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stump and soon renew themselves. 



"Lime. On the Bertrand estate at L'Arba we saw a 

 remarkably large-fruited variety of lime known as 

 'llmoncello dl Napoll ' . The fruits must be three 

 times as large as our ordinary lime. 



"Fig. The Verdale variety does excellently in Al- 

 geria and is considered a very heavy yielder. There 

 is but one crop but the figs ripen successively from 

 September to December. 



"Celosia. In the public garden at Oran we saw a 

 beautiful, red-leaved Celosia grown as a bedding 

 plant. 



"Saceharum (Erianthus) rauennae. This grass is very 

 common in wet ground at Biskra and ought to be valua- 

 ble for ornamental planting, fully as effective in its 

 way as pampas grass. It grows in clumps, is quite 

 tall, and has a large, silvery, purplish panicle. 



"Hybrid Origin of Cultivated Plants. - Dr. 

 Trabut says that all cultivated plants, the origin 

 of which he has carefully investigated, are hybrids 

 between more than one natural species, and mentions 

 alfalfa, oats, fig, and pear as illustrations. 



"It is not unlikely that Dr. Trabut will visit 

 the United States in the near future with Mr. Brunei, 

 the Director of Agriculture of Algeria. Dr. Trabut, 

 as you know, is a perfect storehouse of botanical and 

 horticultural information, much of which has not been 

 published. For this reason an opportunity to visit 

 Florida and California with him would be one of the 

 most instructive and interesting experiences any one 

 could possibly have. 



"I saw M. Jacques de Vilmorin in Paris and asked 

 him in regard to the seed drying machinery which you 

 spoke to me about. He said that the principle had 

 been worked out and they were just starting to have 

 one constructed when the war broke out, since which 

 time nothing further had been done about it. M. de 

 Vilmorin was mobilized and, after seeing some active 

 service, was detailed to the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 where, I understand, he has been placed in charge of 

 emergency seed work. 



"Very sincerely yours," 



(Signed) T. H. Kearney. 



