1365 



peeled off as easily as that of a ripe peach. He tried 

 the first ripe ones of this year's crop and was de- 

 lighted with them; he asked me to send him large quan- 

 tities of seeds." (Nuttall.) 



Phormium tenax (Liliaceae), 46388. New Zealand flax. 



From New Zealand. Seed presented by Mr. J. W. Poynton, 

 Palmerston North, New Zealand. "The yield is about one 

 ton of fiber from eight tons of green leaves. The non- 

 fibrous part of the leaves, stripped from the fiber, 

 has a lot of protein material in it and some sugar and 

 starch. Cattle eat the cut-up leaves greedily. If 

 the waste were dried it would probably make a good 

 cattle feed. When decayed, it makes an excellent fert i- 

 lizer. Analyses have shown a high percentage of po- 

 tassium salts in the ash." (Poynton.) 



Prunus mume (Amygdalaceae), 46572. Japanese apricot. 



From Canton, China. Seeds presented by Mr. G. Weidman 

 Groff, Canton Christian College. "These fruits, known 

 on the Chinese (Cantonese) markets as Hang mui, are quite 

 common in Canton in the month of May. The fruit Is 

 somewhat like an apricot. It is said that there are 

 several different types. A bitter principle exists 

 in these particular fruits, but they make a very fine 

 jelly. This number has possibilities as a cultivated 

 fruit or as a stock." (Groff.) 



"Although every American artist who visits Japan 

 in the early spring comes away with the keenest ap- 

 preciation of the remarkable beauty and picturesque 

 character of the so-called 'flowering plums' of Japan, 

 few of these artists appear to know anything about the 

 fruit which is borne by these beautiful flowering trees. 

 These fruits, which are properly classed by botanists 

 with the apricots instead of the plums, constitute a 

 most unique food of the Japanese. Though sometimes 

 eaten fresh, much in the same way as we eat our native 

 American plums, they are usually pickled in brine and 

 colored with the colored leaves of the perilla plant 

 and packed in boxes or other receptacles for household 

 use. Great quantities of these pickled mumes are con- 

 sumed in Japan. Their use is so universal that they 

 formed an important part of the army ration in the 

 Russo-Japanese war and it is said that they were often 

 depended on to quench the thirst of the soldiers when 

 on long marches. One's first impression of these Japa- 

 nese pickles maybe properly compared with one's first 

 impression of the Spanish pickled green olive, which 



