been 
cultivated for many centuries, and that its exact origin is in doubt. Its 
distribution is so general that it enters into the diet of a large portion of the 
people inhabiting the Torrid and Temperate Zones. 
