951 



sprout in constantly wet sand and after about three or 

 four weeks they are taken out and planted into the water 

 fields like the rice. They want good manured fields and 

 always covered with water then they spread like potatoes 

 in the ground and in the fall they are dug up after the 

 water is drained off. 



I also send you some seeds of a kind of a turnip the 

 English name however I could not learn till now. The ed- 

 ible part is the root and it has a sweet p.nd delicious 

 taste. The seeds are planted or sown in April or May and 

 the flowers when they come are all cut down except those 

 wanted for seeds and in fall also dug up. Now I do not 

 know whether you will not have this latter kind already but 

 if so just throw the seeds away and be done with it. The 

 natives tell me the seeds are very poisonous." 



NOTES ON BEHAVIOR OF PREVIOUS INTRODUCTIONS. 



Carissa grandiflora. This handsome shrub, v/hich is con- 

 sidered one of the best hedge plants in Natal, South Afri- 

 ca, is rapidly becoming very popular in South Florida, not 

 only because of its spiny character which makes it an im- 

 penetrable hedge, easy to grow, but because of its large 

 white fragrant flowers and brilliant red edible fruit. Mr. 

 Bisset, when at Mr. C. P. Taft's place at Orange, Cal., 

 wrote as follows: 



"Mr. Taft has a Carissa grandlflora that is bearing a 

 fine crop of beautiful, large-sized fruits. This is the 

 first time I have seen the Carissa bearing a good crop of 

 fruit in California. This bush was frozen back when the 

 temperature was 27 degrees last year." 



For photographs see Label Catalogue for 1915-1916. 



Litchi -chinensis (21204). Excerpts from Mr. Bisset's 

 notes on a visit to Tampa, Fla., August 14th. 



"On August 17th I visited Mr. W. S. Taylor's place to 

 see the Litchi trees. I found them in excellent condition. 

 The tallest one is 31 inches in height by 50 inches in 

 spread. The trees are planted in a hollow where they get 

 all the rain-fall and the drainage into the basin from the 

 land close by. They are protected by buildings and tree 

 growths. If the frost does not injure them or if Mr. Tay- 

 lor protects these trees from it, he may succeed in fruit- 

 ing this Litchi in the vicinity of Tampa. 



"After looking over Mr. Taylor's Litchi trees, I went 

 to see Dr. Richardson's place on Bay Shore Boulevard, where 

 another plant of Litchi was growing. This plant is 5 feet 

 6 inches in height, with straight stem, unlike Mr. Taylor's 



