BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 89 



nated by the stations. The attempt has been made in every ease to 

 put the plants in parts of the country thought to be probably fitted 

 for their growth, and they have been given as wide a dissemination 

 as possible. It has been the attempt, moreover, not to send seeds and 

 plants to people unknown to the Department or to the experiment 

 stations unless it is apparent that they are able to report intelligently 

 upon the experiment. 



In two cases, namely, macaroni wheat and Turkestan alfalfa, where 

 it has been shown that these importations are of great value, contracts 

 have been entered into with several parties for growing seed, these to 

 be purchased by the Department, subject to action of Congress in 

 appropriating money available therefor. 



The more important introductions of the past year are mentioned 

 below. 



In Bohemia Mr. D. G. Fairchild obtained several of the best varie- 

 ties of hops. It is well known that the American hops are far inferior 

 for brewing purposes to some of the Bohemian varieties, and several 

 thousand cuttings of the latter were accordingly obtained, among 

 them the Saaz, Semsch, and Tettnang varieties, and were placed, 

 through the cooperation of the experiment stations, with experienced 

 hop growers, mainly in the States of New York, Washington, Oregon, 

 and California. At the same time Mr. Fairchild obtained a quantity 

 of the best varieties of brewing barleys, particularly the Hanna barley. 

 These, too, have been distributed where barley growing is practiced 

 especially, and ought to prove of great money value to the country. 



The little town of Malin, in Bohemia, is famous all over Europe for 

 the especially fine horseradish which is produced there. Mr. Fairchild 

 was fortunate enough to be able to obtain a large number of cuttings 

 of its best variety, and- these have been distributed to horseradish 

 growers in the country. It is too early yet to determine how valuable 

 this importation will prove to this country. 



From southern Austria and Greece a few cuttings of a number of 

 the more valuable wine and table grapes were obtained. When these 

 are grown in sufficiently large numbers in this country they ought to 

 prove a valuable addition to our already considerable list of such 

 grapes. Probably the most valuable importation of these was that 

 of about 3,000 long cuttings of the Greek corinth from Panariti. 

 These have been placed in parts of California and Arizona, where the 

 climate is similar to that part of Greece from which they came ; and 

 if they prove to bear as well in this country as in their native home 

 they will be of exceedingly great value. At present we import hun- 

 dreds of thousands of dollars worth of corinths, or Zante currants, as 

 they are called, and if they can be produced successfully in this coun- 

 try the importations would be greatly decreased. 



Other importations of less importance from Greece include oranges, 

 seedless lemons, limes, pomegranates, and the pistache nut. 



In continuation of the importation of date palms, b}> r which it was 

 intended eventually to have growing in Arizona and southern Cali- 

 fornia all the good varieties of dates in the world, Mr. Fairchild 

 obtained the best varieties of dates of the Delta of the Nile, in Egypt. 

 He also arranged to obtain palms of the best varieties grown in other 

 parts of Egypt. 



A large collection of the most important leguminous forage crops 

 of Egypt was procured for use in the extensive experiments with 

 these plants to be undertaken in this country the coming season. A 



