THE ANNUAL CATALOGUE 



OF PLANT IMMIGRANTS 



Many Additions to Our Food Plants are Being Made by Office of Seed and 



Plant Introduction — To be Available Gratis to all Serious 



Experimenters Who File Application 



David Fairchild 



Agricultural Explorer in Charge of Foreign Seed a)iJ PLvit Introduction, Bureau 

 of Plant Industry, U. S. Departmoit of Agricidture 



Tl 1 1;^ war is demonstrating in a 

 striking way the danger of be- 

 ing too practical. The technical 

 knowledge required today to 

 tight this war is touching everywhere 

 the borderland of knowkxige as never 

 before, and there is hardly a specialist, 

 no matter how narrow the field is in 

 which he works, but has been called 

 upon to furnish information of some 

 sort. 



Mankind has become willing as never 

 before to listen to every suggestion and 

 follow up every clue which may lead to 

 important discoveries bearing on the 

 war. 



Changes in agriculture will neces- 

 sarily come with the changes in trans- 

 portation and the perfection of the farm 

 tractor. 



In order to get ready for these 

 changes much experimentation will be 

 required and thousands of men on their 

 own places a^e needed to do this work. 

 To expect this work to be done by state 

 experiment stations and the Govern- 

 ment agencies, and wait for these men 

 to do it, would be like waiting u])on the 

 Government to discover the aerial high- 

 way. Indiviflual initiative flew the first 

 aeroplane and individual hybridizers 

 will originate many new i)lant N'arieties. 



The Government, through its ( )ffice of 

 Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, 

 brings in every year several thou'-and 

 species and varieties of i)lants, gathered 

 from different parts of the world. 

 These are for a wide trial in those i)arts 

 of the coutitry where they an- likely to 

 thrive. 

 500 



The seventh Annvial List of these plant 

 immigrants is appearing in a few days 

 and will be sent to bona file experi- 

 menters all over the country. A few 

 photographs, illustrating some of the 

 economic and ornamental plants de- 

 scribed in this 1917 Annual List are 

 reproduced here in the Journal. There 

 are 1400 interesting new plant intro- 

 ductions contained in this Annual List 

 and applicants for it will be supplied 

 up to the limit of the edition. 



All plants listed are sent out gratis, 

 on request, after adequate infonnation 

 has been received proving the capabili- 

 ties of the applicant to take care of and 

 experiment with these rare species and 

 varieties. 



It should be kept in mind that all 

 plants described are newcomers to this 

 country, and are, for this reason, ex- 

 perimental. No one should imagine 

 that immediate profits are to be made 

 out of them, and those who^e interest 

 is chiefly in the money end of the prob- 

 lem — who are first of all practical and 

 after that plant lovers or investigators — 

 will be too im])aticnt for results to make 

 good exi)erimenters and cooj^crators of 

 the Office of Seed and Plant Introduc- 

 tion. 



iM'eryone who really loves, and knows 

 how to grow and care for new plants, 

 should get in touch with the OlTice re- 

 ferred to, and if the sujjply holds out 

 get a limited number of the new intro- 

 ductions which in the opinion of the 

 office ex])crts have a good chance of 

 succeeding. 



