1153 



Zca mays L. (Poaceae.. ) 44564. Seeds from Rosario, 

 Argentina. Presented by Mr. William Dawson, Jr., Amer- 

 ican Consul. Maiz amargo. A so-called "bitter corn," 

 grown in the Chaco region of Argentina as a locust- 

 proof variety. Otherwise it seems to have no advan- 

 tages, as the yield is but one-fourth to one-half that 

 of other varieties and the development is extremely 

 slow, requiring from nine to ten months to mature. 



Zinziber mioga Roscoe. (Zinziberaceae. ) 44579. Roots 

 from Yokohama, Japan. Purchased from the Yokohama 

 Nursery Company. A perennial Japanese herb about 3 

 feet high, with nearly linear, smooth, membranous 

 leaves, up to 15 inches long; white flowers. in spikes, 

 2 to 3i inches long; and ovoid capsules. It occurs 

 wild and also in cultivation. In summer and autumn 

 the flowers, with the bracts, are eaten, either raw 

 or boiled; they have a slightly acid taste and an ar- 

 omatic odor. (Adapted from Useful Plants of Japan, 

 p. 30, and from F. Tracy Hubbard , in Bailey, Standard 

 Cyclopedia of Horticulture, vol. 6, p. 3544, the form- 

 er under Amomuin mioga.) 



Notes from Correspondents abroad. 



Mr. Eugene Andre writes from Port-of -Spain, Trin- 

 idad, B.W.I., October 22, 1917: 



"I enclose two bulletins of our Department of Ag- 

 riculture. Part 1, Vol. 16, pages 18-20, gives the 

 results of certain experiments made by the Government 

 in 1915-1916 with the object of acquiring definite 

 knowledge as to the yield of the various kinds of 

 cassava grown by our peasantry. The spot where the 

 experiments were conducted forms part of the old St. 

 Augustine Sugar estate, one of the oldest estates in 

 the island. Bulletin Part 2, Vol. 16, deals with other 

 matters connected with the cassava industry here. Un- 

 fortunately, the inhabitants of Carenage, in spite of 

 the inducements offered to them, would not take up the 

 growing of cassava on a scale that would have kept 

 the factory busy, so that this part of the enterprise 

 has been a failure. Speaking generally, comparatively 

 little cassava is grown here. The laboring man has 

 got used to his wheaten loaf and he turns his nose up 

 at the disks of cassava which is the staple of the 

 Venezuelan poor. Like cassava corn is but little used 

 as a bread, but corn is more widely grown than cassava 

 because it is the food generally given to our domestic 



